Wollaston Lake ice road delays mean rationing

People living in the northwest village of Wollaston Lake are running low on fuel again this year. It's becoming an annual problem because of the difficulty in building the ice road that serves as the main road into the community in the winter.

The village is waiting for big fuel and supply trucks to move across the lake on the seasonal ice road, but work crews, slowed by bitter cold and heavy snow fall, have yet to complete the frozen highway.

Crews have been working on the 45 km ice road across Wollaston Lake for more than a week. It's dangerous work and the bitter cold is making the ice heave and crack open. Heavy snow has also filled in the trail as fast as the work crews can carve it out.

They have been able to get a trail through twice, allowing small trucks to make the trip, but community leader Ed Benaonie says those emergency rations won't last long.

"The community is out of fuel, we have no diesel fuel, no fuel in the community it has been almost four of five days since we had some. We managed to bring some fuel back in barrels yesterday, last night. We were up till 11 o'clock," he says.

Not having fuel for trucks and snowmobiles is a major concern in a community like Wollaston Lake. Most of the homes rely on wood heat and people need their vehicles to transport that wood.

Benoanie says that if the weather cooperates they may have the road built in a week or so. He says the community is frustrated with what has become an annual winter rationing. Benoanie can't understand why the province won't build an all-weather road into the community and solve the problem once and for all.