Winnipeg, MB - November 28, 2024 - Today the first ever roundtable on First Nations winter roads took place at the RBC Convention Centre.

Leaders from northern communities, as well as ministers from both Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), and Manitoba’s department of Transportation and Infrastructure were in attendance to discuss and hear the impact of inadequate road systems on communities.

One Chief said today "30 years ago we would have ten inches of ice by now. With climate change we can't continue to construct the roads the same way - but we have been - and it’s not working anymore."

"Climate change is not going to wait for us", another Chief said.

The overarching theme throughout the day was permanent all-weather roads are the obvious solution, but community leadership have consistently been told it is cost prohibitive. Some questioned why urban centres receive a budget of tens of millions per year to upgrade and maintain existing road infrastructure when First Nations communities have been in desperate need of permanent roads for decades.

Everything from food and health, to tourism opportunities which could bring revenue into communities are being crippled by the quality of these roads and the ever-shortening winter road season.

In her closing remarks, Minister of ISC, Patty Hajdu, announced that as an immediate solution, the Federal Government will be providing an additional $20M over four years to northern road construction.

Further, she shared that ISC is prepared to fund the establishment of a northern roads agency as a permanent, long-term solution. Minister Hajdu was clear that this would be an arms-length agency, not a government committee, as committees risk being dissolved in the event future ministerial leadership does not consider that committee a priority.

A timeline of early January 2025 was suggested for the group to decide how they would like this agency structured, and what it will be called.