Construction of winter road linking First Nation communities in northern Ontario cancelled due to COVID risks

SUDBURY — In a Dec. 11 statement, the Moose Cree First Nation council announced the construction of Wetum Road will not be completed in winter 2021 due the risks associated with a COVID-19 outbreak and the strain it would put on the community’s limited health care infrastructure.

Wetum Road is a 170 km winter road that extends from Otter Rapids, Ont. up to Moose Factory and its use depends on seasonal weather conditions. The road is constructed and decommisoned each winter season.

The road provides communities across the James Bay coast with access to provincial highways who for decades have called for a long-term solution.

In what the council says was a shared decision between members and the Pandemic Emergency Operations Team (PEOT), officials believe the risks the project poses to the community outweigh the benefit its membership would enjoy should it continue.

“The PEOT had difficulty making this tough decision and it took a few meetings to reach it after much discussion on the risks to community safety compared against the benefits enjoyed by our Membership offered by Wetum Road travel to the south.”

PEOT was established by in February 2020 and council then passed a motion delegating it the authority to implement public health policy across the territory as it relates to the pandemic. The team is comprised of public health profesionals and individuals working in the health services sector.

“PEOT representatives met with Council on December 9, 2020 to discuss the decision. Council could have rescinded the motion passed in March 2020 which delegated authority to the PEOT and make a subsequent decision that Wetum Road would be built in 2021,” read the statement.

“After its own debate about the decision, Council chose not to take such action and instead agreed that the PEOT decision was appropriate as it places the health and safety of the Membership as the highest priority.”

Officials are now looking at a plan on how to best use the funds allocated for Wetum Road and how to best direct the benefits to its membership for the winter season.

“In a pandemic we must all make sacrifices and put the needs of others before our own, we must protect each other, particularly our most vulnerable,” council concluded in the statement.

“Council and the PEOT continue to strongly advise against all non-essential travel, including visits both into and out of the community over the holiday season.”