People near Cochrane, Ont., worry about cable ferry service

A small community near Cochrane is fighting to save its ferry, which takes motorists across the Abitibi River that cuts through a provincial highway.

A small community near Cochrane is fighting to save its cable ferry that takes motorists across the Abitibi River and cuts through a provincial highway.

The Gardiner Ferry crossing is about a half-hour drive north of Cochrane. For almost six decades, the ferry has taken motorists across the waterway to their homes, camps, hunting and trapping grounds.

Residents in the area said problems began in 2010 when the Ministry of Transportation contracted out maintenance of the ferry. Since then, they told CTV News that service has been unreliable.

“When they find that something’s failing, they fix it but we don’t think they’ve been doing that part of it -- either the inspections or the fixing,” said Gardiner resident Louis Dingley.

Dingley said about eight people live in Gardiner full-time, including a child who needs to cross the river to get to school.

But he said thousands of people cross the river annually.

“The Coast Guard did an inspection on it last summer, and there was a whole list of repairs that had to be done,” he said.

“The Coast Guard said you have to fix it and they had from August until August this year.”

Now the ferry only operates for the public from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Only permanent residents of Gardiner have access to the ferry overnight, and that’s only in the event of an emergency.

Those who have camps in Gardiner said they are reluctant to spend the night because if they needed help, they would have to be ferried across the river.

They fear their way of life that dates back decades -- even generations -- is at risk and has requested support from their MPP, New Democrat John Vanthof.

“The south really loves northerners when a town is booming or there’s a discovery to be made or a sawmill is running,” Vanthof said.

“As soon as it’s not, you know, they walk away, and that’s not how it should be. This is a wake-up call, you know, if we’re talking about developing the north.”

“I think Gardiner Ferry’s pretty emblematic of what has happened and what could happen in the north and we’ve got to fight back to make sure we save it,” he added.

In an email to CTV News, the Ministry of Transportation said the province is “accelerating work to make Florence Lake Road available as an alternative to improve transportation options for the community.”

But residents said that the road is single lane, unsafe and would make the drive from Gardiner to Cochrane an hour instead of 30 minutes.

“It’s a logging road. Like, let’s face it, northerners, we all know what a logging road is,” said Vanthof.

“If they’re serious about that … if you’re going to bring that road, the connection up to northern, even northern provincial highway standards, that’s going to cost, in my opinion, a lot more than refurbishing or replacing that ferry.”

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The Gardiner Ferry committee is holding a rally to save the ferry on-site Sunday at 2 p.m. Participants are asked to arrive at 1:30.

Vanthof will be presented with a petition signed by 1,200 people to give to the government.

He said the province can’t ignore that this is a highway serving a community and the travelling public.