"Nearly all of the country’s winter roads could be unusable by 2080. Without them, deliveries of everything from diesel to school buses to hockey gear are up in the air".

"It was the beginning of February, and Garden Hill First Nation was nearly out of fuel.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do when we run out,” Chief Charles Knott told media at a press conference in Winnipeg.

With just a week’s worth of their annual supply left, school buses, water trucks and emergency vehicles would soon be at risk of running dry, Knott said. Garden Hill was declaring a state of emergency, and the First Nation wasn’t alone.

With warm weather delaying the construction of Manitoba’s winter-road network, the Anisininew Okimawin (also known as the Island Lake Tribal Council) First Nations of Garden Hill, Red Sucker Lake, Wasagamack and St. Theresa Point gathered to warn of a looming crisis."

Julia-Simone Rutgers reports for The Narwhal March 8, 2024. [2]