WINNIPEG - Muddy ice roads that stranded dozens of drivers in the wilderness and prompted 16 northern Manitoba First Nations to declare a state of emergency are proof that permanent all-season roads are needed, the province's grand chief said Friday.
Ron Evans, head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said this year's early closure of the winter routes has left communities without building supplies and with a dwindling stockpile of fuel and food.
Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised "action" to help airlift supplies into the reserves, Evans said climate change is making it increasingly difficult to rely on the snowy winter routes.
"First Nations have been warning about climate change and the winter roads season for years," Evans said. "They have to start putting plans in place that will deal with climate change. We're already experiencing it."
Normally, the 2,200 kilometres of temporary routes over frozen swamps, muskeg and lakes are open for as long as eight weeks. But that window has been shrinking. Mild weather shut the roads down after less than a month this time, cutting more than 30,000 people off from the south. The early spring has turned the frozen routes into a muddy morass, stranding truckers and others in the wild.
About 2,500 shipments of fuel, groceries, construction materials and general freight - enough to last a year - usually are trucked in on ice roads to many First Nations. Otherwise, goods must be flown in at great expense.
Aboriginal leaders and the provincial government have called on Ottawa to help pay to airlift the necessary supplies. Speaking at a stop in Brandon on Friday, Harper said talks are ongoing.
"I know there has been some concern because of the early melting of the winter roads this spring. I also know that our Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Strahl, and the department have been holding discussions with communities about how best to respond to the situation," Harper said.
"We will come up with some actions."
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said the province is looking at ways to build long-term roads, and preliminary planning for an eastern route is already underway.
"We're doing the long-term planning. We're doing job-creation up there to have a permanent road," Selinger said. "We have to get over the bump in this season and then make sure we go forward to get a long-term solution."
The need is pressing, Evans said. Without supplies, life has pretty much ground to a halt on some reserves. Construction of desperately needed homes has stopped, schools and nursing stations are shut down and food prices are rising.
Some companies are even taking advantage of the situation and jacking up their prices, Evans added.
"People already living in poverty become even more disadvantaged."
The muddy northern roads are stranding more drivers, launching rescue efforts by RCMP.
A rescue plane was dispatched on Friday to get a dozen members of the remote Island Hill First Nation who had become stuck on their way home from Winnipeg and were reported missing by family.
They apparently found shelter at a lodge on Wrong Lake, about 300 kilometres north of Winnipeg. When the plane arrived at the lodge, no one was there and Sgt. Line Karpish said officers were trying to track the people down.
"We never had information that people were in jeopardy in terms of personal safety. It's quite possible that they found rides and got themselves out, like some of the truck drivers that we know were out there."
That's exactly what happened, Karpish said in a news release late Friday. Thirteen people were picked up by a convoy of 30 semi-trailer trucks that were slowly making their way from the Island Lake area to the Bloodvein First Nation.
Karpish said the people from the communities of Garden Hill First Nation and St. Theresa Point were located by helicopter and had "no immediate medical concerns."
Const. Xavier Pilon, with the RCMP's Island Lake detachment, said the early spring sweeping Manitoba seems to have caught people off guard. Despite warnings from the band council and RCMP, people are still taking their chances on the deteriorating roads, he said.
"The weather conditions are exceptional. Usually the roads are open for a longer period of time and people know when to stop using them," he said. "There are big ruts and people are saying it's impossible to (navigate) the road."
Even further north, a trucker spent two days stuck in the wilderness before being rescued Thursday by RCMP from the Oxford House area. The man was returning from delivering groceries to the local First Nation when he became bogged down. RCMP said he had no means of communication so they chartered a helicopter to find him.
The 29-year-old driver was rescued "in good health but a little shook up about the ordeal as he had been stuck for about two days," RCMP said.
Other truck drivers were also reportedly stranded along Manitoba's extensive ice road system, but many were being rescued by their companies without the help of police.
Manitoba chiefs, provincial and federal representatives are scheduled to gather Monday in Winnipeg to discuss the situation