Sahtu leaders to push for winter road connecting Fort Good Hope to Inuvik, N.W.T.

The Sahtu Secretariat Inc. (SSI) will advocate for a winter road that connects Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., to Inuvik.

The idea was presented at the recent SSI annual general meeting by Paul T'Seleie, a Fort Good Hope resident. He argued that the road could connect the entire territory in the winter months and could make for easier access to goods.

"We don't have much options with the no barging now, and surging costs of things," he said, referring to this year's cancelled barges because of low water on the MacKenzie River.

"Having a winter road from both north and south that connects both regions, I think it reduces driving distances... we could take advantages of Inuvik too."

It's about 320 kilometres, as the crow flies, from Fort Good Hope to Inuvik, whereas Fort Simpson, in the opposite direction, is around 700 kilometres away, and Yellowknife is another 630 kilometres from there.

T'Seleie adds it could also benefit the Beaufort Delta by offering a shorter drive to southern N.W.T. This would be by following the usual Mackenzie Valley winter road instead of taking the Dempster Highway through the Yukon and into northern B.C. 

At the annual meeting last month in Fort Good Hope, SSI directors voted in favour of a resolution to advocate for the winter road.

Charles McNeely, the SSI chairperson, says the road would follow a route that was used to build the fibre optic line. 

"When they put the fibre optic line in, and actually some of our beneficiaries from here used that road to go to Inuvik — so it could be done."

As for next steps, McNeely says SSI will discuss the idea with N.W.T. government.

The idea of the winter road comes as the community looks for temporary solutions to an ongoing affordability crisis caused by a lack of barge shipments. 

"Everything is flown in, so the prices are way, way up ... Some families are having a rough time because the cost is so high," said Fort Good Hope elder Frank T'seleie.

At the Northern Store in Fort Good Hope, a case of Pepsi costs about $30, a can of beans is over $7 and a large bottle of water costs $7.99. 

Comparatively, in Yellowknife that same case of Pepsi costs about $9, the beans will cost you just under $2 and a larger bottle of water costs $1.79.