N.W.T. communities still lack road access: Gwich'in leader

The federal government is wasting money on fixing the Dempster Highway in the Northwest Territories when many remote communities in the territory still lack basic road access, says an aboriginal leader.

Gwich'in Tribal Council president Charles Furlong said Prime Minister Stephen Harper is ignoring smaller N.W.T. communities when he announced funding to repair and upgrade five existing N.W.T. highways.

In announcing the funding on Thursday, Harper said the Dempster, which runs from Dawson City, Yukon, to Inuvik, N.W.T., would receive the largest share of the money.

But Furlong said he had hoped Harper would extend Highway 1, the Mackenzie Highway, from Wrigley all the way north to Tuktoyaktuk.

"Without economic development and major infrastructure, you know, we're really at a loss for jobs and training and everything like that. It's hard on people," Furlong told CBC News on Friday from Aklavik, N.W.T.

Harper did announce money for work on the Mackenzie Highway, but he did not specify what kind of work will be done. Funding was also announced to fix the Ingraham Trail, the Liard Highway and the Fort Resolution Highway.

Gravel road

The N.W.T. portion of the Mackenzie Highway, which also runs through northern Alberta, is a combination of paved and gravel road running 693 kilometres from the Alberta-N.W.T. border northwest to Wrigley.

The 735-kilometre Dempster Highway, which runs from Dawson City, Yukon, to Inuvik, N.W.T., is mostly gravel road.

The Dempster was the idea of then prime minister John Diefenbaker, who launched it in 1958 as part of his Roads to Resources program.

"Diefenbaker said he was going to unite the whole of Canada, from sea to sea to sea, and I think the Conservative government could have at least made the announcement to complete prime minister Diefenbaker's dream of extending those highways and extending the Mackenzie Highway from Fort Wrigley to Tuktoyaktuk," Furlong said.

"I think that would have been the economic wish of many people, that at least something is going to happen in this end and what better way to establish [Arctic] sovereignty than to build a road right to where the resources are?"

In Inuvik, N.W.T., Gwich'in Chief Herbert Blake agreed that repairing an existing highway seems like a waste of money.

"We need to have access to our neighbours up and down the valley. To us, that's a lot more important," Blake said.

At the same time, Blake said improvements to the Dempster could boost tourism to the Inuvik area, and federal funding for job training could benefit small communities.

Still, both Blake and Furlong said Harper's announcement, which was part of the prime minister's five-day tour across Canada's North last week, was really aimed at getting votes.