Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated (SSI) is once again calling for the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, but this time, the organization is framing the project as a national defence priority.
On April 8, SSI released a report titled ‘Securing Canada’s Link to the Arctic: the National Defence and Security Benefits of the Mackenzie Valley Project.’ It highlights the highway’s importance to the country’s national security goals, pointing to the North’s infrastructure challenges as a big problem in the face of Russia and China’s pushes into the Arctic.
“[The military] needs that road if they have to transport equipment or whatever,” SSI chairman Charles McNeely said. “Why not complete the road to help with Arctic sovereignty and protection? It would be good to see a [military] presence down this way on a regular basis.
“It shows the rest of the world that we’re developing Canada, we’re protecting our people. This road shows the world that Canada is making its presence known in the North.”
The Mackenzie Valley Highway, which would be a two-lane, all-season gravel road, has been a point of discussion among people in the Sahtu for decades. It’s estimated that the project could cost upward of $1 billion to complete. However, the federal government recently committed to spending more than $70 billion on national defence over the next two decades, and in the process emphasized the importance of strengthening its military presence in the North.
That announcement from Ottawa has filled McNeely and his colleagues with renewed optimism that the Mackenzie Valley Highway might soon become a reality.
“I’m starting to feel good about it now, now that we’ve got a lot of publicity about our calls for a road,” he said. “I think now people know the need is here, and the time is now. Let’s get it done now, because if we wait another three or four years, the costs will keep rising, the costs will rise drastically.”
While SSI is pitching the highway as an important step toward Canada’s security goals, it would benefit people in the Sahtu and other Northerners in many other ways.
Climate change is already taking an immense toll on people in the North, as slow winter freezes have delayed the creation of ice roads, and low water levels have impacted long-established shipping routes. An all-season road would make travel and the transport of goods through the region much easier, which could in turn lower the high prices of many goods, the report states. The North has also been plagued by devastating floods and wildfires in recent years, and the road would make it easier for people to escape those crises.
McNeely is hoping the many benefits of the road are finally becoming clear to people within and outside of the territory.
“They’re probably starting to know now, with us that live here letting people know about the cost of living and the transportation costs,” he said. “We see it happening. I live with it every day here in Fort Good Hope. I see global warming, I see everything that’s affecting us right now. Our shorelines are being washed away. There are landslides going into the Mackenzie River. The water levels are going low. Where boats could go before, boats can’t go now.”
McNeely is planning a trip to Ottawa in the near future to make a case for the road in person.
“The SSI board consists of all the presidents of all the land corporations in our region,” he said. “Keep on lobbying – that’s what we’ve been told [by them]. We put money aside to meet with the chief in Wrigley, trying to get everyone on the same page, and we’re going to go lobby in Ottawa, that’s part of the plan too.
“We’re not giving up now. We’re just starting. We’re going to keep moving ahead.”