CEGC 1: Resilient infrastructure: Marten Falls First Nation​ & Caledon

Marten Falls First Nation

Remote communities access

Marten Falls First Nation is located at the junction of the Albany and Ogoki rivers, approximately 170 kilometers northeast of Nakina and approximately 400 km northeast of Thunder Bay. The total population was 853,396 on reserve and 457 off reserve as of December 2022 (Government of Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs). It is a fly-in community with no year-round road access. The fly-in conditions of Marten Falls result in very high cost for passenger and goods transportation. The closest city which can be accessed year-round by road is Nakina. In the winter, the community can be accessed by winter roads when weather permits (Marten Falls First Nation Access Roads, Government of Canada). Marten Falls Community Access Road Project).  Winter roads are “built over land, frozen rivers and lakes by remote communities and First Nation members to connect remote and First Nation communities in the Far North to a permanent highway or railway system. These roads exist from around mid-January until spring thaw” (Government of Ontario, Northern Ontario Winter Roads). Winter roads are affected by climate change and their conditions are variable and becoming unreliable (Marten Falls First Nation Access Roads). To address the unreliability of winter roads, Marten Falls First Nation is proposing the construction and operation, including maintenance, of an all-season multi-use community access road, approximately 190 to 230 kilometers, connecting the northern end of Painter Lake forestry road to the community of Marten Falls. As proposed, the Marten Falls Community Access Road Project will increase potential opportunities for economic development (Government of Canada, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada). On January 13, 2023, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada has extended the three-year time limit for Marten Falls First Nation to provide the information or studies for the project’s impact assessment with the new deadline as July 24, 2026 (Government of Canada, Notice of Time Limit Extension).

References

Caledon

Proposed Highway 413

The Ontario government has proposed highway 413 that would extend from Milton to Vaughan and cut through the lower part of the municipality of Caledon. The proposed 4-6 lane highway will be 59km long with 11 interchanges to municipal roads and provide easier access to other 400 series highways (Government of Canada). The population of Caledon was approximately  76,000 people in 2021 (Statistics Canada). Some of its residents are strongly against the building of highway 413. These residents are worried about the effect of increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with this highway, with the projected additional 17.4M tonnes of GHG by 2050 (CBC, 2021). It is unclear if highway 413 will improve congestion or if it will primarily add new cars to the road and promote urban sprawl. When analyzing the construction of the highway, the economy of the region may be improved by increasing the number of individuals moving to Caledon while impacts on the ecology, habitat, water streams and land may be significant.

References

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Enabling the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges for Educators - Encourageons la dissémination par les éducateurs des grands défis pour le génie canadien Copyright © by Nadine Ibrahim; Christine Moresoli; and John Donald is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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