It’s been some time since the community of Aklavik has been endeavouring to get connected to the rest of the world via a connection to the Dempster Highway from the community of Aklavik.
There have been discussions over the years with the Department of Transportation, the hamlet, the municipality and the Association of Municipalities by way of motions that have been passed to investigate the possibility of connecting the community to the Dempster Highway.
A road to a quarry for gravel, such as the one at Willow River, is about 5 kilometres from the community, yet in light of the floods of two years ago and shore erosion and climate change, it is now becoming more apparent that the need for access to a better road to the quarry site is an essential service.
My colleague from Tuktoyaktuk and his community face a similar challenge in terms of global warming and shoreline erosion. As a government we are responsible for protecting our people, our property and, more importantly, the government assets that are in those communities.
I find it amazing that we are going through a process of looking at red-flagged projects, but there is no mention of these projects. Also, in light of a municipal strategic budget item that has been presented in regard to capital for tax-based and non–tax-based communities, there is only one non–tax-based community, Nahanni Butte, which is receiving money from this project, and no other non–tax-based community.
There's also talk about a Canadian building fund in regard to accessing funds from the federal government of some $25 million a year. But again, when will the communities of Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk have access to these important dollars, to meet the challenges we face because of the lack of access to quarry sites and gravel, which is urgently needed to improve the infrastructure in our communities?
At the appropriate time I will have questions for the Premier, asking exactly what this government is doing to ensure that we have this critical piece of infrastructure in place for our communities.
