Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Aklavik is one of 10 communities in the NWT that have only seasonal access to a gravel source. Aklavik gets about 23 tonnes of gravel per year from Willow River, which is 18 kilometres from town, or 27 kilometres if you take the Peel River channel. Every year the community builds an ice road to reach the gravel source. It can cost as much as $3,000 per kilometre, plus maintenance. Gravel is stockpiled in the community during the winter months so it can be used the rest of the year. Pit operations, ice thickness and safety have to be carefully planned to successfully operate this road. Stockpiling isn’t practical.
Sadly, global warming is limiting our winter road season, as mentioned by the Minister of Transportation earlier today. It seems that it will get worse in the future. Aklavik needs all-weather access to its gravel source. The gravel at Willow River is high quality.
Not only do we need it in Aklavik, we need good gravel to build the Inuvik-Tuk highway, and lots of it. That project would provide great opportunities to Aklavik, where the employment rate is close to half the NWT average. In the last 20 years it has rarely been above 40 percent. There are simply more people than jobs. An all-weather road would offer great opportunities for quarry operators, maintenance and servicing the community. There are no plans in this year’s budget to start work on an all-weather road to Willow River gravel source.
In the last Assembly the GNWT was able to complete an all-weather road to Tuktoyaktuk’s gravel source. This was a successful project that will bring lasting benefits to the community. If a project like this can be done in Tuktoyaktuk, it can be done in Aklavik. We need to get the Willow River gravel source into our plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
