Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to rise just to honour the original ice bridge workers from Fort Providence. For over 50 years, generations of workers braved extreme cold and deathly cold conditions to build and maintain the ice bridge across the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. They did this for the last time in the winter of 2011-2012. With the opening of the Deh Cho Bridge, there will no longer be an ice crossing at Fort Providence.
Building ice roads is hard and dangerous work. It involves long days and nights in all kinds of weather, and the risks of being the first and the last to test the strength of the ice. There is a lot of pressure to get the roads open and to keep them open as long as possible. It takes dedication and determination to make that happen. Today I would like to honour all of those who, over the years, made sure that there was a safe crossing for the rest of us.
According to Mr. Richard Lafferty, he states that early ice bridge workers first began in 1963, and the crew included Mr. Max Sanderson, Mr. Archie Landry, Mr. John McLeod and the late John Bonnetrouge. Think of all the travellers who drove over the ice bridge on their way north or south. Think of all the equipment, groceries and other goods and materials, even entire manufactured homes and buildings, that came across the ice to supply Fort Providence, Behchoko, Yellowknife and all the mines north of Great Slave Lake. It’s amazing to imagine how much traffic used the crossing over the decades. The ice bridge workers might not have thought of it this way at the time, but through their efforts they made a tremendous contribution to the quality of life for residents, the success of local businesses and the NWT economy as a whole.
I hope that this House will join me in thanking all the Fort Providence ice bridge workers for their service to the Northwest Territories, and also all those workers who continue to build other ice roads elsewhere in the NWT. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
