By Mike Stimpson
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Thunder Bay Source
MARTEN FALLS — Youth on this remote reserve are “very excited” about a road link to Ontario highways and communities, Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said Thursday.
They’re “very excited to know it’s going to happen in a few short years, that they’ll be able to drive in and out of our community,” he told reporters at a news conference in Toronto.
The Marten Falls chief, Premier Doug Ford and Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford announced and signed a Community Partnership Agreement for development of the Marten Falls Community Access Road that will connect Achneepineskum’s fly-in community to highways.
The road will also serve as a key link in the proposed road network leading to the Ring of Fire, where mining companies hope to extract billions of dollars in critical minerals.
Construction of the road could begin next summer, according to a government news release.
“What a historic day it is,” said Ford, adding that the partnership helps unlock “the enormous potential of the Ring of Fire.”
Rickford said it’s “an extraordinary moment for us all” and the agreement “is a testament to our strong nation-to-nation partnership with Marten Falls First Nation.”
He added that Ontario “continues to build consensus on local priorities and shared legacy infrastructure as we continue advancing the next chapter of reconciliation.”
As part of the agreement, Marten Falls is getting $39.5 million from the province for better fibre-optic installation, wastewater system improvements and other infrastructure work.
The First Nation will, under the agreement, submit its environmental assessment for the road by Feb. 20 for construction to begin as soon as August.
“We are very excited for what this agreement represents, because it is not just an agreement that starts to move the Marten Falls Community Access Road towards construction, but it also represents a real and deeper partnership between Marten Falls and Ontario,” Achneepineskum is quoted saying in the news release.
“It actually means a commitment from Ontario for projects that we need to get started on,” he told Newswatch in a phone interview.
The benefits for Marten Falls include “healthy community members,” connection to communities to the south, and job training in mining and other sectors, he said.
The Marten Falls agreement follows agreements the province reached earlier this year with Aroland First Nation and Webequie First Nation.
Thursday’s news release said the new deal also “supports Ontario’s Critical Minerals Strategy to build an end-to-end critical minerals supply chain, with critical minerals mined and refined in Ontario by Ontario workers.”
Marten Falls is a remote Anishinaabe community located where the Albany and Ogoki rivers meet, approximately 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.