Though he lives in one of the most remote parts of Quebec, at the 54th parallel near the northern point of James Bay, Abraham Rupert rarely feels isolated.
If he ever feels so inclined, the chief of about 4,000 Cree at Chisasibi First Nation can drive 14 hours straight on plowed asphalt all the way to Montreal.
“There are people (who make the drive) in one shot,” Rupert said Monday from his community overlooking the Grand River.
Highway 109 in northwestern Quebec was built decades ago to facilitate hydro development. A separate 90-km branch road — also paved — leads directly into Chisasibi.
Year-round road access means that Chisasibi doesn’t have to bear the exorbitant cost of having heavy freight like fuel flown in — a relative luxury that Chisasibi’s 54th-parallel dwelling counterparts in Northwestern Ontario don’t have.
Currently Northwestern Ontario’s most northerly paved road — Highway 599 — stops at Pickle Lake just above the 51st parallel, a full 250 km shorter than Quebec’s Highway 109.
That could change if the Ring of Fire mining complex is developed about 500 km north of Thunder Bay in a few year’s time.
But it’s not yet clear what role the Ontario government and mining companies would play in creating an-all season road, or whether it would be paved like Highway 109.
Most of Northwestern Ontario’s remote First Nations rely on a network of seasonal winter roads, a system the province funds, but is only effective when the mercury remains low for several weeks.
Rupert said the Quebec provincial highway which has connected his reserve to the rest of the province was a mixed blessing.
“There are economic benefits and we are not isolated,” he said. “But personally, it was not all great: the hydro brought dams that affected our lands.
“We used to be on an island, and then we had to move.”