Driving the ice road: a journey along a community’s disappearing lifeline

There are approximately 8,000 km of ice roads in all 32 communities across Ontario by winter roads.

The James Bay Winter Road is part of a temporary network of winter roads connecting the James Bay coast to the rest of the country to the south.

People squeeze in a year ’s worth of travel into less than two months : seeing family, going to doctor's appointments.

The winter road season typically lasts from January to March , but the season is getting shorter due to climate change.

Research has found that half of Canada ’s winter roads will be unusable in 30 years .

A report by the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in 2023 notes that climate change has reduced the length of winter road seasons from an average of 77 days to as few as 28 days or less.

The winter road’s website has a small box on the right-hand side, saying if it's open or closed, but that decision is made by the people on the ground.

“A lot of people get stuck there,” says Etherington , who drives the section of the road.

Nakogee posts religiously on a group for the Fort Albany section, letting people know if it is safe to drive.

A barebones ticket for the 30-minute roundtrip flight from Fort Albany to Moosonee is about $500 .