As the school bus drove over Ginoogaming First Nation’s modular bridge for the first time, the sounds of cheering children could be heard from outside.
“They’re so excited to have this bridge in place. It means a lot to our people,” said the First Nation’s chief, Sheri Taylor. “Our people have been through so much.”
The bridge is a temporary fix to an issue that left the northwestern Ontario community without a key access point.
The First Nation opened the bridge across the Making Ground River Thursday, after the previous structure was forced to close earlier this month, prompting community leadership to declare a state of emergency.
The community declared an earlier state of emergency in May over safety concerns around escalating violence and alcohol-related crime.
“We would like to acknowledge the sacrifice community members made for 22 days and their support in standing with us as we move towards getting a new permanent bridge,” Taylor said in a statement on Thursday.
The previous 70-year-old bridge connected the First Nation to Longlac, in the Municipality of Greenstone, linking its 200 on-reserve members to many services in the region.
Recently, an engineering inspection determined the bridge was at risk of immediate failure. The First Nation said it has been warning both the provincial and federal governments about the state of the bridge for the last 20 years.
“Ginoogaming First Nation acted quickly as there was little confidence that its Treaty partners, Ontario and Canada, would take decisive action to restore access to the community,” says a media release from the community.
The modular bridge is a temporary solution, which means the emergency declaration will remain in place, said Taylor.
“For the community, we showed our commitment to self-determination and decolonization because members of our Nation who crossed the bridge every day knew that it was unsafe. We want this bridge to one day be a positive symbol of a Nation-to-Nation relationship with our Treaty partners,” she said.
A spokesperson for Patty Hajdu, minister of Indigenous Services Canada, provided an emailed statement to CBC News about the situation on Friday afternoon.
“Canada is at the table and we are actively looking into solutions with Ginoogaming First Nation leadership. Canada, Ontario and Ginoogaming First Nation have been in active discussions to set up a working group focused on the repair and maintenance of the bridge,” it says.
CBC News has also reached out to Ontario’s Ministry of Indigenous Affairs for comment.
‘We’ve had some really close calls’
The modular bridge has brought a sense of relief, especially during emergency situations, Taylor told CBC News.
“We’ve had some really close calls,” she said, and described a situation where a person with pneumonia had to walk over the bridge to meet the ambulance on the other side.
The only alternative route in and out of the community takes people an extra 40 to 50 minutes along a bush road, “which is not maintained well,” Taylor said.
That’s why it was important to get an interim bridge in place as quickly as possible, especially for the winter, she explained.
“We took it upon ourselves to do this because just from our experience working with governments, whether it’s federal, provincial, they do take a lot of time — and we don’t have time,” Taylor said.
The First Nation will be meeting with members of the provincial and federal governments next week to discuss a permanent solution to the community’s infrastructure needs, she said.