b'COMMUNITY-LED PROJECTMARTEN FALLS COMMUNITY Leads Environmental Assessment ProcessA change to development as usualU nder the leadership of localscheduled flights to run two to three daysroad studies, but none have matched the Community Advisors and thea week. However, this schedule fluctuatespresent access road EA project in scale Chief and Council, a Firstwith general economic conditions.or potential. The MFFN now embarks Nation community in northernThe winter roadopen every year foron a journey where we look forward to Ontario is lending their time to forge plansonly a few weeksis an essential lifelinea brighter future because of access to for a new all-season access road in for the community. Larger supplies forthe provincial highway system. We look their community. construction projects can only cometo a future where MFFN members and through the winter road. As such, mostyouth can begin to feel we have a rightful Background plans in the community are subject toplace in this resource-rich country we Over the past few decades, betterthe winter road schedule, which is lesscall Canada.communication and infrastructurepredictable now with worseninghave transformed many parts of theclimate change.A Community-Led Processcountry. However, some partsincludingThe EA is a community-led process. Indigenous communitieshave been leftTo address their continuing isolation, theUnder leadership of MFFN Community behind. In many ways, that is the storyMFFN started a number of studies overAdvisors and the MFFNs Chief and of the Marten Falls First Nation (MFFN),the past few decades to plan for ways theyCouncil, the community is leading an Anishinabeg community located atcould potentially connect to the provincialand shaping plans for this important the junction of the Albany and Ogokihighway and improve their socio-economicinitiative. In many ways, this has rivers. Community members remembercondition. Some studies looked at waysbeen made possible because of the stories of floatplanes that used to come inin which the winter roads reliabilityactive participation of the community. unpredictably, and how members wouldcould be improved, while others lookedCommunity members come out and have to be ready to leave at a momentsat potential routes to make an all-seasonparticipate in EA events by volunteering notice when the planes finally came.road. The community eventually launchedtheir time to provide vital input and Dams for hydro generation in the 1930san Environmental Assessment (EA) for afeedback that informs the planning ofdiverted water away from the AlbanyCommunity Access Road in 2019, buildingthe project. river, impacting the communitys abilityon decades of earlier planning work.Environmental protection is very to use the river system and making aThe MFFN is proud to have come thisimportant to the community and its floatplane landing less certain. Today,far with a community access road EA,members, who want to see the best there is a gravel runway in the communityChief Bruce Achneepineskum says. Thestandards for protection utilized in this allowing regular airplanes to land and forFirst Nation has completed a number ofproject. The MFFN has undertaken an www.afn.ca 75'