THUNDER BAY — First Nations say big investments are needed to address an “aviation infrastructure crisis” in Ontario’s remote northern communities.
“Our people depend on these airports to get to medical appointments, bring food and supplies into their communities, and evacuate safely during emergencies,” Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said.
“When aircrafts cannot land, the consequences can be life threatening. Our chiefs have called for action, and our communities have identified what they need. Canada and Ontario must commit the funding to get this work done.”
Fiddler was one of the speakers in a news conference held Wednesday afternoon in Toronto by NAN and Chiefs of Ontario.
The organizations also launched a 26-minute documentary, Holding Pattern, that makes a case for improving airports in Wunnumin Lake, Sandy Lake, Attawapiskat and other remote First Nations.
In the documentary, an Attawapiskat First Nation resident is asked if he feels confident “that if someone in your family needed to get airlifted to the hospital, you could count on that.”
“No,” he replied. “My daughter died in January this year waiting for an air ambulance, and it didn’t make it because of the weather.”
Fiddler said at the news conference that many of the airports serving NAN members are a half-century old.
“And over the course of (the airports’) lifetime, there’s been very little or no effort made to improve those airports,” he added.
“And here we are, in 2026, to give notice again to Ontario and Canada that we need resources to improve the safety of these runways.
“We need better lighting, and we need better navigational aids. We need our airstrips to be lengthened, so that they can accommodate a bigger aircraft.
“We need to have our runways paved so that when a big plane arrives to evacuate a community, they don’t interrupt the runway. And we need staffing to operate these airports 24/7.”
“Regulators, legislators, and industry and medical experts need to come to the table with First Nations to fix this problem,” Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict said in a news release from Chiefs of Ontario and NAN.
“We can’t lose another life unnecessarily because we refuse to improve our critical infrastructure.”
The organizations called on the province and the feds to “commit immediate and long-term infrastructure funding” and “develop a phased infrastructure improvement plan.”
They also said there needs to be an immediate safety audit of the 27 remote airports operated by the provincial Ministry of Transportation.
“Improving remote aviation infrastructure will not only strengthen safety and access to essential services, but also create employment opportunities, lower transportation costs, support economic development and reduce long-term costs for governments,” the joint news release said.
