All-Season Road

Whatì All-Season Road - Part 1 from Tlicho Government on Vimeo.

The Tłı̨chǫ Government has been working with the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Transportation to develop a proposal for an all-season road to Whatì. The proposed Road would follow the route of the old winter road to Whatì. See the map below (or view map in PDF here);

The proposed road will be built mostly on Territorial land, but about 17 km will be built on what are now Tłı̨chǫ Lands. However, the Tłı̨chǫ Government will swap the land with the GNWT, so that the full length of the road is on Territorial lands. This will ensure that full liability for road operation rests properly with the GNWT. The total length of the road will be about 95km. A number of bridges and culverts will be built to cross rivers and streams along the route.

Once the road is in, the region will have access year round, which will decrease the cost of living and increase the amount of time that the winter roads to Gamètì and Wekweètì are operable. There are social impacts that the Tłı̨chǫ Government and Whatì Community Government have carefully examined through studies, consultations and the Interagency Committee. Both governments have committed to implement programs and measures to promote community health and resilience in this time of change.

The Tłı̨chǫ Government and GNWT have been studying the idea of an all-season road to Whatì since the 1980’s and produced a number of reports on the proposal. The impacts of the road, to the environment and our communities are described in detail in the “Project Description Report”. This report describes in great detail how the road will be built, what the expected impacts are and the process that must be followed to approve the construction of the road.

What’s Next? (Updated August 3, 2016)

The Wek’èezhìi Land and Water Board cannot issue permits for the project until the Environmental Assessment is complete.

• The GNWT will issue the Project Description Report in 2016, (Read GNWT Project Description Report here in PDF). 
• The Tłı̨chǫ Government has published a Socio-Economic Report on Whatì (Read Socio-Economic Report here in PDF).
• The Tłı̨chǫ Government and the Whatì Community Government have made Mitigation Commitments (Read Mitigation Commitments here in PDF). 
• The Tłı̨chǫ Government has published a Traditional Knowledge Report on the proposed All-Season Road to Whatì (Read the TK Report here in PDF).

Newsletters:

• TASR April 2016 Vol 1 No 1 newsletter.pdf
• TASR April 2016 Vol 1 No 2 newsletter.pdf
• TASR June 2016 Vol 1 No 3 newsletter.pdf

For more information on the Tłı̨chǫ all-season road please contact: