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WCS Canada comment: Draft Environmental Assessment/Impact Statement – Marten Falls First Nation Community Access Road Project

Palmer, L., Gobin, J., Harris, L., Kirkwood, A., O'Connor, C. & Ray, J.

Access

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WCS Canada's formal response to the request for public input on the draft Environmental Assessment/Impact Statement for the proposed Marten Falls First Nation Community Access Road Project in northwestern Ontario.

Key points

We are concerned with the provincial and federal governments’ environmental and impact assessment for the three proposed road projects that will functionally form a single access route to what is being called the Ring of Fire area by mining companies. We have consistently recommended a more integrated, forward-looking process.

Our current comments on the Marten Falls Community Access Road come in light of the continued gaps in the provincial and federal regulatory processes for the region that remain unresolved. Among these, one primary concern is the treatment of the Marten Falls Community Access Road, Webequie Supply Road, and Northern Road Link as separate undertakings, despite their functional interconnection as a single infrastructure corridor. This disjointed approach prevents a fair and transparent evaluation of reasonable alternatives for the full corridor, ecological integrity, and cumulative regional effects.

It is important to distinguish our concerns with the regional planning process from our support for Marten Falls First Nation’s pursuit of community-led infrastructure. We recognize the right of Marten Falls First Nation to move forward in fulfilling their aspirations for all-season road access, and we applaud the community for advancing the Marten Falls Community Access Road project to this stage.

Against this backdrop, our comments address gaps we have identified in the draft Environmental Assessment/Impact Statement for the Marten Falls Community Access Road. These issues, although rooted in the regional context, can and should still be addressed within this project-level review.

Our recommendations include:

• Increased consideration of growth-inducing effects that are currently missing from the cumulative-effects analysis;

• More detail on impacts and mitigation approaches proposed for vegetation, hydrology, and soils, including forests, and peatlands, with related implications for long-term carbon storage and climate change, including considering greenhouse gas emissions from loss of stored carbon in forests and peatlands, and including more detail on the proposed floating road methodology; and

• Improved approaches for considering and mitigating barriers to wildlife and fish movement created by a road at the ecologically important ecotone between the Hudson Plains and Boreal Shield ecozones.

Recommended citation

Palmer, L., Gobin, J., Harris, L., Kirkwood, A., O'Connor, C. & Ray, J. (2025). WCS Canada comment: Draft Environmental Assessment/Impact Statement – Marten Falls First Nation Community Access Road Project. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]. https://wcscanada.org/resources/wcs-canada-comment-draft-environmental-assessment-impact-statement-marten-falls-first-nation-community-access-road-project/