Work is officially underway on a portion of the all-season road to the mineral-rich region of northern Ontario known as the Ring of Fire.
Thursday saw Ontario Premier Doug Ford fly into the remote Webequie community for the first time since taking office in 2018 to celebrate a construction milestone for the long-awaited work.
“We’re delivering on our promise to protect Ontario, and we are doing so in partnership with First Nations, to support true economic reconciliation,” Ford said in a statement.
“We appreciate the partnership of First Nations leaders and communities, including Chief Lorraine Whitehead and Webequie First Nation, as we continue our work to create opportunity and prosperity across the north.”
Since it was first elected in 2018, the Ford government has sought to create an all-season road to the Ring of Fire, which is home to remote First Nations as well as a range of critical minerals and potential mining opportunities.
The Ring of Fire is an area sought by major mining companies for its range of critical minerals, which are key to various modern technologies like phones and batteries.
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The Ford government put extra emphasis on building an all-season road to the area to make large-scale mining possible in the 2025 snap election.
The premier pitched it as a solution to make Ontario more economically self-sufficient and to give it resources that the United States may want to partner on.
Since winning the 2025 election, the government has accelerated work on the project, which has undergone expedited environmental assessments.
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The road will be made up of several sections, which are being pushed forward in partnership with some First Nations groups in the area.
One of the three sections is being built in partnership with Webequie First Nation, a remote community 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay that is currently only accessible by plane when the ice roads melt.
The government said the Webequie Supply Road, which it celebrated the construction beginning on, will be open by November 2030. It will run 107 kilometres east through wildly varied terrain, from esker rock to peatland and make 31 water crossings.
The province said construction will wrap four years ahead of schedule, though it has never said when it had hoped to complete the long-discussed road to the proposed mining region.
The rest of the road to the Ring of Fire will be composed of the Marten Falls Community Access Road, upgrades to some existing roads and the Northern Road Link, which will begin construction next year.
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