Northern Ontario is seeing a ‘shorter window’ on only overland routes for vital deliveries to remote First Nations At first there was no answer on the satellite phone. But on the third call, Donald Meeseetawageesic heard his sister’s voice. “We need somebody to come and tow us out,” he told her. It was a warmer-than-normal night in early March and Meeseetawageesic, the elected band councillor for Eabametoong First Nation, was stranded in a 4×4 truck on the dark winter road leading to his community. The tyres were stuck in the deep snow and the temperature outside was below freezing. Help was about 60km (37 miles) away. View image in fullscreen Donald Meeseetawageesic, left, and his brother John use a satellite phone to call for help after getting stuck on the winter road between Pickle Lake and Eabametoong First Nation in Ontario. Made entirely of snow and ice, the winter road forms a vital route connecting Eabametoong in northern Ontario to cities farther south. It has 24 snow bridges spanning creeks, and a daunting 5.5-km crossing over a frozen lake. But warmer winters are making the route unpredictable: the snow bridges are weakening and the lake ice is thinning. With lake ice thinning, the overland supply lifeline becomes more fragile each year as warming temperatures shorten the winter season. Photograph: Ed Ou/The Guardian View image in fullscreen In past decades, temperatures have been cold enough in March for a firm road surface. But this year, a mild winter has softened the snowy road, and as Meeseetawageesic and his brother drove along the road, their truck got stuck in the snow. More than 50 Indigenous communities – with a total population of 56,000 people – depend on about 6,000km of winter roads. John Meeseetawageesic, left, and his brother Donald build a […]