The Honourable Lisa Dempster, Minister of Labrador Affairs and Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation, today announced that Labrador Affairs is partnering with SmartICE to monitor and maintain the winter snowmobile route between Nain and Natuashish.

SmartICE is renowned for its work in developing climate change adaptation tools and services that integrate Indigenous knowledge of ice with ice-monitoring technology. The information which is gathered by SmartICE helps communities and residents in Northern Labrador and Canada’s North make more informed decisions before travelling on sea ice so they can avoid dangerous or hazardous areas.

Through the partnership, the Department of Labrador Affairs will provide $104,650 to SmartICE through existing funding in the Labrador Transportation Grooming Subsidy (LTGS) program to monitor and maintain the winter trail system from Nain to Natuashish, a distance spanning some 100 kilometres, for the 2024 season. SmartICE technology will monitor the ice along the trail and provide communities and Labrador Affairs with data-driven insights into sea-ice thickness and local ice conditions in real-time.

The Labrador Transportation Grooming Subsidy is a longstanding program which supports winter transportation links for isolated Labrador communities. The Department of Labrador Affairs consults communities and works directly with service providers who have responsibility for marking, grooming and monitoring trails and routes that serve the following communities: Nain, Natuashish, Hopedale, Makkovik, Postville, Rigolet, Black Tickle, Mud Lake and Norman Bay.

Climate change, resulting in less predictable and shorter ice seasons, is impacting northern communities and raising concerns about the risk of travel over sea ice. Residents in northern and isolated communities rely on sea ice to hunt and gather food to feed their families, collect wood to heat their homes, and visit family and friends in neighbouring communities. SmartICE is augmenting Indigenous knowledge of safe ice travel with advanced monitoring technology. As a community-based Work Integrated Social Enterprise, SmartICE also supports Indigenous culture, intergenerational teaching and community building, and creating sustainable employment.

The partnership arrangement with SmartICE will be assessed and the results of follow-up discussions and consultations with communities will determine the potential for expanding the ice-monitoring technology in other areas of Labrador that depend on travel by snowmobile.

Quotes
“It has been proven that accessibility to the land, ice and water is essential to maintaining health and well-being, especially in northern communities. We are enthused about the partnership we have established with SmartICE and anticipate positive benefits for residents in Nain and Natuashish who will have the tools to make more informed decisions before they travel on sea ice.”
Honourable Lisa Dempster
Minister of Labrador Affairs
Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation

“I’m excited for the partnership with the Department of Labrador Affairs and SmartICE to monitor and maintain the trail from Nain to Nataushish. Trail users will now have access to ice thickness data from SmartICE’s SmartKAMUTIK mobile sensor, which will help plan community members’ travel routes. SmartICE will frequently disseminate information through a variety of ways including social media, SIKU and Labrador Affairs.”
Rex Holwell
Manager of Nunatsiavut Operations, SmartICE

-30-

Learn more
SmartICE

Labrador Transportation Grooming Subsidy

Follow us on X @GovNL @OLA_GovNL @SmartICE_Arctic

Like us on Facebook GovNL SmartICE

BACKGROUNDER

Labrador Transportation Grooming Subsidy Program

• $3.4 million was allocated in Budget 2023 to enhance safe snowmobile travel for residents of Labrador’s isolated communities.
• A total of $3,200,000 funded the purchase of new groomers, snowmobiles, equipment, buildings, trail markers and warming shelters.
• Annual operating costs were increased in Budget 2023 by $140,000 to reflect increasing operational costs, which brings the program’s annual operating budget to $611,000.

SmartICE

• In addition to the winter trails project, SmartICE is operational in all five Nunatsiavut communities. SmartICE will offer operator training in Natuashish later this ice season.
• SmartICE is a community-based organization offering climate change adaptation tools, designed in partnership with Indigenous communities to support ice travel safety.
• SmartICE was co-created with the Nunatsiavut Government in response to the extremely dangerous ice conditions experienced by Nain residents in 2010.
• SmartICE, founded in 2016, has partnered with more than 30 communities across Inuit Nunangat and the northern territories.
• Ice data is made available to community members through the Indigenous Knowledge Social Network (SIKU). Go to siku.org or download the mobile app to access the SmartKAMUTIK sea ice data. Data will also be disseminated through social media on the SmartICE Nunatsiavut Facebook page.