Mapping winter road connections to remote First Nations communities in Canada

Winter roads are seasonally constructed transport routes over frozen land, lakes and rivers, allowing heavy and voluminous goods to reach remote Canadian First Nations communities in a practical and relatively affordable way. As climate change in sub-Arctic regions leads to the most pronounced temperature increases in winter, it results in shorter operating seasons and threatens essential supply and access routes. Different systems of funding and documenting this infrastructure have left an inconsistent federal record of varying temporal and spatial accuracy. Here, we have assembled a dataset that presents verified winter roads to First Nations communities for the 2022–23 season, categorised by surface type land, river ice, and lake ice. Newly constructed all-season roads and previously undocumented local roads are included, as are ice crossings connecting permanent highways. Current location and distance information can thus be derived from this easily updated dataset and used as a base for further analysis and infrastructure planning as part of a strategy to supply and connect remote First Nations. © 2025 The Authors