Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD
A Fort Liard resident is calling on the government to fix the hamlet's ailing boat launch but representatives for the municipal and territorial governments say it's not their responsibility.

John Gonet says the boat launch in Fort Liard is falling apart and needs repair. The only way he can get his jet boat out of the water there is by using two four-wheel drive trucks to haul it out. - photo courtesy of John Gonet

"There has got to be somebody that has to maintain that thing," said John Gonet. "Let's get a decent boat ramp in there. "

In 1994, Fort Liard was given funding by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to install a dock at the boat launch, according to Earl Blacklock, spokesperson for the department. But, time and harsh weather hasn't been kind to the structure or to the boat launch area and it is now nearly impossible to remove a vessel from the water there, Gonet said.

"Putting the boat in isn't a problem but I have a jet boat there and I've got a one ton (truck) with dual wheels on the back and four wheel drive. I could not even pull my boat up with that truck," he said. "I had to call my daughter to come down with her truck and then hook onto me and pull me up. That's the only way I could get up there."

It's very difficult to get any traction on the hill leading up from the water, where people take their boats out, because of an excess amount of silt left over from the high water levels seen earlier this summer, Gonet said.

"It's just terrible. I really don't know how the other boats are getting pulled out," he said. "I would really like to see that boat launch fixed up."

Funding available

But representatives of the hamlet and the DOT both say it isn't their responsibility. John McKee, Fort Liard's chief administrative officer, said it was the DOT that put in the boat launch and community dock and it is their responsibility to take care of it.

"We have nothing to do with it ... It's on a reserve piece of property in the name of the GNWT," McKee said, adding the hamlet isn't given any money to maintain it.

On the other hand, Blacklock said, the DOT may have provided Fort Liard with the funds to build the dock but it is up to the hamlet to take care of the structure.

"If the community leaders want to update it or improve it or replace it, there is funding for projects like that under the community access program. But it is their dock, it is their responsibility. It is not ours," Blacklock said.

Whatever level of government the boat launch falls under, there needs to be change, said Gonet.

"I want somebody there to open up their eyes," he said. "Fort Liard has always been put on the back burner. It's a sad thing to say but something has to be done here."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.