The Campbell Highway is an isolated, remote highway in eastern Yukon, connecting the community of Watson Lake on the east end and the community of Carmacks in the west.
The highway can be dangerous. There are a very few signs along the road, and the few that are there have become obstructed, overgrown by willows. One must really watch for animals crossing the road, since they are hard to spot because of all the overgrown brush.
From Finlayson Creek to the Faro turnoff, it might as well be called the “Washboard Road” not a highway, that’s how poorly maintained it is.
There are no machine operators at the Ross River Highway Maintenance Station. That section of the road hasn’t been graded or even watered for a number of years. It can take up to 3 hours at times to go from Ross River to Finlayson Creek. Most travellers on the road are Kaska people travelling from Ross River or Watson Lake and from time to time, the Ross River highway crew can be seen driving the Yukon Government vehicles on the road.
Tourists beware! The 583-kilometre long highway has no mechanic or tire shops and there is no cell service most of the way, so if you break down or hit a pothole and blow your tire, you might be on your own for a while. Very few people travel the highway at night, so be prepared to spend the night on the road if you break down, and hope that someone comes by to rescue you in the morning. Keep in mind that many people are weary of stopping for strangers, especially on such a remote road and at night, so don’t expect it.
It’s always a good idea to travel with blankets, extra food, water, and other supplies in case you must spend the night on the road.
Do we vote for the NDP in the next election? Maybe, just maybe they will do a better job looking after us in the communities. Shame on you Liberal Government! You seem to only be interested in looking after Whitehorse and neglect other communities such as Ross River.
Unfortunately, the highway is not the only thing that is neglected. Besides the poor road condition leading in and out of our community, we lack adequate healthcare services as our Nursing Station is staffed with nurses who don’t seem to be able to or are equipped to handle the community’s ongoing needs. Just recently, an Elder was referred by the Ross River nurses to the Carmacks Nursing Station – thank you Carmack nurses for providing care for this Elder - who because of her condition had to ultimately be medevaced from Carmacks to Whitehorse. It was the Elder’s relative who drove her to Carmacks by herself,
significantly delaying the much-needed care. Thankfully, the Elder was able to receive the care she needed in Whitehorse.
People in our community struggle with drug and alcohol addictions. These are serious and life-threatening issues that continue going unaddressed not only in Ross River, but in other communities as well. In recent years, there have been several deaths related to drugs and alcohol and our community has become besieged by drug dealers and bootleggers.
Incredibly, one of the bootleggers can take debit and credit card payments for his illegal sales of alcohol and drugs. How are they getting away with this? The Ross River RCMP doesn’t seem to be able to adequately deal with what is happening, because it just continues without many consequences. In May 2023, Ross River Dena Council declared a state of emergency, requesting assistance and better access to more services from the Yukon Government, but more than a year later, not much has been done to address these ongoing issues. In the meantime, our communities continue to struggle without the much needed investment in and improvement of even the most basic services such as healthcare, policing, and road maintenance.
When will our concerns be addressed? What will it take for the governments (both Yukon and Canada) and the Liberals to notice what is happening in our small community and help us deal with it? With all the talk about commitments to reconciliation, unless these commitments are backed up with action, they continue to be just empty words.
Dorothy Smith – Kaska Elder
Ross River, Yukon
