'Maybe it'll bring more visitors,' she said. Some, like local guide Eileen Jacobson, who welcomed us into her home to try on her fur parkas and to sample pipsi (dried Arctic char) – an Inuit staple – were both hopeful and apprehensive about the permanent impact the new road will have on their lives.

Until 2018, the Inuvialiut (Western Canadian Inuit) hamlet could only be accessed via bush plane, boat or ice road in winter, and Tuk's inhabitants still live mostly off the land: fishing, hunting and trapping, storing caught game in the community freezer underground. Our little group – me, the pilot, a couple more sightseers – was returning to Inuvik after a day trip to Tuk (as locals call Tuktoyaktuk), run by Tundra North Tours. Anyone who drives it needs to be prepared for misadventure, as I found out myself. It's also a hard drive in a hard land (you get a certificate of completion from the Inuvik tourist office if you drive its entire length) as the road is unpaved, there's no phone signal and there's only one petrol station around halfway along. This long, lonely Dempster Highway is one of Canada's ultimate road trips an exhilarating four-wheeled adventure across a pristine northern landscape.

Now, a new stretch of highway connects to the Dempster, extending a further 147km beyond Inuvik, all the way to the tiny settlement of Tuktoyaktuk on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The Dempster Highway was conceived in the late 1950s to open up the MacKenzie Delta to oil and gas exploration and traced a decades-old dog sled patrol route. 'Highway' is a rather glamorous term for a lonely gravel road that branches off the Klondike Highway – which runs between Yukon's capital, Whitehorse, and the Klondike Gold Rush settlement of Dawson City – cutting its way through 764km of dense spruce forest, tundra and snow-covered hills before arriving in Inuvik, the northernmost Arctic town in the Northwest Territories. The Dempster is considered to be one of Canada's toughest drives. A couple of days prior, I'd driven the Dempster Highway all the way to the Arctic Ocean and wanted to see it from above before making my long journey back to Dawson City, Yukon. A dark ribbon of road wound its way between these strange, rounded protrusions. 'Permafrost hillocks,' he explained, seeing my raised eyebrows. 'Pingos,' the pilot's voice came through my headphones. In places, the land bubbled up in smooth green hillocks. Furthermore, non-compliance by foreign nationals may affect their immigration admissibility and ability to re-enter Canada in the future.Our tiny Cessna juddered above the tundra – a landscape of vivid green threaded with dark blue streaks of meltwater streams and blotched with myriad ice-melt lakes. The minimum fine for failing to report to the CBSA upon entry to Canada is $1,000. Foreign national boaters found to be in Canadian waters for discretionary purposes may face severe penalties including maximum penalties up to $750,000 and/or imprisonment for six months.īoaters who enter Canada without reporting to the CBSA (including for the purpose of refuelling) may face monetary penalties, seizure of their vessels and/or criminal charges. The CBSA and its law enforcement partners are actively monitoring Canadian waterways. Transiting through a canal or lock system that requires mooring or anchoring does not constitute an uninterrupted route, and is therefore prohibited under the current border measures. If at any point during transit, boaters come to port, anchor, moor or make contact with another vessel, they must report to the CBSA immediately. At this time, these restrictions apply regardless of the vaccination status of boaters.īoaters may still navigate through international or Canadian waters while in transit directly from one place outside Canada to another place outside Canada if the transit is: direct continuous/uninterrupted and by the most reasonable route. These restrictions include any movements in Canadian waters for discretionary purposes even if boaters are not coming to port, anchoring or mooring. Crossing via boat to a cottage or summer home in Canada.Unless exempt, foreign nationals, including United States citizens, cannot enter Canadian waters for any discretionary (non-essential) reasons, including: The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reminds foreign national boaters and anglers that travel restrictions are still in place.

The Government of Canada is committed to protecting the health and safety of Canadians and minimizing the risk of exposure to COVID-19 and its variants in Canada.

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