Norman Wells is in the grips of a worsening crisis, says Mayor Frank Pope, who is beginning to doubt the federal government cares. 

He said he hasn't heard a word from Ottawa since the first week of June. 

"Nobody cares," he said. "Nobody gives a rat's ass."

There are numerous problems bearing down on Norman Wells.

Perched on the Mackenzie River, the community of roughly 700 people is not accessible by road, and as such, has historically been resupplied by ice road in the winter, and by barge in the summer. However, warming winter temperatures have shortened its recent ice road seasons, and this summer, the water levels in the river fell low enough that not a single barge could make the trip. That has left the community with no choice but to resupply by plane, which is more expensive, and causes the price of pretty much everything to spike. 

"The biggest thing right now is the cost of living," Pope said. "We see no way that that鈥檚 going to go down.

"We鈥檙e not in a very stable condition right now. We鈥檝e got people who say, 鈥業 can鈥檛 afford to live here anymore鈥� who are leaving.

"A lot of people are concerned."

The high cost of living in Norman Wells could be curbed substantially by the long-discussed creation of the Mackenzie Valley Highway 鈥� a proposed two-lane gravel route that would connect the community and others in the Sahtu region to the rest of Canada, year-round.

Progress on the billion-dollar project has been slow, but Pope believes that people in other parts of the country are beginning to understand how crucial it is. He hopes the project's remaining naysayers come around soon.

鈥淚 think people are catching on but not really enough to influence anybody in our favour," he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not looking for a freebie or a handout to build a billion-dollar road. We鈥檙e looking for enough money to get a connection the south, at least from Norman Wells south to Wrigley and beyond. That will cut our cost of living considerably and will maybe give people a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want it built in dribs and drabs of 10 kilometres here, five kilometres there. I want the whole damn thing built in a three or four-year period, and finished and built to a quality that we can work with.鈥�

Pope has campaigned relentlessly for the creation of the highway during his tenure as mayor. However, he has not yet decided if he will run for office again when the town goes to the polls in October, and worries that the already slow progress on the highway will grind to a halt if the job ends up going to the wrong person.

"I don鈥檛 know who鈥檚 going to be running," he said. "I鈥檓 really worried about the community if we don鈥檛 get people [on council] that are going to continue to care about our community and advocate for our community, which I鈥檝e been pretty busy doing for the last few years. 

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e in a place right now where, we as a council, nearing the end of our term, do we declare a state of emergency?鈥�

Pope is also concerned about the impact the next federal election will have on Norman Wells, having been unimpressed by the Liberal party's reign, and having little faith in Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

鈥淸The Liberals] are on the way out, as far as I can determine," he said. "The leader of the Conservative party, I don鈥檛 think he knows where the North is. I don鈥檛 think in all of the years I鈥檝e heard him talk he鈥檚 even mentioned the North. So I鈥檓 worried going forward not only about the Norman Wells election but the next federal election too. I鈥檝e got a lot of concerns on a lot of fronts here.鈥�

By Pope's estimation, Norman Wells' future is full of uncertainty. He is confident the situation there could be improved by the creation of the highway, but not that it will happen anytime soon.

鈥淲e鈥檙e in a real quagmire, right now, of climate change misery, as far as I鈥檓 concerned," he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so many things going against, and I really am concerned for our community moving forward with all the things hanging over our head. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 see any light at the end of the tunnel.鈥�