Members of Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) First Nation voted over the weekend to reject a proposed bridge over the Caribou Falls to reach new logging sites on the other side of the river.

The bridge project which was being proposed by Miisun Integrated Forestry Management would have opened up the currently inaccessible forest across from the Caribou Falls Lodge to $40 million worth of timber harvesting by local companies, including Wincrief Forestry Products which was also hoping for the project’s approval by the community.

However, in a community-wide vote held on Saturday, the people of Whitedog First Nation decided not to give permission for the project, and the logging road which would also be built, to go through the reserve’s land.

“A lot of community members (did) not vote in favour of it, the reasons being the safety issues. There’s been a couple times that community members have been forced off the road by logging trucks, especially during winter,” said Whitedog community member Waylon Scott.

In the days and weeks leading up to the vote, a campaign to garner support for the bridge project was waged in the community. Information packages about the project were sent door-to-door containing promises that 30 people from the aboriginal community world be hired to work on the projects. But even offers of employment failed to resonate with community members because, according to Scott, they had been burned by similar deals before.

“In past experience, when these organizations say they’ll hire community members it never really happens,” he said.

What the proponents of the project plan to do now that the community has rejected the project is unclear. Miisun did not return requests for an interview.