'The ice rink might not be viable any more,' warm winter weather changing life in small town northern Ontario

Nathalie Vachon can't remember another winter where there was no snow at Christmas or when the skating rink in Fauquier was so quiet.

The town of some 500 people on Highway 11 east of Kapuskasing has watched the rink open and close several times this winter as the temperature has gone up and down.

For the past week, the rink was open, but only children were allowed to skate, to not put extra strain on the precious ice. 

"If it does get to the point where all our winters are similar to this, smaller municipalities in the north are going to have to re-adjust the recreational services that they offer," said the director of municipal services for the Township of Fauquier-Strickland. 

"The ice rink might not be viable any more."

Vachon says the town put a ping-pong table in the rink shack so people would at least have something to do.

It's a similar story in the small town of Latchford, south of New Liskeard, where there has only been enough ice for skating a couple of times so far this winter.

"It's actually disheartening because we went through a period of time where there wasn't many children in town and then over the past couple of years, we've accumulated a great amount of children.

"And then last year, we had one of the best attendance records at our arena that we've ever had and were looking forward to the season this year," said Trudy McDonald, a municipal councillor in the small town of 350. 

"But Mother Nature, she's not allowing our children to get out and get some exercise and have some fun."

Latchford has an indoor arena, but it uses natural ice. McDonald says if winters get warmer, they might look at putting in equipment to make artificial ice, but that can be very costly for a small town.

This winter, Elliot Lake joined the list of northern Ontario communities dependant on what used to be called "hockey weather."

In the fall, the Centennial Arena was suddenly shut down out of fears that the aging wooden structure could collapse.

Since then minor hockey players, figure skaters and the junior hockey team in the city of 11,000 people have been logging a long hours on the highway driving to practices and games in neighbouring towns like Massey and Blind River.

As a mother of two young kids, Caily Robinson knows that drive well and joined a drive to build a new outdoor rink in Elliot Lake so at least there'd be some local ice to skate on. 

"We haven't had very well cared for outdoor rinks in the past," she said.

"But they're OK when you have an arena in your community."

Thanks to municipal funding, community donations and volunteer hours, the new rink went up in just a week.

"It gives me hope. Really important for us to see that good things are happening, good things can happen," Robinson said.

But in the several weeks since it was finished, it hasn't been cold enough to put ice on yet.

"It's just such a tease, you know, you can see this awesome rink and you have kids that just want so badly to get their skates on and get out there," she said.

Elliot Lake figure skaters have found some local indoor ice, holding practices at the city's curling club.

Coach Chantal Robert says the ice takes a day to resurface between curling and figure skating, and skaters have to stay between the houses on the curling rink, but it's better than having to drive out of town for every practice. 

"It was interesting. It was a huge adjustment from going from boards to no boards. As silly as it sounds, getting on the ice was a little challenging," she said. 

"But we've adjusted and it's been nice staying home and not having to travel."