Back in Fort Albany, Ontario again. This time for the funeral of an old friend who was also the mother of my partner's son in law.
Fort Albany is a small community on James Bay in Northeastern Ontario; about 90 miles north of Moosonee.
Getting here is a short plane ride; less than half an hour. The cost is $540 return per person. It sounds reasonable to me but is probably outrageous to people who are used to traveling long distances for that kind of fare. We came on a small plane where one side was taken up by mail and cargo; the other by passengers.

I first came to Fort Albany more than three decades ago. In those days we flew on much slower flying DC-3s most of the time. A lot of things have changed; a lot of things have stayed the same.
One big difference today is that there is a functioning water distribution system. Often, you can drink water right out of the tap. To me that seems amazing. Unfortunately right now the water is a bit murky.
There are a lot of new buildings here. A lot of old ones are gone, for example the old residential school which lingered on as a day school, police station and band office for years after it was closed down. There is a good picture of St. Anne's, unfortunately mislabeled as Fort Albany Regional Hospital.
On my first morning here I went for a walk. Beautiful day for it; the ground and snow still mostly frozen but warm enough that I could have gotten away with wearing a medium weight jacket. After about an hour and a half I realized I was in danger of getting a very bad sunburn.
I posted a few shots from my walk.
One thing that is amazing is the availability of internet here. Naturally the place I am staying (Loone's Lodge) has it but everywhere I went people are online, tablets and laptops running. Cell phones don't work here; maybe some day.