the former segment of highway 17 through garden river was initially redesignated as part of highway 638, although the garden river first nation disputed this designation and insisted that the highway be renamed highway 17b. as of february 2009, the former route is now designated as highway 17b. in february 2010, garden river's band council publicly warned that they would consider imposing tolls on the routes of both highway 17 and highway 17b through their territory if the provincial government did not assist the council with a funding shortfall of approximately $1 million.