University of Victoria

Resource-based Communities and Economies in Transition

This session seeks papers on issues pertaining to resource-based communities. Papers could cover topics relating to community challenges, differences, strategies in relation to future sustainability, the boom and bust nature of some types of resource extraction and their implications for community health, the difficulties of managing of very fast growth and/or stagnation, seasonal or temporary economies, gender and ethnic inequalities associated with transitions, issues associated with communities weighing up social, economic and environmental impacts and their tradeoffs, effects of new developments (i.e. mining or oil extraction or infrastructure developments) for older economic bases (agriculture, forestry, fishing, traditional livelihoods) and local/global tensions in workforce preparation and sourcing of labour forces for resource development.

Session Organizer: Jennifer Jarman, Lakehead University, jjarman@lakeheadu.ca

Slowing the Leakages in Canada’s Arctic Communities: Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic

Chris Southcott, Lakehead University, chrissouthcsa@gmail.com

While Canada’s northern resources have the potential to produce great wealth for Canada in the future, past experience has showed that the communities of Canada’s Arctic have benefited little from resource exploitation. Recent changes introduced into the region in the areas of self-government, recognition of land-claims, co-management of resources, and environmental regulation have contributed to a situation today that is markedly different from the past. The potential exists for communities to avoid some of the worst aspects of the Staples Trap. This paper describes research currently being undertaken as part of the Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA) project - a new research network aimed at the sustainable development of Arctic natural resources in a manner that will improve the health and well-being of northern communities while preserving the region’s unique environment.

Friday June 7, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-161

Toward a transformative understanding of rural social change

John Parkins, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology University of Alberta , jparkins@ualberta.ca , Maureen Reed, School of Environment and Sustainability and Department of Geography University of Saskatchewan , mgr774@mail.usask.ca

The rapidly changing nature of life in Canadian rural communities is more than a simple response to economic conditions. People who live in rural places are part of a social agenda characterized by the transformation of landscapes, livelihoods, and social relationships. In this paper we explore what Gibson-Graham identify as a new language and a new politics of possibility for rural communities and their economies, “a world with an ever-replenished sense of room to move, air to breathe, and space and time to act.” Several key questions guide this work. What is distinctively transformative about rural life in Canada? How do we know that certain events or processes have transformational potential? In answering these questions, we draw on a recent collection of writings about rural Canada, identifying key themes such as place-based and endogenous change, power dynamics, learning, historical anchoring, interdependence and imagination. Taken together, these portraits of social transformation illustrate local forms of action, adaptation, identity and imagination in the shaping of rural communities across Canada.

Friday June 7, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-161

Environmentally-motivated Property Destruction and the Boundaries of Community

Paul Joosse, University of Alberta, jjoosse@ualberta.ca

Tomslake, a little hamlet in the Peace region of Northwestern B.C., is a community divided on itself, collectively torn over the expansion of extraction industries which have brought both unprecedented wealth and rapid lifestyle and environmental changes. Many have welcomed this activity as other industries have declined. Some, however, have a different view, and along with traditional protest strategies, one extraction company, EnCana Inc., has been beset by a series of bombing attacks followed by letters which cite as justification the company’s record of environmental malfeasance. During the investigation of the attacks, the RCMP has consistently maintained the theory that the person responsible for the bombings is from the area, and that a few uncooperative people are protecting the bomber. My interviews with residents and extensive fieldwork have confirmed that considerable sympathy does exist within the community for the bomber’s grievances, as does empathy for the type of frustration that could lead to property destruction. In this paper, I outline some of the discursive battles that are taking place between various stakeholders, including residents, the companies, local politicians, and the RCMP in this modern Canadian struggle over the borders of community and the legitimacy of environmentally-motivated property destruction.

Friday June 7, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-161

Mill work as “good work”? Explorations of work ideals in Miramichi, New Brunswick

Natasha Hanson, Dalhousie University, natasha.hanson@dal.ca

Using ethnographic evidence from Miramichi, New Brunswick, this paper will explore how conceptions of “good work” are both historically informed and idealistic, and are sometimes slow to change. This small city has historically been economically dominated by the forestry sector and, in modern times, by pulp and paper mills. The gendered conception of mill jobs as “good work” was widespread, despite the historical volatility of the industry and recent closures of local pulp and paper mills. There was recognition by interviewees of the increasingly global nature of the forestry sector, which they linked to its volatility. Even in the changing face of the forestry sector and pulp and paper industry the ideal of this employment as “good work” persisted, which interviewees justified based on the historical recoveries of the sector. In contrast, the conception of “bad jobs” was predominantly that of low paying service sector work and in particular call centre work, despite the availability of these. There was evidence of important shifts within the ideal of “good work” found in some laid off pulp and paper workers, as well as those who were not directly involved in the industry, suggesting a recognition by some interviewees of socio-economic changes.

Friday June 7, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-161