Halseth, Greg

Markey, Sean

Ryser, Laura

Memorial University Research Repository

Mitigating, Managing, Leveraging? Community Impacts of Labour Mobility in British ColumbiaOTM Symposium – November 2018Sean Markey, Laura Ryser, Greg HalsethOur OTM Community-related Research Program• Impacts and implications of LDLC on home and host communities• Worker perspectives• Immobility and community development• Local government• Work camp operations• Managerialism to entrepreneurialismNorthern BC OTM Setting Cumulative Impact…Methods• Collective research conducted over 7 years• BC case studies: communities in Peace River and Central Interior Regions– Extended to Australia, Canada, Scotland, US• Document review; literature reviews (academic, grey)• 100 key informant interviews– Local government, small business, industry, work camp operators, labour, community services, consultants, provincial government staff• Latent and manifest content analysisSpace Restructuring and Drivers of Uncertainty• Neoliberal policy response• Shift in Fordist compromise: flexibility• Rural restructuring• Removal of spatial commitment to equityA) LDLC Community Impacts• Stress on services• Affordability• Social disruption----• Being “away”– Volunteerism– Family pressures• $$$• Ability to stay in “place”“HOST”“HOME”Implications for Research• Flexible community responses to labour mobility and how these are initiated• Community events and community building efforts – targeted strategies• Deployment of family supports• Voluntary sector responses and community monitoringB) Immobility• Creswell 2010: 18, Any study of mobility runs the risk of suggesting that the (allegedly)immobile notions such as boundaries and borders, place, territory, and landscape are of the past and no longer relevant to the dynamic world of the 21st century. This would be wrong and, to be fair, does not seem to be the point of advocates of the new mobilities paradigm where `moorings' are often as important as `mobilities'.Dimensions of ImmobilityImmobilityStay Stay/LDLC RelocateChoice Preference or Economic Trap Place Attraction or Forced MigrationPathways that Entrench Mobility• Aging Housing Assets• Limited Jurisdiction• Services Not Strategically Used to Support Immobility Strategy• Aging Commercial Infrastructure• Difficulty Leveraging Policy / Planning toolsPathways that Strengthen Immobility• Investment in Research and Marketing• Strategic Use of Policies / PlanningC) Local GovernmentsI. Factors shaping pressures with work campsII. Zoning / development permit processesIII. Code of conduct agreementsIV. Decommissioning of work campsLG Discussion I• Local gov’t pressure to avoid camps • Resource projects mobilized / withdrawn quickly• Policies and information structures have not been retooled• Rural zoning / permit processes based on traditional settlement patternsLG Discussion II• Calls for local gov’t transition from managerialism to entrepreneurialism• Work camps can be emerging economic sector• Requires resources to monitor camp operations• Need formalized responsibilities to maintain work camp / industry relationships• Political maneuvering to determine who’s responsible for infrastructure / program investmentsBig Picture: Complexity• Issue is multi-faceted and fast changing• Lack of regulatory concern, oversight• Lack of jurisdictional control: e.g. health, housing, education• Scale unknown – intentional ignorance• Turnkey operations • Need for flexible responsesspmarkey@sfu.cahalseth@unbc.caryser@unbc.caThank You!

Mitigating, Managing, Leveraging? Understanding the Community Impacts of Labour Mobility in British Columbia

https://research.library.mun.ca/14194/1/OTM%20Symposium%20Comm%20Impacts%20Oct%2031%202018compressed.pdf

Mitigating, Managing, Leveraging? Understanding the Community Impacts of Labour Mobility in British Columbia

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Memorial University Research Repository