Winding Down in a Quebec Mining Town: a Case Study of Schefferville

Abstract

The pattern of decline in a mining region is examined using a case study of Schefferville. A critical examination is made of Lucas's model of youth to maturity in community development, and a further two stages are suggested -winding down and closure of a town. The discussion centres on the characteristics of community and corporate winding down in Schefferville: the restructuring of the local workforce, disinvestment, relocation of capital, and company withdrawal from housing, municipal affairs, and public services.Les auteurs entreprennent une Ctude du processus de dCclin dans les rCgions minikres en se servant de l'exemple de Schefferville. En partant d'une critique du modtle fait par Lucas sur les stages d'tvolution et de maturation d'une communautk, les auteurs proposent d'y ajouter deux autres Ctages, soit celui de dtclin et celui de la fermeture dkfinitive d'une ville. La p6riode de dCclin est donc caractCrisCe par la restructuration de la main d'ceuvre, par la diminution des investissements, par la relocalisation de capitaux, et par le retrait de la sociktk minikre au niveau du logement, des affaires municipales, et des services publics dans la ville.Single-industry towns and regions are a major feature of the economic geography of resource extraction in Canada. Almost 25 per cent of the population outside the metropolitan areas lives in these communities, and their dependence on a single economic base has been accompanied by a boom-and-bust pattern of development. Studies on the development of resource-based towns have ordinarily focused on the establishment of new communities, on town and regional planning, and on the growth of the economic base. ' Little attention has been paid to processes of decline or to the phase of uncertainty evident in settlements where decline is taking place. In this paper we seek to close this gap by examining the process of winding down and some of its social and economic impact, notably community instability, on the town of Schefferville in the subarctic iron-mining region of the Quebec-Labrador trough.* Long-term development in a mining region is subject to fluctuations in production and to cycles and phases of investment and disinvestment. Growth phases are marked by increases of production and investment and by expansion of physical facilities, while declining phases are characterized by contractions in production and expenditures, decrease in investment, loss of social capital, and loss of population. In the most extreme cases, townsites and communities may be abandoned. Indeed, plant or mine closures can result from many situations: from abrupt changes in mineral prices, from fluctuations in market conditions, from declines in the quantity or quality of ore, from technological changes, or from restructuring decisions. Such closures may be preceded or accompanied by a number of adjustments in the local industrial base, in the workforce, and in the community, as it enters a period of decline.

Resiliency and resource-based communities: a Canadian case study

“…lumber, gold) in small towns (often less than 15,000 people) and considered a range of areas including crime, health, education, social connectedness, and community cohesion [2]. These studies have examined the life-cycle of resource-based communities [3,4], the interaction between commodity prices and local well-being [5], the social impacts of mine closure [6], rapid resource-sector growth [7], income distribution in resource communities [8], the presence of poverty [9,10], and the broader political economy of the resource sector [11]. Much of this literature points to the volatile and often problematic relationship between resource extraction and community well-being.…”

Integrating Human Health into Environmental Impact Assessment: Case Studies of Canada’s Northern Mining Resource Sector

“…First, sustainability beyond the life of a project is of key concern in resource-dependent communities (e.g., Bradbury and St. Martin, 1983;Bowles, 1992). As one interviewee said, "Northern developments are rarely sustainable when natural resources are used, such as mining [or] forestry.…”

Les migrations populaires des travailleurs autochtones du Nord de la Saskatchewan : symbole et réalité de l’intégration des indigènes.

“…Pendant des décennies, l'expansion du capital industriel dans le Nord du Canada a donné lieu à la création de vilfes dites «de compagnie» (Bradbury, 1980;Bradbury et St-Martin, 1983;Canada, 1976aCanada, , 1976bLucas, 1971) \ Peu de travailleurs oeuvrant pour ces compagnies venaient des régions mêmes d'exploitation. En fait, ces agglomé-rations créées de toutes pièces fonctionnaient de façon plus ou moins indépendante de la trame préexistante d'occupation indigène du territoire 2 .…”