Gender impacts are often completely ignored within the hollow social impact assessments often conducted in the modern era. Oil patches and natural gas operations are overwhelmingly operated by young men who naturally go into small towns nearby after weeks in the bush. Alcohol and/or drug fuelled violence and rape often increase in communities dealing with such an influx, as do drug use, alcoholism and sexual exploitation. The effect on the community leads to further social breakdown and often violence against elders—especially after the “rush” of initial construction is over and the spike in money is gone, but the torn up earth is still there, along with fatherless children in many cases. The higher the rate in inequality and alienation during a "boom" cycle, the higher the levels of gender-biased impacts. The plans for the tar sands are the single largest project, and therefore "boom" based "collateral damage" could easily match anything seen before.
Fort Mac braces for huge rent hikes
Three-bedroom place with leaky roof costs $2,950
By The Canadian Press
Sun. Nov 4 - 6:44 AM
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Some apartment dwellers in northern Alberta’s booming oilsands were shocked this week to find notices posted on their doors warning of impending rent hikes exceeding $1,000 a month.
Management at River Park Glen told tenants the increases would become effective Feb. 1.
Rent crunch to worsen
Vacancy rate forecasted to dip to under 1%
By KEVIN CRUSH, SUN MEDIA
Think the rental market is tight now? Just wait until next year.
That's when the apartment vacancy rate in Edmonton is forecasted to dip below the current 1% - making it that much harder for already frustrated renters to find a place to live.
"It's just getting retarded," said Jasmine, who asked her last name not be printed.
SIX MONTHS LOOKING
Jasmine said she's already spent more than six months trying to find a decent place for her and her fiance to rent with no luck.
Mud, sweat and tears
The vast tar sands of Alberta in Canada hold oil reserves six times the size of Saudi Arabia's. But this 'black gold' is proving a mixed blessing for the frontier town of Fort McMurray, fuelling both prosperity and misery. As the social and environmental toll mounts, Aida Edemariam reports on the dark side of a boom town.
Aida Edemariam
The Guardian// UK
Tuesday October 30 2007
October 19, 2007
Townies (Fort McMurray)
by Katie Beaton
The Dominion http://dominionpaper.ca
October 17, 2007
Working Full-Time
The work camps of Fort McMurray
by Lindsay Bird
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
Two mechanics from site picked me up at the Fort McMurray Greyhound station at 2pm. I had spent the uncomfortable six-hour bus ride from Edmonton beside a large, sweating man from Bathurst, New Brunswick, who worked at the same site to which I was travelling. When this connection was discovered, he excitedly phoned his sons, also on-site, to tell them 'a girl was coming.' My introduction to the alternate society of work camps had begun.
Thu, October 11, 2007
Sex-trade workers charged after undercover police raids
UPDATED: 2007-10-11 03:18:22 MST
By NADIA MOHARIB
Undercover cops worked some of the city's prostitute strolls picking up working women now accused of sex-trade related offences.
The sweep by the vice and community-response units in the first week of October took them to four of five city strolls -- in the Beltine, East Village, Forest Lawn and near Eau Claire, where so-called high-end prostitutes work.
A Tale of Two Cities: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Fort McMurray
To the Tar Sands
The Bad
Fort Muck: place of sex, drugs, violence, homelessness, massive trucks, polluted air and contaminated water. This is what we were told we would find at the end of deadly Highway 63, or in our case Secondary Highway 881. The city of 70 000 has been growing at a most alarming rate. In response, city council has gone so far as to call for a moratorium on new developments. The municipality simply can not keep up with endless stream of new arrivals and the associated demand for services.
Road to Riches: Pipeline Through Paradise
News: The race to claim Arctic fuel reserves could revive the proposed Mackenzie River Valley pipeline.
By James Ridgeway
October 10, 2007
Everyone’s Downstream: Tar Sands Realities and Resistance
Conference to be held at:
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
November 24-25th, 2007
http://oilsandstruth.org
