Views of community sustainability after a mine closure: a case study of Manitouwadge, Ontario.

Abstract

Resource dependent communities remain a prevalent feature through much of rural northern Canada. Researchers from a variety of disciplines have explored the characteristics of these communities to assess their current stability and their longer term sustainability. The objective of this paper is to examine the attitudes, views and intended behaviour of residents of a resource dependent community in Northern Ontario following the closure of the town's main employer, a copper-zinc mine. Earlier research confirmed the importance of specific local conditions in influencing attitudes to decline. Manitouwadge contains several resource sector employers, arguably setting a context of community stability despite economic change. This paper explores the effects of the recent downturn on residents' optimism, satisfaction with their quality of life, and perception of changes in the community. The extent to which these attitudes and community attachment characteristics are influenced by length of tenure in the community is explored. Collectively, longer term residents are found to display greater attachment to the community, to hold a more optimistic outlook on the future of the town, and to indicate stronger commitment to remain in the community than those with shorter lengths of tenure. This suggests that persistence and adaptability--two key components of sustainability in a community--may be related to length of tenure and attachment.

Dans les regions rurales du nord du Canada, il existe de nombreuses localites tributaires des ressources naturelles. Des chercheurs de diverses disciplines ont etudie les caracteristiques de ces collectivites afin d'evaluer leur stabilite actuelle de meme que leur perennite a long terme. L'objectif du present article vise a etudier les attitudes, les points de vue et les intentions des residents d'une de ces localites, situee au nord de I'Ontario, a la suite de la fermeture de la mine de cuivre et de zinc, le principal employeur de la ville. Une recherche precedente avait confirme que les conditions locales particulieres avaient des repercussions importantes sur la decroissance. Manitouwadge possede plusieurs employeurs dans les secteurs des ressources naturelles, dont il est permis de croire qu'ils contribuent a la stabilite de la collectivite, malgre les changements economiques. Dans cet article, les auteurs analysent les effets du recent ralentissement sur l'optimisme des residents, leur satisfaction quant a la qualite de vie, et la perception de la collectivite face au changement. On y analyse la mesure dans laquelle la duree de residence dans cette collectivite a une influence sur l'attachement des membres de la collectivite envers celle-ci. Dans l'ensemble, les residents de plus longue date semblent faire preuve d'un degre d'attachement plus important envers la collectivite, ils semblent avoir un regard plus optimiste sur le futur de leur ville et un engagement a demeurer dans la collectivite plus grand que les residents de plus fraiche date. Ce qui donne a penser que la persistance et la faculte d'adaptation, deux elements cles de la perennite d'une collectivite, peuvent avoir un rapport avec la duree de la residence et l'attachement.

Keywords

Resource dependent communities, community sustainability, attachment, Northern Ontario

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Introduction

Communities that rely on the natural resources sector for their continued existence dot the landscape of rural and northern Canada (Robinson 1962; Bowles 1982; Randall and Ironside 1996). Academic interest in such communities has been multi-dimensional. Researchers such as Lucas (1971) and Himelfarb (1992) have attempted to understand the social structure of such towns, Bradbury and St. Martin (1983) have focused on the stages of economic development through which such towns pass. Others such as Saarinen (1986), Stafford and Nelson (1986), and Gill (1994) have examined planning issues associated with the rapid spurts of population growth that so often characterize resource oriented settlement.

More recently, work by Beckley (1995) and Randall and Ironside (1996) points to a shift in emphasis towards questions concerning community sustainability. A focus on sustainability reflects growing interest in understanding what it is that enables some resource dependent communities to survive an economic crisis or change. In resource dependent communities, crises may be temporary such as those caused by cyclical swings in commodity prices. Others are permanent such as those precipitated by the winding down and closure of extraction and/or processing activities when marketable resources have been depleted. Yet, conceptualizing such closures as the final stage in the life cycle of a resource dependent town may be too deterministic. This is not to say that a town's ability to survive closure is independent of its ability to rebuild its economic base or attract government assistance in support of such a rebuilding process (Clemenson 1992, McBride et al. 1993). What is also important, though, is the capacity of the town's residents to adapt to change; as Beckley (1995) notes, adaptability is the social and economic foundation of sustainability.

The role of adaptation, persistence and flexibility in sustaining a community's existence is reiterated in a recent collection of readings assembled by Pierce and Dale (1999). For example, Ommer and Sinclair (1999) note these attributes as vital components of the dynamic equilibrium that characterized the economy of several Newfoundland outports before large scale mining disrupted the balance. The ability of communities to sustain their health--both economic and social--reflects a resilient fabric, along with a reliable and varied natural resource base. The Pierce and Dale collection examines the multitude of factors that influence a town's ability to foster sustainability. Roseland (1999), for example, stresses the importance of well-developed social capital to the formulation of a successful response to crisis. Comprised of those organizations, structures, and social relations created by people independently of private or public agencies or institutions, social capital is seen as a requisite for building and reinforcing community fabric. This fabric, as McTiernan (1999) suggests, may be weakened by a splintering of the community cohesiveness because of divergent sets of interests and values held by residents. These values influence how individuals think about sustainable development.

Other characteristics of residents might play a role in their views on sustainability and the community's resilience and adaptability. Gill and Reed (1999), studied the process of planning land reallocation in Squamish, British Columbia, within the context of transition from a resource extraction based economy to one based on recreation, tourism and bedroom community functions. They noted that newcomers to the community--those with five or fewer years of residency--have placed different demands on land and resources than longer term residents who were more attached to the traditional resource extraction sector of the economy. Further, newcomers display attitudes toward economic development options that differ from those of longer term residents. In a similar vein, Halseth (1999) found that degrees of optimism about the future of three resource dependent communities in British Columbia varied depending on the occupation, age, and income levels of residents. Alhough optimism about the general economic health of the community and the opportunity for employment was high, younger residents, those in professional occupations and those with higher incomes were more optimistic than others. Halseth (1999) also explored the influence of the potential for recent forest sector disruptions on optimism.

Clearly residents' views about their town's ability to survive resource declines and economic transitions will influence their intentions and eventual actions in relation to those changes. Clapp (1998: 133) notes the "remarkable capacity for denial of impending depletion" in resource dependent communities. He attributes this to the business cycle of higher employment in economic upswing and layoff in downturn. Although this cycle reflects economic reality, it does encourage workers to deny an imminent resource decline or permanent closure on economic grounds and to maintain an optimism that another boom will occur.