Summer School on Transition Mining Cities: Enriching Encounters
From May 26 to June 4, as part of a doctoral school, a group of researchers and doctoral students from Canada and Scandinavia had the opportunity to discuss with various mining and community development stakeholders from the cities of Schefferville, Fermont and Labrador City. The seminar provided participants with a better understanding of the governance issues facing northern Quebec mining cities and how northern communities based on mining activities are coping with their mining heritage and rapid market changes.
The seminar consisted of a series of readings, presentations, field visits and meetings with local stakeholders. Participants met with elders, band council members and visited schools in the Innu community of Matimekush-Lac John and the Naskapi community of Kawawachikamach. They also met with members of the administration of the cities of Schefferville and Fermont, as well as representatives of the Tata Steel, Arcelor Mittal, Minerai de Fer Québec (Champion) and Iron Ore Company (IOC) mines.
To get an overview of the different visits made during this doctoral school, consult the blogs of Dag Avango, Arn Keeling, Christian Fohringer and Pierre Nachet.
This doctoral seminar was organized by the MinErAL network in collaboration with the REXSAC network, a Nordic Fennoscandian centre of excellence funded by NordForsk on resource extraction and sustainable Arctic communities. It also received funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers. In the summer of 2020, REXSAC will organize a summer school in northern Scandinavia to allow participants to compare the Canadian and Scandinavian contexts. The learning resulting from these two field seminars will be documented in a series of scientific papers co-authored by researchers and students from both networks.
Thank you to our partners for this warm welcome and to the members of the MinErAL and REXSAC networks for their participation in this event!
photo CrEdit: Karen Bouchard photo CrEdit: Thierry Rodon photo CrEdit: Thierry Rodon photo CrEdit: Thierry Rodon
Summer School Description and Objectives
The Arctic has long experienced boom and bust cycles in the extractive industries. Whether there is no more ore or prices are low, all mines eventually close, leaving behind them environmental, social and cultural, tangible and intangible footprints. Faced with this, communities have had to manage the legacies of extraction, whether it is environmental remediation, economic diversification, or tourism development. This doctoral summer school focuses on the governance of changing mining cities of the Arctic and will bring together 25 Scandinavian and Canadian researchers and students for 10 days. Students will visit the cities of Schefferville, Fermont and Labrador City and meet with various stakeholders in the mining sector. This seminar is being conducted in collaboration with the REXSAC network, a Nordic Fennoscandian centre of excellence funded by NordForsk on resource extraction and sustainable Arctic communities, with funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Objectives:
- Study the governance issues facing mining cities in northern Quebec
- Understand how Arctic mining communities are coping with rapid change and their mining heritage
- Compare the challenges of Quebec mining cities with those of mining cities in northern Fennoscandia
- Determine under what circumstances it is possible for these cities to build a future beyond extraction
Consult the description and complete program of the summer school