It’s unfortunate that some on the North Coast seem to hold onto the idea that work accommodation sites are going to be a threat to the communities of Prince Rupert and Port Edward.
Their concerns, to some extent, are valid: You are going to be getting a large number of people coming in who are making a lot of money doing what they do and they will be congregating at these workforce accommodation sites.
The problem, for me, arises when people push forward this idea that the workers are just going to be drinking, doing drugs and bringing carnage and chaos into the community. It’s the problem of painting the entire workforce population with a single brush that irks me.
For the most part, the people who spent the past several years working on the Rio Tinto Modernization project have been hard-working men and women who put in their hours to support themselves or their family. As someone who has spent considerable time in Kitimat, I can tell you that for the most part the workers either kept to themselves or integrated themselves into the community through participating in sporting events or the overall social scene of Kitimat.
Were there problems with increased theft, vandalism and drug use? Absolutely. But here’s the thing — that could happen regardless of whether there is a “camp” in town or not and whether or not there is any major project happening in the community.
In reality, anybody who comes into town for any reason can create a problem. Unless you want to shut the gates to town and throw up a “no new residents allowed” sign, you’re not going to stop any issues related to increased drinking or drug use or criminal activity. And if you don’t think drugs or drinking or rowdiness is already taking place on the North Coast, you need to pull your head out of the sand.
Since there isn’t a single person on earth who can stop someone who is legally allowed to move into a community from moving there, perhaps we can put this silliness to rest. If people want to come to town to work, they’re going to do it.
Let’s not pre-judge project workers before any project is ever announced.