Nuclear Avenue:“Cyclonic Development”, Abandonment, And

humanities

Article Nuclear Avenue: “Cyclonic Development”, Abandonment, and Relations in Uranium City, Canada

Robert Boschman * ID and Bill Bunn

Department of English, Languages, and Cultures, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, Canada; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]

Received: 30 August 2017; Accepted: 2 January 2018; Published: 6 January 2018

Abstract: The rise and abandonment of Uranium City constitutes an environmental history yet to be fully evaluated by humanities scholars. 1982 marks the withdrawal of the Eldorado Corporation from the town and the shuttering of its uranium mines. The population declined to approximately 50 from its pre-1982 population of about 4000. This article is inspired by findings from the authors’ initial field visit. As Uranium City is accessible only by air or by winter roads across Lake Athabasca, the goal of the visit in May 2017 was to gather information and questions through photographic assessment and through communication and interviews with residents. This paper in part argues that the cyclonic development metaphor used to describe single-commodity communities naturalizes environmental damage and obscures a more complicated history involving human agency. Apart from the former mines that garner remedial funding and action, the town site of Uranium City is also of environmental concern. Its derelict suburbs and landfill, we also argue, could benefit from assessment, funding, and remediation. Canada’s 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report provides a way forward in healing this region, in part by listening to the voices of those most affected by environmental impacts caused not by a metaphorical cyclone but by other humans’ decisions. As descendants of European immigrants to Turtle Island (the Indigenous term referring to North America), the authors are also subjects of the very terms—cyclonic development, abandonment, remediation—used to describe the history of the land itself: in this case, a mining town in the far northern boreal forests and Precambrian Shield.

Keywords: uranium; environment; humanities; remediation; truth and reconciliation; cyclonic development; Indigenous; landﬁll

1. Introduction This paper focuses on the Uranium City town site found in the small-lake region of the Precambrian Shield on the north shore of Lake Athabasca, a lake so large it straddles two Canadian provinces (Figure1). Although the communities of Fort McMurray and Fort Chipewyan, on the Alberta side of this vast freshwater lake, routinely receive global attention (because of the 2016 forest ﬁre as well as the Alberta Tar Sands containing an estimated third of the world’s oil reserves), Uranium City remains largely unknown to the outside world as well as to many Canadians. Of its estimated thirty-seven regional uranium mines, two1 in the area have been remediated while a third—the Gunnar mine, mill, and former town site—begins a multi-year cleanup in 2017 at an estimated cost of

1 The Eldorado mine, mill, and town sites, a few miles from Uranium City, were respectively sealed, buried, and bulldozed in 1982. The Lorado mine and mill were remediated in 2016.

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2 moreHumanities than $100,000,000 2018, 7, 5 CAD (Muldoon 2017) . Uranium City itself, however, remains unremediated,2 of 22 its streets and neighborhoods a haunting testament to the failed post-war ideal of a Westernized communityremains unremediated, in a remote wilderness its streets based and neighborhoods on the extraction a haunting of one substance: testament into thisthe failed case, uraniumpost-war ore (whichideal is of subsequently a Westernized milled community to produce in a remote yellowcake). wilderness While based the on area’s the extraction abandoned of one mines subst haveance: been prioritizedin this case, as acute yellowcake cleanup uranium. concerns, While the infrastructuralthe area’s abandoned and residential mines have core been of prioritized this region as continues acute to becleanup Uranium concerns, City asthe a infrastructural town site, vandalized, and residential salvaged, core of decayed, this region and continues reforested. to be Uranium Its current City state evokesas a the town environmental site, vandalized, lessons salvaged, and debates decayed, of the an previousd reforested. and current Its current centuries. state In evokes the words the of a resident,environmental Ken Mercredi, lessons and a Woodland debates of Cree the previous man who and has current recently centuries. returned In tothe the words place of ofa resident, his birth as Ken Mercredi, a Woodland Cree man who has recently returned to the place of his birth as a guardian a guardian and citizen scientist, Uranium City is the lesson (Mercredi 2017, Personal Communication). and citizen scientist, Uranium City is the lesson (2017, Personal Communication).

Figure 1. Uranium City Regional Map (Courtesy Patricia Sandberg). Figure 1. Uranium City Regional Map (Courtesy Patricia Sandberg). Near the corner of Nuclear Avenue and Road 962, one can see signs of the early-1980s abandonmentNear the corner of this ofmining Nuclear community Avenue (Figure and Road2). Streets 962, constructed one can seesix decades signs ofago the are early-1980scovered abandonmentby layers of ofsand this and mining silt; aspen community and white (Figure birch2 grow). Streets through constructed sidewalks; six and decades street signs ago are marking covered by layersthis unique of sand intersection and silt; have aspen long and ago white been birchscavenged grow by through collectors. sidewalks; Empty lots, and with street old foundations signs marking thisexposed unique intersectionand crumbling, have contrast long ago with been dilapidated scavenged buildings by collectors. still standing Empty from lots, the with period old foundations before 3 exposedDecember and crumbling,1981, when Eldorado contrast Mines with dilapidatedCorporation, buildings owned by stillthe Government standing from of Canada, the period suddenly before 3 announced the closure of its mining operations and thus precipitated the town’s rapid emptying. December 1981, when Eldorado Mines Corporation, owned by the Government of Canada, suddenly Using a drone in early May 2017, we counted 336 homes, as well as two condo projects, an apartment announced the closure of its mining operations and thus precipitated the town’s rapid emptying. block, and at least twenty-two commercial buildings, all abandoned. From its peak population of Using a drone in early May 2017, we counted 336 homes, as well as two condo projects, an apartment approximately 4000 in the mid-20th century, Uranium City is currently home to about fifty people, a block,mix and of white at least settlers twenty-two and people commercial of the Woodland buildings, Cree, all abandoned. Dene, and Métis From nations. its peak During population their of approximatelyeveryday lives, 4000 these in the remaining mid-20th residents century, experienceUranium City the islegacy currently of what home Harold to about Innis ﬁfty termed people, a mix“cyclonic of white development settlers and”. However, people of Innis, the Woodlanda Canadian political Cree, Dene, geographer and M whoétis nations.promoted During northern their everydaydevelopment lives, and these played remaining a key role residents in defining experience and understanding the legacy communities of what Harold such as Innis Uranium termed “cyclonicCity before development”. his death in However, 1952, did Innis,not address a Canadian the reali politicalty of the geographer abandonment who that promoted follows northernsingle developmentresource exploitation. and played Nor a key did role he inconsider deﬁning the and prospect understanding of remediation communities—a complex, such expensive, as Uranium and City beforecontested his death process in 1952, only didbeginning not address to be thefelt realityby the remaining of the abandonment citizens of this that town follows (Canadian single resourcePress exploitation.2017, May Nor15). In did addition, he consider completely the prospect outside ofthe remediation—a scope of Innis’s complex,work are truth expensive, and reconciliation, and contested processhistorically only beginning set forth toby bethe felt Truth by theand remaining Reconciliation citizens Commission of this town of Canada (Canadian in its Press 2015 2017Summary,, May 15). which offers an important way forward in revising human ecologies as well as the human relationship with other life forms needed to remediate town sites such as Uranium City.

2 The Canadian Press estimates the Gunnar cleanup cost at $260,000,000 (Canadian Press 2017, May 15). Joe Muldoon, VP of the Saskatchewan Research Council, which oversees provincial mine remediations, states that his number applies to all mine cleanups, not just Gunnar. Muldoon estimates the Gunnar cost at about $100,000,000

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In addition, completely outside the scope of Innis’s work are truth and reconciliation, historically set forth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in its 2015 Summary, which offers an important way forward in revising human ecologies as well as the human relationship with other lifeHumanities forms 2018 needed, 7, 5 to remediate town sites such as Uranium City. 3 of 22

Figure 2. NuclearNuclear Ave Ave and 962, Uranium City, May 20172017 (Photo(Photo R.R. Boschman).Boschman).

We visited Uranium City in May 2017, coming away with firsthand experience, interviews and We visited Uranium City in May 2017, coming away with firsthand experience, interviews and communication with residents, photographs, drone footage, and what Bruno Latour calls “matters of communication with residents, photographs, drone footage, and what Bruno Latour calls “matters concern” (Latour 2004, pp. 22–23) regarding the terms often used to discuss and historicize mining of concern” (Latour 2004, pp. 22–23) regarding the terms often used to discuss and historicize communities such as this one. One of the things we do as Environmental Humanities scholars mining communities such as this one. One of the things we do as Environmental Humanities situated specifically in an English department at a Canadian university is to dig into words scholars situated specifically in an English department at a Canadian university is to dig into themselves: cyclonic development and abandonment appeared to us worth reexamination as we words themselves: cyclonic development and abandonment appeared to us worth reexamination as surveyed Uranium City. How are these terms understood and employed in relation to specific we surveyed Uranium City. How are these terms understood and employed in relation to specific environments? Should the narrative arc (so embedded in Canada as it celebrates 150 years) that environments? Should the narrative arc (so embedded in Canada as it celebrates 150 years) that begins begins with discovery and sometimes ends these days with remediation be reviewed? Perhaps one of with discovery and sometimes ends these days with remediation be reviewed? Perhaps one of the steps the steps towards re-evaluating the narrative of colonial Canada may be to include ourselves as towards re-evaluating the narrative of colonial Canada may be to include ourselves as participants, participants, acknowledging and circumscribing the construct of the objective observer writing and acknowledging and circumscribing the construct of the objective observer writing and documenting documenting in the third person. As descendants of European immigrants to Turtle Island,2 we are in the third person. As descendants of European immigrants to Turtle Island,3 we are subjects of subjects of the very terms—cyclonic development, abandonment, remediation—used to describe the the very terms—cyclonic development, abandonment, remediation—used to describe the history history of the land itself: in this case, a mining town in the far northern boreal forests and Precambrian of the land itself: in this case, a mining town in the far northern boreal forests and Precambrian Shield. We thus include ourselves in our narrative of a journey, the things we saw and documented Shield. We thus include ourselves in our narrative of a journey, the things we saw and documented (Figure 3), the humans and nonhumans we encountered (Figure 4), and the porous 1950s-era houses (Figure3), the humans and nonhumans we encountered (Figure4), and the porous 1950s-era houses we sometimes stepped inside (Figure 5). we sometimes stepped inside (Figure5).

3 Indigenous stories about Turtle Island, the name for North America, can be found across the many First Nations of the continent. American poet Gary Snyder popularized the term in his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poems, Turtle Island (Snyder 1974.)

2 Indigenous stories about Turtle Island, the name for North America, can be found across the many First Nations of the continent. American poet Gary Snyder popularized the term in his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poems, Turtle Island (Snyder 1974).

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FigureFigure 3. 3Mid-Twentieth-Century. Mid-Twentieth-Century Auto, Uranium City City (Photo (Photo B. B. Bunn Bunn).). Figure 3. Mid-Twentieth-Century Auto, Uranium City (Photo B. Bunn).

Figure 4. Great Horned Owl, Uranium City (Photo R. Boschman). FigureFigure 4. 4Great. Great Horned Horned Owl,Owl, Uranium City (Photo (Photo R. R. Boschman Boschman).). In the essay that follows here, we delineate three related steps. First, the term “cyclonic Indevelopment”In the the essay essay that constitutes followsthat follows here, a faulty we here, delineatemetaphor we delineate threethat naturalizes related three steps. related mining First, steps. activity the term First, in “cyclonicterms the termof a development” weather “cyclonic constitutesdevelopment”event outside a faulty constitutes human metaphor control a faulty that and naturalizesmetaphor responsibility. that mining naturalizes Second, activity the mining large in terms-scale activity ofabandonment a in weather terms of thatevent a weather often outside humaneventfollows control outside sudden, and human sin responsibility.gle control-commodity and Second, responsibility.developments the large-scale such Second, as Uranium abandonment the large City-scale and its that abandonment environs often followsis relational, that sudden, often follows sudden, single-commodity developments such as Uranium City and its environs is relational, single-commodityand as such abandonment, developments as a suchterm we as Uraniumunpack, contradicts City and the its cyclone environs metaphor is relational, and its andimplied as such andnatural as such indifference. abandonment, Finally, as thea term largely we abandonedunpack, contradicts community the that cyclone we explored metaphor and and documented its implied abandonment, as a term we unpack, contradicts the cyclone metaphor and its implied natural naturalfirsthand indifference. speaks in itsFinally, current the state largely to the abandoned importance community of the land-human that we relationship, explored a particularlynd documented as indifference. Finally, the largely abandoned community that we explored and documented ﬁrsthand firsthandarticulated speaks in the in Truthits current and Reconciliation state to the importance Commission of ofthe Canada’s land-human Honouring relationship, the Truth, particularly Reconciling as speaks in its current state to the importance of the land-human relationship, particularly as articulated articulated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Honouring the Truth, Reconciling in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future:

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SummaryHumanities of the 2018 Final, 7, 5 Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (Truth and Reconciliation5 of 22 Commission of Canada 2015). The reforestation of Uranium City over the past thirty-five years for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (Truth especiallyand Reconciliation affected our Commission perceptions of and Canada thinking. 2015) Even. The whilereforestation greater of tree Uranium growth City does over not the by past itself do muchthirty to mitigate-five years past especially decisions affected with environmentalour perceptions consequencesand thinking. Even that while linger greater today tree in the growth town site itself,does which not is by our itself specific do much concern, to mitigate the trees past themselves decisions with offer environmental a valuable lesson consequences regarding that the linger relations betweentoday humans in the town and site nonhumans. itself, which is The our lesson, specific weconcern, contend, the trees can themselves be brought offer forward a valuable into lesson currently inhabitedregarding communities the relations where between choices humans become and nonhumans. policies. As The we lesson, demonstrate we contend, throughout can be brought this paper, the impactsforward ofinto large-scale currently mininginhabited events communities such as where occurred choices in thebecome twentieth policies. century As we indemonstrate Uranium City resultedthroughout from human this paper, decision-making. the impacts of Aslarge Elizabeth-scale mining A. Povinelli events such observes as occurred regarding in the former twentieth mining century in Uranium City resulted from human decision-making. As Elizabeth A. Povinelli observes communities in Australia, “[T]hose persons who were left to inhabit the toxic fields made by others regarding former mining communities in Australia, “[T]hose persons who were left to inhabit the are given the job of removing them” (Povinelli 2016, p. 88). Even within the contexts of colonial and toxic fields made by others are given the job of removing them” (Povinelli 2016, p. 88). Even within capitalistthe contexts activities, of colonial which canand seemcapitalist like activities, large-scale, which uncontrolled, can seem like and large impersonal-scale, uncontro forces,lled, the and cyclone metaphorimpersonal works forces, against the recognizing cyclone metaphor and acknowledging works against human recognizing agency and and acknowledging responsibility, human which are in turnagency crucial and to responsibility, truth and reconciliation. which are in turn crucial to truth and reconciliation.

Figure 5. Tree in the Kitchen, May 2017 (Photo R. Boschman). Figure 5. Tree in the Kitchen, May 2017 (Photo R. Boschman). 2. Harold Innes and the Metaphor of Cyclonic Development 2. Harold Innis and the Metaphor of Cyclonic Development Harold Innis is a prominent early twentieth century scholar of economy and geography in Haroldnorthern Innis Canada. is a Though prominent subsequent early twentieth scholarship century has drawn scholar significant of economy attention and to Innisgeography and in northerncyclonic Canada. development, Though the subsequentconcept in Innis’s scholarship own work hasis nascent. drawn One significant would be hard attention pressed to to Innis find and cyclonica clear, development, cogent discussion the concept in his writing in Innis’s that own develops work a is theoretical nascent. One viewpoint, would yet be hardthe metaphor pressed of to find a clear,cyclonic cogent development discussion has in nevertheless his writing caught that develops on in subsequent a theoretical scholarship viewpoint, (Neill 1972 yet; Stamps the metaphor 1995; of cyclonicBarnes development et al. 2001; hasKeeling nevertheless 2010; Walby caught 2017). on Environmental in subsequent historian scholarship Arn ( KeelingNeill 1972 is especially; Stamps 1995; important to our discussion because he addresses Uranium City specifically in terms of cyclonic Barnes et al. 2001; Keeling 2010; Walby 2017). Environmental historian Arn Keeling is especially development, which is further taken up in Walby’s recent essay. While we generally agree with both important to our discussion because he addresses Uranium City specifically in terms of cyclonic Keeling and Walby, and especially appreciate the latter’s argument regarding the limits of the development,photograph which in documenting is further traumatized taken up in landscapes, Walby’s recent we think essay. it is While important we generally to reexamine agree the with bothcyclonic Keeling and developme Walby,nt and metaphor. especially As appreciate Walby points the latter’s out repeatedly, argument the regarding settlers the and limits settler of the photographorganizations in documenting that created traumatized Uranium City landscapes, also left behind we think a toxic it is importantenvironment to thatreexamine displaced the and cyclonic developmentharmed Indigenous metaphor. peoples. As Walby Why, points we ask, out deploy repeatedly, the cyclone the settlers metaphor and if settler it naturalizes organizations settler that createdagency? Uranium Arn Keeling, City also whose left behind work we a toxicadmire environment and support, that writes displaced that “In andhis writing harmed on Indigenous global peoples. Why, we ask, deploy the cyclone metaphor if it naturalizes settler agency? Arn Keeling, whose work we admire and support, writes that “In his writing on global mineral rushes, the economic Humanities 2018, 7, 5 6 of 20 geographer and historian Harold Innis deployed the metaphor of a cyclone to describe the intensity of economic and cultural changes resulting from the incursion of metropolitan industrial capital and technologies into remote, resource-rich regions” (Keeling 2010, p. 229). At the same time, Keeling indicates that the idea of cyclonic development is itself under continuous development by others. He notes that Trevor Barnes has “further developed the idea”. According to Keeling, cyclonics theory as developed by Barnes “indicates the ‘whirlwind ferocity of capitalist accumulation at resource sites, and the equally ferocious decline that follows.’” Adding his own environmental dimensions to the metaphor, Keeling states: “by grafting environmental perspectives onto the cyclone model, we can better understand the ecological consequences engendered by rapid resource development” (p. 242). Finally, and most significant, Keeling (quoting earlier scholars) suggests that

The cyclone metaphor not only attempts to capture these economic ﬂuctuations and their spatial consequences, but (from a mining perspective) also helps avoid the naturalization of economic booms and busts inherent in the notion of a “resource cycle” (Clapp 1998) or Aschmann’s (1970) classic theory of a mine’s “natural history.” Instead, it points to the importance of considering how “politics and institutions thoroughly constitute as well as condition the resource cycle” (Keeling 2010, p. 230).

Aside from the problematic readings of Innis concerning the cyclone metaphor, or the equally problematic—and ironic—development of the cyclone metaphor to describe or represent what Trevor Barnes calls “the specificity of a particular kind of commodity production in a particular place” (as quoted in Keeling 2010, p. 230), the most pressing concern we have over the cyclone metaphor is that it too is natural. In addition, as with other metaphors taken from nature—itself a contested and complex term with a long and varied history (Williams 1980)—the cyclone obviates human agency and precludes its consideration. Taken seriously, it lets the progenitors of Uranium City off the hook; it enables the repetition of other such developments to occur globally, especially where vulnerable peoples are concerned; it cannot, on its own terms, recognize that Cameco Corporation, the major uranium player in Saskatchewan post Eldorado, has altered the Uranium City model in its subsequent operations; and it contradicts the agency built into the concepts of both abandonment and remediation. The deployment of an extreme meteorological event as a metaphor for community building and resource extraction together with all the multifaceted contingencies, spinoffs, consequences, and legacies, especially given the long use of natural metaphors relative to documented histories of women, race, and colonialism, needs to be clarified if not revised. The cyclone metaphor, in our view, does not help “avoid the naturalization of economic booms and busts inherent in the notion of a ‘resource cycle’”; rather it amplifies the problem to which Keeling correctly refers: that the so-called boom-and-bust cycle is natural, that it is built into something called nature, in which humans play no part because they are exempt or else can do nothing to halt or alter its courses. It evokes the prospect of anthropogenic events of magnitude and complexity such as Uranium City as victims of weather and falling outside the scope of agency and obligation.

3. Uranium City’s Abandonment and Residual Maintenance Mayor Dean Classen, who has lived in Uranium City all his life, says of its abandonment that “it doesn’t bother me anymore, but it used to” (2017, Personal Communication). It has taken him decades to process the mass exodus he witnessed in his youth, while continuing to live there and manage the remaining community’s vital functions. In addition to pursuing his administrative duties as mayor, Classen looks after bulk fuel, banking, satellite communications, transportation, infrastructure maintenance, and airport security, among other things. Mayor Classen does all this, in effect, as a Humanitieslifelong2018 response, 7, 5 to decisions made by others in the past. He was preparing to graduate from the7 of 20 then new Candu High School (Figure 6) when the president of Eldorado Mines Corporation, Mr. N. Edigar, suddenly announced the closure of operations on 3 December 1981 (McIntyre 1993, p. 315). who directedThe largest Eldorado mine, Beaverlodge, had recently had purchased been running a new continually Boeing 737 forairliner, thirty built years. new The housing people and who other facilities,directed and Eldorado improved had the recently mine, purchased spending a overnew Boeing $100 million 737 airliner, CAD built in the new year housing before and the other closure announcementfacilities, and (ibid., improved p. 315). the mine, Given spending such expenditures over $100 million as well CAD as in the the Crown year before Corporation’s the closure other indicatorsannouncement that business (ibid., wouldp. 315). continue Given such into expenditures the future, as the well community as the Crown of approximately Corporation’s other4000 then livingindicators in Uranium that City business could would not have continue seen into what the was future, coming. the community Eldorado’s of commitment approximately to 4000 infrastructure then in theliving form in of suchUranium substantial City could capital not outlays have seen belied what its was own coming. announcement Eldorado’s and commitmen was thereforet to met with disbelief.infrastructure The in then the form brand of newsuch Candusubstantial High capital School outlays itself belied wasa its testament own announcement to the announcement’s and was therefore met with disbelief. The then brand new Candu High School itself was a testament to the incredibility. Yet the 1982–83 academic year would be the last for this state-of-the-art education facility. announcement’s incredibility. Yet the 1982–83 academic year would be the last for this state-of-the- Canduart High education School, facility. named Candu after High Canada’s School, uniquenamed after heavy-water Canada’s unique nuclear heavy reactor-water sold nuclear to countries reactor such as Indiasold ( Sandbergto countries 2016 such, p. as 28;India Candu (Sandberg Owners 2016, Group, p. 28; Candu Inc. 2016 Owners), would Group, soon Inc. 2016 serve), would as one soon of theserve central ﬁguresas inone Uranium of the central City’s figures subsequent in Uranium history City’s (Figure subsequent7). history (Figure 7).

Humanities 2018Figure, 7,Figure 5 6. Bill 6. Bill Bunn, Bunn, walking walking on on iceice inin Candu High High School School (Photo (Photo R. Boschman R. Boschman).). 8 of 22

FigureFigure 7. 7Candu. Candu High High SchoolSchool (Photo R. R. Boschman Boschman).).

Ty Lloyd is a water resources engineer who regularly visits Uranium City for periods of several weeks in order to monitor flow rates in the region. We roomed with Ty in the town’s only B&B, operated by Mayor Classen and his wife, Giselle, who maintain several houses in order to accommodate the steady stream of visitors: scientists, researchers, fishers, hunters, and the occasional journalist or photographer drawn to the town’s remains. Lloyd is contracted by regional lease managers to oversee the ongoing water quality and quantity monitoring in the Uranium City area (Lloyd 2017). Every evening during our stay, he engaged us in conversations about abandonment and place, especially this place. Lloyd maintains that the community is not abandoned (Lloyd 2017). The Dene and Woodland Cree, with their distinct languages and traditions, have relationships to the area that pre-date uranium “discovery” and mining by centuries (Deranger 2017, Personal Communication). They continue to live here and many return every summer to hunt and fish. The Dene associate Beaverlodge Mountain with a creation myth (Deranger). Ken Mercredi, part of a distinguished Cree family, maintains a summer home in Uranium City and works closely with both Dean Classen and Ty Lloyd. If Ken isn’t assisting the Mayor at the bulk fuel office or the airport, he can be found guiding Lloyd into a particular watershed. Allen Augier is a Métis man who is a permanent resident and works in environmental remediation for the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) (Augier 2017). His small 1950s bungalow, sitting on a street with derelict homes and empty lots, is meticulously well kept, his living room filled with sports memorabilia and trophies dating to his youth when he played defense for the Uranium City Kings hockey team (Figure 8). The Classen B&B also accommodates young professionals who routinely visit Uranium City. Shelley Fisher, for instance, is an ornithologist who spends every waking hour counting bird species within precise volume units of land; every evening she asked us to recount the birds we had seen, heard, or in this case—that of a Great Horned Owl—photographed (Figure 4). In addition, Colin Popoff, on behalf of the Saskatchewan Power Corporation, flies in once a month to check the local grid. These figures and others can be seen on any given day driving trucks and quads provided by the Classens as they go about their business on behalf of the community. Indeed, posted to the wall by the landline phone in the B&B dining room is the Uranium City directory, which includes local numbers for neighbors, businesses, services, the Ben McIntyre School, and the Health Center (though there is no doctor): all evidence that Ty Lloyd is right—Uranium City is not abandoned.

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Ty Lloyd is a water resources engineer who regularly visits Uranium City for periods of several weeks in order to monitor flow rates in the region. We roomed with Ty in the town’s only B&B, operated by Mayor Classen and his wife, Giselle, who maintain several houses in order to accommodate the steady stream of visitors: scientists, researchers, fishers, hunters, and the occasional journalist or photographer drawn to the town’s remains. Lloyd is contracted by regional lease managers to oversee the ongoing water quality and quantity monitoring in the Uranium City area (Lloyd 2017). Every evening during our stay, he engaged us in conversations about abandonment and place, especially this place. Lloyd maintains that the community is not abandoned (Lloyd 2017). The Dene and Woodland Cree, with their distinct languages and traditions, have relationships to the area that pre-date uranium “discovery” and mining by centuries (Deranger 2017, Personal Communication). They continue to live here and many return every summer to hunt and fish. The Dene associate Beaverlodge Mountain with a creation myth (Deranger 2017). Ken Mercredi, part of a distinguished Cree family, maintains a summer home in Uranium City and works closely with both Dean Classen and Ty Lloyd. If Ken isn’t assisting the Mayor at the bulk fuel office or the airport, he can be found guiding Lloyd into a particular watershed. Allen Augier is a Métis man who is a permanent resident and works in environmental remediation for the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) (Augier 2017). His small 1950s bungalow, sitting on a street with derelict homes and empty lots, is meticulously well kept, his living room filled with sports memorabilia and trophies dating to his youth when he played defense for the Uranium City Kings hockey team (Figure8). The Classen B&B also accommodates young professionals who routinely visit Uranium City. Shelley Fisher, for instance, is an ornithologist who spends every waking hour counting bird species within precise volume units of land; every evening she asked us to recount the birds we had seen, heard, or in this case—that of a Great Horned Owl—photographed (Figure4). In addition, Colin Popoff, on behalf of the Saskatchewan Power Corporation, flies in once a month to check the local grid. These figures and others can be seen on any given day driving trucks and quads provided by the Classens as they go about their business on behalf of the community. Indeed, posted to the wall by the landline phone in the B&B dining room is the Uranium City directory, which includes local numbers for neighbors, businesses, services, the Ben McIntyre School, and the Health Center (though there is no doctor): all evidence that Ty Lloyd is right—Uranium City is not abandoned. Our exploration of Uranium City took five full days (3–8 May 2017) and what we experienced during those days seemed to contradict, powerfully at times, Ty Lloyd’s position, fueling our evening discussions about abandonment. Each day we employed an array of digital and film cameras as well as a drone, documenting each street from the ground and air (Figure9). We photographed suburban neighborhoods that hadn’t been lived in for thirty-five years, while a few others closer to the center contained intact homes with human occupants. We saw reforested yards, picket and wire fences, sidewalks, playgrounds, and parks—in short, the spaces commonly found in cities occupied by humans. We documented infrastructure as well: basements, manholes, foundations, water lines, fire hydrants protruding still in seemingly absurd places, and a nearby adit, a private horizontal mine shaft installed long ago by a prospector. We visited institutional sites of gathering, dispersal, burial, and disposal: the sealed Roman Catholic church, the well-kept cemetery, the Canadian Legion Hall, the Uranium City landfill, and the vandalized Candu High School. Someone directed us to an automobile junk yard containing not just dozens of vehicles but also a small fleet of city buses, all locked into the space and time of this region—accessible on the ground only in winter on the ice-road traversing Lake Athabasca west to Fond du Lac—and all now well-forested. When we noticed a mature tree growing between an abandoned Datsun truck cab and its open passenger door, we knew a long time had passed (Figure 10). As we documented such instances repeatedly, we also noticed our own fatigue and creeping desensitization. We took frequent rests, during which we discussed the concept of abandonment as well as our immediate responses to the many scenes we were encountering. Humanities 2018, 7, 5 9 of 20 Humanities 2018, 7, 5 9 of 22

Figure 8. Allen Augier (Photo R. Boschman). Humanities 2018, 7, 5 Figure 8. Allen Augier (Photo R. Boschman). 10 of 22 Our exploration of Uranium City took five full days (3–8 May 2017) and what we experienced during those days seemed to contradict, powerfully at times, Ty Lloyd’s position, fueling our evening discussions about abandonment. Each day we employed an array of digital and film cameras as well as a drone, documenting each street from the ground and air (Figure 9). We photographed suburban neighborhoods that hadn’t been lived in for thirty-five years, while a few others closer to the center contained intact homes with human occupants. We saw reforested yards, picket and wire fences, sidewalks, playgrounds, and parks—in short, the spaces commonly found in cities occupied by humans. We documented infrastructure as well: basements, manholes, foundations, water lines, fire hydrants protruding still in seemingly absurd places, and a nearby adit, a private horizontal mine shaft installed long ago by a prospector. We visited institutional sites of gathering, dispersal, burial, and disposal: the sealed Roman Catholic church, the well-kept cemetery, the Canadian Legion Hall, the Uranium City landfill, and the vandalized Candu High School. Someone directed us to an automobile junk yard containing not just dozens of vehicles but also a small fleet of city buses, all locked into the space and time of this region—accessible on the ground only in winter on the ice-road traversing Lake Athabasca west to Fond du Lac—and all now well-forested. When we noticed a mature tree growing between an abandoned Datsun truck cab and its open passenger door, we knew a long time had passed (Figure 10). As we documented such instances repeatedly, we also noticed our own fatigue and creeping desensitization. We took frequent rests, during which we discussed the concept of abandonment as well as our immediate responses to the many scenes we were encountering. FigureFigure 9. Drone9. Drone Still Still of of Two Two Homes,Homes, Uranium City City (Photo (Photo B. B.Bunn Bunn).).

Figure 10. Datsun Truck (Photo R. Boschman).

Abandonment is relational. As a term with Old French etymologies in legal, moral, religious, and mercantile contexts, abandonment in its historic forms and usages, refers to the constraints, bonds, and boundaries of relationships (OED). In medieval Anglo-Norman, it is related to renunciation and therefore the acknowledged trust within and by a community that some individuals may choose to forego what others agree not to forego, e.g., commonly enjoyed pleasures, possessions, inhibitions, and/or relations, and implies freedom and agency, all of which contradicts the cyclonic development metaphor. Abandonment is the negative of bandonment or boundonment, a state of being bound or in a bond or set of bonds to humans and nonhumans. Its origins in the Old French bandon also point to its public meaning communicated through “proclamation, ban, jurisdiction, authority, disposal, discretion, license”, terms that, like abandonment, are ultimately derived from Latin (OED). Abandonment can be active or passive: one can abandon or one can be abandoned. Abandonment, specifically in environmental terms, is agentic and, as such, reaches into everyday decisions regarding relationship. It happens across scales of space and time, from the individual act of

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 10 of 22

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 10 of 20 a bond or set of bonds to humans and nonhumans. Its origins in the Old French bandon also point to its public meaning communicated through “proclamation, ban, jurisdiction, authority, disposal, discretion, license”, terms that, like abandonment, are ultimately derived from Latin (OED). Abandonment can be active or passive: one can abandon or one can be abandoned. Abandonment, speciﬁcally in environmental terms, is agentic and, as such, reaches into everyday decisions regarding relationship. It happens across scales of space and time, from the individual act of discarding a plastic bag to a community’s decision to allow methane to leak from its landﬁll and a corporation’s refusal to account for its carbon emissions.Figure 9. Drone Still of Two Homes, Uranium City (Photo B. Bunn).

FigureFigure 10. 10Datsun. Datsun TruckTruck (Photo R. R. Boschman Boschman).).

Abandonment is relational. As a term with Old French etymologies in legal, moral, religious, Abandonment is temporal—acknowledged or not, it assumes a position relative to history and and mercantile contexts, abandonment in its historic forms and usages, refers to the constraints, memorybonds, that and things, boundaries places, and of relationshipspeople can be (OED left behind.). In medieval Sometimes Anglo abandonment-Norman, it is quite related necessary. to However,renunciation it must and be therefore acknowledged the acknowledged that abandonment trust within and is primarilyby a community a dereliction that some ofindividu relationship.als In Uraniummay choose City, to then, forego individuals what others such agree as not Ty to Lloyd, forego, Allen e.g., commonly Augier, and enjoyed Shelley pleasures, Fisher arepossessions, contracted to attendinhibitions, to what has and/or been relations, left behind, and recognizingimplies freedom that and decisions agency, rendered all of which by contradicts others many the years cyclonic ago still impactdevelopment the water, metaphor. soil, air, and Abandonment life forms inis the this negative space. of In bandonment their commitment or boundonment to a place,, a state and of being acting on behalfbound of organizations or in a bond or such set asof bonds SRC, theyto humans see Uranium and nonhumans. City as having Its origins not in been the Old abandoned, French bandon although therealso is so point much to (perhapsits public meaning at times communicated too much) work through to do. “proclamation, ban, jurisdiction, authority, Abandonmentdisposal, discretion, also license entails”, terms going that, outside like abandonment, decision-making are ultimately limits determinedderived from byLatin consensus (OED). in Abandonment can be active or passive: one can abandon or one can be abandoned. Abandonment, a community or group and may constitute a breach of trust, one which can occur at any point in the specifically in environmental terms, is agentic and, as such, reaches into everyday decisions conventionalregarding Western relationship. linear It narrative happens ( acrossBoschman scales 2009 of space, pp. 1–3). and time,As we from continue the individual to interview act peopleof with ties to Uranium City, we often witness grief. Some of our contacts were born on Hospital Hill during the 1950s and 1960s because their parents had moved to Uranium City from places as far away as Ireland and Germany in order to work (McCaffery 2017; Melzer and Roland 2017), only to be forced to leave the place where they had grown up when others decided that mining was no longer viable. First Nations persons, such as Patrick Deranger, have a different story of loss. Patrick ran free in the woods as a very young Dene child before his family—in place on this land since time immemorial—was forcibly relocated and he was made to attend a residential school (Deranger 2017, Personal Communication). Abandonment, in the case of Patrick Deranger, occurred during the “boom” phase of Uranium City’s development. Although Deranger has not been back to Uranium City in over ﬁfty years, his connection to this place is powerful. He asked us, before our departure, to locate the house in the forest where he had lived with his family. Prior to his family being relocated to this site, his grandparents had lived on the town site itself well before Uranium City was conceived, planned, and established just after World War Two (Deranger 2017). They occupied the land where Humanities 2018, 7, 5 11 of 20

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 12 of 22 the Uranium City Hotel would later be built (Figure 11) and were subsequently forced onto a nearby (McIntyre 1993, pp. 314–23). Many walked away from properties they owned and cherished and on hillsidewhich along they with held other mortgages First Nations (Mercredi before 2017). being “People relocated were againreally hurt,to Fort especially Chipewyan homeowners” on the Alberta side of(Classen Lake Athabasca, 2017). No where compensation they found was themselves offered (Mercredi; living inClassen; a tent Melzer on the 2017 beach.). A As large Deranger testiﬁes,condominium they became and refugees, apartment displaced block complex from theirwas completed own traditional in the early home: 1980s “The and Mikisewnever occupied, Cree saw us and tookstanding pity on to this us andday as brought a testament us into to the their complexities community”. of abandonment To help us that ﬁnd cyclonic his familial development home, as Patrick drew usa metaphor a map, whichcannot turnedadequately out represent to be very (Figure precise 13). asThe we construction foraged throughcompany mixedcontracted forest to this and rock. We photographedproject fulfilled the its site, obligations left tobacco in order following to be paid, First knowing, Nations along protocols, with everyone and retrieved else, that a it piece would of white never be lived in (Mercredi). Today former and current residents of Uranium City still feel misled by birch bark, a pink rock, and a doorknob lying in the mossed-over remains of the door to the Deranger the infrastructure and investment that preceded and even extended beyond the closure home toannouncement give to Patrick by Eldorado on our return.Mines on 3 December 1981 (Classen).

FigureFigure 11. 11.Deranger Deranger Family Family TraditionalTraditional Land Land (Photo (Photo R. Boschman R. Boschman).).

Patrick Deranger’s story regarding the dislocations and betrayals he and his family experienced arising from the establishment of Uranium City in the early 1950s points to the reality of abandonment in its own temporal frames. There is not a single abandonment but many abandonments that occur when economy and cultures, each comprised of human agents, interact. Non-Indigenous peoples, often in family units, came from around the world to work in Uranium City (McIntyre 1993, pp. 58–64, 65; Sandberg 2016, pp. 51–76). Eldorado Corporation, on behalf of the Government of Canada, moved families from Ireland and Germany, especially during the initial years of the Beaverlodge operation (McCaffery 2017; Melzer and Roland 2017). The children of these and other immigrants grew up in Uranium City; their parents bought homes and took out mortgages, built cottages, and grew to love and become immersed in the region’s unique landscape (Figure 12), with its red and pink rock dominating the hills of the northern shore of Lake Athabasca. From the air, one can see extensive deserts of white sand along the southern shore, where ancient Indigenous hunting implements have been discovered (Mackie 2017, Personal Communication). According to Patricia Sandberg, “More than ﬁfty companies were reported to be working in the Beaverlodge area in 1954, and Uranium City was the hub” (ibid., p. 28). Nearly thirty years later, when Eldorado, the largest and most powerful company, decided to call it quits, thousands of people were forced to leave despite desperate efforts by community leaders to create new plans for UraniumFigure 12. Uranium City’s economic City Landscape survival at Dawn (McIntyre (Photo R. Boschman 1993, pp.). 314–23). Many walked away from properties they owned and cherished and on which they held mortgages (Mercredi 2017). “People were really hurt, especially homeowners” (Classen 2017). No compensation was offered (Mercredi 2017; Classen 2017; Melzer and Roland 2017). A large condominium and apartment block complex was completed in the early 1980s and never occupied, standing to this day as a testament to the complexities of abandonment that cyclonic development as a metaphor cannot adequately represent Humanities 2018, 7, 5 12 of 22

(McIntyre 1993, pp. 314–23). Many walked away from properties they owned and cherished and on which they held mortgages (Mercredi 2017). “People were really hurt, especially homeowners” (Classen 2017). No compensation was offered (Mercredi; Classen; Melzer 2017). A large condominium and apartment block complex was completed in the early 1980s and never occupied, standing to this day as a testament to the complexities of abandonment that cyclonic development as a metaphor cannot adequately represent (Figure 13). The construction company contracted to this project fulfilled its obligations in order to be paid, knowing, along with everyone else, that it would never be lived in (Mercredi). Today former and current residents of Uranium City still feel misled by the infrastructure and investment that preceded and even extended beyond the closure announcement by Eldorado Mines on 3 December 1981 (Classen).

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 12 of 20

(Figure 13). The construction company contracted to this project fulfilled its obligations in order to be paid, knowing, along with everyone else, that it would never be lived in (Mercredi 2017). Today former and current residents of Uranium City still feel misled by the infrastructure and investment that preceded and even extended beyond the closure announcement by Eldorado Mines on 3 December 1981 (Classen 2017). Figure 11. Deranger Family Traditional Land (Photo R. Boschman).

Figure 12. Uranium City Landscape at Dawn (Photo R. Boschman). Figure 12. Uranium City Landscape at Dawn (Photo R. Boschman). Humanities 2018, 7, 5 13 of 22

Figure 13. Townhouse/Apartment Complex (Photo R. Boschman). Figure 13. Townhouse/Apartment Complex (Photo R. Boschman). Although the region around Uranium City constitutes an area of acute environmental concern Althoughand is undergoing the region expensive around and necessary Uranium remediation City constitutes that involves an government, area of acute corporate, environmental and community actors, Uranium City itself receives no cleanup funding (Classen). The Beaverlodge mill concern and is undergoing expensive and necessary remediation that involves government, and mine sites established and operated by Eldorado for thirty years were bulldozed and buried in corporate,the years and communityimmediately following actors, Uraniumthe closure Citythat became itself receiveseffective as no of cleanupJune 1982 funding(Sandberg ( Classen2016, p. 2017). The Beaverlodge217). The mine mill shafts, and minesupposedly sites a established mile deep, were and sealed operated during by this Eldorado process (forFigure thirty 14). years The were bulldozedLorado and mill buried and mine in thesites, years on the immediately other side of Uranium following City, thewere closure only recently that remediated became effective by the as of June 1982Saskatchewan (Sandberg Research 2016, p.Council 217). on The behalf mine of shafts,the Government supposedly of Saskatchewan a mile deep, (Sandberg were sealed2016, p. during this process217). Farther (Figure away, 14 Gunnar). The Mine Lorado and Mill, mill the and older mine open sites,pit mine on and the mill, other is beginning side of its Uraniumcleanup, City, with an estimated cost of $260,000,000 CAD to be borne by the governments of Saskatchewan and Canada (Sandberg 2016, p. 219). Estimates of other, smaller sites requiring remediation range between thirty-seven and forty. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) was formed in 2006 by the provincial government of Saskatchewan in order to identify sites of concern and implement remediation (Saskatchewan Research Council 2017). However, no funding has been directed towards the remediation of the Uranium City site itself (Classen). A faded sign that warns people to stay on the roads (Figure 15) testifies to the hazards we identified: open pits and foundations; holes, troughs, and wells; rusted metal and ironworks; nail- and screw-bearing wood, cement, and metal; broken glass; discarded fuel and chemical containers; numerous abandoned vehicles at multiple locations; and former houses and other structures in various stages of collapse. Some of the latter we could not or would not enter,3 though we did carefully survey the Candu High School. Homes, larger structures, and vehicles throughout the town site bear evidence of extensive vandalism, a concomitant of abandonment. The remaining residents have voiced their concerns about the possible effects of breathing the dust-laden air, a concern we support out of our experiences on the dusty roads and lots throughout the area (CBC News 2010).

3 Indeed, one of us stepped on four nails and one screw during our multi-day survey of Uranium City; fortunately, he had received his tetanus shot prior to our trip.

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 13 of 20 were only recently remediated by the Saskatchewan Research Council on behalf of the Government of Saskatchewan (Sandberg 2016, p. 217). Farther away, Gunnar Mine and Mill, the older open pit mine and mill, is beginning its cleanup, with an estimated cost of more than $100,000,000 CAD to be borne by the governments of Saskatchewan and Canada (Muldoon 2017; Sandberg 2016, p. 219). Estimates of other, smaller sites requiring remediation range between thirty-seven and forty. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) was formed in 1947 by the provincial government of Saskatchewan in order to identify sites of concern and implement remediation (Muldoon 2017; Saskatchewan Research Council 2017). However, no funding has been directed towards the remediation of the Uranium City site itself (Classen 2017). A faded sign that warns people to stay on the roads (Figure 15) testiﬁes to the hazards we identiﬁed: open pits and foundations; holes, troughs, and wells; rusted metal and ironworks; nail- and screw-bearing wood, cement, and metal; broken glass; discarded fuel and chemical containers; numerous abandoned vehicles at multiple locations; and former houses and other structures in various stages of collapse. Some of the latter we could not or would not enter,4 though we did carefully survey the Candu High School. Homes, larger structures, and vehicles throughout the town site bear evidence of extensive vandalism, a concomitant of abandonment. The remaining residents have voiced their concerns about the possible effects of breathing the dust-laden air, a concern we support out of our experiences on the dusty roads and lots throughout the area (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

2010). Humanities 2018, 7, 5 14 of 22

FigureFigure 14. 14.Beaverlodge Beaverlodge MineMine Shaft Shaft (Photo (Photo B. Bunn B. Bunn).).

The town landfill, finally, continues to be used even though it dates from the mid-twentieth century and is therefore built on technologies from a previous era (Figure 16). We agree with Ken Mercredi’s opinion that the landfill contents should never be moved, and laud his efforts to identify water outlets in the immediate vicinity of the landfill site bordering on Frank Lake (Mercredi 2017, Personal Communication). We also accept his opinion that runoff is contained to Frank Lake. At the same time, the two dominant narratives of garbage, as Lindner and Meissner write in their introduction to Global Garbage: Urban Imaginaries of Waste, Excess, and Abandonment (Lindner and Meissner 2016), are also on our minds: “the narrative of garbage as relational (as an entity relative to something within a socio-symbolic system) and the narrative of garbage as revenant (as refuse that refuses to be

4 Indeed, one of us stepped on four nails and one screw during our multi-day survey of Uranium City; fortunately, he had received his tetanus shot prior to our trip.

Figure 15. Faded Warning Sign, Uranium City (Photo R. Boschman).

The town landfill, finally, continues to be used even though it dates from the mid-twentieth century and is therefore built on technologies from a previous era (Figure 16). We agree with Ken Mercredi’s opinion that the landfill contents should never be moved, and laud his efforts to identify water outlets in the immediate vicinity of the landfill site bordering on Frank Lake (2017, Personal Communication). We also accept his opinion that runoff is contained to Frank Lake. At the same time, the two dominant narratives of garbage, as Lindner and Meissner write in their introduction to Global Garbage: Urban Imaginaries of Waste, Excess, and Abandonment (Lindner and Meissner 2016), are also on our minds: “the narrative of garbage as relational (as an entity relative to something within a socio- symbolic system) and the narrative of garbage as revenant (as refuse that refuses to be disposed of)”

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 14 of 22

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 14 of 20 disposed of)” (ibid., p. 395). Both narratives apply to Uranium City and both support our argument that cyclonic development as a term requires reexamination. Moreover, we do not think it equitable that community citizens, however knowledgeable, should bear the burden by themselves of monitoring the consequences of decisions taken by others decades ago. Without residents such as Ken Mercredi, Allen Augier, the Classens, and others, all of whom are in their ﬁfties and sixties, who will undertake voluntarily to monitor the UraniumFigure City 14. Beaverlodge landﬁll as Mine well Shaft as other(Photo B. sites Bunn of). concern in Uranium City itself?

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 15 of 22

(ibid., p. 395). Both narratives apply to Uranium City and both support our argument that cyclonic development as a term requires reexamination. Moreover, we do not think it equitable that community citizens, however knowledgeable, should bear the burden by themselves of monitoring the consequences of decisions taken by others decades ago. Without residents such as Ken Mercredi, Allen Augier, the Classens, and others, all of whom are in their fifties and sixties, who will undertake voluntarily to monitorFigure the 15. Uranium Faded Warning City landfill Sign, Uranium as well Cityas other (Photo sites R. Boschman of concer). n in Uranium City Figure 15. itself? Faded Warning Sign, Uranium City (Photo R. Boschman). The town landfill, finally, continues to be used even though it dates from the mid-twentieth century and is therefore built on technologies from a previous era (Figure 16). We agree with Ken Mercredi’s opinion that the landfill contents should never be moved, and laud his efforts to identify water outlets in the immediate vicinity of the landfill site bordering on Frank Lake (2017, Personal Communication). We also accept his opinion that runoff is contained to Frank Lake. At the same time, the two dominant narratives of garbage, as Lindner and Meissner write in their introduction to Global Garbage: Urban Imaginaries of Waste, Excess, and Abandonment (Lindner and Meissner 2016), are also on our minds: “the narrative of garbage as relational (as an entity relative to something within a socio- symbolic system) and the narrative of garbage as revenant (as refuse that refuses to be disposed of)”

Figure 16. Uranium City Landfill bordering Frank Lake (Photo R. Boschman). Figure 16. Uranium City Landﬁll bordering Frank Lake (Photo R. Boschman). 4. Relationship and Land 4. RelationshipIn Uranium and Land City, we saw poplar and other deciduous trees such as birch growing profusely In Uraniumthrough the City, once we idealized saw poplar post-war and nei otherghborhoods deciduous built to trees pursue such nature’s as birch unstable growing heaviest profusely element, U-235. We entered a nearby adit, a horizontal mine shaft, one rainy afternoon. Such places through the once idealized post-war neighborhoods built to pursue nature’s unstable heaviest element, can still be found in the Uranium City region, stemming from the mid-twentieth-century period when U-235. Wethe enteredquest for U a- nearby235 was at adit, its most a horizontal euphoric and mine few of shaft, its dangers one rainy were as afternoon. yet practically Such recognized places can still be found(Zoellner in the Uranium2009, pp. 38 City–129; Sandberg region, stemming2016, pp. 9–21). from Although the mid-twentieth-century we could walk into the adit period no more when the quest forthan U-235 about was thirty at feet, its mostas its floor euphoric was covered and in few thick, of treacherous its dangers ice, were we used as a yet zoom practically lens to extend recognized our subterranean sight as far as we could (Figure 17). We wanted to see into this small-scale example of tunneling for an ore that changed the English language with concepts based on breaking the sub- atomic relations that hold U-235 together: releasing—or we could say abandoning—its power all at once. This bursting of the “overloaded” U-235 atom is in fact a kind of frenzied, prolonged series of divorces: “Losing its center piece by piece,” writes Tom Zoellner, “uranium changes shape as it loses its protons—it becomes radium and then radon and then polonium—a lycanthropic cascade that involves thirteen heavy metals before the stuff finally comes to permanent rest as lead” (2009, p. 92). For places such as Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Uranium City, the oft-used metaphors incline towards containment, hermeticism, remediation, and abandonment, all of which imply choice, decision- making, and agency. There is talk among Uranium City alumni about what went down the Beaverlodge mine shaft before it was sealed in September 1982—transformers, heavy equipment, and truckloads of sulfuric acid (Lloyd 2017). These narratives evoke the complex power paradox of the Uranium City region: entombment and letting go; imprisonment and release; cordoning off, abandonment, and growing in. When we walked down streets with houses, sidewalks, power poles,

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 15 of 20

(Zoellner 2009, pp. 38–129; Sandberg 2016, pp. 9–21). Although we could walk into the adit no more than about thirty feet, as its floor was covered in thick, treacherous ice, we used a zoom lens to extend our subterranean sight as far as we could (Figure 17). We wanted to see into this small-scale example of tunneling for an ore that changed the English language with concepts based on breaking the sub-atomic relations that hold U-235 together: releasing—or we could say abandoning—its power all at once. This bursting of the “overloaded” U-235 atom is in fact a kind of frenzied, prolonged series of divorces: “Losing its center piece by piece,” writes Tom Zoellner, “uranium changes shape as it loses its protons—it becomes radium and then radon and then polonium—a lycanthropic cascade that involves thirteen heavy metals before the stuff finally comes to permanent rest as lead” (Zoellner 2009, p. 92). For places such as Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Uranium City, the oft-used metaphors incline towards containment, hermeticism, remediation, and abandonment, all of which imply choice, decision-making, and agency. There is talk among Uranium City alumni about what went down the Beaverlodge mine shaft before it was sealed in September 1982—transformers, heavy equipment, and truckloads of sulfuric acid (Lloyd 2017). These narratives evoke the complex power paradox of the Uranium City region: entombment and letting go; imprisonment and release; cordoning off, abandonment, and growingHumanities in. When 2018, we7, 5 walked down streets with houses, sidewalks, power poles, and fire16 of hydrants22 that hadn’t been used in over thirty years, we could see firsthand the lesson of Uranium City referred and fire hydrants that hadn’t been used in over thirty years, we could see firsthand the lesson of to by KenUranium Mercredi. City referred The lesson to by forKen us Mercredi. is relational. The lesson for us is relational.

Figure 17. Adit Entrance (Photo R. Boschman). Figure 17. Adit Entrance (Photo R. Boschman). We observed that the trees that have now grown into the abandoned neighborhoods of Uranium WeCity observed—through that the the infrastr treesucture that have and now sometimes grown right into the through abandoned the houses neighborhoods themselves— ofhave Uranium City—throughsomething the to infrastructure say (Figure 18). andConsultation sometimes with right all manner through of trees the in houses Uranium themselves—have City could have wide something- ranging effects connected to life, hope, and creative planning for present and future human to say (Figure 18). Consultation with all manner of trees in Uranium City could have wide-ranging communities. Porousness could be increasingly recognized and embraced within current architecture effects connectedand planning to practices; life, hope, not andthat humans creative in planningthe twenty- forfirst present century would and future permithuman porousness communities. but Porousnessrather could acknowledge be increasingly more fully recognized the reality of and the embracedporous relationship within currentwith the architecturerest of nature ( andFigure planning practices;19). not Rather that than humans merely in well the- twenty-ﬁrsttreed cities, we century could m wouldove toward permit forest porousness cities where but vulnerability rather acknowledge and more fullyrelation the are reality made ofmore the explicit. porous Rather relationship than the stock with ambivalence the rest oftoward nature poplars (Figure based 19 on). fear Rather of than merelytheir well-treed root systems, cities, as we is the could case in move our home toward city forestof Calgary cities (City where of Calgary vulnerability 2017), perhaps and building relation are practices could adapt to new models along the lines of Tim Ingold’s description of what a human made morealready explicit. is: “the whole Rather-organism than-in the-its- stockenvironment” ambivalence (Ingold 2000, toward p. 759). poplars Cairns and based Jacobs on’ concept fear of their root systems,of “architectural as is the agency” case in would our homealso be cityinvolved of Calgary, in what ( Citythey call of Calgary“a less defensive 2017), perhapsrelationship building practicesbetween could architectural adapt to new creative models action along and the death” lines (2014, of Timpp. 231 Ingold’s–32). Another description tree expert, of what David a human alreadyGeorge is: “the Haskell, whole-organism-in-its-environment” comments: “Because life is network, ( Ingoldthere is no2000 ‘nature’, p. 759). or ‘environment’ Cairns and, Jacobs’separate concept and apart from humans. We are part of the community of life, composed of relationships with ‘others’, so the human/nature duality that lives near the heart of many philosophies is, from a biological perspective, illusory” (Haskell 2017). Finally, and most important, Indigenous peoples with their traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) require genuine, actionable acknowledgement.

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of “architectural agency” would also be involved, in what they call “a less defensive relationship between architectural creative action and death” (Cairns and Jacobs 2014, pp. 231–32). Another tree expert, David George Haskell, comments: “Because life is network, there is no ‘nature’ or ‘environment’, separate and apart from humans. We are part of the community of life, composed of relationships with ‘others’, so the human/nature duality that lives near the heart of many philosophies is, from a biological perspective, illusory” (Haskell 2017). Finally, and most important, Indigenous peoples with their traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) require genuine, actionable acknowledgement. Humanities 2018, 7, 5 17 of 22 Humanities 2018, 7, 5 17 of 22

Figure 18. Suffer the Trees (Photo R. Boschman). FigureFigure 18. 18.Suffer Suffer the the TreesTrees (Photo (Photo R. R. Boschman). Boschman).

Figure 19. Suburban Poplar Forest, Uranium City (Photo R. Boschman). Figure 19. Suburban Poplar Forest, Uranium City (Photo R. Boschman). Figure 19. Suburban Poplar Forest, Uranium City (Photo R. Boschman). In Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Report Summary (2015) repeatedly cites environmental knowledgeIn Canada, and the practice Truth andas a Reconciliationcomponent of Report reconciliation Summary and (2015) healing. repeatedly As one cites elder, environmental Reg Crowshoe, Inknowledge Canada,states: the andTruth practice and as Reconciliationa component of reconciliation Report Summary and healing.(2015) As repeatedly one elder, Reg cites Crowshoe, environmental states: knowledge andWhen practice we talk about as athe component concept of reconciliation, of reconciliation I think about and some healing. of the stories As that one I’ve elder, Reg Crowshoe, states:Whenheard we in talk our about culture the and concept stories of arereconciliation, important ...I thinkThese about stories some are soof theimportant stories thatas theories I’ve heardbut inat ourthe sameculture time and stories stories are are important important to ... oral These cultures. stories Soare when so important we talk aboutas theories stories, butwe at talkthe aboutsame timedefining stories our are environment important andto oral how cultures. we look So at whenauthorities we talk that about come stories, from the weland talk andabout how defining that land, our environmentwhen we talk and about how our we relationship look at authorities with the that land, come how from we the look landat forgivenessand how that and land, reconciliation when we talk is so about important our relationship when we look with at theit historically. land, how we look at forgiveness and reconciliation is so important when we look at it historically.

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 17 of 20

When we talk about the concept of reconciliation, I think about some of the stories that I’ve heard in our culture and stories are important ... These stories are so important as theories but at the same time stories are important to oral cultures. So when we talk about stories, we talk about deﬁning our environment and how we look at authorities that come from the land and how that land, when we talk about our relationship with the land, how we look at forgiveness and reconciliation is so important when we look at it historically.

We have stories in our culture about our superheroes, how we treat each other, stories about how animals and plants give us authorities and privileges to use plants as healing, but we also have stories about practices. How would we practise reconciliation? How would we practise getting together to talk about reconciliation in an oral perspective? And those practices are so important (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015, p. 18).

The Report’s Call to Action includes a seven-page section entitled “Corporate sector: Land, sustainability, and economic development”, which speciﬁcally addresses the impacts of the energy sector in Canada on the health of lands and that “there is an emerging consensus that the land that sustains all of us must be protected for future generations” (ibid., p. 301). The TRC Summary in turn cites the ﬁndings of the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples:

[H]istorically, land and resource development activities, such as hydroelectric dams, mines, and agricultural and urban development, have had many adverse impacts on Aboriginal communities. Communities were not consulted before they were relocated from their vast traditional territories to much smaller, more remote, and more crowded reserves to make way for government and industrial land and resource development projects. Even when they were not relocated, Aboriginal peoples were economically marginalized in their own homelands when irreversible environmental damage was done in the name of “progress”. All too often, economic development has disrupted Indigenous peoples’ cultural, spiritual, and economic ties to the land, resulting in the devastation of traditional economies and self-sufﬁciency, community trauma, public welfare dependency, and poor health and socio-political outcomes (ibid., p. 302).

The last sentence especially points to the inadequacy of the cyclonic development metaphor to categorize, explain, or represent the suffering of Indigenous peoples because of decisions undertaken by settler peoples and their organizations—corporate and governmental—to find and extract uranium on the traditional lands that fall under Treaty 8(1899) north of Lake Athabasca (a treaty which directly addresses issues such as mining and First Nations consent [http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc. ca/eng/1100100028813/1100100028853]). Perhaps the passage quoted above can be acted upon by the Governments of Saskatchewan and Canada specifically in terms of Uranium City itself, not only the toxic mine sites in the surrounding region. Adequate funding could be directed towards this community’s need for cleanup and remediation with the full consultation of the region’s Indigenous peoples as well as Uranium City’s mayor and other community leaders. Public acknowledgement could perhaps be made regarding the damages done to the Uranium City region, including not only the Crackingstone Peninsula where the Gunnar cleanup is just getting under way but also Uranium City itself. We recommend the following steps regarding Uranium City: (1) public consultation in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC); (2) a complete assessment of Uranium City by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC); and (3) implementation of TRC and SRC final recommendations regarding best environmental practice, funding, cleanup, and remediation.

5. Conclusions We visited Uranium City in May 2017 before the ice was off the lakes and well before the foliage and insects had returned. We wanted our first look to be a clear one in order to document the Humanities 2018, 7, 5 18 of 20 remains of a Canadian mining city abandoned in the early 1980s. As settler scholars committed to the Environmental Humanities, we included ourselves as subjects of the very terms used to theorize and portray the history of industry and colonization in Canada. The term cyclonic development naturalizes the sudden appearance and evacuation of substantial populations working and living in remote areas. We argue that this metaphor, borrowed from the mid-twentieth-century Canadian geographer and political scientist Harold Innis, obscures the role of human agency in so-called boom-and-bust communities such as Uranium City. As with other natural metaphors, cyclonic development implies thatHumanities single-resource 2018, 7, 5 harvesting occurs naturally, in this case like the weather, regardless of19 human of 22 decisions and actions. In this picture, government agents, corporate directors, municipal planners, academics,decisions prospectors,and actions. In scientists, this picture, settlers, government and others agents, appear corporate as reactive directors, at best.municipal This, planners, we submit, is aacademics, faulty construct prospectors, that permits scientists, abandonment—of settlers, and others peoples appear and as reactive environments—as at best. This, an we understandable submit, is a eventfaulty subsequent construct tothat sudden permits development, abandonment even—of though peoples abandonment and environments is also— oftenas an aunderstandable matter of agency. Weevent see abandonmentsubsequent to sudden as a European development, term even with though an etymology abandonment that is is also relational often a matter and scaled—with of agency. implicationsWe see abandonment for large-scale as a industry European as term well with as everyday an etymology actions that in is which relational we, and the authorsscaled—with of this essay,implications are complicit for large and-scale also responsible.industry as well Cyclonic as everyday development actions and in which abandonment we, the authors also apply of this to the communitiesessay, are complicit in which and we also ourselves responsible. live with Cyclonic our families. development As settler and abandonment Canadians, we also acknowledge apply to the the importancecommunities of the in whichTruth we and ourselves Reconciliation live with Report ourSummary families. As (2015) settler, which Canadians, sets forth we acknowledge an environmental the visionimportance that accords of the Truth with and the Reconciliation traditional knowledgeReport Summary base (2015) of the, which First sets Nations forth an of environmental Canada. Finally, vision that accords with the traditional knowledge base of the First Nations of Canada. Finally, we we remember and acknowledge the interlaced mixed forest we encountered everywhere as we explored remember and acknowledge the interlaced mixed forest we encountered everywhere as we explored Uranium City. While we realize that reforestation alone does not make environmental trauma disappear, Uranium City. While we realize that reforestation alone does not make environmental trauma we were impressed and humbled by the trees. Was that a bus behind that thicket (Figure 20)? If humans disappear, we were impressed and humbled by the trees. Was that a bus behind that thicket (Figure are active agents in a networked world rather than passive bystanders in a cyclone of development, then 20)? If humans are active agents in a networked world rather than passive bystanders in a cyclone of what,development, we ask, is thethen fuller what, lesson we ask, that is Uraniumthe fuller Citylesson can that teach? Uranium Inspired City by ca Kenn teach? Mercredi, Inspired we discussedby Ken thisMercredi, question we at significantdiscussed this points question in our at five-day significant exploration—whether points in our five-day in the exploration vandalized—whether Candu Highin Schoolthe vandalized or at the landfillCandu High created School long or ago at the beside landfill Frank created Lake, long or ago when beside we Frank stood Lake, in a green-and-red or when we kitchenstood andin a onegreen of-and us made-red kitchen the choice and toone photograph of us made anthe evergreen choice to photograph frond growing an evergreen through the frond open windowgrowing (Figure through 21). the open window (Figure 21).

FigureFigure 20. 20.Uranium Uranium City Bus (Photo (Photo R. R. Boschman Boschman).).

Humanities 2018, 7, 5 19 of 20 Humanities 2018, 7, 5 20 of 22

FigureFigure 21. 21.Tree Tree atat thethe Window,Window, UraniumUranium City (Photo (Photo R. R. Boschman Boschman).).

Acknowledgments: This paper would not be possible without funding support from Mount Royal University’s Acknowledgments:Institute of EnvironmentalThis paper Sustainability would not (IES) be possible for our withoutinitial field funding trip to support Uranium from City Mount in early Royal May University’s2017. The InstituteIES, directed of Environmental by Dr. Connie Sustainability Van der (IES) Byl, reports for our initial to the fieldOffice trip of to Research, Uranium Scholarship, City in early and May Community 2017. The IES, directedEngagement by Connie (ORSCE) Van at der Mount Byl, Royal. reports The to field the Officestudy funded of Research, by IES Scholarship,was contingent and on Communityclearance by the Engagement Human (ORSCE)Research at Ethics Mount Board Royal. (HREB) The field of Mount study Royal funded University; by IES was clearance contingent was granted on clearance in Application by the Human Number Research 10097 Ethicson April Board 3, 2017.The (HREB) ofauthors Mount wish Royal to thank University; the following clearance individuals was granted for their in time, Application wisdom, Numberand knowledge: 10097 on April 3, 2017. The authors wish to thank the following individuals for their time, wisdom, and knowledge: Allen Augier, Dean Classen, Giselle Classen, Patrick Deranger, Shelly Fisher, Ty Lloyd, Hubert Mackie, Bernie Allen Augier, Dean Classen, Giselle Classen, Patrick Deranger, Shelly Fisher, Ty Lloyd, Hubert Mackie, Bernie McCaffery,McCaffery, Andrea Andrea Melzer, Melzer, Roland Roland Melzer, Melzer, Ken Mercredi,Ken Mercredi and Patricia, and Patricia Sandberg. Sandberg We acknowledge. We acknowledge the Traditional the LandsTraditional of the Dene, Lands M ofé tis,the andDene, Woodland Métis, and Cree Woodland peoples Cree in thispeoples Treaty in this 8 region Treaty about 10 region which about we havewhich undertaken we have research.undertaken The authorsresearch. presented The authors an earlypresented version an early of this version paper of at this the UNESCOpaper at the World UNE HumanitiesSCO World Humanities Conference in AugustConference 2017. in August 2017.

AuthorAuthor Contributions: ContributionsThis: This study study was was conceived conceived by Robert by Robert Boschman Boschman and developed and developed equally equally by Robert by Boschman Robert andBoschman Bill Bunn. and The Bill Principal Bunn. The Investigator Principal for Investigator IES funding for is IES Bill funding Bunn (Winter is Bill Bunn 2017, (Winter Institute 2017, for Environmental Institute for Sustainability Research Funds Grant). Research on Harold Innis was undertaken by Bill Bunn, with assistance by Environmental Sustainability Research Funds Grant). Research on Harold Innes was undertaken by Bill Bunn, Robert Boschman. Communication with Allen Augier, Dean Classen, Ty Lloyd, Andrea Melzer, Roland Melzer, Kenwith Mercredi, assistance and by Patrick Robert Deranger Boschman. was Communication completed by with Boschman Allen Augier, and Bunn Dean together. Classen, Communication Ty Lloyd, Andrea with HubertMelzer, Mackie, Roland Bernie Melzer, McCaffery, Ken Mercredi, and Patricia and Patrick Sandberg Deranger was completedwas completed by Robert by Boschman Boschman. and StillBunn photography together. usingCommunication a Nikon D610 with was contributedHubert Mackie, by Robert Bernie Boschman, McCaffery, while and BillPatricia Bunn Sandberg operated was the drone completed and drone by Robert camera as wellBoschman. as a Nikon Still D5000. photography The writing using of a the Nikon paper D610 is by was Robert contributed Boschman, by with Robert significant Boschman, contributions, while Bill revisions, Bunn andoperated editing the by Billdrone Bunn. and drone camera as well as a Nikon D5000. The writing of the paper is by Robert Boschman, Conflictswith significant of Interest: contributionsThe authors, revisions, declare and no conflict editing ofby interest.Bill Bunn. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. References References Augier, Allen, and Uranium City Resident, Uranium City, Canada. 2017. Personal Communication. Barnes,(Augier Trevor, 2017) RogerAugier, Hayter, Allen. 2017. and ElizabethUranium City Hay. Resident, 2001. Stormy Uranium weather: City, Canada. Cyclones, Personal Harold Communication. Innis, and Port Alberni,Uranium BC. City,Environment SK, Canada. and Planning A 33: 2127–47. [CrossRef] Boschman,(Barnes et Robert. al. 2001) 2009. Barnes,In theTrevor Way, Roger of Nature: Hayter, Ecology and Elizabeth and Westward Hay. 2001. Expansion Stormy in weather: the Poetry Cyclones of Anne, Bradstreet,Harold ElizabethInnis, and Bishop Port and Alberni, AmyClampitt BC. Environment. Jefferson, and NC: Planning McFarland A 33: 2127 & Company,–47. Inc. Print. Cairns,(Boschman Stephen, 2009) and Boschman, Jane M. Robert. Jacobs. 2009. 2014. In Buildingsthe Way of MustNature: Die: Ecology A Perverse and Westward View of Expansion Architecture in the. Cambridge: Poetry of TheAnne MIT Bradstreet, Press. Elizabeth Bishop and Amy Clampitt. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. Print. (Cairns and Jacobs 2014) Cairns, Stephen, and Jane M. Jacobs. 2014. Buildings Must Die: A Perverse View of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2010. Uranium City Resident Worries about Dust. CBC News. October 27. Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Available online: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/uranium-city-resident-worries-about- dust-1.945670 (accessed 14 December 2017).

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