Mining and Communities in Northern Canada : History, Politics, and Memory
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository University of Calgary Press University of Calgary Press Open Access Books 2015-11 Mining and communities in Northern Canada : history, politics, and memory Keeling, Arn; Sandlos, John University of Calgary Press Keeling, A., & Sandlos, J. (Eds.). (2015). Mining and Communities in Northern Canada: History, Politics, and Memory. Canada: University of Calgary Press. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/51021 book http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca MINING AND COMMUNITIES IN NORTHERN CANADA: HISTORY, POLITICS, AND MEMORY Edited by Arn Keeling and John Sandlos ISBN 978-1-55238-805-1 THIS BOOK IS AN OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK. It is an electronic version of a book that can be purchased in physical form through any bookseller or on-line retailer, or from our distributors. 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Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the wording around open access used by Australian publisher, re.press, and thank them for giving us permission to adapt their wording to our policy http://www.re-press.org Mining and Communities in Northern Canada History, Politics, and Memory EDITED BY | Arn Keeling and John Sandlos Mining and Communities in Northern Canada Canadian History and Environment Series Alan MacEachern, Series Editor ISSN 1925-3702 (Print) ISSN 1925-3710 (Online) The Canadian History & Environment series of edited collections brings together scholars from across the academy and beyond to explore the relationships between people and nature in Canada’s past. Published simultaneously in print and open-access form, the series then communicates that scholarship to the world. Alan MacEachern, Founding Director NiCHE: Network in Canadian History & Environment Nouvelle initiative canadienne en histoire de l’environnement http://niche-canada.org No. 1 ∙ A Century of Parks Canada, 1911–2011 Edited by Claire Elizabeth Campbell No. 2 ∙ Historical GIS Research in Canada Edited by Jennifer Bonnell and Marcel Fortin No. 3 ∙ Mining and Communities in Northern Canada: History, Politics, and Memory Edited by Arn Keeling and John Sandlos Mining and Communities in Northern Canada History, Politics, and Memory EDITED BY | Arn Keeling and John Sandlos Canadian History and Environment Series ISSN 1925-3702 (Print) ISSN 1925-3710 (Online) © 2015 Arn Keeling and John Sandlos University of Calgary Press 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, Alberta Canada T2N 1N4 www.uofcpress.com This book is available as an ebook which is licensed under a Creative Commons license. The publisher should be contacted for any commercial use which falls outside the terms of that license. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Mining and communities in Northern Canada : history, politics, and memory / edited by Arn Keeling and John Sandlos. (Canadian history and environment series, ISSN 1925-3702 ; no. 3) Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-55238-804-4 (paperback).—ISBN 978-1-55238-806-8 (pdf).— ISBN 978-1-55238-807-5 (epub).—ISBN 978-1-55238-808-2 (mobi) 1. Mineral industries—Canada, Northern—History. 2. Mineral industries—Political aspects—Canada, Northern. 3. Mineral industries— Social aspects—Canada, Northern. 4. Mineral industries—Environmental aspects—Canada, Northern. 5. Mineral industries—Economic aspects— Canada, Northern. 6. Native peoples—Canada, Northern—History. 7. Oral history—Canada, Northern. 8. Collective memory—Canada, Northern. I. Keeling, Arn, author, editor II. Sandlos, John, 1970-, author, editor III. Series: Canadian history and environment series ; 3 HD9506.C32M55 2015 338.20971 C2015-905147-9 C2015-905148-7 The University of Calgary Press acknowledges the support of the Government of Alberta through the Alberta Media Fund for our publications. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Cover design, page design, and typesetting by Melina Cusano Table of Contents Acknowledgments ix Glossary of Key Mining Terms xi A Note on Terminology xiii Summary of Key Locations and Characteristics xiv of Case Study Mine Sites Introduction (Arn Keeling and John Sandlos) 1 The Complex Legacy of Mining in Northern Canada Section 1: Mining and Memory 33 1| Arn Keeling and Patricia Boulter 35 From Igloo to Mine Shaft: Inuit Labour and Memory at the Rankin Inlet Nickel Mine 2| Sarah M. Gordon 59 Narratives Unearthed, or, How an Abandoned Mine Doesn’t Really Abandon You 3| Alexandra Winton and Joella Hogan 87 “It’s Just Natural”: First Nation Family History and the Keno Hill Silver Mine v 4| Jane Hammond 117 Gender, Labour, and Community in a Remote Mining Town 5| John Sandlos 137 “A Mix of the Good and the Bad”: Community Memory and the Pine Point Mine Section 2: History, Politics, and Mining Policy 167 6| Jean-Sébastien Boutet 169 The Revival of Québec’s Iron Ore Industry: Perspectives on Mining, Development, and History 7| Hereward Longley 207 Indigenous Battles for Environmental Protection and Economic Benefits during the Commercialization of the Alberta Oil Sands, 1967–1986 8| Andrea Procter 233 Uranium, Inuit Rights, and Emergent Neoliberalism in Labrador, 1956–2012 9| Tyler Levitan and Emilie Cameron 259 Privatizing Consent? Impact and Benefit Agreements and the Neoliberalization of Mineral Development in the Canadian North vi MINING AND COMMUNITIES IN NORTHERN CANADA Section 3: Navigating Mine Closure 291 10| Scott Midgley 293 Contesting Closure: Science, Politics, and Community Responses to Closing the Nanisivik Mine, Nunavut 11| Heather Green 315 “There Is No Memory of It Here”: Closure and Memory of the Polaris Mine in Resolute Bay, 1973–2012 12| Kevin O’Reilly 341 Liability, Legacy, and Perpetual Care: Government Ownership and Management of the Giant Mine, 1999–2015 Conclusion 377 Notes on Contributors 383 Bibliography 387 Index 425 Table of Contents vii Acknowledgments A project of this magnitude would not have been remotely possible without the generous support of many people and organizations. The editors want to express their thanks to our funders: the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, ArcticNet, and the Social Economy Research Network. Research grants from these organizations allowed the editors and their students to engage in very expensive but important travel to remote northern communities to speak with the people whose lives have been so deeply affected, for good or ill, by min- ing. Our funding also enabled our team to present our results at various academic meetings and, in many cases, to the communities themselves. The Faculty of Arts at Memorial University supported this work through teaching releases for the two editors; the School of Graduate Studies pro- vided matching fellowship support for students at Memorial. The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society provided John Sandlos with a generous one-year writing fellowship and residency that supported the bulk of his editorial and writing work on this project. Many thanks to of- fice staff Fran Warren and Pam Murphy who processed the endless travel claims from the mining history group. Research assistant Emma LeClerc provided fantastic support work as we brought the different strands of the book together. Thanks also to Charlie Conway for cartographic sup- port, and to the editorial team at University of Calgary Press for their efforts throughout the publication process.