Homelessness a growing problem in oil sands country.Homelessness is a growing problem in Fort McMurray Fort McMurray, town (1991 pop. 34,706), NE Alta., Canada, on the Athabasca and Clearwater rivers. Since the beginning of the mining of Alberta's oil sands in 1964, the town's population has grown from 1,200. . The booming extraction and refining industry in the oil sands is producing the same problems as experienced in big cities. It has the most expensive rental housing in Canada. As Canada's other natural resource extraction industries face renewed world demand, this indicates what other communities can expect. A group of 18 persons were removed from their tent camp along the Clearwater River Clearwater River 1. A river, about 209 km (130 mi) long, of northwest Saskatchewan and northeast Alberta, Canada. It joins the Athabasca River at Fort McMurray. 2. in Fort McMurray. The regional municipality A Regional Municipality (or Region) is a type of Canadian municipal government similar to and at the same municipal government level as a county, although the specific structure and servicing responsibilities may vary from place to place. of Wood Buffalo determined that the tent city The term tent city covers a wide variety of usually temporary housing made of tents. Tent cities may originate spontaneously or be planned. Tents may or may be not comfortable but usually lack plumbing and sanitary facilities which tend to be communal. residents, located at the end of one of the main streets, were in violation nuisance bylaw by·law n. 1. A law or rule governing the internal affairs of an organization. 2. A secondary law. [Middle English bilawe, body of local regulations; akin to Danish by squatting on municipal land. The camp where they cooked on a fire pit and relieved themselves was declared a safety and health hazard health hazard Occupational safety Any agent or activity posing a potential hazard to health. Cf Physical hazard. . Homeless people and advocates demonstrated at city hall with protest signs asking that the municipality and homeless organizations meet and give the homeless viable options. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a report in Fort McMurray Today, the residents were permitted to take only what they could pile into two shopping carts, mainly their clothes. Municipal officials carted their larger belongings--mattresses, tents and couches--off to the landfill. According to one unnamed volunteer, "Everybody's got addictions, too. Social services won't help. Nobody will help them." The Salvation Army shelter is fully occupied by oil workers who come from other parts of Canada and overseas and are unable to find housing. The region has dismantled homeless camps for years, but Centre of Hope outreach worker Cindy Nash, said the problem is getting worse. "About 13 to 35 newcomers to the region end up homeless every week. The centre has been giving out tents for people to sleep in, but they'll lose them when the region dismantles the camps. What's going to happen is they're going to be more visible, and I hate to say it but they're going to become more of a nuisance to businesses." The regional municipality will be dismantling 20 more camps around Fort McMurray. Councillors claim the region lacks the funds, and needs financial help from the federal and provincial governments to open and operate more shelters. The current population of Fort McMurray and the region is 61,000. |
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