Canada's most dangerous places (Maclean's)

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crankcall said:
My daughter lives in Ft Mcmurray, its not on the list but she has schedules of the shift changes from the oil camps. You don't not go out Fri/sat night if he crews are rotating, first they drink, then they fight. The RCMP in northern AB are some of the toughest guys in the business.
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I guess people have different experiences
I'm back there (didn't think I'd ever say that)

I've never seen any of the problems that are rumoured
I guess if you're looking for that sort of roughness you can find it

the people that live here and work for the oil co's are like working people everywhere else in Canada
the commuters work/sleep then go to the airport and go home
it's a really nice little airport full of tired people that want zero BS on the way in/out
 
I absolutely agree, her and her husband (he's in oil, some sort of process engineer) are grown ups now and dont party. Its the time and a halfers, young, F250 8" lift kit with a sled in the back making good dosh with no responsibilites causing shenanigans. I'm there 4 times a yr, fish, boat in the river and I'm in bed at 9. I dont see trouble either, and I sure dont look for it.
The airport is a nice spot. And they have a decent ski hill for the size of the place.
 
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A lot of the problems in small towns become big problems once the boom comes. Take a look at Terrace, not a busy place overall, but now with the LNG / pipeline work coming to Kitimat the entire region is starting to grow and boom. What happens next? The gangs and drugs start making their way in. Where there's money, you'll find them.
It'll boom for a few years while the project is being done, the camps are coming up, I see new ones each rotation. And then when the work stops, they'll all leave and go home, only to leave the entire area back in shambles.
Rinse and repeat until the next project comes (if ever).
 
We were up in Deadhorse, Alaska at the Arctic Ocean. Oil drilling community. They've made that place a dry town, no alcoholic beverages sold. The slogan there is, "all this far, still no bar". The population seemed like it was 99% male, high possibility of fights if alcohol was added to the mix.

The guys are paid very well to be up that far. The thinking is you don't jeopardize that opportunity by drinking yourself out of a job.

Also, no guns and ammo sold up there.
 
Lightcycle said:
We were up in Deadhorse, Alaska at the Arctic Ocean. Oil drilling community. They've made that place a dry town, no alcoholic beverages sold. The slogan there is, "all this far, still no bar". The population seemed like it was 99% male, high possibility of fights if alcohol was added to the mix.

The guys are paid very well to be up that far. The thinking is you don't jeopardize that opportunity by drinking yourself out of a job.

Also, no guns and ammo sold up there.
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I work in a dry camp and it's not as bad as I had thought. Sure it'd be nice to have a few pints with the guys after work, but we've found a few people stashing, and getting high on coke/crack. They didn't last long and I do feel bad for them.

I'm sure there's booze running through the camp, but I haven't seen/heard/smelled it.
 
working long days away from home is tiring enough
usually if you get a bad apple in the bunch the workers will get rid of them
no one wants a junkie or hungover ******* around

of course this is with company people planning on being there for a bit
the turn-around crews and pipeline gypsies are another story

those dudes definitely go about blowing every penny they made
as quickly as possible when they get some time off
 
Are any of the camps 'wet' anymore ? Every body I know is in a dry spot as far as the management knows... they have seen/heard about 'chemical' challenges , human nature, some guys just cant get through 21 days clean and sober.

My good friend is an electrician on that massive iron ore project on Baffin Island, he was inbound last month, had two of those one ounce airline bottles in his carry on he said he ligitimatly forgot about, all bags are security checked on arrival. Got a 1 hr lecture from the security people, letter to his supervisor, an interview to highlight zero tolerance. Its all about managing liability these days.

The one plus of working on an Island with one runway and enterence , every thing coming in gets security clearance, its very difficult to smuggle anythging in.
 
Couple guys here from Baffin Island project...they say that it was interesting to say the least. I believe they just started winding down? There was some article about ~500 people being laid off from the site.
 
living tents above the arctic circle?

Baffinland is generally known as the worst mining project in Canada
the average tenure of a worker is 6 months

they've tried to recruit me in the past
paasssss!
 
Baffin always winds down to a degree for 'winter' , they are building a railroad, the ore is 80? kms from the ocean shipping terminal. That alone will increase efficiencies. Its a pretty interesting place from the photos, its a long way from a tent camp. Its the richest iron ore currently being mined on the planet. Shipping season is a short window.
Buddy is an master electrician and millwright, he's says the money is silly large but yeah, your on Baffin Island....
 
2 facilities
the port site has a hard roofed camp
the majority of the workers at Mary River Mine are in tents

doesn't look too bad for the 6 weeks of summer they get

6LP14FM.jpg
 
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From that picture the landscape looks interesting up there. Some of the comments have been informative in this thread, a lot of you it seems have been to some remote places.
 
interesting , most of my associates that work remotely, all have that in common. Except the geologist consultant that works in Brazil, nobody wants him or his wife for a do over, they are stuck with each other. Very British, terrible teeth, the type that could eat an apple through a tennis racket. Cant finish a sentence.
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