The government of Ontario has been spending a lot of our tax dollars to advertise the Ring of Fire as a solution to Ontario’s economic problems. As someone who has lived in central B.C. and Alberta and worked in the natural resource extraction sector, I can say with confidence that this is a plan for the economy with a lot of drawbacks that is unlikely to deliver the promised benefits to the residents of Ontario, especially in the short term.
The potential drawbacks extend far beyond damage to the environment and impacts on indigenous land rights. The men in these camps face shift work that involves long work hours in potentially dangerous work conditions. They also face isolation from friends and family, depression, violence and an increase in substance abuse.
Communities across Canada and the U.S. have seen firsthand the negative impacts of temporary labour camps, commonly referred to as Man Camps. An increase in local crime, violence, misogyny, and missing and murdered indigenous women and children is reported to follow the camps. For example, in 2019, Amnesty International reported that it was concerned about accounts of violence and abuse of indigenous women at labour camps in northern Manitoba.
Local communities can sometimes double their population. This drives up prices for food and housing, and community services are overwhelmed. Long before the shortage of doctors became critical in Canada, the small communities I lived in had difficulty attracting new doctors to reduce the excessive workload of their existing medical staff. Visiting a medical specialist required a drive of ten hours each way. Women in the community are negatively affected by increases in harassment, domestic violence and sexual assaults.
Developing a housing community in the Ring of Fire region will require a substantial investment in infrastructure. Given the distance to the nearest population center of Thunder Bay (population 110k), this infrastructure will require a great deal more than electricity, roads, water and sewage treatment. It will require housing, schools, a hospital, emergency services and stores. Post-secondary education and senior care facilities are far away from the proposed region of development, requiring families to split up over very large distances.
Infrastructure on a scale required for a long-term community to attract workers for the mines and its support industries will take a long time to build and a substantial investment of public funds. It is unlikely that this infrastructure can be in place quickly enough to benefit the workers rapidly being displaced by AI. The Ring of Fire may benefit corporations and bring necessary resources, but it is not a good employment solution for the people who live in Ontario.