The Centennial RV Park in Fort McMurray seems to exist in the margins – quite literally, it runs along a long thin strip of land adjacent to Highway 63, carved into a forest of slender trees that runs down to the Hangingstone River, a small tributary of the Clearwater. It is more settled than the recreational campground it was originally designed to be, but that settlement is tentative, mobility never fully abandoned amidst the modifications for more comfortable living. Even one of the most settled looking homes has outfitted its addition with wheels; one can easily imagine it travelling across the park or down a highway. In this is an
acute awareness that the rate of change here is often quick. People are perpetually prepared to leave when job prospects start to dwindle. The connection between the RV Park and the oil sands runs deep. Whether through direct or indirect employment, the oil sands are the reason people are here– production levels can be measured by the occupation at the park. Last year when production was up, the park was filled to capacity. But this year there are several empty lots. The site manager explains that this is a clear indication that production has slowed.
And yet, for many residents at the park, an initial year working in the oil sands turned into eighteen months, then into another couple of years. With each passing season, the negotiation between settlement and transience starts to evolve and what starts as temporary accommodation morphs gradually into something more domestic. The transition is visible across different lots, with new arrivals focussed on clever, functional solutions to the formidable climate and lifestyle conditions–turning their mobile homes into space-station like vessels wrapped in insulating foil-backed layers
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lisa hirmer
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