OSCAR
Tradesperson, Resident for More than a Decade, Intraprovincial Move, Staying in Work Camp, English Canadian, 50s
“I’ve only been just over a year in work camp maintenance, and 12 years prior to that I was tin bashing, and then I trucked before that…Some sites, I was there for two years. Usually the rotation was four 10’s, and then you get three days off which is terrible because you work four days and then you gotta drive all the way back to Edmonton and then you leave Sunday to be at work for Monday. . .I call Edmonton home. Born and raised there. When I go back to Edmonton, sometimes I stay at my house. I throw my hat in the door, if it comes out, I go to my mom and dad’s.”
“There’s no such thing as a dry camp. I don’t care who says it. Some are stricter than others. . .In these big camps you have church services, AA meetings, all kinds of stuff. They’ll have where the trades will get together and have softball teams, iron workers against tin bashers, whatever. Hockey, you know. The camps are providing it from necessity because the guys want it. So we’ll build you a recreational room, we’ll keep the grass cut.”
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Mapping Life in Fort McMurray 