Resource Communities in a Globalizing Region: Development, Agency, and Contestation in Northern British Columbia

Paul Bowles · Gary N. Wilson

Dec 2015 · UBC Press

About this ebook

Northern British Columbia has always played an important role in Canada’s economy, but for many Canadians it also existed as an almost forgotten place: a vast territory where only a few roads, some railroad tracks, and a ferry system connected small cities, towns, and villages to the outside world. Now, as the global appetite for oil, gas, hydroelectricity, wood, and minerals intensifies, this resource-rich and geographically important region is being pulled onto the national and international economic stages.

As debates around pipelines, mines, and hydroelectric projects intensify in local coffee shops, distant boardrooms, and the halls of Parliament, this timely volume examines the connections and tensions between resource communities and global market forces, illuminating how governments, Aboriginal peoples, organized labour, NGOs, and the private sector are adapting to, resisting, and embracing change.

About the author

Paul Bowles is a professor of economics and international studies at the University of Northern British Columbia. Gary N. Wilson is a professor of political science at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Contributors: Ken Coates, Fiona MacPhail, Jim McDonald, Tracy Summerville, Henry Veltmeyer, John F. Young