Resource Type
Commercial exploitation of the Athabasca oil sands deposit had transformed Fort McMurray between 1961 and 1980, from a a small and remote northern community of 1200 people into Alberta's eighth largest city with 27 000 residents. This research project was to describe, ananlyse, and interpret the socio-economic changes which had occurred in Fort McMurray as a result of development of the Great Canadian Oil Sands (GCOS, now Suncor Inc.) in the 1960's, and of Syncrude Canada Ltd. in the 1970's, and to assess these changes in relation to the stages of construction and operation of the two oil sands projects