How to get a handle on Canada’s transient work-camp population

For small, remote towns like Chetwynd, B.C., they can be a blessing and a curse, or more likely a bit of both. Industrial work camps, set up to house hundreds or even thousands of workers for construction and natural resource projects, can bring a shot of new business and vitality to such communities, but also new demands for law enforcement and health care. And in the long term, they do little to enhance economic or social development locally. An in-depth investigation by Discourse Media grapples with the size and dynamics of this “shadow population”—one indicator is that nearly half a million Canadians travel across provincial boundaries every year for work.