Tumbler Ridge Community Transition Study
2002
The community of Tumbler Ridge is in a state of transition. Rapid changes since the March 2000 announcement of the Quintette mine closure are being undertaken as part of a community revitalisation strategy. During the transition, information on the makeup and needs of local residents will be useful to a range of groups, service providers and decision-makers in Tumbler Ridge. This need for timely and relevant information about how the community is changing has been made more urgent as a result of a second round of playoffs involving Quintette's reclamation crew and the success of the Tumbler Ridge Housing Corporation's sale of properties.
Types of information needed during this transition include socio-economic profiles of residents to see how the town is changing, identification of program and activity needs for the recreation centre and for local service providers (especially unmet needs), patterns of housing use, a review of community quality of life issues, and patterns of local participation by residents. People and groups in Tumbler Ridge are interested in this survey because of the information they need to adjust to changing local circumstances.
As a result of pressures associated with community transition, a questionnaire survey of residents and property owners was undertaken in the fall of 2001. The questionnaire process was developed in concert with a number of partners including the District of Tumbler Ridge, the Tumbler Ridge Employment Development Services Committee, the Community Transition Branch in the Local Government Department of the Provincial Ministry of Community, Aboriginal, and Women's Services, and the University of Northern British Columbia's Northern Land Use Institute. The questionnaire was carried out under the direction of Greg Halseth of the Geography Program at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Project reports include: