Friday, February 5, 2021

Pandemic Impact: Beyond the Front Lines

Lockdown measures are especially hard on CLAC members working in industrial camps

By Kevin Kohut, BC Director

Despite much of the inconvenience and general crappiness that 2020 had gift-wrapped for us, this past year has drawn plenty of much-needed attention across the country to our front-line workers—those who faithfully put themselves at risk to serve us, typically without recognition.

This has been one of the small silver linings that was a beautiful contrast to some of the darker elements.

We saw signs posted in household windows, painted with comments of gratitude.

For months, there was the 7 p.m. cacophony: an amalgam of honking car horns, wooden spoons on pots and pans, and folks shouting. We even had a nightly bagpipe solo in our neighbourhood.

All of this to say “thank you” to those we’ve too often taken for granted.

This past week, I’ve had the opportunity to connect with several members who are arguably far from the front lines but have nonetheless had to navigate the considerable effects the pandemic has had on their lives.

A significant portion of CLAC’s membership has always been working far from their homes and loved ones. They reside in industrial camps for weeks on end while they help build some of the largest projects in our country’s history.

For those who may not be familiar with these members, their typical workdays begin early and are always long. When it’s finally time to put down the tools, the lion’s share of the day has already been spent.

They are shuttled to and from the site location, sometimes working in freezing temperatures or scorching heat. By the time they’ve showered, eaten, and called their families, they get to decide if they have any energy left to hit the gym, watch a show, or maybe do something more social. It certainly isn’t a bad life, but it isn’t an easy one either.

Enter Pandemic 2020. The same strenuous work and long hours continue, but now with significant restrictions and rules, creating very limited (or no) fitness, entertainment access, and minimal social connections—in other words, the stuff that makes life . . . life.

One worker described his social life as being reduced to “chatting with a buddy from a distance, while we have a smoke in the cold. Then I go back to my room.”

Others I spoke with used phrases like, “I’ve become a bit of a loner these days.” “Work, eat, sleep” was echoed by most of them.

One said he wasn’t the most social animal anyway, but he sure missed joking around during poker. Most of the conversations were similar in tenor. The little perks that typically help workers to cope with time away from their families have suddenly been diminished.

I have a sincere appreciation for how sober the attitudes were. “It’s what you make it,” said a long-time steward to me. I’m sure there’ve been many times during this marathon where that philosophy was tested.

I don’t have any magic answers, but I did want to write this to let it be known that there are some hard-working CLAC folks who are far from home and deserve a big thank you.

Thank you!

Pandemic Impact: Beyond the Front Lines

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