Municipal Amalgamation Research Project (ongoing since 2014)

The Northern Democracy Initiative is a combined research, book, and documentary film and digital media project about the changing conditions of socio-economic development and local democracy in Northern Ontario mining communities, with special attention to amalgamation that formed the City of Timmins in 1973. The Timmins amalgamation had major implications not only for Timmins itself but also for the once vibrant neighbouring mining communities of Schumacher and the Porcupines who were forced into the amalgamation.

The NDI project is motivated by concerns about the ongoing loss of socio-economic opportunities and local democracy in Northern Ontario mining and other resource communities. The project is an opportunity to look more deeply at long-term, local-level changes in Northern Ontario and the conflicts of vision and voice that have beset community and regional development since the 1970s. The research has implications not only for Northern Ontario but also for many other resource communities in northern Canada.

 

NDI Research on the 1973 Timmins Amalgamation