8 a.m.    Nine people wait outside the Centre of Hope, on Franklin Avenue.  It’s minus 23C.  Some walked over from the Salvation Army, where they slept the night before. Others slept in apartment building lobbies or around cars. It’s referred to as “sleeping rough.” One man says that he slept in the snow, and he invites you to feel his hands. They’re warm.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Brandon Cooper

When one thinks of jobs in the oil sands, there are some that typically spring to mind immediately – engineer, millwright, heavy equipment operator, and more. But there is a group of men and women working in the oil sands that you do not typically think of, who are there each and every day and night, working around the clock to ensure everyone returns home safely at the end of the shift – emergency services.

Essentially, all of the major oil sands operators have their own fire departments right on site with crews that are fully staffed and trained to respond to emergency situations of all kinds. They have all of the same equipment you would find at a typical fire hall, including fire trucks, pumps, ladders, and ambulances.

PHOTOMAGIC FOTO SOURCE

Dan Sorensen said it best when it comes to offering you a reason to shop local – “we’re here to help you tomorrow.”

They’ll be here tomorrow. Certainly. Shopping local is not a fad.  It’s supporting the local economy, and helping local businesses thrive. 

Owned by Sorensen, Photomagic Foto Source has been in our community since 1991.  It is located in the River City Centre and is your one-stop for one-hour photo finishing, camera sales/services, on-location photography, a portrait studio, and more.

“You can’t put a dollar figure on it. Keyano has allowed me to be a full-time mom, and even though I work part-time, I feel like I am a full-time teacher thoroughly committed to my students and to my work,” says Pierre, who has three grown children now.

Pierre is a Keyano veteran. She has been with the college for 26 years in one capacity or another and says being a part-time contract instructor has fulfilled her on many levels.

Oil Sands Resume - Getting That Interview

Resumes (and their accompanying cover letter) are important documents—resumes speak volumes about you. They cover your entire professional life and they are one of the key pieces to getting a job interview. How can you effectively capture the true “you” while at the same time not boring a recruiter through 13 pages of previous roles and responsibilities?
Your resume is your first introduction to a recruiter, and as the old saying goes, you only get one chance at a first impression. Building a resume from scratch can be an intimidating prospect, but with the proper care and attention, you can help land that all-important interview with an effective resume.

DURING THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH, NOBODY BITCHED ABOUT NOT HAVING A GO-KART FACILITY NEARBY…

For the most part, everyone was just pretty stoked about the potential to strike it rich. Well, not everyone. In history books and in folklore, there are records of people losing their minds: either from the extreme temperature, the crippling homesickness, or the gamble gone bust.

Sound familiar?

An untapped business market, a high-paying job, a rich husband: we all came to Fort McMurray in a quest for our proverbial goldmine. Maybe you were born here. No matter - your parents came here for the same reasons.

IMAGINE… A HOT HEAVY SUMMER’S DAY WITH BUGS flitting about, filling the air with their hum. You’re trekking along one of the many wooded trails dotting out region, maybe along the Horse River valley where bitumen is clearly visible along the hillside. You pause, look around at the stillness and realize you are stepping where dinosaurs once roamed.

How cool is that?

Every morning thousands of you wake up, roll out of bed, throw on the lastest fashions from Mark's Work Wearhouse and head north for the day.  The problem begins on that bus ride back to the city. I know you just worked 12 hours, you’re tired, hungry, and the last thing you want to do is go home and cook. Some of you get chatting and suddenly Earls, Moxie’s, or BrewBakers become the next destination.