Trans Mountain has a long history of community connections. For 65 years, we’ve worked hard to be a good neighbour and it’s very important for us to continue to have a good relationship with the people in the communities where we operate.

At its peak, the Trans Mountain Expansion Project will create approximately 5,500 direct construction jobs along the pipeline right-of-way and in related facilities. We are committed to prioritizing and maximizing Aboriginal, local and regional hiring to the greatest extent possible, which will reduce worker accommodation needs.

Trans Mountain is engaging with local communities and businesses to ensure non-local workers have a place to live while they’re working — either in temporary camps or dispersed in communities through a mix of commercial and rental accommodation.

Our objective is to balance the positive impact of economic benefits for local accommodation, retail and service providers, with the need to satisfy local concerns about increasing demand on accommodation and housing.

Trans Mountain’s approach to worker accommodation is multi-faceted and will vary along the Project route. The plans consider a number of factors, such as accommodation capacities of local and regional communities, the size of the anticipated non-local construction workforce, balancing the potential for adverse socio-economic effects with the expressed desire to maximize economic opportunities in host communities, and the preferences from municipal and regional authorities.

The Project will have a mixed approach to worker accommodation, including the use of:

• Temporary full-service camps in five locations in British Columbia: Valemount, Blue River, Clearwater, Merritt and the Fraser Valley/Cheam First Nation area west of Hope.
• A mixture of commercial and rental accommodation options in other communities, and as needed in camp communities, including: hotels and motels, recreational vehicle parks, apartment style rental units, bed and breakfast facilities, and lodging in private residences.

Temporary full-service worker camps are commonly used for all types of construction projects. In communities where we will be hosting workers in full-service camps, it is anticipated that communities will still benefit from economic opportunities related to hosting the non-local workers in excess of the camp capacity.

All camps will be required to have a Health and Medical Services Plan, as well as plans for site-specific management of wastewater and sewer, potable water, solid waste, power sourcing, and camp security.

All workers are ambassadors of the Project and are expected to act accordingly. The Worker Code of Conduct filed with the NEB is a key mitigation strategy that aims to reduce the potential for adverse social effects associated with the presence and behaviour of temporary workers, including effects on vulnerable groups. The issues of harassment, respectful behaviour, lawfulness, drugs and alcohol, violence and possession of weapons are directly and overtly covered in the Code of Conduct.

We prepared a Worker Accommodation Strategy in collaboration with local governments to address the requirements of National Energy Board (NEB) Condition 59 for the Expansion Project. Opportunities to discuss worker accommodation strategies and identify issues or concerns were provided to stakeholders through the Trans Mountain website, workshops, meetings and ongoing engagement activities.

Trans Mountain also filed a BC EAO Worker Accommodation Strategy, which outlines our approach to monitoring the effectiveness of mitigations relating to the social impacts of worker camps. The plan describes how issues and effects related to the impacts of the worker camps on Indigenous communities, including women, children and other vulnerable populations will be identified and addressed. The plan also identifies opportunities to involve Aboriginal engagement roundtables in the monitoring of social impacts.

Another key mitigation is our Socio-Economic Effects Monitoring Plan, or SEEMP, which was prepared to meet NEB Condition 13. It requires us to monitor and report on potentially adverse socio-economic effects of construction, including those associated with temporary workforce hosting and camps, including mitigation effectiveness.

The Plan includes the monitoring topic of aboriginal and non-aboriginal way of life, in specific consideration of project-community interactions and worker behaviour. Trans Mountain will gather information about Aboriginal social experiences during construction, including those relating to worker accommodation and camps, worker conduct, as well as Aboriginal social and cultural well-being.

The Aboriginal engagement roundtables will provide opportunities to identify and explore feedback related to camps and to explore mitigation effectiveness. Through these roundtables, we will offer to engage with directly affected Aboriginal groups to identify, listen, discuss and respond to questions and concerns.

As the Project progresses, we’ll continue to engage and share new information. Listening to the community helps us to make sure there is minimal impact to the environment and to our neighbours.