Do you work with families that are separated due to employment in oil and gas, construction, trucking, health care, forestry, the military, fishing, agriculture, education, tourism or some other type of employment? Are you part of a family impacted by this type of employment?
From May 15 to 17, 2018, the Families, Mobility, and Work Atlantic Canadian Symposium will examine intersections between diverse families, work situations and employment-related geographical mobility in the Canadian context. This event will bring together policy and civil society leaders, researchers studying families and mobility, and families directly impacted by work-related mobility to facilitate dialogue and knowledge-sharing with a focus on leading and emerging policy and practices at home, at work and in the community.
Where: University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI
When: Tuesday, May 15, 2018, 6:00 p.m. to Thursday, May 17, 2018, 3:30 p.m. ADT (view schedule)
Register: Eventbrite
Themes for discussion will include:
In the Home
- What role does work-related mobility play in family planning, conception/fertility and parenthood?
- How are parenting and child care, caregiving and elder care, or care for persons with disabilities impacted by employment-related geographical mobility? How are these care relationships impacted by extended absence due to mobility for work?
- How does coming to Atlantic Canada for temporary work impact international labour migrants and their families who reside in their place of origin?
In the Workplace
- How are labour and professional organizations and employers accommodating family status in response to extended absences?
- In what ways do precarious employment or atypical work schedules combine with work-related mobility to impact the family and individual well-being of mobile workers?
In the Community
- How does mobility impact the communities that mobile workers live in/leave from and work in/go to? How does this reverberate back to impact their families?
- How are diverse health care professionals, community service providers, educators, spiritual advisors/faith leaders and others responding and adapting to best meet the needs of families affected by extended commuting for work?
The Symposium is being organized by the SSHRC-funded Tale of Two Islands and On the Move Partnership research projects and in collaboration with the Vanier Institute of the Family, the University of Prince Edward Island and Memorial University of Newfoundland. Funding for this event has been received through a SSHRC Connections Grant.
The On the Move Partnership is a research initiative with international links investigating workers’ extended travel and related absence from their places of permanent residence for the purpose of, and as part of, their employment. On the Move is a collaboration between the Vanier Institute of the Family and more than 40 researchers from 17 disciplines and 22 universities across Canada and internationally, working with more than 30 community partners to design and carry out research, interpret results and disseminate findings. On the Move is a project of the SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research at Memorial University of Newfoundland funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Newfoundland and Labrador Research Development Corporation (RDC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and numerous universities and partners.
