Many Canadians travel long distances and are away from home for extended periods of time because of where or how they work. Some are away for weeks or even months at a time before returning home, and then the cycle repeats.

On December 5, 2017, researchers and community members gathered to participate in a public forum titled On the Move: Community and Family Impacts of Mobility for Work.

The On the Move Partnership is a national research project headquartered at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Headed by Memorial sociologist Dr. Barbara Neis, this partnership includes more than 40 researchers from 17 disciplines and 22 universities, who are working with the Vanier Institute and more than 30 other community partners to design the research, interpret the results and disseminate the findings to diverse stakeholders. This project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Innovate NL, and is now in its sixth year of operation.

The forum presented an overview of findings from across Canada on different patterns of extended mobility for work, as well as their impacts on source and host communities (both rural and urban), and on mobile workers and their families.

Below you can watch a discussion and Q&A session from this event.