Minister calls move away from fly-in, fly-out model a ‘good start’, hopes other companies follow suit
Suncor Energy will require some contractors at two of its oil sands sites to live in the Fort McMurray region rather than fly in from across the country, ending company-provided work-camp accommodation for roughly 200 roles.
The company told vendors in a letter last month that contractors and employees at its Syncrude and Base Plant sites in Alberta who perform ongoing operations and maintenance "will be expected to be locally located" by June 30, according to the Globe and Mail. As of Sept. 30, all of the affected roles must be held by locals.
Suncor confirmed the changes in an email to the Globe and said it expects roughly 200 jobs to become localised. Work-camp accommodations will no longer be provided for the affected contractors.
Which roles are affected
The affected positions include site safety, administration, non-union labour and janitorial staff, according to the Globe and Mail.
Several categories of work are exempt. Contractors hired for a major maintenance activity known as a "turnaround," along with those on short-duration jobs such as site outages, reliability-and-productivity projects and capital upgrades, fall outside the rule for now.
The letter said those scopes "may continue to leverage non-local expertise if required until further notice," but added that "contractors will be expected to demonstrate a hiring balance that maximizes local participation." It was signed by Emma Thorpe and Isabelle Verney, vice-presidents of maintenance at Base Plant and Syncrude respectively, and Bruce Durnford, vice-president of regional turnarounds.
Fly-in, fly-out labour
The change targets a long-standing feature of oil sands staffing. Thousands of workers regularly fly into Northern Alberta from across Canada for one- or two-week rotations, staying in large work camps near the operations.
Almost 21,300 people lived in oil sands work camps last year — close to 20 per cent of the region's population — according to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo's 2025 census cited by the Globe and Mail. The camp workers were declared essential in Alberta during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those camp populations also carry workforce-wellbeing considerations for employers, because workers have reported cramped yet isolating living conditions in the remote facilities. The heavy reliance on non-local labour has drawn criticism for limiting the economic benefits that flow when employees live in the community.
Earlier this year, Canadian unions pushed for expanded work-from-home options in the federal and provincial public sectors, tying telework directly to fuel costs and energy security.
Hiring local 'good start'
Provincial Energy Minister and Fort McMurray MLA Brian Jean, a long-standing critic of the fly-in, fly-out model, said relying heavily on non-local workers means the area misses out on economic and community benefits. "That is going to be a major issue," he said at a recent Calgary event hosted by energy industry group Enserva.
In a statement on Thursday, Jean called Suncor's changes a "good start" and said he hopes other oil sands companies follow. "If more companies follow positive changes like this, it will help create stronger local communities across Alberta and ensure the positive economic value from these projects stays in our province," he said, according to the Globe and Mail.
In 2021, Suncor Energy announced that it had formed a partnership with eight Indigenous communities in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, a partnership that allowed them to acquire all of TC Energy’s 15 per cent equity interest in the Northern Courier Pipeline Limited Partnership.
