This week (Nov. 3) at the Northern Mayors and Reeves Conference in Slave Lake, participants will find out about shadow populations in northern municipalities. These are the sometimes large numbers of workers – many living in camps and hotels – who are unaccounted for in government per capita funding calculations.
They increase the strain on police and other services, which the NADC – as well as municipalities – believe the province needs to acknowledge.
Dan Dibbelt, the Executive director of the Northern Alberta Development Council, spoke about the study at the M.D. of Lesser Slave River council meeting on Oct. 25. He told council that his agency is doing a crime study in conjunction with the shadow population study – to see if there’s a correlation between crime rates and shadow populations. He’s sure there is.
“It’s a huge impact on communities that we’re not getting funding for,” he told council. “The NADC would like to come up with a formula that Alberta Municipal Affairs would hopefully adopt.”
As things stand now, a shadow population of 10 per cent or higher qualifies municipalities for some provincial funding. But the process for municipalities to determine that figure is onerous and expensive, explained Jennifer Bisley of the NADC in a subsequent interview. Not only that, it has to be done in the spring – a time when camp populations are usually low.
“It doesn’t really meet our (northern communities’) needs,” she said.
The NADC study gleaned its information from hotels, health regions and municipalities, as well as directly from work camps. Bisley said the hope is to come up with a template for determining shadow populations that the province finds acceptable.

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