Tehdasyhdyskunnat ja metsäteollisuuden rakennemuutos

Vertailukohteina Kemijärvi, Suomi ja Pine Falls, Kanada

Abstract

The forest industry is currently facing a difficult period of restructuring which has lead to mill closures both in Finland and Canada. In remote communities, the economic effects of these closures are often serious. In this article, I compare the effects of mill closures in Kemijärvi, Finland, and Pine Falls, Canada. The forest environments of these mills are examined from the perspective of staples theory, developed by Canadian Harold Innis in the1920s and 1930s. Concepts of resilience and path dependency are also utilized in the analysis. The outcome of my analysis shows how staples theory is still a relevant viewpoint when difficulties faced by remote resource communities are analysed. I also argue that institutional structures developed in the past create path dependencies determining the economic development of resource communities, and the creation of institutional structures supporting one industrial sector creates a threat for community resilience. When the effects of mill closures on forest dependent economies are analysed in Kemijärvi and Pine Falls, it seems that it is much easier for the Kemijärvi region to recover from the loss of the mill due to a more diversified structure in the forest industry.