Fort McMurray Minute: Issue 72

Fort McMurray Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Fort McMurray politics

📅 This Week In Fort McMurray: 📅

• Fort McMurray’s 2024 crime statistics show mixed results, with overall crime severity trending down but certain offences continuing to rise. Statistics Canada data reveals a 2% increase in total criminal charges, although the Crime Severity Index fell by 4.6%. Violent crime charges remained steady, but assaults, sexual assaults, robberies, and firearm offences all increased. Property crime remains a concern, particularly shoplifting and mischief, though growth slowed last year. Drug-related charges and impaired driving continue to decline from previous peaks. RCMP responded to over 27,000 calls for service in 2024, with traffic, assault, and mental health calls on the rise. Crimes involving digital communications, such as extortion and harassment, have also increased since 2020. Police say priorities include property crime, organized crime, trafficking, and maintaining relationships with Indigenous communities through a stronger local presence.
  
  
• Fort McMurray’s detached housing market saw modest growth in July, with the average price rising 1% year-over-year to $468,247, according to the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA). While this increase is smaller than gains seen in other Alberta cities, it marks steady pricing in a market that has faced fluctuating conditions in recent years. Province-wide, July sales dropped 4.2% compared to last year, led by declines in row housing and apartment sales. Inventory across Alberta rose 17.4% year-over-year, but Fort McMurray’s supply remains tighter than larger centres such as Calgary and Edmonton. The AREA report notes that while some markets are loosening, stable pricing in Fort McMurray suggests balanced conditions, with supply and demand relatively aligned. 
  
  
• The Royal Tyrrell Museum is bringing a year-long pop-up exhibit to the Wood Buffalo Regional Library as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, showcasing Fort McMurray’s significant role in Alberta’s paleontological history. Local oilsands mining has led to major fossil finds, including a 1992 ichthyosaurus, multiple plesiosaurs, and the world’s best-preserved nodosaur, discovered at Suncor’s Millennium mine in 2011. The nodosaur’s remarkable preservation is credited to sinking in a low-oxygen seabed of the ancient Western Interior Seaway, which once covered the region. These discoveries, often made by heavy equipment operators during mining, have provided rare insights into Alberta’s prehistoric environment, from fern-filled meadows to vast inland seas. 
  
  
• Residents are being asked to vote on the final design for a new public art bench in Fort Chipewyan. The four proposed designs were inspired by community input, and the winning concept will be installed in summer or fall 2026 at the Lakefront Viewing Deck, with a matching “sister” bench placed in Fort McMurray. This project is part of the Public Art Bench Program, which connects rural communities with the urban core through paired, custom-designed benches. The program previously created benches for Anzac and Saprae Creek, each matched with one in Kiyām Community Park. Over the next five years, similar projects are planned for other communities in the region. You can have your say on the Participate Wood Buffalo website.
  
  
• Suncor Energy posted record-breaking second-quarter production from its Fort McMurray-area operations, even as global oil prices dragged down profits. The company produced 808,100 barrels per day and achieved record refining throughput, but profits fell to $1.13 billion from $1.57 billion the year before, largely due to a drop in crude prices. CEO Rich Kruger credited detailed planning and execution for completing major projects ahead of schedule and under budget. Notably, the company finished a critical coke drum replacement 24 days early and $165 million under its $1.2 billion budget. Suncor also brought its new Mildred Lake West mine online $100 million under budget. The company now operates 120 autonomous haul trucks, up from 20 a year ago, and expects to reach at least 150 by year’s end. 

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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