Katie Mazer

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Katie is a post-doctoral fellow based in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University, working under the supervision of Dr. Suzanne Mills. She holds a PhD in geography from the University of Toronto. Her doctoral research examined the changing forms of labour flexibility and mobility that underpin Canada’s extractive industries. Through a historical and ethnographic examination of labour migration between Canada’s east coast and extractive resource industries in western Canada, her dissertation illustrates how regional planning, unemployment policy, and changing ideas about working life have normalized the extreme labour relations that characterize Canada’s extractive sector today. Katie’s post-doctoral research continues her focus on labour and extraction through an examination of the gendered employment dynamics among Inuit and non-Inuit workers in Nunavik nickel mining. In addition to profiling the industry’s workforce and employment conditions, the project examines the industry’s human resources practices to better understand if, how, and why mining companies recruit and manage workers with an eye to diversifying their workforces. This research will contribute to a comparative study between nickel mining employment practices in Nunavik and New Caledonia.