Mining aboriginal labour: examining capital reconversion strategies occurring on the risk management field

This article examines a vocational education and training partnership occurring in the Canadian oil sands mining industry. The case study involves a corporate-sponsored pre-apprenticeship training programme designed to procure aboriginal labour in the province of Alberta. Interviews with members of key partner groups and stakeholders occurred during and after programme completion. Drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the social field, capital reconversion strategies of partner groups are examined and critically evaluated in relation to the concept of ‘reputational risk management’ which I argue constitutes the underlying motive of the mine sponsor to procure racialised labour in order to maintain unfettered exploitation of resources whilst appeasing aboriginal resentment over land dispossession. Differential asset structures which partners bring to the partnership produce tensions that impact well-being and meaningful participation at the community level in the areas of education, training and employment.