The Lights on the Tipple Are Going Out tells the story of the Crowsnest Pass and Elk Valley’s fight for survival. The Canadian postwar economic boom did not include the Crowsnest Pass and Elk Valley.

Underground mine closures began in 1950, prompting various attempts by coal companies, labour unions, leftist political parties, municipal governments, and business groups to save the local economy. Efforts to reindustrialize in the mid-1960s brought unregulated, pell-mell growth, unsafe working conditions, and extreme pollution. Starting in 1968, however, the tide turned again as new mountaintop strip mines were built to produce metallurgical coal for Asia-Pacific steelmakers.

Today, in the face of the climate crisis, green steel manufacturing is being developed that eliminates the use of CO2-emitting coal. In the coming decades, as this book argues, the Crowsnest Pass and Elk Valley will need to stress ecosystem restoration, sustainable economic activities, and the inclusion of First Nations at the centre of economic decision making in order to embrace a future beyond coal.

Join writer and academic Tom Langford to present this new and welcome addition to Fernie’s history!

Nibbles and cash bar included, and early-release copies will be available for purchase.