Ducks — Two Years in the Oil Sands
by Kate Beaton
Jonathon Cape £25

KATE BEATON is a Canadian writer and cartoonist. The book, Ducks — Two Years in the Oil Sands, is her first full-length graphic narrative, a memoir dramatically played out in cartoon format.

Beaton comes from Cape Breton on Canada’s East Coast, an area where the major industries, oil and fishing, went into sharp decline and as a consequence, local people had to seek employment elsewhere.

At the same time, out west in Alberta, the massive oil sands were opening up for oil extraction. Beaton accepted a job there, unaware of exactly what she was getting into.

Most of the workers were male, living in camps, estranged from family and friends. Living alongside them, Beaton was forced to put up with a constant stream of sexism, misogyny and abuse, as well as their increased consumption of alcohol and drugs, a result of isolation and loneliness.

The once open prairie landscape was now stuffed with huge machinery, a constant reminder of what the oil industry does to nature and the shocking impact this is having on the indigenous Cree people.

The Crees were not consulted about the oil industry developments. But now the economic reality is that in order to survive, they also have to be part of it.

Canada has always been proud of its tradition of egalitarianism and respect for the wilderness, yet ironically, its support for the oil industry means air, water, land and lives are being ruined.

The book’s title, Ducks, alludes to 2008, when 200 migrating ducks descended in the oil sludge and died. This captured the public imagination and made headline news.

Kate Beaton’s natural cartooning powers create a multi-layered, dark and fascinating story told in both words and pictures. Remember Thatcher’s secretary of state for employment Norman Tebbit’s slogan, “Get on your bike,” peddled out  in 1981 at the Tory Party conference for those in the UK living in areas of high unemployment?

That’s what Kate Beaton did. She is still living with the consequences. It’s a story that has resonances for all of us.