A worker walks past the remains of a house and truck destroyed by wildfire in the Timberlea neighborhood of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, on Sunday, June 5, 2016.Darryl Dyck/Bloomberg
The landscape Fort McMurray residents returned to is vastly different than the one they fled so perilously a little more than a month ago.
Now-familiar images of entire city blocks transformed into burned-out chunks of family homes, twisted metal and scorched car bodies don't even come close to telling the whole story. What the photos and videos don't recreate are the emotions of those who can only reminisce about what their neighbourhoods looked like before the fire raged in on May 3, and who now have to start fresh.
That's if they decide to rebuild at all.
Yet almost to a person, Fort McMurray's returnees, whether their homes and businesses were damaged or not, are warm and generous to outsiders with their stories and thoughts on the impact of the tragedy on their community, which had always risen and fallen with the oil sands industry. There looks to be another change happening, and it's a welcome one.
Until the inferno known as the Beast levelled 10 per cent of Fort McMurray and forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people to points across the country, the debate about energy and environment in northeastern Alberta was largely academic and political, skewed to yes or no, good or bad.
Now, one gets the sense that Fort McMurrayites who put in daily shifts in the oil sands see an opportunity. Could they change the debate? Maybe. There's is an important constituency often missing in arguments about their industry's impact on land, water and climate, and what should be done about it.
At a minimum, the national discussion will become more inclusive, and certainly more nuanced.
It's something the region's long-time mayor, Melissa Blake, has thought about, even as she and her fellow public servants begin the planning for the tough task of recovery.
"The forced evacuation and the integration of our citizens from one end of the country to the other in terms of how they were accommodated through this disaster put a real human face on the community," Ms. Blake said in an interview.
"That's one thing I've always struggled to get out to the public – that we're not any different than you and your community. We care about the environment that we have and providing for our families, and we care very much about making decisions that are going to serve the generations beyond us, like you do."
Fort Mac's taken its knocks. Even before the tragedy, the community had been hit hard by oil's collapse, prompting companies to shelve expansion projects and lay off staff. Once a city bursting at the seams, the slowing economy forced some local businesses to shut down, pushed vacancy rates up and pulled home sales down.
Previously, the city had a reputation as a swashbuckling outpost, where rough-and-tumble sorts made a quick buck then exited, perhaps with a drinking problem or a criminal record. But, in truth, Fort McMurray has not been that place for a long time. Its northern neighbourhoods – some of which suffered severe fire damage – comprise tidy suburban homes occupied by families that in many cases have lived in the region for many years.
The subdivisions are well equipped with community centres, sports complexes and strip malls. Last year, The Globe and Mail wrapped up a year-long residency in Fort McMurray, detailing its diversity and increasingly cosmopolitan way of life.
Canadians have seen it in sharp focus, with fresh eyes and better understanding.
"When we were getting hardest hit, with the ugliest articles talking about drugs and crime and all kinds of illicit-type stuff, our people refused to talk to the media because they were so disgusted by the representations that had been coming out," the mayor said.
"So right now, I really think that everybody does have a story to share. Part of our recovery is being able to tell those stories and just to know that it's okay, that we're all in the same boat, even though we're paddling in different directions sometimes."
When Fort McMurray gets down to post-fire rebuilding, the debate over the environmental impact of oil sands development will flare up again – as it should – with politicians, activists and average Canadians competing for airtime.
Hopefully, the people of Fort McMurray will have their turn at the microphone.