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Research Paper

The Language of Community in Canada

Members of a variety of Canadian communities were engaged in structured conversations to discuss their understanding and experience of living and operating within their own community. The information gathered through these conversations was used to supplement information drawn from the literature review. The list below represents general themes that were addressed during interviews and is not exhaustive.

Introduction

1. How long has your community existed or been active?

2. How was your community formed?

3. How many members are there in your community?

Participation/representation

1. Who are the leaders in your community?

2. How did they become leaders? What makes them leaders?

3. How do the leaders communicate with other community members?

4. Does your community meet formally on a regular basis?

5. Do members of the broader community get involved in making decisions?

6. How is participation supported or encouraged?

7. Are the leaders responsive and accountable to community members?

8. How could the decision-making and leadership structure be improved in your community?

Top-down/bottom-up

1. Is your community recognized in any way by any level of government?

2. How could the relationship between government and your community be improved?

3. How dependent is your community on money or other help from outside the community itself? What are those resources, who provides them, and how?

4. Who manages the resources in your community?

People/place

1. What are the geographical boundaries of your community? Are those boundaries important? Why or why not?

2. Is the physical environment in which your community exists important to your community? Why?

3. What kind of physical places, if any, are important to your community?

4. Is your community defined more by its members – who they are – or by physical location?

5. Where do you tend to encounter other members of your community, and under what circumstances (e.g. social functions, chance encounters on the street, pre-arranged meetings, etc.)?

6. What are the qualities of your community’s physical environment that, if improved, might have an affect on the quality of your community? How would it be improved, and why would that be so?

7. What keeps you linked to other members of your community? What do you have in common?

Exclusion/inclusion

1. Is there a need to gain new members in your community? Why?

2. How do people gain membership to your community?

3. Are there people who meet all the criteria to be members of your community and yet are not members? Why or why not?

4. How does your community interact with non-community members?