Rural Youth Migration: Exploring the Reality Behind the Myths

On August 12, 2002, a discussion paper entitled Rural Youth Migration: Exploring the Reality Behind the Myths was released by the federal government. You will find an electronic version of the document in English at the following Web Site address:

http://www.rural.gc.ca/researchreports/youth2002/cover_e.phtml

The discussion paper was undertaken as an initiative of the Canadian Rural Partnership and produced by R. A. Malatest & Associates Ltd. with the collaboration of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the Rural Secretariat, the Canada Economic Development Agency for Quebec Regions (CED-Q), the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor), Western Economic Diversification Canada (WEDC), Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), the Policy Research Secretariat (PRS) and Statistics Canada. This second phase examines the reasons behind rural youth migration and attempts to devise some strategies that would allow rural communities to maintain their youth populations.

This second phase of research follows up on a report released in 2000 and entitled Rural Youth: Stayers, Leavers and Return Migrants, which was undertaken by Statistics Canada with the assistance of ACOA and the Rural Secretariat. This first phase report was intended as a baseline quantitative examination of the rural youth migration situation. Among other conclusions, it found that rural Atlantic Canada was faring worse than the national average because of an inability to attract a high proportion of young individuals, rather than because of a high percentage of leavers.

Copies of the first and second phase reports and the three supporting documents in English for the second phase document which include the technical report, the focus group report and the case study report, can be obtained by contacting Wade AuCoin, Policy Analyst at ACOA's Head Office Policy Unit, who can be reached by phone at 506-851-2576 or by email at waucoin@acoa-apeca.gc.ca.