About Us
Nova Scotia Rural Team (NSRT)
Rural Team Members

The Nova Scotia Rural Team (NSRT) is a federal/provincial and community partnership team. It carries out its mission through four strategic directions: Rural Dialogue; rural policy; rural community capacity building; and interdepartmental and community partnering and collaboration. NSRT has a focused role and objectives within each of the four strategic directions.

NSRT is part of Rural Team Canada. There is a Rural Team in each province and territory made up of representatives from different levels of government and key stakeholders. Through the Rural Team Canada approach, the Canadian Rural Partnership (CRP) is inviting all stakeholders to be part of building partnerships, networks and alliances to address key rural issues.

The CRP was announced in the 1998 Federal Budget with funding of $20 million over four years. In July 2002, the Honourable Andy Mitchell, Secretary of State (Rural Development) (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario) announced details of an investment of $55 million to ensure the continued operation of the Canadian Rural Partnership for another five years. The CRP is designed to support rural community development by adopting new approaches and practices to respond to rural development issues and concerns.

The initial focus is to build the horizontal team within the federal government both in Ottawa (Interdepartmental Working Group) and at the regional level through Rural Teams. The Rural Teams are evolving to include other levels of government and key stakeholders.

Through the Canadian Rural Partnership, the Government of Canada listens to rural citizens, and provides strategic tools and resources to assist communities to realize the benefits of networking and resource sharing. The CRP is the key rural policy initiative which works to ensure that programs, policies and activities are co-ordinated to provide support to rural and remote communities across Canada. The CRP helps us ensure that people can organize themselves to mobilize their communities, define goals and carry out plans that improve the quality of life in rural Canada.