The Eastern Townships Rural Team

The activities of the Eastern Townships Rural Team cover six regional county municipalities: Haut-St-François, Coaticook, Memphrémagog, Asbestos, Val-Saint-François and Le Granit.

The team members are:

The Eastern Townships Rural Team is co-chaired by Guy Crépeau, Director of the Eastern Townships Human Resources Centre of Canada, and Marie-Andrée Katia Bertrand, Regional Director of Canada Economic Development.

Co-ordinators:
Fernand D'Ascanio, Senior Development Officer, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
E-mail: fernand.dascanio@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Sylvain Bélair, Advisor, Canada Economic Development
E-mail: sylvain.belair@dec-ced.gc.ca

Achievements:

• Participation in the Eastern Townships Community Development Symposium, organized by the Townshippers Association (March 2004).
• Development of an information and feedback mechanism enabling fast and effective responses to team members regarding project, service or information requests from communities in the area.
• Rural Dialogue on youth in Lac Mégantic (November 2003)
• Rural Dialogue for the Regional County Municipality of Haut-St-François (March 2002).
• Participation of nine federal departments in the Townshippers' Fair (September 2001).
• Visits by the regional co-ordinator to several rural communities in the Eastern Townships to answer questions from residents and provide information on federal programs and services (winter 2000).
• Federal Government Programs and Services Show (East Angus, February 2001).

Federal Government Programs and Services Show

On February 16 and 17, 2001, the Eastern Townships Rural Team presented the "Canada at your Doorstep" show in co-operation with about 30 departments and agencies. The show, held at École secondaire Louis-St-Laurent in East Angus, informed rural residents of federal programs and services. It also demonstrated that departmental partnerships are more effective in responding to the needs of rural communities. Members of the public were also invited to take part in Rural Dialogue sessions, familiarize themselves with Government of Canada Web sites through the Internet café and participate in various workshops. The show, chaired by Compton-Stanstead Member of Parliament, David Price, was a great success, attracting more than 1300 visitors.

Rural Dialogue in the Regional County Municipality (RCM) of Haut-Saint-François (March 4, 2002)

The Eastern Townships Regional Rural Team held a rural dialogue session at Cookshire in the Regional County Municipality (RCM) of Haut-Saint-François on March 4, 2002. The dialogue, which focussed on the theme of "Community Capacity Building," was an overwhelming success. More than 60 people, including representatives of local organizations, elected officials from the RCM of Haut-Saint-François, and federal government representatives, participated in this discussion and listening forum with a view to identifying the issues facing the community. Some of the major challenges noted were as follows: maintaining and improving the quality of life, improving community identity, maintaining and improving community services (transportation between villages, road infrastructure, schools, and other) and the development of strategies to curb migration of young people. A dozen members of the Eastern Townships Rural Team and Rural Team Quebec were present.

Rural Dialogue on youth in Lac Mégantic

This dialogue brought together 30 people, 12 of which were young people between the ages of 18 and 29 years old and the others were: representatives of the Eastern Townships Rural Team (which includes 7 representatives of federal departments); the leading development officers in the Regional County Municipality region of Lac Mégantic; the municipal sector; community organizations; and development officers representing groups in this community.

This exercise was part of the Eastern Townships Rural Team's action plan and was aimed at determining the needs of youth in that region, identifying their priorities in order to improve their quality of life, and enabling discussions on this subject.

The discussions first focussed on the quality of life of youth in the region and on the initiatives young people would like to see carried out, and secondly on their involvement in the development of their region and particularly on the issues in that area that concern them. Following these discussions, participants proposed actions and formulated recommendations for follow-up by the members of the Eastern Townships Rural Team. The Dialogue took place in an exclusively rural region, in which the out-migration of young people is a concern of the region's stakeholders.

Abitibi-Témiscamingue Rural Team
The Lower St. Lawrence Rural Team
The Eastern Townships Rural Team
The Montérégie Rural Team

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