Canadian Rural Partnership
What Rural Canadians are Saying

On October 21-23, the Rural Secretariat hosted the third National Rural Conference in Red Deer, Alberta. The event, which focused on community capacity building, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, youth and northern issues, was attended by about 315 rural citizens, community and organizational leaders, rural youth and government representatives. They were asked: What activities are going on in your rural community? What's working well? What else could be done?

Here's a summary of what they said.

Communities need to . . .

Cooperate, collaborate and form partnerships

• Cooperation is a key success factor in rural communities. This is true for cooperation both amongst and within communities.
  
  
• Communities need to take a more regional approach to issues.
  
  
• A collaborative approach is needed to create an environment that will promote entrepreneurship, not confrontation.
  
  
• Both formal and informal partnerships can be successful.
  
  
• Co-operatives are an important rural development tool.
  
  
• Another important success factor is community consensus--not just within one community, but also at a regional level.
  
  
• Strategic alliances are really important in rural communities.
  
  
• There is power in numbers. Communities can have much more success when they lobby government together, rather than individually.
  
  
• To successfully carry out initiatives, leaders need to mobilize the whole community.
  
  
• There also needs to be a willingness and openness to change.

Be inclusive

• Rural communities need to identify and develop potential leaders, including youth. They need to welcome diversity, practice inclusiveness, and involve all stakeholders in decision-making. They need to develop community pride and a sense of ownership.
  
  
• It is important to welcome and integrate newcomers into rural communities to increase their population and diversity.
  
  
• Some rural communities have had great success in involving youth in municipal government. These youth have actively participated in the democratic process in their community, and in its economic development.
  
  
• Other rural communities have had great success involving youth in the justice system, through sentencing circles.
  
  
• Youth should be involved, right from the beginning, in all the decisions and steps involved in community projects. They need to be an integral part of the process.
  
  
• It's important to get the community involved in youth projects, so youth feel supported by their community.

Train people

• Many rural community stakeholders could benefit from training to further develop their capacity to implement initiatives.
  
  
• Regional organizations would benefit greatly from support and training opportunities to help build alliances both within communities and across their region, and also to build capacity within their organizations to deliver services and stay current on new programs and initiatives.
  
  
• Leadership training and the development of soft skills needed for entrepreneurship should be formally integrated into the school curriculum. Training needs to start early, not just after high school.
  
  
• To retain youth in rural communities, greater access to educational resources like colleges, universities and e-learning is needed.
  
  
• There is a great advantage to providing training locally in rural and northern communities. Youth don't have to leave their community to go to school and local leaders can access additional training.

Recognize the efforts of volunteers

• Communities need to recognize the value of what volunteers contribute, and support their efforts.
  
  
• Recognizing and highlighting the contributions of youth--big or small--is important to the success of a project.

Recognize and use their assets

• Rural communities need to recognize and capitalize on their assets and advantages. Doing so will also help foster community pride.
  
  
• Rural and northern areas need to recognize and use local expertise in decision-making. For instance, traditional knowledge has been important in developing environmental management plans and in monitoring the impacts of development and climate change in the Northwest Territories.

Communities need . . .

Mentors

• Mentorship and coaching is clearly important and relevant to maintaining healthy relationships and attitudes within rural communities.
  
  
• Mentorship is important to people of all ages, not just youth.
  
  
• Mentors guide people so they don't repeat errors made in the past.
  
  
• Rural communities should organize continuous learning from the experience of others in the community and facilitate activities involving citizens of all ages, which build strong communities, culture and pride.

Leaders and vision

• Rural communities need inclusive leaders and conveners with long-term vision and the ability to develop and implement short-term actions and projects.
  
  
• They need the ability to mobilize the whole community.
  
  
• Communities need leadership succession planning through coaching and mentorship training.

Communication

• Good communication between all stakeholders, at all levels, is a pre-requisite for any project.
  
  
• There needs to be a better understanding of urban-rural interdependence.
  
  
• By increasing urban knowledge of rural infrastructure and rural communities, a greater awareness of rural communities and their role in the Canadian system can be achieved.
  
  
• Rural Canada needs more information on government programs, services and tools, and how to access them.
  
  
• Rural youth need to be made aware of local job opportunities. For instance, by learning a trade, not only can you can earn a good living, you can remain in and contribute to your rural community.
  
  
• Attitudes need to change so youth who stay in rural communities are not considered lesser than their urban counterparts.
  
  
• Youth need to be able to communicate with one another and with the rest of their community.

Governments need to . . .

Keep in mind the differences between rural and urban Canada when they develop initiatives affecting rural Canada

• For government programs to be successful and useful, they need to take a bottom-up, grassroots approach.
  
  
• Government programs should not require applicants to obtain a percentage of their funding from municipal governments--many rural areas are unincorporated so are unable to apply for funding, such as for infrastructure programs. Also, not all communities have the means to pay this percentage.
  
  
• Governments sometimes develop programs that work in cities but not in small communities. They don't take local conditions into account.

Give rural communities the tools they need for success

• Provide communities with tools like research, information and program funds.
  
  
• To be successful, projects need to be well planned. However, planning requires access to good information, which is often hard to find.
  
  
• Ensure consistency and continuity of funding.
  
  
• Make a long-term and stable commitment to programs. It's disruptive when programs are in a state of flux from year to year.
  
  
• Improve information sharing between governments and communities.
  
  
• Increase support for community capacity building in all areas including financial programs and research.
  
  
• Ensure a federal presence in rural communities.
  
  
• Develop supportive, not directive programs.
  
  
• Provide continued support to entrepreneurs. It's not enough to help new businesses start up.
  
  
• Develop policies and incentives that encourage job and business creation.
  
  
• Accelerate the accreditation of immigrant health professionals and skilled workers.
  
  
• Accelerate devolution and authority for resources in the North. Speed up the land claims, get self-governance going and offer something closer to provincial powers for all of the territories.
  
  
• Develop more policy and program funding to support the cooperative model.
  
  
• Remember the "forgotten youth:" the youth who don't continue their education, can't find good jobs and waste away in their communities.
  
  
• Address suicide in rural communities.
  
  
• Facilitate access to mentors, for instance, through a Web site that enables communities to contact potential mentors across the country.
  
  
• Coordinate the efforts of groups offering best practices and resources to make them more accessible.
  
  
• Create a Web site where business people can go to access all the services they need to start and support their business.
  
  
• Improve access to capital and funding for business. Also, ensure that existing financial programs award financing that reflects the times and do not have excessive restrictions.
  
  
• Cooperate with other levels of government on initiatives for rural Canada.
  
  
• Have high-level federal and provincial/territorial government decision-makers attend National Rural Conferences as observers.
  
  
• Increase the involvement of communities in Rural Teams.
  
  
• Streamline municipal, provincial/territorial and federal governance by working together and sharing information.
  
  
• Offer financial incentives to youth who return to rural areas after graduating from university or college. For instance, develop a program that forgives a portion of youths' student loans when they return to rural Canada.
  
  
• Government programs should not award funding to areas based on their population. Evaluation criteria should be flexible and respond to a community's needs and realities, regardless of where it is located.

AAFC Publication No.: 45056641F
Catalogue No.: A114-6/2004E-HTML
ISBN: 0-662-38913-1
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2004

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