Seabird Island First Nation showcases its capacity for partnerships

The Seabird Island community is well positioned within British Columbia with natural beauty, abundant natural resources, and sound agricultural and light industry business sectors. The community has a population of 850 people and is located in the Upper Fraser Valley, three kilometres northeast of Agassiz, British Columbia. The following video introduces viewers to Seabird Island,…

Read More

Harrop-Procter Community Forest: The Podcast

In this podcast, Dave Johnson, Erik Leslie, Rami Rothkop, and Ramona Faust discuss the origins and operating philosophy of the Harrop-Procter Community Forest Cooperative, one of the most interesting Community Forests operations in British Columbia.  

Read More

How to create a community investment vehicle

These video modules comes to us courtesy of the Alberta Community & Co-operative Association. Each video provides useful information for rural community leaders interested in raising local capital for community-based investment. While the investment vehicle highlighted here — Opportunity Development Co-operatives — is specific to Alberta, there are lessons and advice here applicable to any…

Read More

Unleashing Local Capital

The Alberta Community & Cooperative Association’s Unleashing Local Capital project empowers communities to invest locally, direct their own economic development and reduce dependency on government supports by directing outward-bound investments toward local businesses, keeping local capital flowing through local communities. This project also educates rural communities on how to establish an Opportunity Development Co-operative – a  co-op…

Read More

Decent health care, an ongoing rural challenge

It’s difficult to imagine a functioning community without access to a school, basic infrastructure, and a critical mass of businesses and services — chief among them, decent rural health care. For most communities, the standard by which local health care is judged is relatively simple: “do we have reasonable access to 24/7 emergency rural health…

Read More

How Malakwa Saved Its School

Seven years ago, the small community of Malakwa, located just off the Trans-Canada Highway east of Sicamous in British Columbia’s Columbia-Shuswap region, feared it was about to lose its school. Many feared if the school went, the community would go with it. The community rallied to the cause. Meetings were held with School District 83.…

Read More