The News
The latest articles and news relating to rural living...
The Arts & Rural Revitalization
On November 28, 2017, the BC Rural Centre hosted its first-ever webinar, on the topic of the arts and rural renewal. Sarah Calhoun of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, and John Davis of Lanesboro, Minnesota discussed…
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Arts and Rural Renewal
Sarah Calhoun of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, and John Davis of Lanesboro, Minnesota discussed their respective experiences in helping bring positive change to small, remote communities. Sarah Calhoun Sarah has been called a…
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New Denver/Silverton Report Summary Released
New Denver/Silverton were recently the unsuspecting hosts for a contingent of “secret visitors” from Kaslo, who spent an October day checking out everything from the highway entrances to the two villages, to their take on…
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BC Rural Dividend Program Announces Fourth Intake
Applications for funding in the fourth intake of the BC Rural Dividend program will be accepted Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, 2017, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Doug Donaldson announced…
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Ontario’s Rural Broadband Challenge
Ontario’s rural broadband challenge is highlighted in this article by Dave Reevely, originally published in the Ottawa Citizen. Running subsidized Internet lines to rural Ontario has an important thing in common with the provincial…
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Do-It-Yourself Rural Internet?
Do-it-yourself rural Internet? Ramona Pringle penned this interesting opinion piece on rural communities who have stepped up to provide their residents with high-speed Internet for CBC News. If you live in rural areas of…
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BC Forestry Trade Mission to Asia Launches
The BC Forestry trade mission to Asia is British Columbia’s largest-ever forest sector delegation to China and Japan, according to Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Minister Doug Donaldson. The mission, from Nov. 12…
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Urban-Rural Divide Widens in Sweden
The urban-rural divide is as real in Sweden today as it is in British Columbia, and North America generally. The Nordic country’s cities continue to grow and develop, while rural communities shrink and unravel. “Young…
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Creston Picks Its Future
Creston Picks a Fresh Approach It’s hard to know if you’re winning without a strategy. And a strategy is precisely what had been missing in Creston, BC, for years. When it was decided it was…
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Freshly Picked Future
Freshly Picked Future — Creston’s OCP Challenge was an experiment in community planning and in rural placemaking. The process used a mobile app, a website, and paper scavenger hunt maps to get citizens exploring community…
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BC Rural Centre Social Media e-Magazine (Autumn 2017)
We hope you enjoy our October social media e-Magazine. Be sure to stay in touch with us on Facebook (and don’t forget to like us)!
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BC Rural Dividend grants over $10 million
On Friday, October 13, the BC Government announced over $10 million in new grants to rural communities through the BC Rural Dividend. Here’s the official press release: The B.C. government is distributing $10.1 million…
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Attracting Young People to Rural Communities
Attracting young people is one of the toughest challenges facing rural communities. The outflow of young people from rural to urban hits small towns and rural regions in a variety of ways, including stripping communities…
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Café Culture Comes to Rural Ontario
Café culture stirs the pot in rural Bath One of the first things young people look for when considering a move from an urban centres to a rural setting is the availability of great…
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BC’s Grizzly Trophy Hunt Ends, Government Announces
BC’s grizzly trophy hunt ends. In the following announcement, the BC Government announced an end to trophy grizzly hunting: Effective Nov. 30, 2017, the British Columbia government will end grizzly bear trophy hunting throughout…
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Small Town, Big Change
Small town, big change. Dale Williams was mayor of the small rural North Island New Zealand town of Otorohanga (pop. 2,700), and Chair of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs. A certified motorcycle engineer by trade,…
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Is There a Doctor in the House? Attracting Physicians to Rural Towns
Is there a doctor in the house? Rural health care is a pressing challenge for many small, often isolated, communities in rural BC. The challenges facing small communities struggling to provide an acceptable standard of…
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Forest Fibres Key to Rural Revitalization?
This recent CBC article examines the possibility of forest fibres emerging as a significant economic engine for rural BC communities. Forest fibres — an abundant resource waiting to boost the economies of rural BC…
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Garden Hill First Nation Creates a Farm in a Box!
Food security is a significant issue for many remote First Nations across Canada — including Garden Hill First Nation, located in northern Manitoba. In the following blogpost from Aki Energy, a non-profit Aboriginal social enterprise…
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Affordable Rural Housing — the View from Yorkshire, UK
Affordable rural housing is often at a premium in small communities and rural regions. While rural housing prices may appear a bargain to newcomers and second home buyers from overheated urban real estate markets, they…
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Ktunaxa Nation: Ensuring the most vulnerable citizens can succeed
For the Ktunaxa Nation, a key pillar of the community is supporting its most vulnerable citizens. It’s an effort that is changing lives for the better. Ktunaxa Nation has grown its Cranbrook-based social services from…
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Rural Revitalization, Iowa-Style
Rural revitalization Iowa-style. There are plenty of small towns badly in need of economic and social renewal across North America. Earlham, Iowa was one of them. Through a combination of community resilience and tenacity,…
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The Arts & Rural Revitalization
Culture matters. According to the Creative Cities Network of Canada, municipalities that adopt culture as an industry gain positive economic benefits. Cultural industries create job growth, turn ordinary cities into “destination cities,” create interconnections between…
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