BC Rural Centre Archives

Food, glorious food, Shuswap style

Surveys show a sizeable majority of British Columbians would prefer to buy and consume food grown close to home. Yet no more than five percent of the food we eat is locally sourced. Some see this as a problem. Others see it as a tremendous opportunity. In this podcast, the Shuswap Food Co-Op’s Ronn Boeur…

CBT is looking for a new Chief Operating Officer for Columbia Basin Broadband

Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) is looking for a Chief Operating Officer for its Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation (CBBC) subsidiary — certainly one of the most important technology positions in rural British Columbia. CBT is looking for someone who can: Work with communities and rural areas to connect them to CBBC’s network Facilitate use of the network and…

Should Rural British Columbians Accept Sub-Par Emergency Services?

In this CBC News report (including the full podcast interview), BC’s Forest Safety Ombudsman Roger Harris says “many in charge think people in rural areas ‘made a choice’ to get worse care in emergencies.” A report from B.C.’s Forest Safety Ombudsman criticizes an attitude in B.C.’s emergency services that views rural living as “a choice” that comes…

Some Canadian Towns Give Away Land to Attract New Residents

Large parts of Canada were settled thanks to government policies of giving out free land to anyone willing to show up and farm it. And although the federal government largely stopped giving out Crown land in the 1930s, some small towns are continuing the tradition by giving their land away for free. Morgan Lowrie of the…

Harrop-Procter Community Forest shines

This article by Virginia Rasch excerpted from Kootenay Business highlights the Harrop-Procter Community Forest, one of the most innovative community forestry initiatives in the country. From conflict comes success. That’s the origin of the Harrop-Procter Community Forest, according to Erik Leslie, a registered professional forester. “We are a product of the ‘War in the Woods’ from…

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,…

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.

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…

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.…

Rural citizens investing in themselves in Creston

Rural citizens investing in themselves in Creston? What does that mean? Every year, rural Canadians place hundreds of millions of dollars into RRSPs. Most of this money ends up financing economic development “somewhere else” — usually in major metropolitan areas. What if at least some of that money stayed in rural communities, where it was…