bcruralcentre Archives

Rural BC Project

The purpose of the Rural BC Project was to develop recommendations to the provincial government on actions that would help facilitate rural development in BC. The video below was produced in 2013 when the BC Rural Centre was SIBAC (Southern Interior Beetle Action Collation). SIBAC partnered with the other two regional Beetle Action Coalitions to…

Building Capital & Capacity In Our Communities

For over a decade, the BC Rural Centre has researched and advocated for the establishment of community investment fund programs in British Columbia, inspired by successful models in Nova Scotia, Alberta, and the USA. In 2015, the Centre partnered with Kootenay Employment Services to create the Creston & District Community Investment Cooperative, the first of…

Community Investment Guide Webinar, March 10

The longer a dollar can circulate within a community, the greater its economic and social impacts. Few know this as well as Eden Yesh, Chair of the BC Community Impact Investment Coalition and Manager of Community & Economic Development at Kootenay Employment Services. On Tuesday, March 10, at 1 PM Pacific, Eden will release…

We Want to Hear From You!

A major part of our mandate here at the BC Rural Centre is to provide timely information and tools that help rural & remote residents, communities, and First Nations deal with some of the most common issues and challenges they face. We also believe it’s important to share rural success stories. As we…

Rankin MacSween’s “Keeping It Rural” Keynote

Rankin MacSween, who gave an amazingly inspirational keynote speech at our 2015 Keeping It Rural conference, one that people still talk about, followed that up with an equally inspiring address at our most recent Keeping It Rural gathering in Kelowna. For over three decades, Rankin has led Canada’s oldest – and most successful – community…

Healthcare in Rural BC Gets a Closer Look

Overview In 2017, the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues (JSC) tasked the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc) with visiting every Rural Subsidiary Agreement (RSA) community between 2017 and 2020. These visits will connect with rural practitioners and communities to hear about the context of rural practice and health care delivery (what innovations exist,…

$50M available from B.C. government to improve rural Internet

The Province is now ready to accept applications from rural communities wishing to access some of the $50 million earmarked in the spring of 2019 to be used to connect rural, remote, and indigenous communities to high-speed internet, as highlighted in this post from CBC. It’s easy to forget the internet isn’t everywhere, yet…

Rankin MacSween of Cape Breton’s New Dawn Enterprises, on Community Development

Rankin MacSween, who gave an amazingly inspirational keynote speech at our 2015 conference, one that people still talk about, followed that up with an equally inspiring address at this year’s Keeping It Rural conference. For over three decades, Rankin has led Canada’s oldest – and most successful – community development corporation, New Dawn Enterprises, on Cape…

A Look Back at 2019

2019 was a successful — and important — year in the BC Rural Centre’s evolution. Perhaps most significantly over the past 12 months, we’ve succeeded in implementing a new governance structure, creating an Advisory Committee featuring outstanding British Columbians from all across our province. We now, through our structure as well as our actions, clearly…

The Forest Sector & Rural Communities

BC Rural Centre Executive Director Gordon Borgstrom and BC Community Forest Association Executive Director Jennifer Gunter discuss trends, challenges, and opportunities of importance to forestry-dependent rural BC communities and First Nations in this presentation. For more on forestry issues, visit our Forestry page.