It has been my pleasure for the past four years to be involved in discussions with other elected officials, academics and numerous community leaders throughout British Columbia in the creation of “The Rural BC Project.”
The article that follows is an explanation of what we discovered and will give you only the tip of the iceberg as we looked at rural communities and the reason for their decline.
I hope this article will whet your appetite and create a desire for you, the taxpayers and voters, to read the background of this very important work.
I also hope you will be ready to ask those who put their name forward as candidates in the upcoming provincial election if they support the Rural BC Project and how they intend to do that. Rural BC has taken a backseat for a long, long time.
On March 6, we are to meet with the province in Victoria to present our ideas and ask to work with the province as rural communities to create a strategy for rural B.C., a strategy that we have a voice in, a strategy that will put a rural lens on decision making.
There are provinces already that do just that; Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec all have rural strategies.
Statistics show that many B.C. rural communities have been in decline for the past 30 years.
Can this rural decline be reversed? Directors of the three B.C. Interior Beetle Action Coalitions believe it can.
Their recently released position paper, titled “The Pathway To Prosperity In British Columbia Runs Through Its Rural Place – A long-term strategy for Rural Development,” identifies 20 recommendations and steps to what they believe are necessary to reversing the tide of this decline.
The Beetle Action Coalition, in the development of the position paper, involved participation from a number of stakeholders including the Fraser Basin Council, Northern Development Initiative Trust, Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust, University of Northern British Columbia, Columbia Basin Trust, Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, Selkirk College, Community Futures Boundary and Okanagan Similkameen, and Columbia Shuswap Regional District.
British Columbia is not alone. In fact, rural regions in North America and western Europe, with similar issues, have clearly demonstrated that with appropriate long-term rural development programs, the decline can be reversed.
For starters, politicians at all levels of government need to be convinced that a systemic rural economic problem exists and to commit the necessary resources to develop a long-term strategy with communities and local stakeholders groups. The three Beetle Action Coalitions: Southern Interior, Cariboo-Chilcotin and Omineca now have the attention of government and are preparing to work collaboratively.
The Beetle Action Coalitions believe turning the tide of rural decline needs three crucial conditions:
Long-term rural strategy to address the rural/urban imbalance, create government policies with a rural lens and engage all levels of government.
Senior minister responsible for Rural BC.
Venture Capital Program specifically created to help with business development and expansion in rural B.C.
The Beetle Action Coalitions maintain that the issue of rural decline should not be political.
It’s about B.C. citizens living in rural communities, providing stewardship to the province’s natural resources and working in industry and supportive services.
It’s about preserving rural and First Nations community’s social, cultural and economic viability.
The road to recovery will require co-operation between First Nations, non-First Nations people, economic development organizations, other stakeholders, all levels of government and the beetle action coalitions.
View the position paper at www.sibacs.com/projects/.
The Southern Interior Beetle Action Coalition has a vision for rural communities: Allow for more local control and decision making; create more regional collaboration; involve rural community leaders in decision making; build strong economic development and business linkage to First Nations and to preserve the rural community lifestyle.
I urge everyone to read the background information, including the document “50 Years of Rural Development and What Rural BC Needs to Succeed” at the site above site and to ask the tough questions of our elected officials no matter what party they are with.
I will be happy to provide updates as we, I hope, move forward.
– Grace McGregor is Area C director for the RDKB