A new report launched Tuesday, Sept. 28 is outlining the innovative ways rural Canada has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Kyle Rich, Assistant Professor in Brock University\u2019s Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, was part of the research team behind \u201cState of Rural Canada (SORC) 2021: Opportunities, recovery, and resiliency in changing times<\/a>\u201d which maps the impacts of the pandemic across rural\u00a0Canada,\u00a0as well as some of the innovative ways rural communities have responded.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really interesting is the way different provinces and territories are dealing with different issues,\u201d said Rich. \u201cIn the west, it\u2019s really important to talk about oil and gas and changing economies. When we look to the east, we\u2019ve seen very different levels of migration there with people migrating to the Atlantic provinces. In the north, we have a whole different set of issues that communities are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n Rich said the report looks at what the key issues have been over the past five years and then how the communities have responded by mobilizing resources to affect change or build resiliency.<\/p>\n The report was launched Tuesday as part of the online Creating Inclusive Economies:\u00a0Building Bridges Between Public, Private and Civil Society Sectors<\/a>\u00a0conference, which Rich emceed.<\/p>\n The two-day conference is bringing together Canada\u2019s public, private and civil society sectors to discuss new ways to collaborate to enhance rural\u00a0Canada’s\u00a0economic and social well-being. It\u2019s co-hosted by the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) and the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC) and is supported by TELUS, the presenting conference sponsor. The conference and the SORC report were also supported through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).<\/p>\n The conference\u2019s more than 150 participants will discuss how public, private and civil society sectors can work together to ensure that rural economic development is a key component of, and contributor to,\u00a0Canada’s\u00a0post-pandemic economic recovery strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we learned one thing from the pandemic, it is that innovation through collaboration is the key to economic and social progress and success,\u201d said\u00a0John Buck, President and CEO, CEDEC. \u201cAs we look to our post-pandemic economic future, we have an opportunity to leverage the innovative capacity and combined resources of the public, private and civil society sectors to enhance rural economic development differently, in a more inclusive manner.\u201d<\/p>\n Kathleen Kevany, President of the CRRF, said the 2021 edition of the SORC report, which is updated every two years, has shown how the country adapts to change.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we’ve found is that rural communities across\u00a0Canada\u00a0have demonstrated resiliency in the face of the pandemic, economic restructuring and climate change, among other hardships, and that adaptation to change is key for rural communities to rebound post-pandemic towards more vibrant and sustainable rural futures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Watch the launch of the State of Rural Canada 2021 report here.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n