Robertson is one of the most trusted faces in TV news, spending 35 years as Chief Anchor and Senior Editor of the country’s most-watched national newscast, CTV National News. A broadcaster since 1952, Robertson is a three-time Gemini award winner, and member of both the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada.

“Lloyd’s efforts as a journalist and communicator have made Canada a better place,” says BU President and Vice-Chancellor Deborah Poff. “We applaud his career, his contributions and his national pride.”

In addition to television work, Robertson was honourary chairperson of the Terry Fox Run. In 2006, he received an honourary degree from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC.

Robertson will receive his BU degree next month, along with 600 BU graduating students.

Brandon University, founded in 1899, promotes excellence in teaching, research, creation and scholarship; educating students so that they can make a meaningful difference as engaged citizens and leaders.

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Further details on the conference will be provided soon, and can be found at www.crrf.ca/?page_id=2076.

BU’s Rural Development Institute (RDI), with support from Manitoba Immigration and Multiculturalism and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, examined two regions with recent upward growths: Neepawa and area surged as much as 20% since 2006 due to local employment opportunities; Winkler and area experienced tremendous population influx through the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, including an increase of 63% over 10 years in one rural municipality.

Dr. Bill Ashton, Director of RDI, says a key recommendation within Discerning Growth Strategies is the establishment of a liaison to organize community efforts between different provincial departments and organizations.

“What seems to be missing and what both local stakeholders and government representatives talked about were better ways to coordinate existing policies and programs,” says Dr. Ashton. “Rapid population growth can stress any number of services including health care, education, transportation and housing and more.”

Discerning Growth Strategies outlines 20 recommendations developed through interviews and workshops with service providers, government and business. Dr. Ashton says, “The recommendations address challenges evident from the pace of growth and will enable local stakeholders to better manage growth.”

The full report is available at http://www.brandonu.ca/rdi/publications/rural-immigrationrural-migration/.

Brandon University, founded in 1899, promotes excellence in teaching, research, creation and scholarship; educating students so that they can make a meaningful difference as engaged citizens and leaders. RDI functions as a not-for-profit research and development organization designed to promote, facilitate, coordinate, initiate and conduct multi-disciplinary academic and applied research on rural issues.

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See http://outreach.brandonu.ca/whatsnew.asp for more information or to apply.

The Director of BU’s Rural Development Institute (RDI), Dr. Bill Ashton, is chairing the Prairie node of Pathways to Prosperity: New policy directions and innovative local practices for newcomer integration and attraction. Dr. Ashton says this project dovetails with the Institute’s key strategic directive of rural immigration.

“We know that only a small percentage of newcomers settle in rural Canada,” notes Dr. Ashton, “while the vast majority locate to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Call it the ‘MTV’ effect. This study will allow us to drill down into the challenges of rural immigration, including language training, housing and a host of other factors which may not be present in big cities.”

Dr. Victoria Esses at Western University initiated the $12.5 million study which involves dozens of partners; Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, University of Waterloo, University of New Brunswick, Carleton University and York University; the cities of Calgary, Saskatoon, London, Moncton and Ottawa; the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Government of Canada Citizenship and Immigration, and Government of Manitoba Labour and Immigration. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is contributing $2.5 million through a Partnership Grant.

BU’s Acting Vice-President (Academic & Provost), Dr. Dean Care is “extremely pleased that Brandon University is joining other Canadian universities as a partner on this important research project. Being a rural-based university, BU is well positioned to make a significant contribution to this project; especially one with such relevance to our local community.”

Brandon University, founded in 1899, promotes excellence in teaching, research, creation and scholarship; educate students so that they can make a meaningful difference as engaged citizens and leaders. RDI functions as a not-for-profit research and development organization designed to promote, facilitate, coordinate, initiate and conduct multi-disciplinary academic and applied research on rural issues.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. William (Bill) Ashton
Director
Rural Development Institute
T: (204) 571-8513
Email: ashtonw@brandonu.ca

Glen Kirby
Communications Officer
Brandon University
T: (204) 727-9762
Email: kirbyg@brandonu.ca

3rd Rural Research Workshop
Rural Labour Markets & Rural Livelihoods: A Focus on Resource Value-Chains

The Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) will hold it’s 3rd Rural Research Workshop in Ottawa on May 9 & 10, 2013.
More information to come soon.

Rural Development Institute (RDI) at Brandon University in partnership with the Upper Assiniboine River Conservation District (UARCD) has initiated a new project website http://prairieshelterbelts.ca/. The website is assisting livestock producers and those interested in learning more about the benefits of shelterbelts in beef production—why they matter and how to establish them.

The new website is a component of the project entitled Demonstration and Investigation into Livestock Systems Adoption and offers quick and easy access to beneficial information on shelterbelts as well as some of the project activities. Information available includes:

• shelterbelt benefits (economical, environmental, etc)
• shelterbelt construction and maintenance
• biological and economic research results on shelterbelts
• reviews, demonstration, farmer experiences on shelterbelt

It is user-friendly with quick access to resources, including virtual tours of Manitoba shelterbelts and demonstration sites as well as interviews with local farmers on their personal shelterbelt experiences. In addition, you can give us feedback by participating in an online survey.

Visit http://prairieshelterbelts.ca/ today!

Media Contact
Bill Ashton, Director
Rural Development Institute, Brandon University
Tel: (204) 571-8513

Email: ashtonw@BrandonU.CA

The Manitoba Planning Excellence Awards acknowledge individuals, organizations, companies and Manitoba municipalities and planning districts in their efforts to enhance communities through innovative and high quality planning initiatives. The Awards promote outstanding planning practice deliberately guided by and supporting sustainable development principles in Manitoba communities. This includes planning processes, as well as products, that support well-being by design. Sustainable development principles as described by the Manitoba Round Table on Environment and Economy can be found here: www.gov.mb.ca/ia/plups/pdf/pgsd.pdf

The $100,000 support by the province enables RDI conduct research on strategic topics to Manitoba.  Dr. Ashton, Director of RDI, stated: “We are currently examining how jobs are created in rural regions, beginning in the food processing sector.  Another project is investigating how SME businesses in rural areas are retaining new comers.  RDI is also conducting future-oriented research into the implications of demographic changes with population-based scenarios to better understand the implications on rural economic development services.” RDI also supports the continued learning for Master of Rural Development students by providing opportunities for them to attend several conferences, workshops and summer institutes related to economic development and policy. Brandon University Outreach is funding three new research project focused on rural Manitoba communities under this agreement

Looking forward both Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives and Brandon University look forward to continuing with research from RDI that addresses opportunities and issues facing rural Manitoba.

Gender Equality and Community Development

Presenters: Jennifer DeGroot and Lorie English

This session was facilitated by Jennifer DeGroot and Lorie English from the UN Platform for Action Committee (UNPAC). The UNPAC established in Canada in 1995 after the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, China. Their objective is to work through community organizations advocating a strong voice for women’s equality. The session’s main theme was to understand if gender equality can be achieved within the working milieu and within communities. The discussion focused on decision and equality in workplaces. To understand if gender equality exist in work places, participants were divided into subgroups to determine the following information related to their workplace: are women or men the decision makers; salaries between both genders; job security; ratio of men and women who are permanent and part time; and number of hours put in by both genders.

The conclusion was men are the decision makers in most organizations as well as CEOs, and permanent workers. The greatest quest is to advocate for equality between both genders irrespective of race. However, gender equality has been an ongoing fight which embodies a lot of component when assessing equality between both genders. Nevertheless, the question remains unanswered; can gender equality be achieve in a global economic system. ~ Fobete Dingha

MyPEG.ca

Presenter: Heather Block United Way

The United Way of Winnipeg has been developing a project based upon a mixed method. This project is designed to inform Winnipeggers about the demographic data that represents their community while also telling the story of the people behind the numbers. They’ve developed mypeg.ca. A site that is interactive and attractive that showcases the plight and success of some Winnipeggers while at the same time providing a large quantity of raw data from multiple sources. This data can be organized into charts and graphs on the site to facilitate decision making. The site has multiple entry points, is beautifully designed and provides a new way to visualize old problems. ~ Matthew Grills

Workshop: Women Changing Lives

Presenter: Sharon McIlraith

The following report is a consolidation of my feedback and learning in the theme of empowerment generated in the workshop of “Women Changing Lives” The lessons learned and discussed could be adopted universally.

“Women Changing Lives” workshop aimed to build leadership of women in communities through interactive session. It used the knowledge and experience of women in the room to enhance self-advocacy, leadership, and their employability skills. Hence, empowering them to plan for and achieve increased economic security for themselves, their families and communities.

The theme of empowerment was emphasized first and foremost by identifying the global problems and injustices impacting women, their families and communities. Women’s inequality, inequity and poverty are among the barriers to economic security and sustainable livelihoods for women around the world, Canada inclusive.

This session had an exercise where participants were instructed to produce multiple sets of economic security cards. Each set of cards/ one card per idea. The ideas included:

• Secure housing
• Adequate income
• Good job
• Strong community
• Savings
• Emergency funds
• Support network
• Dignity
• Assured standard of living
• Resources to participate fully in my community
• Social inclusion
• Stable income
• Financial literacy
• Freedom from violence
• Family support order
• Sustainable livelihood
• Adequate public/community services
• Enough to buy healthy food

The groups of participants were asked to choose the three cards that best represent economic security to them or the three cards that are most important to them when thinking about economic security.
~ Immaculate Nabisere

Hey Ho, Let’s Go To St. Malo, for Social Inclusion- o!

Presenter: Lesley Gaudry, St Malo Chamber of Commerce and Gina Sylvestre, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg.

Gina reported the findings of a study that was carried out by the Institute of Urban Studies on community transportation. Focusing on the issue of social exclusion in rural areas in Manitoba; the findings stated that transportation options are fewer or not available in some parts of the province and that disadvantaged people (children, disabled, and elderly) are systematically excluded from accessing certain life enhancing services which may not be in their immediate community. Gina explains the actions provincial government has taken to ameliorate the plight of such disadvantaged communities through funding provided by intergovernmental affairs through the Mobility and Disadvantaged Transportation Program (MDTP).

Lesley presented a case study on how St Malo a small community of one thousand people in rural Manitoba approached and solved the problem of social exclusion created by lack of public transportation. The community was able to recognise the need for public mobility but they could not attract the main stream transport companies because of the size of the community. The community uses different community organising strategies to bring people together; they were convinced of the need to unite and carry the disadvantaged along and they all immersed themselves in solving a common problem by providing transport service taking advantage of the province’s MDTP, using handy van as mode of mobility for the disadvantaged.

The core point of this presentation is the issue of social inclusion and exclusion in rural community viewing it from the perspective of transportation. Both of them observed that the lack of available transportation options act as a mechanism that increases disengagement and exclusion of the most disadvantaged in any community, especially in rural areas and the only way to foster or promote social community inclusion is to create a means of mobility for the community. ~ Yakub Adediran