On January 11th and 12th, put on your BU colours and join us for events and prizes in the new 25-million dollar Healthy Living Centre (HLC).

Activities include Bobcats basketball, facility tours, Kids Carnival and tailgate party. Giveaways include an iPad, University tuition and Bobcat rally towels. Meet radio personalty Tyler Glen from Star-FM. Be a part of raising the Bobcat championship banners in the new gymnasium.

Friday kicks off at 4 pm with the ‘Ten Dollar Tailgate’ followed by exciting Women’s and Men’s Bobcat Basketball. There’s an after-game social, too, featuring The Young Pixels.

On Saturday, tour the new Healthy Living Centre between 3:30 and 5 or wear blue and gold, and receive free admission to that night’s Bobcat games.

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.

“Henry was a sports enthusiast,” says BU President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Deborah Poff. “During his student days at Brandon University, Henry was a remarkable athlete and passionate supporter. He stayed connected to BU sports through his entire life and recruited top athletes to campus. Our University is a better place because of Henry Champ’s dedication and commitment.”

A native of Hartney, MB, Henry Champ attended BU in 1957 and 1958. He would travel the world through the next five decades; one of the world’s top foreign correspondents reporting from places including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, the Middle East, Vietnam and Washington, DC. Despite his globe-trotting career, Henry never forgot his Wheat City roots, serving BU in many capacities including as member of the Brandon University Foundation. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree for his service.

Installed as BU’s sixth Chancellor in November 2008, Henry enjoyed visiting and reminiscing about his own time spent on campus. Thanks to online broadcasting, he rarely missed a Bobcats game and took part in a Bobcat Booster Club meeting days before his passing in September.

Henry had a special interest in recruiting international students to BU – including Bobcat point guard Ilarion Bonhomme, Canada West Rookie of the Year in 2012.

Opened in 1965, the Henry Champ Gymnasium has been home to four Canadian university national championship teams. The storied space is currently being modernized as part of BU’s $24.3-million Healthy Living Centre, with the gym scheduled to be ready in the spring of 2013.

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For more information, please contact:

Glen Kirby, Communications Officer
Brandon University
270-18th Street
Brandon, MB R7A 6A9
T: (204) 727-9762
kirbyg@brandonu.ca

“The generous gift we have received from the Kiwanis Club of Brandon brings us one step closer to Brandon University’s goal of providing this city with a modern, accessible space for enhanced wellness, recreation and sport,” said Dr. Poff. “This meaningful support from the Kiwanis is reflective of their commitment to both this University and the City of Brandon.”

The Kiwanis recently committed their support to the multi-purpose space located on the second level of the HLC. The multi-purpose space is set to regularly host recreation, fitness and wellness programming, and will be available for booking through the facility once construction is completed.

“The Kiwanis Club of Brandon raises funds in the City of Brandon and donates it all back to the community,” said Vern Gilbertson, President. “Kiwanis recognizes the importance of Brandon University in our City and are pleased to contribute to the Healthy Living Centre. In addition to funding the Healthy Living Centre, we also support Brandon University Mini U. Program. We’ve had a wonderful relationship with Brandon University over the years.”

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For more information, please contact:

Glen Kirby, Communications Officer
Brandon University
270-18th Street
Brandon, MB R7A 6A9
T: (204) 727-9762
kirbyg@brandonu.ca

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