Senate Committee to See Western Advice on Rural Poverty

from Discover Moose Jaw

The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry will be asking westerners how rural poverty is affecting their lives and their communities next week when it travels to British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as part of its ongoing study on rural poverty.

The Committee will begin its western tour March 5, 2007 in Prince George, British Columbia; moving on to Lethbridge, Alberta on March 6; Taber, Alberta, on March 7; Humbolt, Saskatchewan, on March 8 and finishing in Steinbach, Manitoba on March 9, 2007.

“During the first part of our study on rural poverty we heard extensively from policy experts in government and academia who gave us a broad overview of the extent of the decline in rural Canada,” said Senator Joyce Fairbairn, Chair of the Committee. “Now we want to hear from another set of experts: rural Canadians themselves. It is our hope that they will be able to not only pinpoint the causes of rural poverty in their region but also provide us with some insights on how to deal with this dangerous situation,” she said.

“Certainly we have seen some examples of municipalities that have been able to find ingenious ways to cope with adversity . . . but our concern is that rural Canada is at risk and that challenges the foundation of our entire social and economic infrastructure.”

In their interim report, Understanding Freefall: The Challenge of the Rural Poor, which the Committee tabled in the Senate in December, the Committee painted a sombre picture of the state of rural Canada. Rural populations are declining and growing progressively poorer. Farm incomes are at their lowest level in three decades and 90 per cent of farmers now rely on off-farm income to survive. Resource-based industries such as farming, forestry and fisheries are in decline and offer few new opportunities for employment. We are told that many young people are reluctant to take over the family farm and are leaving rural Canada, looking for work in the cities. And they are not returning to shrinking rural communities where seniors, who often make up the largest segment of the population, watch helplessly as schools, churches and businesses close down around them.

“We have just returned from a swing through Atlantic Canada and some of the testimony that we heard from rural Canadians there has been very disturbing,” said Senator Len Gustafson, Deputy Chair of the Committee. “. . . rural food banks are growing at a faster rate than in the cities;

seniors and children are going without food so that rent and heating bills are paid; handicapped and elderly people are trapped in out-of-the-way areas without access to medical and other assistance because of the lack of transportation; villages emptied of able-bodied young people and adults because they have left to find work in the oilfields. We have heard anecdotes of human despair that I did not think possible in our country, in this century.”

Committee itinerary:

Monday, March 5
9:00 a.m. University of Northern British Columbia, Room 7-172 Bentley Centre, 3333 University Way, Prince George, British Columbia

Tuesday, March 6
6:00 p.m. Exhibition Park, Saddle Room, South Pavilion, main floor,

3401 Parkside Drive South, Lethbridge, Alberta

Wednesday, March 7
9:00 a.m. Taber Heritage Inn, Room C, main floor, 4830 46th Avenue, Highway 3, Taber, Alberta
Thursday, March 8
9:00 a.m. Pioneer Hotel & Motel, Pioneer Room, basement level, 627 9th Street, Humboldt, Saskatchewan
Friday, March 9
9:00 a.m. Mennonite Heritage Village, Auditorium, main floor, 231 PTH 12 N, Steinbach, Manitoba

The Committee invites all interested parties to attend its hearings and encourages residents to share their personal experiences of rural poverty. Presentations should be three to five minutes in length. Presenters must register with the committee clerk in advance of the hearings or on site the morning of the Committee’s hearings

For more information on the Committee and its study, visit www.senate-senat.ca/agfo.asp. For more details about the hearings, contact the committee clerk, Jessica Richardson, at 1-800-267-7362 or by email at richaj@sen.parl.gc.caThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .