This autumn a total of eight community consultation workshops will be held throughout southwestern Ontario to identify local/regional rural research priorities. The workshops are part of the Rural Research Priorities (RRP) Project, an initiative of three partner groups: the University of Guelph School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, The Monieson Centre at Queen’s School of Business, and TORC. The workshop series is being coordinated through local Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDCs) using the “Discovery Workshop” method developed by The Monieson Centre. Results from the southwestern Ontario workshops will be included in a Report to OMAFRA and will help inform on rural research priorities moving forward. Click here for more information and report summaries.
"Rethinking Rural Health: Innovations Making a Difference"
Thank you to all who joined us on Thursday, November 5, 2009 in Stratford (ON) for a day of shared learning and dialogue as we explored the innovations re-shaping today's rural health!
A special thank you to our Forum sponsors for their support!
TORC Emerging Rural Issues & Opportunities 2008-09 is a summary report outlining key areas deserving of focused attention as identified by members of the TORC Rural Health Working Group, TORC Environmental Working Group and TORC Community Economic Development Working Group.
"Economies in Transition: Leveraging Cultural Assets for Prosperity"
THE TORC REPORT on Municipal Cultural Planning
In Ontario, a growing number of rural communities are turning to municipal cultural planning (MCP) as an approach to economic revitalization. Traditional dependencies on agriculture and industry have left many communities vulnerable and open to pursuing new avenues to help address escalating costs in the face of a dwindling tax base. To explore the potential of municipal cultural planning as a key strategy to support rural revitalization, TORC recently joined with the Municipal Cultural Planning Partnership (MCPP) to host a three-location Forum series across the province. The agenda for these one-day events included tools, resources, best practices and approaches to assist communities in their cultural planning initiatives. Participants explored potential barriers and opportunities, as well as success stories from those who have begun to reap the rewards.
Municipal Cultural Planning Forum Series - Backgrounder
"Place as Product" - Related Article by Steven Thorne on a 'Place-Based' Approach to Cultural Tourism
“Valuing Culture") - Measuring and Understanding Canada’s Creative Economy”, The Conference Board of Canada (Aug 08)
Engaging youth in rural communities is a real and ongoing challenge. Many communities are busy creating Youth Councils to encourage young people to get involved by contributing to the municipal decision-making process. In so doing, youth feel invested in their communities and more inclined to work towards affecting positive and lasting change. But where to start? The TORC Rural Youth Working Group, in partnership with Endeavour Volunteer Consulting Network (EVCN), has now developed a resource tool to help youth and non-youth begin to think about how a Youth Council might look and work in their own town. Create a Youth Council in Your Community...In 10 Easy Steps (Free Download) shows you how easy it can be! Our thanks to RYWG and all the dedicated volunteers who worked to make this Toolkit a free and helpful resource for those looking to harness and sustain the wealth of enthusiasm, expertise and commitment of our young people!
The Law Foundation of Ontario has now released The Connecting Report, its final report examining linguistic and rural access to legal information and services. TORC played a vital role in the rural and remote access portion of this report by hosting a Rural Justice Roundtable in Fall, 2008. The outcomes of the stakeholder roundtable were captured in The TORC Report on Rural Justice which, in turn, contributed to this larger Law Foundation of Ontario overall report. The Connecting Report describes significant barriers to access to legal information and services for people who live in rural and remote areas; reviews efforts to reduce these barriers; and suggests possible approaches for Ontario moving forward.
Report on Health and Learning Now Released In December 2007, TORC joined with a working group of the Canadian Council on Learning to organize and host a one-day roundtable on health and learning within a rural context. Working closely with the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance and Gwen Devereaux, the planning committee identified a targeted list of stakeholders whose knowledge and expertise would provide valued input from an Ontario perspective. The resulting report from the Seaforth Roundtable will, in turn, become part of a larger, national review encompassing a number of community consultations across the country. View the Seaforth Report
TORC Recommendations Cited in Report
OTTAWA - Recommendations made by TORC members and stakeholders have made their way into the final version of a federal report examining the issue of rural poverty in Canada.
Chief amongst the list of 68 recommendations in Beyond Freefall: Halting Rural Poverty is the creation of a national poverty reduction strategy and the exploration of a guaranteed annual income for struggling families.
Both are recommendations tabled at the TORC Rural Poverty Roundtable in January, 2007 attended by 25 stakeholder organizations from across Ontario. TORC gathered the group to discuss the then just-released interim report from the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry entitled: “Understanding Freefall: The Challenge of the Rural Poor". The feedback and recommendations culled that day made their way to Ottawa in March, 2007 with TORC Executive Director Harold Flaming addressing the Standing Senate Committee as part of consultations informing this final report.
Providing compensation to farmers for their role as 'stewards of the land' was also cited in the Senate Committee's list of rural reforms. TORC addressed this issue in April, 2005 by hosting a Public Issue Forum that discussed the need to acknowledge the work done by farmers towards the fulfillment of environmental stewardship services.
"Leading the Rural Renaissance"
Our Thanks to all Who Joined us in Ottawa!
Your enthusiastic participation as rural stakeholders, practitioners and valued sponsors contributed immensely to our overall success. We sincerely hope the three days we spent together in the nation's capital inspired you in the work you do, and provided ample motivation through renewed resources, tools and success stories to continue on the rural renaissance path!
TORC Conference 2008: Speaker Presentations
Thank you to all participants, presenters and event supporters for contributing to the success of our two Local Food Forum events in Port Perry (December 4th) and Milton (December 6th)! Farmers, food retailers and associated stakeholders came together to explore the challenges and opportunities related to supplying Ontario-grown produce and products to retail outlets. Participants also contributed to the afternoon's facilitated Roundtable Discussions and finding innovative approaches to helping 'rebuild the middle' towards creating an effective distribution network. Look for those outcomes in the TORC report to be posted here once published (4-6 weeks). Follow the link below to our speaker presentations for the latest updates on retail sector trends and current research, as well as firsthand accounts of achieving success in "reaching retail":