Build it and they will come – eventually.
That’s what participants heard during a Rural Visions conference in
Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask., in January.
Sponsored by the United Church, the second annual event took a hard
look at rural and farm life and offered up some suggestions on how to
make it better.
Harris farmer Craig Hanson found the sessions challenging.
“It brought you to think about ideas that you normally wouldn’t have,”
he said.
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The Mid Lakes Community Coalition detailed how it gathered together a
small group of people to make big changes. Its mission was to
revitalize small communities along Highway 11, by renaming it after
19th century Metis leader Louis Riel, drawing attention to the region’s
local histories and giving people reasons to stop in the towns.
“They decided to do positive things and not be pulled down by
naysayers,” Hanson said.
Coalition members forged ahead with their plans, which included
encouraging businesses and families to move to the small towns.
Positive feedback from local residents followed.
That experience challenged the conventional thinking of first building
consensus in small communities before embarking on major projects,
Hanson said.
Organizer Adel Compton, a minister at Meadow Lake, Sask., said the
conference’s purpose was to increase awareness of the farm situation
and generate ideas for change by sharing success stories like the
coalition’s.
Participants included clergy, rural businesspeople and farmers. Other
speakers included former National Farmers Union president Nettie Wiebe
and Farm Stress Line director Ken Imhoff.
“We got the conversation going last year,” said Compton, who hopes to
continue to build on the information collected by hosting a third
conference in 2003.
“People talked about hopeful things,” she said.
Hanson attended the conference because he hoped to address the bleak
picture in rural issues and return home with a few good ideas.
“I went looking for tools and ideas and hope for things I might
accomplish in my own community to make it more viable and attractive,”
he said.
He left feeling that small steps do bring change.
“We don’t have to pledge to change the world, all we have to do is try
to make a difference,” he said.
