Half a country away from sudden declines in fishing and forestry in British Columbia, a similar scenario plays out at a slower speed in prairie agriculture.
Ken White of Kamloops, past chair of the Community Futures Development Association of British Columbia that helps foster regional development, believes farm communities can learn from their West Coast neighbours. He now heads the Pan Canadian Futures Network.
He noted how the fishery decline and trade disputes in lumber forced communities in B.C. to come together to brainstorm, shift gears and search for alternatives to survive. Many coastal communities diversified their economies and developed their natural attractions with support and direction from local community futures offices and the Fisheries Legacy Trust.
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For Squamish, a city of 16,000 an hour’s drive north of Vancouver, it meant moving to producing value-added wood products such as beams and furniture components instead of processing two by four boards.
Farther up the coast, refurbishing the historic ocean front Lund Hotel in Lund, a village north of Powell River, was the catalyst that helped establish other local businesses servicing tourists.
Ron Trepanier, an economic development consultant with Whalebone Productions Ltd., said communities need to work in partnerships when developing opportunities.
There is a role for private and public sectors in addition to community based groups in helping get partners, accessing resources and identifying opportunities to spread development beyond agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Trepanier said it’s best to plan developments before crisis hits and noted home grown initiatives stand a greater chance of success than those imposed from outside.
“The bottom up approach tends to have a longer lifespan,” he said.
Rob Beynon, director of community development services with InterVistas Consulting, said communities must engage government agencies, schools, industry and health care agencies in the project.
A community’s development goals will help identify the strategic partners needed.
“We can’t just do my own thing; we can’t unless my neighbour down the street helps,” he said.
Good local schools and health care and variety in retail services are keys to attracting newcomers to a community, he noted.
“I don’t want to work in a community where I can’t have a good meal,” he said.
Telecommunications and transportation networks are also important.
If a fly fishing camp operator wants visitors to come from Germany to a remote community, internet access and websites are needed to reach those international customers.
Beynon likened high-speed internet access to railroad expansion in the 1800s.
“If you don’t have it, then you don’t have the whistle stop,” he said.
The way to attract potential partners to the table is to detail how each will benefit from the initiative.
“They have to see the payoff,” said Beynon.
