Featured Podcast
Local Food, the Secret Ingredient for Vibrant Downtowns
Whether you are a foodie or a farmer, local food is something to embrace. In small towns, the local food movement is doing more than putting meals on plates—it is nourishing economies by keeping farms vital and downtowns alive. In this Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design hour-long webinar, we hear how farmers’ markets and food…
Read MorePeter Kenyon, Founder, The Bank of I.D.E.A.S., delivers an inspirational keynote
Peter Kenyon, renowned Australian rural development expert, delivers an entertaining — and inspirational — keynote at the KEEPING IT RURAL 2017 conference hosted by SIBAC/BC Rural Centre, on June 20 in Kelowna. Click here to view a PDF of Peter’s Powerpoint.
Read MoreHow Malakwa Saved Its School
Seven years ago, the small community of Malakwa, located just off the Trans-Canada Highway east of Sicamous in British Columbia’s Columbia-Shuswap region, feared it was about to lose its school. Many feared if the school went, the community would go with it. The community rallied to the cause. Meetings were held with School District 83.…
Read MoreCommunity Forestry in Canada — Professor Sara Teitelbaum
Community forestry in Canada has taken root over the past three decades. Locally run forestry initiatives have been hailed as welcome alternatives to large corporate and industrial logging practices, yet little research has been done to document their tangible outcomes or draw connections between their ideals of local control, community benefit, ecological stewardship, and economic…
Read MoreLocal Agriculture — a Chat With Rob Gay
Rob Gay is both the Area C Director and chair of the Regional District East Kootenay. Rob sits on the board of SIBAC, and through the Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments helped organize a recent workshop in Creston on agriculture, titled Healthier & Wealthier Through Food. It was a useful and sometimes thought-provoking day-long…
Read MoreRural Broadband — Kaslo Style
Rural Broadband — Kaslo Style. If rural BC is to prosper in the 21st century, access to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet is essential. Kaslo InfoNet (KiN)’s Don Scarlett and Tim Ryan talk about fibre optic broadband in Kaslo & the North Kootenay Lake region — how a small-town, community-controlled non-profit has managed to bring big city…
Read More