RURAL VITALITY

Rural life is often considered a liability in Nova Scotia. Employment is bleak as primary industries flail and fail. Rural populations drop. Public schools are uprooted from towns and villages. Emergency rooms close. The population is aging, fast, paying fewer taxes and needing more health services. Young people choose the promise of wealth Out West, leaving their Nova Scotian hometowns and villages for a more fulfilling life across borders and oceans.

Them's some hard knocks to accept. And yet, the Nova Scotian government does little to improve the situation: provincial funding favours higher-return urban initiatives as the colonization of the rural by the urban continues.

These disturbing trends do not, however, point to all doom and gloom for rural Nova Scotia. Diverse and spectacular geographies, vibrant communities of Acadian, Black, Gaelic and Mi'kmaq people, a resurgence of young people interested in agriculture, fishing and farming, recent interest in supporting local food production and increasingly irate and vocal rural activists are demonstrating the resiliance of small Nova Scotian communities.

Our rurality is our commonality, but the nature of rural life presents the challenge of people across the province getting together to discuss that common experience. This working group aims to draw out our collaborative spirit by creating a space to share ideas, stories and resources to help grow the healthy towns and villages that are critical to our identity as Nova Scotians. Feel free to comment on the discussions here, and post your own discussions, stories, blogs, press releases, events, photos, audio and video about rural issues, policy and action. For info, contact moira@mediacoop.ca. Let's amplify our rural voices!