The Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation presents the Building Community Resilience Conference at Summerside, Prince Edward Island from September 16-19, 2015.
The conference invites explorations of how various ‘dark horses’ in the broad North Atlantic and Canadian context – including minorities, small towns, peripheries, aboriginal communities, those with little money, status, voice or political leverage – can rise to the occasion and chart liveable futures.
Building Community Resilience Conference will serve as a platform for the critical and inter-disciplinary discussion of experiences where those living ‘on the edge’, however defined, show unexpected ingenuity and mettle; and respond cleverly to dire economic straits or public policy negligence. Including:
- Politically, by developing suitable governance practices; flexing jurisdictional powers; and engaging in multi-level political and (para)-diplomatic relations;
- Economically, by facilitating small-scale entrepreneurship; promoting investment; creating skill-rich jobs; encouraging inward and circular migration; and developing new forms of human-scaled, place-based, no-growth economies, sensitive to environmental needs;
- Culturally, by nourishing strong communities that celebrate traditions and encourage artistic expression; sustaining suitable environmental practices; and welcoming newcomers in their rooted yet routed ways of life.
The Building Community Resilience Conference will bring together community leaders, voluntary organizations, governments, businesses, and researchers to highlight the “dark horses” – people, organizations, and communities who are doing innovative things based on good governance, economic development, environmental considerations, and culture. These activities are critical to creating and sustaining healthy and resilient communities.
The Building Community Resilience Conference will mark the 10th annual conference of the North Atlantic Forum and the 27th annual conference of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation.