Rural Newfoundland and Labrador: An Underdog Story

For all the talk about the death of "Rural" Newfoundland and Labrador there are many leaders fighting for the survival of their communities.

The CCRC is involved with a research project that will examine what a functional region is, in terms of where people go for work, school, healthcare and shopping and what forms of governance organizations work well and which forms don't work well. The project is looking at three pilot regions in the province including the Irish Loop, the Labrador Straights, and the Twillingate - New World Island areas. The researchers are examining the pilot areas and mapping the functional regions with regard to labour flows.

This week the CCRC traveled to Newville to play our part as the liaison between the researchers and the communities. Expectations were simply that the researchers would present some of the findings thus far and the CCRC would help facilitate the discussion so that the communities involved helped determine the outputs. The presentation of research happened to be timed so that it coincided with the AGM of the local Rural Development Association. The province once had about 59 of these organizations funded by the Provincial Government and they directed the economic and social activities within their areas. As time passed they began to be overshadowed by the creation of the Regional Economic Development Boards and then the Rural Secretariat. Eventually government core funding disappeared and so did many of the RDAs. Currently there are somewhere around 25 to 30 remaining at varying levels of activity.

I was personally delighted to attend the AGM of a very active and successful organization obviously dedicated to the development of their region. Their annual report included a list of activities like Employment Assistance Services, a Community Partner Site, Visitor Information Centre, regional Unity Games and a Strategic Planning Committee. This organization is of interest to the CCRC because of its regional nature and the issues of rural sustainability that it continues to address. For continuing to fight for the survival of our rural communities I would like to say a heartfelt congratulations to the Twillingate - New World Island Development Association. Keep up the fight!