THE RURBAN FRINGE » Government http://www.therurbanfringe.com Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:49:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Wanted: A New Vision for First Nations http://www.therurbanfringe.com/wanted-a-new-vision-for-first-nations/ http://www.therurbanfringe.com/wanted-a-new-vision-for-first-nations/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:59:08 +0000 Jennifer http://www.therurbanfringe.com/?p=2061

“Clearly, the vision of governance and shared community life of First Nations is not working.

Fortunately, some indigenous communities aren’t prepared to wait for Ottawa to provide an alternate vision.”

Joseph Quesnel

An intriguing article by Joseph Quesnel, a policy analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, where he writes mainly about aboriginal and property rights issues.

Click here to read the entire piece.

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]]> http://www.therurbanfringe.com/wanted-a-new-vision-for-first-nations/feed/ 0 Women Needed To Help Shape Strong Public Policy http://www.therurbanfringe.com/women-needed-to-help-shape-strong-public-policy/ http://www.therurbanfringe.com/women-needed-to-help-shape-strong-public-policy/#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:21:48 +0000 Jennifer http://www.therurbanfringe.com/?p=1854

According to a recent statistic … if women business owners were their own country, they would be the 5th largest GDP in the world.* 

The finer points of this statement are somewhat debatable, I’m sure, but it raises an interesting point … if women are such a force to be reckoned with, how can we bring them into fuller participation in policy making - from chief executives, to legislators, to judges, to politicians, to leaders of not-for-profit organizations, development enterprises and social movements?

Dr. Roger Gibbins, President and CEO of Canada West Foundation, kicked off this train of thought with his recent Op-Ed questioning why – in Canada – there is an obvious lack of consistently strong, powerful female public policy voices.

“Although women constitute more than 50 per cent of the population, at most, women have held less than half of that percentage in governing bodies in this country.  Any progress made in the last 30 years has since dropped or stalled.”

- Dr. Roger Gibbins

This is seen at all levels – from local to international – and highlights more than just a void in the rurban arena … there is a void across the board.

Yet to address this issue, the Americans established Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), a national bi-partisan public policy organization that advocates for and on behalf of women.  The UK Women in Public Policy (WiPP) also operates as a cross-party, cross-sector network association.  But to the best of my knowledge, Canada has no such organization.**

This isn’t simply a ‘women’s issue.’ 

As women’s visibility in and impact on public life has grown over the past few decades, there will continue to be a need for inclusionary thought, debate, and public policy formation to better represent our changing society.

Strong leadership benefits us all.

Read the full Op-Ed piece by Dr. Roger Gibbins here.

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 *Source:  Women Impacting Public Policy

**Note:  Status of Women Canada (SWC) exists as a federal government agency – not as an independent organization - which aims to promote the participation of women in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada.

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]]> http://www.therurbanfringe.com/women-needed-to-help-shape-strong-public-policy/feed/ 0 Making A Case for A New Definition of ‘Rural’ http://www.therurbanfringe.com/making-a-case-for-a-new-definition-of-rural/ http://www.therurbanfringe.com/making-a-case-for-a-new-definition-of-rural/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:03:55 +0000 Jennifer http://www.therurbanfringe.com/?p=1779

A recent editorial in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine reminded me why I began this blog, and makes a case for a new definition of ‘rural’ to aid policy planning, most notably for health and medical services.

“Since 1994, Australia has had five levels of “rural” that have been defined for purposes of policy planning.  In Canada, we don’t even have a single level.  Statistics Canada has arbitrarily defined urban as a population of 10,000 or more[.]“ 

- Peter Hutten-Czapski, MD

Although coming up with a new definition of ‘rural’ would not necessarily be a quick or easy process, there is a clear need to develop a more comprehensive index of what rural entails.

Not only would variations in definition aid health care policy, planning, and provision, it would also aid education, civic and social services, connectedness issues, transportation, infrastructure … the list goes on and on.   

As much of the discussion about the future for rural areas revolves around questions of sustainability, a revised definition would give elected officials (amoung others) a more precise framework for exploring sustainable options.

One size does not fit all.

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