Vital Signs is a national program led by community foundations and coordinated by Community Foundations of Canada that leverages community knowledge to measure the vitality of our communities and support action towards improving our quality of life.

“Your Voice Fort St. John” was an online community survey that was a part of the work being undertaken in Fort St. John by the University of Northern British Columbia’s (UNBC) Community Development Institute (CDI) via The Forge.

As of the 2016 Census, Fort St. John seniors, persons aged 65 years and over, constituted 7.25% of the population. This is a smaller proportion compared to the seniors populations at provincial (18%) and national levels (17%). However, as with many northern and remote communities in British Columbia (Hanlon and Halseth 2005), seniors are the fastest growing demographic in Fort St. John.

The City of Fort St. John recently adopted a CIP with the Community Development Institute (CDI). This is a crucial first step as the CDI is both a “neutral convener” and “backbone organization” that can provide overall direction, discussion venues, and reliable data collection and analysis (Wood 2016). Having the CDI plan and implement the CIP for Fort St. John will encourage broader citizen and stakeholder engagement, as the CIP will be perceived as neutral and non-partisan.