International Symposium on Aging Resource Communities
August 25-27, 2015, Tumbler Ridge, BC

The International Symposium on Aging Resource Communities brings rural stakeholders together to advance an understanding of the unique context of rural change in which people are growing old in resource dependent communities that were neither originally designed nor presently equipped to support an aging population.  While more work needs to be done to understand how communities are responding to the challenges and opportunities of population aging, there is compelling evidence that the voluntary sector and volunteers have a key role to play in creating supportive environments for aging in place and positive community development.  
Through this forum, 17 international experts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK, Norway, and the USA met in Tumbler Ridge, BC to share timely research and mobilize an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to understand the relationship between population aging, volunteering, and community development in aging resource communities.  The research presented through this forum will provide an important foundation for a ground-breaking book to be published by Routledge that will not only form a new network of international experts on population aging, but can inform future policy and practice in rural communities.