November 30, 2004 for immediate release

One of Canada's leading researchers on rural issues has recently published his fifth book, focusing on the particular challenges and opportunities facing smaller communities across Canada.

UNBC Geography professor Greg Halseth, a Canada Research Chair in Rural and Small Town Studies, has edited Building for Success: An Exploration of Rural Community and Rural Development with his wife, Regine. The book includes chapters on demographics and population issues for rural communities, the new rural economy, the effects of trade and globalization, and the role and contribution of small businesses, volunteer groups, and local governments to community development in rural and small town Canada.

"Change has been a part of rural Canada for a very long time, but it currently seems as if the pace of change is accelerating," says Dr Halseth. "This acceleration is increasing pressure on rural residents, businesses, and government to respond. Researchers can help by making sense of the changes and assessing options for revitalization."

The new book has been published by the Rural Development Institute at Brandon University. The various contributors have come together through the Canadian Rural Restructuring Foundation, which links researchers, policy-makers, and citizens together to disseminate information related to the revitalization of rural Canada.

At UNBC, Dr Halseth founded the Community Development Institute and has been conducting research on community changes in Tumbler Ridge and Mackenzie, shopping patterns in the Northwest, and a community skills inventory in the Robson Valley. In addition, Western Economic Diversification has funded Dr Halseth to lead a study of regional development in northern BC that has been linking more than 40 communities.