Abstract

Community Economic Development in Canada:
Integrating Social Inclusion and Economic Self Sufficiency

Rupert Downing

This presentation will outline the results of research on the practices and outcomes of four hundred community based organisations using community economic development to enhance social inclusion and economic self sufficiency in disadvantaged urban, rural, northern and Aboriginal communities across Canada.

The research was conducted from November 2002 to April 2003 and includes an assessment of the gaps in provincial territorial and federal support to effective strategies to enhance social and economic conditions in Canada’s communities, and a proposed policy framework to address those gaps.

This participatory action research project is part of a major program by Community Economic Development organisations in Canada to advance integrated approaches to addressing inter-related, self perpetuating conditions of social and economic disadvantage by building the assets, skills, learning, economic and social opportunities of communities.

The presentation will include research results, policy recommendations and a profile of some key strategies that are being used to address community social and economic development needs in urban, rural, northern and Aboriginal community settings. Participants in the session will be encouraged to compare strategies and policy issues illustrated by the presentation, and provide feedback on key issues that the Canadian CED Network can with other partners continue to address as part of its national policy and research agenda.

The presentation will be conducted by Rupert Downing, the Executive Director of the Canadian CED Network, with a panel of practitioners from key member organisations.

Bio

Rupert Downing is Executive Director of the Canadian CED Network, a national member-based NGO committed to supporting sustainable community economic development (www.canadiancednetwork.org). The network has offices in Quebec and BC, staff in Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia, and supports the work of several hundred community based development organizations in every region of Canada.

Prior to joining the Network, he was Executive Director of the BC Ministry of Community Development, and managed the Ministry's programs to support and invest in community led efforts to diversify local economies and enhance the social, economic and environmental sustainability of BC's communities. He Co-Chaired Federal Provincial Territorial Working Groups on Community Development and Learning, and developed federal provincial initiatives with First Nations, coastal, rural and urban disadvantaged communities.

Mr. Downing previously worked for the BC government on social and economic policy initiatives for seven years, and was Executive Director of the Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC) prior to joining government. He has been responsible for developing public policy on youth employment, lifelong learning, immigrant settlement, social planning, and sustainable development. He has written several publications on the socio-economic, learning and digital divides facing disadvantaged communities, and the importance of community led approaches to building dynamic and sustainable local economies inclusive of disadvantaged people and communities. He is currently chairing the Pacific Foundation for Community Learning that is researching lifelong learning strategies for communities needing to reinvent themselves in the face of major economic change, and is Community Learning Program Director with Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Distance Learning.

He has also been a community worker and social policy advisor with local governments and NGOs in Canada, the Caribbean and the UK and has over twenty –five years experience working in community economic development. He is a playwright and former director of community theatres in inner city neighborhoods in England.

Mr. Downing lives with his wife, Christine, in Victoria, British Columbia, has two daughters and three grandchildren.

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