Call for Papers: State of Rural Canada Sessions

In fall 2015 the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation’s (CRRF) released “The State of Rural Canada 2015” (http://sorc.crrf.ca). With contributions from across the country, the report demonstrated that rural Canada is facing a mix of demographic, economic, and social challenges. However, rural Canada has also proven itself to be highly innovative in terms of responding to the pressures, doing more with less and achieving positive impacts for communities. Environmentally, rural regions are on the front line of such issues as sustainability, food security and balancing resource developments and economic diversification with social and environmental impacts.

A series of sessions will be held looking at core themes addressed by the report, including:

·         Demographics and human capital

·         Governance

·         Rural economy and production systems

·         Rural environments, infrastructure and services

·         Aboriginal issues

·         Future directions for rural policy

We invite papers presenting scholarship on rural research across these themes. We are also interested in papers related to theoretical or empirical research that explore regional variations in rural issues and/or policy and development approaches across Canada. The session will be co-sponsored by the CAG Rural Study Group and Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation’s (CRRF). Please submit your proposed paper title and abstract (200 word max) toedabrowska@grenfell.mun.ca by March 25, 2016. The Canadian Association of Geographers conference will take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia from May 30 – June 4, 2016. More information on the conference can be found at www.cag-acg2016.ca.