The Rural Development Institute at Brandon University was contacted by the Manitoba Electoral Divisions Boundaries Commission to report on the state of rural and northern Manitoba as part of the Commission’s broad public consultation process.

The report draws on RDI’s body of research to highlight significant issues, challenges, and opportunities affecting population changes or trends in rural communities and regions of Manitoba.

“Setting the right electoral boundaries helps ensure Manitoba’s population is accurately reflected in electoral divisions, “said Richard Chartier, Chief Justice of Manitoba and Chair of the Commission. “Two of the factors we consider in achieving our goal of effective representation are special geographic conditions and projected population changes. The work of the Institute helps to inform our review of the boundaries and is a very helpful piece of information for the Commission.”

There is more to rural and northern Manitoba than population numbers. Statistics do not fully capture the sense of enterprise, fellowship, kinship, and the familial link through ownership and attachment to the land, that can energize and motivate residents to pull together when faced with hardship or disaster, or when undertaking a community project or establishing a business enterprise. 

Bill Ashton, RDI Director, describes the content of the report containing “four themes to provoke reflection and inform new insights pertinent to rural and northern Manitoba:

1. Functional Economic Rural Regions as Self-contained Labour Areas;2. Agricultural Innovation: Production, Processing, and New Technologies;3. Manitoba’s Resource North – Mining and Forestry; and4. Indigenous Communities.