CCN Back Issues Vol 7 Issue 6

The Bluenose Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) is a non-profit organization that addresses environmental concerns within Lunenburg County's largest watershed. This watershed includes the towns of Lunenburg and Mahone Bay, as well as all the coast between Rose Head and Indian Point, and up the length of the Mushamush River. Bluenose ACAP's goals are to promote the restoration, enhancement, and conservation of ecosystems through research, education, and action. It is responsible for several projects, including the Coastal Island Project, a three-year effort begun in April of 2000 that encourages conservation and awareness on 70 of the more than 300 islands in Mahone Bay. (With some exceptions, the 70 chosen are among the most accessible.)

Over the past ten years the South Shore of Nova Scotia has seen an increase in tourism, as well as the development of vacation and retirement properties. As a result, access to coastal land has become more restricted, and today the vast majority of the islands in Mahone Bay are privately owned. At one time, the islands weren't considered for residential or commercial development because of the difficulties of access. Recreational boaters used them freely and they provided a relatively undisturbed habitat for a variety of birds, wildlife, and plants.

Today, landowners value the islands from a different perspective than in the past, and development pressures are changing the way the islands are used. Homes and cottages are being built on the islands. At the same time, the popularity of recreational boating has been increasing ; a trend that is expected to continue. The aquaculture industry is growing and could have an impact on island habitats. Both shellfish and fin fish enterprises have already been established in Mahone Bay. As a result of all these factors, the stress on, and potential degradation to, the habitat and species of the islands are increasing.

In general, islands support a diversity of species due to their isolation, a lack of predators, and a variety of habitats. Island habitats in Mahone Bay include sandy beaches, dunes, wetlands, saltwater ponds, scrub land, and mature forest. Raptors, colonial birds, shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl can all be found feeding and nesting on various islands in the Bay. There are or have been several great blue heron, cormorant, puffin, black guillemot, razorbill, and storm petrel breeding colonies on the islands. Some islands provide nesting habitat that is critical to the survival of the endangered roseate tern. They are also important to migratory songbirds and host an interesting variety of small mammals.

Most islands in Mahone Bay lack any protection through federal or provincial law, though there are a few exceptions. Grassy, Wedge, and Westhaver's Islands have been designated as Important Bird Areas (IBAs) by Bird Life International, the Canadian Nature Federation, and Bird Studies Canada. Bluenose ACAP is involved with site protection and monitoring on these islands. Pearl and Grassy Islands are designated Wildlife Management Areas by the provincial Department of Natural Resources: no hunting or trapping is allowed on these islands, and during the nesting period of April to mid-August visitors must acquire a permit.

The increase in development and recreational use on the islands is affecting the species and habitats of Mahone Bay's islands. Information collected during the 2000 field season identified several disturbing happenings. In one instance, a wedding on a small island with a tern colony is thought to have wiped out all the fledglings of the year. Some island development has eliminated bird habitats. One such island had previously been identified by the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources as an IBA. The islands have become prime real estate, selling for as much as $1.5 million each. On some islands, forested habitats have been replaced by large expanses of lawn, gravel roads, and in some cases swimming pools and stables have been incorporated into private island development.

The islands are a lovely marine playground for boaters. Whether visitors travel by kayak, sailboat, or motor boat, coastal islands with a spectacular beach, a cozy camping site, or a picnic spot with a view are very tempting destinations. But most of these islands don't have formal public facilities for such activities, and careless visitors have left scars on several islands. There is a toll taken on the land by garbage, campfire pits, and tenting pads being strewn over large areas. Through ignorance, birds are often disturbed by people, and this frequently has a negative impact on nesting, feeding, and breeding behaviours. Such effects can be severe if birds are kept off their nests for even a short time, because aan interruption in incubation can be lethal to unhatched chicks.

The main goal of the Coastal Island Project is to increase conservation and awareness of the fragility of the environment on the 70 islands. Data collection was an important first step toward addressing environmental concerns on the islands. During the summer of 2000 and 2001, staff of the Coastal Island Project collected information on land ownership, bird and plant species, habitat type, and human impacts on most of the islands. This year, they are focussing on creating an Island Conservation Strategy, working with landowners, promoting stewardship, collecting additional data, and promoting public awareness. As a response to the problems associated with increased use of the islands, the Coastal Island Project will focus on educating private island owners and recreational visitors about conservation issues. Upcoming plans for the project include the initiation of an Island Watch Program to develop a volunteer network of island owners, caretakers, and recreational boaters who will observe and record information related to the islands.

Bluenose ACAP was very fortunate to have a group of fifteen graduate students, from the School of Resource and Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University, who volunteered to work on the Coastal Island Project for the entire month of May. The students' work was part of a course that required them to work with a non-governmental organization on a focussed environmental project for four weeks. They concentrated on studying erosion, biological surveys, archival study of the islands, as well as education.

A public lecture series was held at the Lunenburg Yacht Club in June to help educate the public about issues important to the Mahone Bay islands. Much has been accomplished by this project. But there is much more to be done.

If you are interested in becoming an island monitor or simply learning more about the Coastal Island Project, please call Heather Olivella, Coastal Island Project Coordinator, at (902) 624-9888.

Of Berries, Baking, and Business

The big blue signs on either side of Highway #104 proclaim the town as "The Blueberry Capital of Canada." The Cumberland County community of Oxford more than lives up to that reputation. Driving along its main street you pass the huge, recently expanded Oxford Frozen Foods , "Home of Canada's Largest Processor of Wild Blueberries," the Oxford Homestyle Bakery, which offers "Blueberry Products and Crafts, the Blueberry Factory Outlet, which boasts "Unique Blueberry Handicrafts," and the Wild Blueberry and Maple Centre, a place for the celebration of all things blueberry or maple.

It wasn't always this way for the little community situated where the Black and Little Rivers meet River Philip. First settled in the 1790s, Oxford's economy in the nineteenth century was based on logging as well as certain manufacturing industries, such as woolen, saw, and flour mills, an axe factory, a tannery, and even, briefly, a copper mine. All these are gone today, and Oxford's economy is now dominated by the large Oxford Frozen Foods plant. In any town of just less than 1,400, any industry that employs 350 to 450 people year-round has to be a big deal.

Begun in 1968 by Oxford-area businessman John Bragg, the success of Oxford Frozen Foods has enabled its founder to expand his business empire into the cable television and internet service sectors. But the blueberry has been the key to John Bragg's success.

"For most of the year, the Oxford plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week," says Loring Wilmot, the Oxford plant's Marketing Manager. Born and raised in the Oxford area, Loring went to work on railways as a young man, then began working in the food processing business. "I've lived in Philadelphia, where I worked as part of McCain's American operations," he tells me. "I've also worked for Kellogg's and have lived and worked in Australia, Ontario, and New Brunswick. But, when the opportunity arose in 1989 to come back and work for Oxford Frozen Foods, I jumped at it. Though I've been far and wide in my time, Oxford has always been home."

Loring tells me that Oxford Frozen Foods owns 2,000 to 3,000 acres of Maritime blueberry fields, most of them in Cumberland County, and also buys from other local growers. As well, it owns about 10,000 acres in Maine, fields that have the benefit of underground irrigation. "We truck most of those Maine blueberries directly to Oxford," Loring says. "Having those irrigated fields in Maine has really saved our bacon over the past few years, as we've had to deal with repeated droughts."

Blueberries are the heart of Oxford Frozen Foods, but they are not the only thing produced there. Though you'd never know it, even by a close look at a bag of them, all of McCain's onion rings are produced at Oxford, using mostly onions brought in from Texas and the American Northwest. If you buy blueberry or cranberry muffins at any Tim Horton's, the odds are very high that you'll be eating fruit that went through the Oxford plant. Processed cheeses and other snack foods also come out of the Oxford plant. And the company is into carrots in a big way: in fact, is the second-largest processor of that vegetable in North America. All of these carrots are grown in the Annapolis Valley or are bought from dairy and beef farmers in the Debert-Glenholme-Great Village area. "A lot of farmers in that area," Loring explains, "like to have a three-year crop rotation of their fields: grain, fallow, carrots. We buy a lot of carrots in that area, though we also grow a smaller amount on land of our own. We try to have a good working relationship with all the farmers in these areas."

Loring explains that his company has export markets in the Unites States, Asia, Australia, as well as in Europe, where Germany is the largest importer. From humble beginnings, it's clear Oxford Frozen Foods has come a long way.

As big a role as the food-processing plant plays in Oxford's town life, it's far from all there is to the community, as I find out in the course of a visit to the office of the Oxford Journal. "There's a greenhouse operation here in town run by Avon Valley. It has more acreage under glass than anywhere else in Nova Scotia," Editor Charlie Weeks tells me. "And there are about 100 people who work there, producing bedding plants, along with roses and lilacs. On top of that, there are quite a few people who commute to Pugwash to work in the Seagull Pewter plant. It has had some troubles of late, but it's now under new ownership. Others drive to jobs in Amherst. Agriculture is big in this area, with a lot of dairy farmers, and a smaller number raising cattle for beef. A few people do logging operations, mostly to supple the Irving-owned sawmill in Truro. And, though it's not a big thing to the town, tourism is a help in the summer. We get buses stopping in at the Wild Blueberry and Maple Centre "

"Oxford is doing better than a lot of towns across the province," Charlie tells me. "Enrollment at both the elementary and the high school is growing. Oxford is John Bragg's town, and he boosts the community at every opportunity."

Charlie tells me that community groups such as the volunteer fire department and service groups like the Lions Club are holding their own in Oxford. He is active in the Maple Players, an Oxford-based community theatre troupe that usually does two productions a year. They stage their plays in the old Capital Theatre donated to the town years ago by a former long-time MLA for the area, George Henley, who served in the cabinet of Robert Stanfield's government.

Paul Marchant is the fourth generation of his family to own the Oxford Journal. "We're one of the only independent, locally owned community weekly left in Atlantic Canada," he says proudly. "Seven of us work here, and our circulation of about 3,000 covers most of central and eastern Cumberland County, as well going off to former Oxford residents all over Canada and the United States. I've had enquiries from newspaper chains about buying the paper.. But I have no plans to do anything like that. I'm happy the way things are."

"I came to work here right out of high school," Paul continues. "About half the people I went to school left the area, but eventually people who leave almost all come back. We have a twentieth anniversary school reunion planned for this summer, and all but a handful will be there."

After a tour of the Journal offices – along with demonstration of some ancient and incredibly complex linotype machinery – I drop in at the Oxford Homestyle Bakery and meet owner Rubin Millard, who is also President of the Oxford and Area Merchants' Association. Originally from Spryfield, on the outskirts of Halifax, Rubin moved his family here in the early 1980s to, as he says, "get away from the rat race." He has been running the bakery since 1995, and is also a Trustee of Oxford's Trinity United Church.

"We experienced a big boost to the local economy back in 1997, when the Cobequid Pass toll highway opened," Rubin says. "Before that, there were services available on the old main road, but with the new highway, people were taking the Oxford exit to get gas or a bite to eat. This boom went on for a couple years, but then Irving opened a new gas station right by the exit. Within a year, there was a Tim Horton's right next to the Irving station, and hardly anyone would drive the few hundred extra yards to where services were offered by local merchants."

"It's not that Irving and Timmy's are big, bad companies," adds Rubin, whose wife Debra, originally from nearby Pugwash Junction, is co-owner of the bakery and works at the local branch of the Cumberland County Regional Library. "It's just that Oxford is like any other town: if you build services on the edge of the town, the downtown core will suffer. Sure, there's part-time work available with these new operations, but we lost more full-time jobs downtown than were created by Irving and Timmy's put together. We're making just enough money in the summer to see us through the winter."

In an effort to attract people downtown once again, the Merchants' Association has erected a sign between the highway exit and the Irving station that advises travellers of services offered by local entrepreneurs closer to downtown. "We just went up there one Saturday morning with hammer and nails," Rubin recalls, "and up went the sign. It has maybe helped a tiny bit."

"Sunday shopping across the border in New Brunswick has hurt Cumberland County merchants a bit," Rubin tells me. "But I don't believe in Sunday shopping. We all need a day off, and on Sundays I go to church. And another thing that is hurting us in this area is the state of the roads. I've had tourists come into the bakery and tell me that they are turning around because of the damage caused to their vehicles by driving on the roads."

The Oxford Frozen Foods plant is almost at the back doorstep of Rubin's bakery, and he has only kind words for that operation. "John Bragg uses local people as much as he can, and he treats me right. There's a sign at the plant entrance that says they don't do any retail trade from the plant. But I get my blueberries there. They make an exception for a local business, though I'm sure the logistical headaches this causes them is more than it is worth to them in dollar terms."

Oxford Frozen Foods has plans for further expansion to its Oxford plant. Given the solid relationship that has been established and nurtured over the years between the plant and the community, the future looks good for Oxford, for its newspaper, and for other small, locally owned businesses.

Participation, Empowerment, Community Leadership

"Okay, let's start with a round of check-in." This familiar beginning to Coastal Communities Network meetings is a good example of skillful leadership. By recognizing the need for each person to have a voice, others are respectfully balancing the personal realities of individuals with the need to "get the job done." After all, people in meetings want to get decisions made and actions planned, but they also want to participate and have a voice in shaping results.

Whether we're active in communities, co-operatives, youth groups, service agencies, or churches, all of us face the challenge of balancing and integrating the needs of individuals with the larger need for organizational decision-making and action. In these times, organizations and communities are undergoing profound change, and the challenge of leadership emphasizes that the very nature of leadership and of organizations is also being transformed.

But, where do community activists, group facilitators, organizational managers, grass-roots trainers, and organizational leaders get the skills and training to help them become effective leaders? Where can they learn to be more effective leaders while avoiding the pitfalls of power-tripping, burn-out, or otherwise losing their own humanity?

Tatamagouche Centre continues to offer innovative leadership training programs based on the fundamental concept of participatory leadership. Basic to our training approach is an assumption we've used for 30 years: good leadership integrates the ongoing development of leaders with the empowerment of all participants, and such empowerment comes about through participation. The challenge of leadership is to provide the safety, challenge, and support – the structure and conditions – for participants to learn and develop, both individually and organizationally.

Embodying this approach, each year Tatamagouche Centre offers several leadership and organizational development programs. This summer, from August 16-23, the Centre will offer The Tatamagouche Model of Educational Design and Leadership, where participants will "learn to do by doing." Within a supportive community, everyone will become both teacher and learner, as we share, practice, and learn from one another. Program leaders will challenge participants to learn through reflection on their own experiences.

Then, from October 28-31, Wayne Edgar, Centre Director, and Grant MacDonald, the Program Director of the Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program at Henson College, Dalhousie University, will co-facilitate Governance and Democracy in Non-Profit Organizations – Getting it Right! Focussing on organizational structures and processes, topics will include types of community organizations, governance models and practices, the role of boards of directors, external communications and networking, and the role of membership. This program will help identify organizational structures that encourage appropriate member participation.

From September 22-27, the Centre will also offer its first residency in its 2002-2004 Transformational Leadership Certificate Program. This 20-month home-study and short residency program will aim to develop socially conscious leaders for the transformation of individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. Based on the recognition that effective leadership transforms both the leader and the organization or community, the program will balance personal growth and reflection with the latest understandings of community and organizational development. While participants may not become Gandhis or Martin Luther King Jrs., the principle of integrating personal and social development will underlie this program.

Tatamagouche Centre's approach to leadership training is perhaps best summarized by one of our participants, Brian Braganza, Program and Community Outreach Coordinator of the HeartWood Institute. "The Tatamagouche Education and Leadership Design Program increased my personal confidence, and therefore my ability and self-confidence to articulate myself in front of adult learners," Brian says. "Education is not just teaching: it is also caring for the experience of learners. All the facilitators have been models of this philosophy."

From Devastation to Development

Nestled on the shore of the Bay of Fundy just fifteen kilometres north of Kentville is the community of Hall's Harbour. The focal point of the community is its wharf. Though beautifully picturesque to the untrained eye, it's also a new breed of high-tech wharf. Rebuilt in 1999, it is home to an active fishing fleet and is a popular tourist attraction. It is also a symbol of community strength and ingenuity.

"The story of the Hall's Harbour wharf is truly the story of a small community that could," says Robin Marshall, Executive Director of the Kings Community Economic Development Agency (Kings CED Agency). "The residents didn't give up in the face of devastation".

Two years ago, the wharf became the world's first marine structure containing fibre-reinforced concrete, fibreglass rods, and monitoring devices embedded in its deck system. It is designed to last three times longer than a traditionally built wharf – an estimated 90 years. The nearly $800,000 project took two years to complete and resulted in the title, "Smart Wharf." It's an impressive designation for a structure that had been battered by a winter storm in 1997 that swept away a 50-metre middle section of its timber piles.

"It was a devastating sight to the residents and surrounding community members when the wharf's damage became evident," Marshall explains. "So much was in jeopardy."

While the repeated stress of the Bay of Fundy's fourteen-metre tides and three-and-a-half-metre storm surges had taken a toll on the wharf, that severe winter storm on January 11, 1997 nearly finished it off. Like many Maritime communities, Hall's Harbour had already begun the process of assuming responsibility for its marine infrastructure from the federal government. The Harbour Authority of Hall's Harbour was incorporated in 1996, just a year before the massive storm.

Undaunted by the devastation, the community rallied, realizing that the need to rehabilitate the 1904 structure was urgent. A volunteer Board of Directors knew repairs could not wait. With assistance from Kings CED Agency, residents formed the Hall's Harbour Community Development Association (HHCDA) to act as a vehicle to work with governments and outside agencies. Their efforts, together with those of the Harbour Authority, launched a community economic development process that was instrumental in building the capacity of the community to sustain itself.

"This project has not only helped us replace important infrastructure for this community, but it also resulted in new technology that others can now use for stronger, longer-lasting wharves in Nova Scotia and abroad," says Garnet Parker, President of the local Harbour Authority.

While in the process of developing a rescue plan, a chance meeting at a networking event delivered salvation. Hall's Harbour resident Jenny White met a representative from Dalhousie University, where scientists were researching and developing ways to make heavy structures last longer. The wharf's needs could also deliver a real-life case study. A consortium of companies and scientific organizations was formed and applications made to a variety of funding partners.

With help from the Kings CED Agency, the local Harbour Authority garnered community support. Volunteers canvassed the neighbourhood and Kings County Council, gathering nearly $70,000. The Nova Scotia Department of Economic Development, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and ISIS Canada contributed nearly $180,000 combined, while industrial partners including Dalhousie University, Waterworks Construction, Shaw Industries, and others collectively contributed nearly $150,000. Together with nearly $400,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and the Province of Nova Scotia, the community was able to rebuild its infrastructure.

Hall's Harbour is home to a fishing fleet employing 20 full-time and 30 seasonal workers, as well as a year-round lobster pound employing 15 people full-time and as many as 20 seasonally. The need to protect these livelihoods was paramount. As well, nearly 70,000 people visit the village annually to take in the beauty of the Bay of Fundy, to visit its tiny shops and independent artisans, to rock-hound, and to experience the world's highest tides meeting the shore.

The HHCDA understood the importance of developing a community plan, rather than simply waiting for government to come in with its own solution. Members developed a strategic tourism plan and created partnerships with the federal Katimavik Program, Nova Scotia Tourism, Community Opportunity Funding, the Kings CED Agency, and local business. As a result of these partnerships, a small lighthouse wharf was built, as well as an eco-trail, wheelchair-accessible boardwalk, and wheelchair-accessible washrooms. The group also built a dory and donated it to the local volunteer fire department as part of its rescue equipment. Also, repairs were made to the community's heritage "Little Red Schoolhouse."

"The success of the Association's smaller projects played an important role in government's decision to fund the Smart Wharf project," says Madonna Spinazola, founding President of the HHCDA. "The residents of Hall's Harbour proved they had the capacity to solve their own problems, the expertise to develop and complete successful projects, as well as the commitment to work towards the sustainability of this tiny coastal community."

The community did not stop with its Smart Wharf. This year, the local Harbour Authority has applied for ACOA funding to protect the outer wharf, because the outer 50 metres of the main wharf have deteriorated to the point that Fisheries and Oceans has declared it "unsafe." There is imminent danger of collapse into the narrow channel that allows fishing boats and pleasure craft access to the deep, protected inner harbour. As well, the year-round lobster pound is in jeopardy. "Not only are these livelihoods at risk, but the volunteer work completed by the community to date, as well as the over $1 million invested in this recently designated Tourism Destination Area, by all levels of government, is in peril," Spinazola explains.

The ACOA application is one of the final steps needed to ensure the sustainability of the livelihood of local fishermen, of the lobster pound, of local businesses, as well as of the tourism industry that is at the heart of this determined Bay of Fundy community.

Tourism is an important industry to businesses within the Annapolis Valley and indeed all of Nova Scotia," explains Spinazola. "One of the best ways to grow the tourism sector is by ensuring that the culture and way of life for coastal communities like Hall's Harbour are preserved and protected."

For more information on the Kings CED Agency, visit its website at www.kingsced.ns.ca.

A Word of Thanks

CCN's Annual General Meeting, held at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre April 12-14, was a great success. Along with attending several successful workshops, delegates raised about $1,000 for CCN through a silent auction, and also enjoyed trying to win prizes in the fourth Great Nova Scotia Trivia Contest. Our sincere thanks are due to the following people and organizations for their donations: their generosity was central to a very successful and energizing weekend.

Our Communities: On the Critical List

Sometimes, it's simply frustrating. When the Coastal Communities Network was founded a decade ago, the idea was to make our rural and small-town communities better and more attractive places to live and work. One of the main ways of doing that was by affecting changes to public policies that hinder small communities. In the early years, we were often frustrated by the fact that we were not invited to the table around which the policy setters sat. Gradually though, people in government began to listen to us. People active in their small towns and villages took the time to share their ideas – about community economic development, about resource management, and other ideas about how to improve community life – with people in government who were willing to listen. And there have been success stories. Many of those success stories have been written about in the pages of this very magazine. But, by and large, things are not working in rural and small-town Nova Scotia.

Very clear evidence of this came this spring when results of last year's census were released. Since 1996, Nova Scotia's total population has fallen by 1,275 people, to 908,007. People who see no opportunity in their native communities are moving to other regions of the country, and even to other nations, to find what they can't find here: a future. They pay a heavy price, leaving behind brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, the people they grew up with and grew close to. But, seeing no choice, they go, and are missed by those they leave behind.

This is far from a new phenomenon. It has been happening for generations. Our current frustration arises from the fact that government appears to have come to believe it must listen to people, but having listened, the policies that force people from the province and the region remain.

And, this is not simply a matter of 1,275 people leaving home over the space of five years. A closer look at the census figures shows a much more disturbing trend. Halifax, along with certain areas of the South Shore and Valley are actually increasing in population. Halifax itself grew by more than 16,000 people in the past five years. And so, the edges of Halifax continue to grow. In Clayton Park and Cole Harbour, new sprawls of upscale homes, of townhouses and condos, are eating away at the forests. Metro Halifax is clearly booming.

Sadly, the demographic picture for rural and small-town Nova Scotia is very different. Taken together, stagnating economies along with government cutbacks and centralization of services are offering young people little choice but to leave home. In the space of five years, the population of Guysborough County has fallen by more than ten percent. In the same period, Digby County has lost almost five percent of its people, and Queens County almost six percent. And Truro, Hantsport, Trenton, Parrsboro, Berwick, Wolfville, Annapolis Royal, Shelburne, Digby, and Cape Breton Regional Municipality all lost between four and eight percent of their people.

So, who is it that's doing the leaving? Overwhelmingly, it is the young. It is the people who, were they to stay in their communities, would raise families and join the volunteer fire departments and other local organizations that are the lifeblood of our small communities. Their kids would enroll in local schools. But they are gone, fled to other, almost always larger, communities. And as our small communities empty of their young, others are streaming into them. People who themselves had to leave for most or all of their working life are retiring to communities denied them during their working life. And so, rural and small-town communities are getting older, and there are fewer and fewer growing families in them who can both provide local services and demand other services of government.

And, to worsen our frustration, policy makers are likely to look at these declining population figures and then use them to justify further reductions in, or centralization of, health-care and education services. Then, there will be even fewer jobs available for teachers and nurses, school bus drivers and cleaners. The figures could well be used to justify less attention to rural and small-town infrastructure. Then, there will be even fewer road builders and sewer-pipe layers. And the downward spiral might then only get dizzier.

There are ways out of this morass, but they require a new way of thinking. We could begin to adopt policies that assured that Nova Scotians were the primary beneficiaries of the export of our non-renewable resources. We could adopt policies that assured that people in our communities had a decisive say in how our renewable resources are managed. Governments at all levels could harmonize their policies and programs so that they worked together to better our communities, rather than working at cross purposes, as they so often and so frustratingly do now.

Our small rural and coastal communities are on the critical list. It's far past time that public policies begin to be shaped to save the patient. Before it is, irrevocably, too late.

Welcoming Women, Wonderful Works

If you travel the roads of this province visiting small communities, and if you're a compulsive sign reader (as I am), you'll likely have read that "The Women's Institute of" such-and-such a community "Welcomes You."

So, just what is this welcoming outfit? To get an idea, I visited Theresa Osborne and Carol Crawford at the Women's Institutes of Nova Scotia (WINS) office on the campus of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro. Theresa is WINS's Executive Secretary, while Carol is its Public Relations Officer.

"Women's Institutes (WIs) trace their origins to rural Ontario in the late 1890s," Theresa says. "Farmers had an organization called the Farmers' Institute to help them learn the latest innovations and scientific methods for planting crops and caring for their animals, but there was nothing similar for women. A woman in Stoney Creek, Adelaide Hoodless, suffered the loss of her baby son as a result of impure milk. She decided that it wasn't right that there was better information available on the care and feeding of farm animals than there was on the care and feeding of family members, so she called a meeting. Out of that meeting arose the first WI branch."

"Adelaide Hoodless was a radical of her day," Carol tells me. "She crusaded for education in domestic sciences, and was also involved in the founding of the Victorian Order of Nurses, and was instrumental in making the Young Women's Christian Association a national organization."

The WI idea – that of an organization dedicated to providing women a stronger voice in the development of their communities – spread quickly across rural Canada, and by 1913, WI branches were being organized in Nova Scotia. In the years that followed, the idea spread to Britain, and from there, around the globe. Today, WIs are represented nationally by the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada, and internationally by the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW). Here in Nova Scotia, about 1,000 women are members of the 66 local WI branches spread from Cape Breton to Yarmouth County. (Dr. Ellen McLean, of Eureka, Pictou County, is a Past World President of ACWW.)

"Historically, WIs Are associated with agricultural communities," Theresa says, "and that is true at least in part for Nova Scotia. We have a long-standing connection to the provincial Department of Agriculture. However, WIs aren't exclusively agricultural. There are active WI branches in fishing communities such as Lunenburg and Port Bickerton, Guysborough County. There are WI branches wherever rural and small-town women want to get together for the betterment of their communities."

WI members across the province are getting older, just as populations in most of our rural and small-town communities are. However, WI membership is growing province-wide. "Typically, a new member is a woman who has finished a career in the city and then retires to live in a smaller community," Carol says. "She will look around the community to see what groups are active, and she'll often find WI. We can't pay our volunteers, but we can put them to work. One of the things WI does very well is to develop leadership skills in rural and small-town women."

WI members were instrumental in the 1950s in getting cod-liver-oil, apple, and milk programs into Nova Scotia's schools. At the local level today, WI branches do everything from holding pot-luck suppers, to visiting seniors' homes, to quilting. WI branches get involved with heart-health and palliative care workshops, and make "Cuddle Bears" for Alzheimer's patients. They organize meetings where guest speakers talk about crime prevention and spousal abuse, and they offer babysitting and bicycle safety courses. WINS also offers breast pumps to mothers who may have trouble with breast feeding. As well, WI branches provide receiving blankets for newborns and their Moms. One WI branch is even taking belly-dancing lessons.

"Probably 99 percent of WI members also do volunteer work over and above their WI activities," Carol says. "WI members are active in lighthouse preservation, in food banks, in raising funds for women's centres, and in organizing Christmas and other parties."

One of the biggest issues WINS is involved with is farm safety. "We hold Farm Safety Day Camps across the province," Theresa says. "They help kids learn the basics of farm safety, and we hope they will learn more skills as they grow and develop more responsibilities on the farm. We've produced a Farm Safety Day Camp Manual to help other groups educate children on the issue."

This spring, WINS held a series of twelve workshops across the province as part of its Rural Water Quality Project. "There's growing concern about water quality issues across the province, and across the country," Carol says. "People are anxious to have good, clean water, and they want to know how to have their water tested, and most importantly, what to test for."

Paula MacDonald, a recent graduate student at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College with a Master of Science degree in Water Quality, was contracted to conduct the workshops and then do follow-up surveys. "The workshops helped a lot of people who were uncertain about where and how to get their water tested," Paula says. "They provided answers on a variety of water-quality issues and helped increase awareness of the importance of maintaining a safe supply of drinking water."

Working together with Lions Clubs, Clean Nova Scotia, and other groups, WINS was instrumental in establishing the Adopt-A-Highway Program in the province in 1992. "This is a growth area for WI branches," Gaynol Keith, WINS coordinator for the Adopt-A-Highway Program says. "In the past five years, the number of groups who commit to cleaning up along a five-kilometre stretch of highway twice a year has grown from fewer than twenty to more than 100."

When I ask Carol and Theresa whether WI branches and other voluntary groups are not being asked to do things that government once hired people to do, their response was direct. "That's certainly true," Carol says, "and it sometimes makes you wonder what's next. Adopt-a-Hospital? But, the work needs to be done to preserve and better our communities. So community volunteers grin and bear, and do what needs to be done. Adds Theresa: "Volunteers should get $10 an hour for all the good works they do. That is the value we put on their in-kind contributions for all our projects."

Another WINS project, this one just getting under way, is "Stories-To-Go," which aims to improve literacy skills among kids aged five to eight while at the same time increasing awareness of agricultural and farm life among both rural and urban youth. "We'll have about 250 kits that will include a book on an agricultural theme, finger puppets, barn scenes, and the like," Theresa tells me. "We'll distribute them through schools, libraries, and hospitals. It will help kids learn that food doesn't just come in little packets from the grocery store."

On the international level, ACWW has more than nine million members in 71 countries around the world. "One of ACWW's main projects is called Women Feed the World," Carol says. "It helps women in poorer countries set up co-ops so they can work together to produce food. Some co-ops raise and sell livestock, then and use the funds to help orphans of AIDS victims in Africa. ACWW also has an Iodine Project to help combat goiter and improve eyesight, and another that gets second-hand glasses from wealthy to poorer countries. Its Water For All Project helps women set up irrigation systems and establish clean wells and hand pumps in villages that sorely need them."

Along with all these good works, WI branches sometimes decide that activism is called for. "The WI branch I belong to, the Nine Mile River Homemakers WI, was opposed to a proposed landfill in the area," Carol recalls. "It threatened water quality over a pretty wide area. We worked together with the Native community, which was also opposed to the project. There was a meeting and some of our WI women went wearing green ribbons to protest the proposal. There were some Mi'Kmaq there, and some of them were Mi'Kmaq Warriors. They asked us if we would give them green ribbons to wear too. We gave them ribbons," Carol says, and then exclaims "Oh my gravy! That's as close to trouble as I've ever come!"

I ask Theresa what would happen if a man wanted to join WI. "We've already had one join," she tells me. "He joined by putting $50 on the table at a meeting his wife was having at their house. But, beyond men joining, most of our members have the support of their children and their husbands. We have an annual award that recognizes the support other family members give our members."

The week of February 19 is set aside by WI branches as "WI Week," to mark the anniversary of the founding of WI and to generally promote the organization. "A couple of years ago, we decided to promote WI Week by lighting up our homes and decorating with ribbons in the WI colours – white, blue, and gold," Carol says. "We call it 'Lights, Ribbons, Action,' and it is becoming a national celebration."

After hearing about all the good works WINS and local WI branches are involved with across the province, a question occurs to me, so I ask Carol: "Has a WI branch ever done any-thing wrong, or bad?"

Carol looks at me thoughtfully, and then smiles: "If so, they've been very good at hiding it, haven't they?"

For more information on WINS or any of its projects or activities, call its office at 893-6520, or visit its website at www.gov.ns.ca/nsaf/wi.

Recognizing That Small is Beautiful

I read your March/April 2002 issue and was impressed with your concern about the closing of small area schools. One approach that might be worth trying, when keeping schools open, is a study of sociological effects on the students. Sociological studies have shown very serious effects on people who live in ghettos.

One effect is increased violence among these people. Now, what is a large school – sociologically speaking – but a ghetto? You have a number of human beings who are cut off from the rest of humanity and herded together, based on a superficial characteristic (age), crowded together, governed by strict rules imposed by a minority of non-ghetto members (teachers). The result is not going to be education: it is going to be violence. A small school, on the other hand, is just a group of people getting together to work toward a chosen goal. The result is most apt to be achievement of that goal, that is, education.

A study could be made backing this up historically. Some of the best-educated Canadians went to one-room schools, where everything would appear to be against them. The teachers were poorly trained, the facilities were primitive, even library access was almost impossible. Yet they developed strong, clear, well-informed minds capable of achieving greatness.

The Department of Education is not very likely to listen to arguments about how the schools affect the communities. This is important to you and me, but it is not important to them. It is not part of their mandate to keep local communities alive. It is, however, their mandate to provide decent education to the young, and recent evidence suggests it's not doing a very good job. If you provide arguments based on the disadvantages of large schools to the students, you may be successful in keeping your small schools open.

Coastal Communities News is published bi-monthly by the Coastal Communities Network, a non-profit society registered in the province of Nova Scotia.

Coastal Communities News is made possible by the generous efforts of many volunteers, and by financial contributions from Human Resources Development Canada, and by donations and in-kind contributions from the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Culture, as well as from member groups and organizations.

We welcome all articles and submissions, from individuals and groups, with content in keeping with the role and nature of this magazine. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. Except where additional credit has been given, all articles are prepared by the Editor and Editorial Board.

Our Mission Statement

The Coastal Communities Network is a volunteer association of organizations whose mission is to provide a forum to encourage dialogue, share information, and create strategies and actions that promote the survival and development of Nova Scotia's coastal and rural communities.

"A Large Voice for Small Communities"

CCN is made up of organizations rooted in Nova Scotia's coastal and rural communities, and it is the diversity of its membership that gives it strength. Your organization, and your community, can help CCN determine its direction and strengthen its voice still further. Join the Coastal Communities Network today.

— by participating in regular monthly meetings of the CCN membership. These are held in Truro (usually on the first Tuesday of each month), and allow representatives from member organizations to review what is happening in coastal communities across the province, plan actions on issues of common concern, and review progress on CCN-sponsored projects;

— by getting on our mailing list to receive regular copies of Coastal Communities News. Send us your name and address by mail or fax, or call us directly;

— by contributing written articles to Coastal Communities News, and so letting everyone know what's happening in your community;

— by taking part in CCN workshops and information sessions. Special events like this are held on topics of importance to coastal communities (for example, community economic development, co- management in the fishery, etc);

— by inquiring about CCN's resource library, which includes information, reports, and studies on topics that affect the future and sustainability of coastal communities.

CCN Coordinator:
PO Box 1613
Pictou, N.S. B0K 1H0
Phone:(902)485-4754 Fax:(902)445-7134
e-mail:coastalnet@ns.sympatico.ca

CCN Communications Office:
Phone: (902) 445-7168
Fax: (902) 445-7134
e-mail:ccnews@ns.sympatico.ca

Keeping Habitat Destruction at Bay

Of Berries, Baking, and Business

Participation, Empowerment, Community Leadership

From Devastation to Development

A Word of Thanks

Our Communities: On the Critical List

Welcoming Women, Wonderful Works

Recognizing That Small is Beautiful

Coastal Communities News

Join the Coastal Communities Network

Our Mission Statement

"A Large Voice for Small Communities"

How to Become Involved
in the Coastal Communities Network

Keeping Habitat Destruction at Bay

Of Berries, Baking, and Business

Participation, Empowerment, Community Leadership

From Devastation to Development

A Word of Thanks

Our Communities: On the Critical List

Welcoming Women, Wonderful Works

Recognizing That Small is Beautiful

Coastal Communities News

Join the Coastal Communities Network

Our Mission Statement

"A Large Voice for Small Communities"

How to Become Involved in the Coastal Communities Network

How to Become Involved
in the Coastal Communities Network