In cities, when rural Canada comes up it is often as the setting for all those books you read in high school, or maybe as a place you left or even escaped. It’s easy for a lot of people in cities to forget, or not understand, that rural communities are just as complex as cities, with their own strengths, challenges and opportunities. And yet, rural communities are often also dependent on policies and programs designed in those same cities, by people that might not have made the trip out to the country all that often.

This project looks at small cities, towns and rural communities in the Parkland and western Manitoba to begin to understand some of that complexity.

Starting with questions about housing, migration (both international immigration and movement within and between regions in Manitoba and Canada) the project focuses on the stories of both young adults and New Canadians, people who are in the middle of building their own homes in the area. I hope to put these stories in conversation with each other, alongside stories from the past, to better understand this region in all of its intricate complexities. Hopefully, by starting with the stories of people still starting out the project can help to think about new ideas and possibilities for the region’s future.

I am interviewing people living in the area who are 19-40 years old, or who have moved to Canada in the past 10 years, or who are both. Interviews should take about 15-20 minutes (but can also be longer if you have more you’d like to say!), and I am asking questions about people’s home and housing today, and in the past, and about their thoughts on where they will be in the future.

Any  information shared from these interviews will be presented anonymously,
so I won’t be using anyone’s real name, or any other information that could directly identify them.

To get in touch and share your story, or for more information:
ssimpson [at] ucdavis [dot] edu