Our Research

The CDI maintains a clear focus on research and on providing access to valuable resources toward the goal of increasing knowledge and understanding and building capacity around community, regional, and economic development. Our goal is to balance both applied and basic work so as to maintain academic credibility and to be of practical relevance to communities.

The information in this section is organized by topic. Please contact us if you need help finding information or have a question about any of the research or resources included here.

  • Public Participation in Resource Management: The Bulkley Valley Community Resources Board

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation

    2003

    This project explores how public input was conceptualized and incorporated into the Bulkley Land and Resource Management Plan (Bulkley LRMP) process with the purpose to analyze the level of input that was achieved. The following steps were taken in efforts to realize this task:  

    1. Identification of past public participation in resource management processes in the Bulkley Valley and contrasting their level of input with the Bulkley Valley Community Resources Board (BVCRB);
    2. Illustration of how the BVCRB was established;
    3. Determination of how the members of the Board were selected and whether they represent the public of the Bulkley Forest District (BFD);
    4. Exploration of the role the Board played in developing the Bulkley LRMP. 
    Final Report, April 2003 Volume One
    Final Report, April 2003 Volume Two - Appendices

  • A Historical Guide to Local Events Through Newspapers - Summary for the McBride-Valemount Region, 1970-2002

    • Community Services Provision
    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation

    2003

    One of the key sources of historical information used by the Rural and Small Town Studies Team are local newspapers. For this project we read all the editions of the papers we could get a hold of and identified issues and stories for later references and analysis. In the Robson and Canoe valleys we used the time period 1970 to 2002 to frame our research. The year 1970 is about 10 years before the recession of the early 1980s, a point in time considered by many to have marked a turning point in B.C.'s resource economy.  For this time period we read through available editions of the:

    • Robson Valley Courier
    • Canoe Mountain Echo
    • Valley Sentinel

    In this process, we recorded article topics and headlines, by date and by page number. This report includes a summary list of that newspaper information and we are pleased to make it available to the people of the Robson and Canoe valleys. We hope that it can be a useful starting point for research into issues from the recent past.

  • Tumbler Ridge Community Transition Study

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation
    • Housing

    2002

    The community of Tumbler Ridge is in a state of transition.  Rapid changes since the March 2000 announcement of the Quintette mine closure are being undertaken as part of a community revitalisation strategy.  During the transition, information on the makeup and needs of local residents will be useful to a range of groups, service providers and decision-makers in Tumbler Ridge.  This need for timely and relevant information about how the community is changing has been made more urgent as a result of a second round of playoffs involving Quintette's reclamation crew and the success of the Tumbler Ridge Housing Corporation's sale of properties.   

    Types of information needed during this transition include socio-economic profiles of residents to see how the town is changing, identification of program and activity needs for the recreation centre and for local service providers (especially unmet needs), patterns of housing use, a review of community quality of life issues, and patterns of local participation by residents. People and groups in Tumbler Ridge are interested in this survey because of the information they need to adjust to changing local circumstances.

    As a result of pressures associated with community transition, a questionnaire survey of residents and property owners was undertaken in the fall of 2001. The questionnaire process was developed in concert with a number of partners including the District of Tumbler Ridge, the Tumbler Ridge Employment Development Services Committee, the Community Transition Branch in the Local Government Department of the Provincial Ministry of Community, Aboriginal, and Women's Services, and the University of Northern British Columbia's Northern Land Use Institute.  The questionnaire was carried out under the direction of Greg Halseth of the Geography Program at the University of Northern British Columbia.

    Project reports include:

  • Housing Transitions in Single-Industry 'Instant Towns'

    • Housing

    2000

    The local housing market in single-industry, resource dependent communities is influenced by the health of the local resource industry. Restructuring pressures within the resource sector directly affect local housing markets. This research examined two single-industry 'instant towns' in Canada (Mackenzie and Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia) and tracked transitions in the local housing market as the economic fortunes of the local industry and community changed over time. An understanding of these isolated markets is needed to inform government policy, resource companies, local decision-makers, and households/investors in these housing markets. The project:

    1. Developed an historical portrait of single-industry instant town housing markets.
    2. Identified and tracked past corporate strategies around the local housing stock.
    3. Identified the nature and scale of economic benefits or costs which may accrue to households in the housing market.
    4. Identified the nature and scale of economic benefits and costs which may accrue to institutions such as resource companies or Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

    The project was funded by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Standard External Research Grant program.

  • Implications of Changing Commuting Patterns on Non Resource Town Sustainability: The Example of Mackenzie, British Columbia

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation
    • Workforce Deployment and Development

    2000

    Single-industry, resource-based towns remain a dominant feature in Canada's north. Many of these towns struggle with the dual pressures of single-industry dependence and resource sector restructuring. To move away from this position, attention is now being given to providing people with information about the kinds of changes occurring within their community so that they can deal with risk factors, ameliorate negative impacts, and plan for their town's future. This report looks at one issue facing many small resource towns - the loss of population to larger centres - and provides information which local decision-makers can use to build strategies suited to their community. In particular, this study looks at the phenomena of “extra-community” commuting in Mackenzie, British Columbia, among employees of the major forest product facilities. The research was a partnership between UNBC, the District of Mackenzie, the Mackenzie Chamber of Commerce, and the three major forest industry firms and their union locals operating in town.

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