The Process of Redefining a Town

Columbia Institue's Centre for Civic Governance, 2008

INNOVATION STRATEGIES Series Volume 1, Ideas for Sustainable Communities

By: Katrina Carrara is a councillor in the Town of Hearst; she holds a Master’s degree in health studies and has been active in a number of community organizations.


Hearst

This is a story of local people who are talking responsibility for their preferred future. In Hearst, we are in the process of redefining our town and creating a resilient and sustainable community. This redefinition process balances economic viability, the well-being of the community, and the environment. It is also a carefully thought-out process that involves planning, action, and organization.

In northern Ontario, we have a few dominant characteristics, notably declining demographics. More people are moving away and it’s often the younger people. The relative and absolute numbers of aging people are increasing and the young workforce is leaving. Amid uncertain world commodity markets, many communities depend on one market or one source of income. In the case of Hearst, the source is the forest industry. In Ontario and elsewhere environmental concerns are at their peak. Any revitalization strategy has to take into account both economic and environmental concerns.

In Hearst we gave smaller population with a large number of older people.

Two thirds of people are over the age of 50

We have declining youth participation in activities and many shops are closing. We are dependent on one industry with a strong outside ownership. Twenty years ago, our three mills were locally owned and they were based on community values. Now they are owned by outside agencies where the trend is to consolidate. There is a limited range of jobs.

Waiting for a saviour

As our problems worsened, people seemed to be waiting for someone to come in and save them. There was a lot of negativity and resistance to change. The fact was that the status quo was no longer working. We could no longer sit and wait for the pulp, paper, and wood-working industries to revitalize our growth. Do we wait and hope or do we take action? In this situation, we have the opportunity to shape and channel our future as a community. The key in smaller communities that hold strong family values, like the francophone community in Hearst, is to keep a firm grasp on our beliefs and values even as we try to adapt to a new environment.

Being in a small community that is both rural and isolated, we trend to believe that what happens in China or other countries doesn’t affect us. But as you know, everything in the global economy will eventually affect us. Small communities often feel that they cannot compete on the global marker they just let go – they need to regroup and find a way to face the global situation that is here to stay.

Our process of change had a catalyst. We knew the forest industry was suffering, so when we for a proposal from a foreign company for an ethanol plant in Hearst that would use wood chips, that proposal among people in the town. Unfortunately that project was put on hold when the company ran into problem and the council became concerned. Yet, this potential ethanol plant was one of the catalysts for the need to take action and change our community.

We say that a healthy economy was based on our forest heritage and the development of natural resources and sustainable secondary business sectors. Twenty years ago, out three mills were locally owned and they were based on community values. Now they are owned by outside agencies.

Redefining ourselves

We started redefining ourselves starting with Perspective 20/20, our economic strategy. Although the analysis was traditional and limited, we used environmental scans and we insisted on using a community approach and focus. The community knows best what it needs, even though it may have trouble organizing itself.

We saw that a healthy economy was based on our forest heritage and the development of natural resources and sustainable secondary business sectors. If the lumber industry is suffering, we need to look at other alternatives. We need to diversify. We have to do the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, starting with our strengths. Locally, one of our strengths is that we’re right in the middle of the boreal forest industry. We have access to wood, we have a strong labour of force, and we have opportunities to develop partnerships with native communities.

Some of the weaknesses of our situation include a negative attitude to change. Fear makes us less creative. We have low quality fibre and there are dangers from new competitive industries such as wood substitutes.

In my work I looked at development strategies with wood products and I concentrated on secondary wood products. Once the tree had been cut down there is a lot of biomass or wood chips left over. Could we use that biomass?





Our strategy

We looked at several things in our strategy. We wanted to maintain the growth that we had in the three mills. We recognized the need to collaborate with governments at the provincial and federal levels, as well as with private industry. To prepare the community for change, we came up with a project called Bio-Com, which is about building sustainable community in terms of environment, the social needs of the community, and the economy. Bio-Com is about changing attitudes and values towards the bio-economy. Bio-Com looks at developing products from biomass and biology, while maintaining communication with the community.

One of the biggest projects that we’re working on is a pilot project with Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) and other partners. We’re developing a genetically modified willow tree that grows in three years. We could use that as an energy source, or to produce something else. We’re networking and getting involved in new developments in the forest industry. The first phase of our work concentrated on disseminating information about change. To deal with resistance to change, we have to acknowledge that things are not working well presently. We used different techniques to generate ideas. The three main areas that we’re looking at and developing for our economy are adding value in cultivating products that come from the foresee for medicine, personal care, as well as for decorative purposes and gardening. There is our biomass that is eventually going to be a source of energy. We also have value-added fibre products that can be used to build other products.

To prepare the community for change, we came up with a project called Bio-Com, which is about building a sustainable community in terms of the environment, the social needs of the community, and the economy.

We set up a steering committee that involved experts on economic development, the business sector, the forest industry, citizens, and people from the ministry of natural resources. We developed a structure and disseminated information through newspaper and radio about new economic alternatives we could look at. We shared information to promote creative thinking among people.

We held community forums with different segments of the population, including young students and the senior population, to get an idea where the community wanted to go and what issues were concerning them. We met with educational institutions to see if they could deliver programs that relate to the environment, energy, and forestry, and we held workshops and a roundtable on regional politics.

We had a major conference on sustainability in April 2007, with forest industry people, private industry, and government, environmentalist, and community residents. The focus was to shake people up, make them uncomfortable, and give them the tools and information to get them to look at alternatives. That was phase one, which ended that month, and it is difficult to measure the outcomes, which may be more qualitative than quantitative.

Recommendations came up last January on six key area of focus for the community:

Vision and leadership;
Community resilience;
The forest of tomorrow;
Innovation and education;
Entrepreneurship;
Youth; and
Assessment

It may also be too early to assess the effectiveness of these efforts. The contacts and networking we have begun may not produce tangible results for another year or so. We have met the goal of promoting and working collaboratively. So where do we go now?

Citizens are expecting brick and mortar; they want to see new factories. This is not what they will see short term with our approach. Some are disappointed. This approach works with attitudes and values that will lead to long term sustainability by enabling every citizen to participate and get involve. We are not used to this approach. It is a long term process towards sustainability. We can no longer put band-aids on situations we need to take control of our future.

There are number of key elements one must consider when looking at redefining a community. One is accepting that there’s change involved. Change can be seen as a three-stage process, starting with resistance. The community needs to be able to voice its fears and anxieties.

It is important to highlight the opportunities that are coming up. Open up your mind, and be creative. Communities can begin to move in one direction, but remember that some flexibility is needed. In strategic planning, preparatory work is needed to see the way ahead. Local leaders and leadership need to be established, because they have to be a community’s biggest renewable resource.

This activity had given us in Hearst a clearer vision. I have found that people’s anxiety level has diminished. We are starting on phase two of the project, which involves making an inventory of our assets, the resources and the human resources that we have in the community. And we continue to work on networking with secondary value-added industries.