The village of Kaslo has been chosen to host a summit that aims to bring rural communities together to explore ways to help them thrive.
The British Columbia Rural Network announced Friday that the 2014 8th BC Rural Communities Summit will be held in the beautiful lakeside village of Kaslo, in the spectacular West Kootenay region BCRN chairman Andy Ackerman said.
“We’re pleased to unanimously award the 8th BC Rural Communities Summit to Kaslo,” Ackerman said. “We know that the Kaslo Institute, with the support of the Village of Kaslo, the Regional District of the Central Kootenays and a long list of other supporters, will ensure this year’s Summit is a rousing success.”
The summit will take place from June 13 to 15 at J.V. Humphries School. Participants from around the province will participate in workshops and presentations while networking and socializing with others from similar remote and/or rural communities.
This year’s summit theme is Creativity, Communications, and Collaboration: Exploring new and innovative solutions to the challenges and opportunities facing BC’s remote rural communities. It is designed to provide a broad focus for specific workshop and session topics.
The Kaslo Institute, a non-profit “think-and-do-tank,” will serve as the local host for this biennial event that brings together British Columbians, keen to focus on challenges and opportunities facing rural BC communities.
“We’re tremendously excited to have been chosen to host this year’s Rural Summit,” said Kaslo Institute president, Randy Morse. “Working closely with our colleagues at BCRN and a number of other stakeholders, we’re determined to put together a three-day event that will provide rural British Columbians with some fresh new ideas on how to deal with our common issues.”
“We intend to focus on solutions rather than problems,” he added. “For example, we’re going to explore how new and emerging technologies can be effectively used to help provide enhanced healthcare and education opportunities for rural citizens, boost our ability to communicate with one another and the world, and create well-paid, 21st century jobs for our young people.”
Concluding, Morse said, “We know how to throw a party here in the West Kootenays! The Kaslo Jazz Fest has been named one of the 10 best places in the world to enjoy outdoor music, and we’ve been whooping it up over the Victoria Day long weekend for 120 years. We plan to make sure this year’s Rural Summit isn’t all work and no play – this is a stunningly beautiful place, full of wildly creative people, so I can pretty much guarantee Summit attendees will have a great time during their stay in Kaslo!”
The BC Rural Network (BCRN) is a coalition of organizations, communities, and individuals who share a commitment to building the capacity of British Columbia to develop responses to rural and remote community issues.
Past summits have been held in 2012 at Grand Forks, in 2010 at Port Hardy and Osoyoos in 2006. The first summit was held in Rossland in 2004.
