When compared with other countries, Canada regularly fares very well. For instance, amongst G7 countries, Canada:

• has the best overall quality of life;
• ranks first in providing equal opportunities for individuals;
• has the lowest cost of living;
• ranks second in terms of effectively reducing environmental stresses on human health and promoting ecosystem vitality and sound natural resource management; and
• is the safest place to live and conduct business with the most fairly administered judicial system.

Having said that, these benefits are often limited to certain sectors and geographic areas within our country, while others live on the margins. Community economic development (CED) is a community-based, community-directed and holistic approach to deal with the marginalization. While there is no hard and fast definition of CED, the general idea is that it describes local action by people to create economic opportunities and enhance social conditions in their communities on a sustainable and inclusive basis, particularly among those who are most disadvantaged.

More organizations identifying with the CED approach

Founded in 1999, the Canadian CED Network (CCEDNet) is a national, member-based organization that is actively working to build a “communities agenda” in Canada to promote and support CED for the social, economic and environmental betterment of communities across the country. CCEDNet’s membership has jumped from about 50 members five years ago to around 700 members today. Executive director Rupert Downing attributes the exponential growth to the fact that many organizations existed previously to deliver a social program but now identify themselves as doing CED work.

That’s in contrast to the early days of community economic development, explains Rankin MacSween, president of Sydney, Nova Scotia’s New Dawn Enterprises, the oldest CED corporation in Canada, established in 1976. “Thirty years ago there weren’t a lot of words to describe what it was we were trying to do. The language wasn’t there,” recalls MacSween. “Words like ‘capacity building’, the notion of a ‘depleted community’ or ‘scaling up’ weren’t used, but they are now embedded in community economic development conversations. Thirty years ago, when people would challenge us and what it was we were trying to do, we bordered on being illiterate. What could you say? People were working on intuition and very much from their heart.”

Greater sophistication but a lack of public policy

Today, there is not only plenty of CED terminology but also a greater degree of sophistication in terms of the strategies and models people use. The big emphasis within CCEDNet is the development of peer learning opportunities, including a national conference, tele-learn programs and blogs that encourage peer sharing. That leads to the replication of proven ideas.

There’s also research and analysis work on the go. The number of post-secondary institutions delivering CED undergraduate, graduate and professional certificate programs is on the rise and that prompts more research about the field. Downing currently co-leads (with the University of Victoria) the Social Economic Initiative, a multi-faceted five-year research program involving approximately 300 researchers who are studying what the social economy is about, the outcomes it achieves, and how CED can be strengthened in Canada. (The Social Economic Initiative was part of a larger project but when the current federal government was elected, they cancelled the social economy funding investment; however, the research component had already been contracted out so it survived.)

The lack of what Downing refers to as “an enabling environment” is the biggest challenge facing CED in Canada. Compared to other countries or jurisdictions that Canada is competitive with in a global market, our country really lags behind in terms of CED policy. Says Downing, “I think governments need to look at the triple bottom line (that is, environmental, social as well as economic) for their mandates. Economic, social and environmental silos are very costly to operate so I think there will be more interest in integrated approaches. Plus, government top-down approaches to solving social issues haven’t worked.” While there is increased interest by municipalities, and some provinces are creating CED policy frameworks, the federal government is the biggest challenge in terms of government relations.

Len Usiskin, CED manager at Saskatoon’s Quint Development Corporation agrees. “There is a need for policy development. People are bumping up against social policies that don’t support the agenda we’re trying to follow. We need to create an environment to support CED in Canada. There’s a lot of work to be done in public policy. There are barriers that almost trap people in poverty. We’re trying to encourage government to put a CED lens on policies. If they did, they would see that in the long run CED is a better way to move people toward self-reliance.”

Capital challenges

Another huge challenge, says Usiskin, is the issue of capital. Many CED organizations, like Quint, are involved in housing or other larger scale social enterprise and a lot of these require non-traditional capital. “We’re not just doing projects that maximize an economic bottom line – that’s the reason many communities are marginalized in the first place. Yet, traditional financing is looking for an economic rate of return. Partnerships with credit unions are one solution because they recognize multiple bottom lines.” Add to this capital challenge the fact that the real estate market is exploding in Saskatchewan right now and that makes financing even more challenging. Where Usiskin’s organization used to be able to buy and renovate a house for $60,000 to $70,000, now they have to add another $50,000 to the costs and still keep the project viable.

Where does this position CED for the future?

Usiskin sums it up succinctly. “The issues that led to the formation of what we call community economic development still exist. We’re not anywhere close to addressing all the problems, but we are a more sophisticated sector, we’re building on the research, the financial infrastructure, the tools, and we’re moving out of the margins.”

Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.