What's love got to do, got to do with it

What's love but a sweet old fashioned

notion
What's love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can
be broken
Is rural Canada broken?
Is rural a sweet-old fashioned notion?
What’s RURAL got to do with it?
What’s Rural got to do
With It?
Getting to the Heart of
Migration in Canada

Dr. Deatra Walsh

Research Scientist
Atlantic RURAL Centre
Dalhousie University
Deatra.Walsh@Dal.ca
Questions … and the response

• What is rural?

• What is the role of “rural” in rural studies?

• How does “rural” play a role in policy

discussions?

• Is “rural” the only pillar against which we

examine rural issues?
Outline

• Context
• Research
• Conclusions
• Research and Policy Implications

Issues, rather than place, drive policy

development and we have to realize that issues
cross [rural and urban] lines” (Douglas, cited
in Wilson, 2009).
She doesn’t think of this town as rural
She doesn’t think this town is dying
But if not she then who does?
From Whence did this Dying Truth
Come?
Context:
Questions

• The framing of migration is as important as

migration itself (Cresswell, 2006; Milbourne,
2007)

• What is the character of rural as portrayed

through migration studies /discourse?

– What does rural look like?

• The structuring of rural space (Cruickshank,
2009)

– Who decides and why?

• Discursive actors (Jones, 1995)
Though we may not be able to point to a “true”
rurality, it may be possible to identify certain
discourses about rurality that serve to
enable and support the reproduction of
particular uneven social relations,
economic distribution and social
stratifications (Pratt, 1996:70).
Context:
Migration Frameworks
• Embedded in the economy (Arango, 2000;
Castles, 2007) and migration-development
nexus (Sorensen et al., 2002; Raghuram, 2009)

• Reliant upon sender and receiver communities

(Fitzgerald, 2006).

• Based upon sedentarism (Cresswell, 2006;

Malkki, 1992)

• Governed by data availability and usage (Bell

and Ward, 1998; 2000)
Context
Resource Reliance in Canada
• Natural resources–our forests, energy, and
minerals and metals–are fundamental to the
daily lives of Canadians…The natural resources
sectors and earth sciences industries have been
an engine of economic growth and job
creation for generations-NRCan, n.d.
Context
Resource Reliance in Canada

Adopted from Stedman et al. (2004)

Context
Resource Reliance in Rural Canada

Map from Randall and Ironside, 1996

Source: Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2006
Black Tickle: “A Town on Death Row”; a
“Bad Omen for Rural Canada” (Moore,
2007)

No magic 
solution to solve 
rural decline: 
Williams‐‐
CBC 2006

Rural reality check

With its population dwindling, how can rural
Newfoundland and Labrador survive?
(CBC NL, 2006)
Context:
Outcomes
• Migration is the barometer of the relative
economic success or failure of an area (Rye,
2006; Stockdale, 2004).
– The role of the resource economy

• Privileging of place over people, particularly

“rural” places
– Rural as in decline; There something WRONG with
rural (the character of rural)

• Downplaying of issues and complexity of

individuals’ lives
Research:
Questions
• Could we change this “character” of rural as
portrayed through migration?

• What can be learned from:

– a non-economic point of entry (Halfacree, 2004;

Milbourne, 2007)?

– a non-resource context?

– a focus on gendered lived realities (Smith, 1990)?

– Data re-engagement – mobility not necessarily

place (Bell and Ward, 1998; 2000; Cresswell, 2006;
Sheller and Urry, 2006)?
Research:
Methods
• Mixed methods (Smith, 2007) and mixed
approaches

– 45 semi-structured interviews in Newfoundland -

migration biographies and narratives since high
school (Halfacree and Boyle, 1993; Ni Laoire, 2000)

– Longitudinal Canadian taxfiler data analyses -

migration patterns and trajectories across
geographies
Qualitative Research:
Location Newfoundland
Research:
Qualitative Respondents (n=45)
Research:
Rural Sample Profile

Sources: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population; Author’s research

Research Findings:
Leaving
• Leaving after high school is normal and
expected

– Women predominantly left to pursue post-

secondary education within the province.

“..it wasn’t if you go to university, it was

when you go to university” (i38-Leaver)

– Those who initially left for employment-

related purposes or to be with partners
migrated out-of- province
Research Findings:
Returning
• Reasons associated with family, employment
and support

“He started at this rotation stuff and I had

no family [there], he had no family there so
we moved back … my family is all here …
And that’s the support system I kinda rely
on when [he] is gone” (i11-Returner)
Research Findings:
Moving In
• Associated with employment, educational
opportunities, location and non-familial
networks

“…we have no family. We have no

connection other than work” (i33-in-
migrant).
Research Findings:
Moving away and staying away
• Associated with employment opportunities,
relationships to people, places and spaces

“I think it’s hard to go back once you’ve

been away, at least my experience is” (i43-
Leaver)

“I love my friends. That’s a lot of the reason

that keeps me where I am” (i45-Leaver)
Research Findings:
Longitudinal Migration Patterns
• Men and women leave rural and small town areas across
Canada at similar rates
– It is slightly higher for women

• Men and women stay in and return to rural areas

– Staying slightly higher for men; returning is slightly higher
for women

Male and Female Migration Patterns 1989-2004 (in %)

Women Men Differential

Left RST and were in LUC 2004 42 40 2

Left RST and returned to RST by

2004 11 9 2

Stayed in RST 47 51 4

Source: Statistics Canada, Longitudinal Administrative Databank, Special Tabulation

Research Findings:
Longitudinal Migration Trajectories
$50,900
$34,800
Females Males

$27,900 $38,900

Source: Statistics Canada: Longitudinal Administrative Databank, Special Tabulation

So … What’s RURAL got to do with
it?
It’s simply the best?
Research Findings:
The Relational Lens
• Importance of gender, complexity and lived
reality-other factors-not necessarily “rural”
places

• Women frame being there not necessarily in

term of “rural” or “urban” but in terms of
relations

“I understand the need for urban and rural

or whatever if you want to define places.
But I certainly don’t think there’s any
difference in people necessarily” (i17-
Returner)
Conclusions:
Issues across geographies

• Understanding migration is about

understanding people in place

• Focus in not on separate geographies, but issues

and interactions that stretch across geographies

• Importance of different rurals; not a bundle of

“rural”

Issues, rather than place, drive policy

development and we have to realize that issues
cross [rural and urban] lines” (Douglas, cited
in Wilson, 2009).
Research:
Implications

• Awareness of frameworks for examining

“rural” issues
– Moving beyond just place and rural-urban
dichotomies

• Attention to a relational lens; family

perspective (Cooke, 2008)
– Economics do not explain everything

• Use of and approach to data

Across Geographies:
Rural-to-Urban Gradient
CLASSIFICATION DETAILS
Larger CMAs Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver
Medium CMAs 500k to 1.1 mil
Smaller CMAs 100k to 499,999
CAs 10k to 99,999
Larger Urban Centres (LUCs) All CMAs and CAs
Strong MIZ 30% commuters
Moderate MIZ 5-29% commuters
Weak MIZ Up to 5% commuters
No MIZ No Commuters
Rural and Small Town (RST) All non CMA/CA areas
areas

Source: McNiven et al., 2000

Policy :
Implications
• Sectoral to territorial/place to …
– People in place?

While the emphasis on place is a welcome shift … a

broader perspective is needed because place
competition … does not adequately address the non-
economic factors that impact the local quality of life …
it is important to specify the relationship between
place and individual and social well-being (Bridger
and Alter, 2008: 104)

• Issues-focused
– Horizontal collaboration (RDN)
– Vertical collaboration (multi-level governance)

(Baldacchino, Greenwood and Felt, 2009; Douglas,

forthcoming; Halseth, Markey and Bruce, 2010)
Final Thoughts:
Strengthening research-policy links

http://crrf.concordia.ca/

http://crhrs-scrsr.usask.ca/

http://rural-research-network.blogspot.com/
Final Thoughts:
Strengthening research-policy links

October 14-16, 2010

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Acknowledgements

Supervisory committee: Drs. Peter Sinclair, Barbara Neis and

Robert Hill.

Funders: Le Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la

culture, Memorial University’s School of Graduate Studies,
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada, the Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and
Development and Statistics Canada.

Participants: The 45 women who told me their stories.

Employer: The Atlantic Rural Centre

Thank you!

Dr. Deatra Walsh

Research Scientist
Atlantic RURAL Centre
Dalhousie University
Deatra.Walsh@Dal.ca