This collection challenges misconceptions that rural Canada is a bastion of intolerance. While examining the extent and nature of contemporary cultural and religious discrimination in rural Canadian communities, the editors and contributors explore the many efforts by rural citizens, community groups, and municipalities to counter intolerance, build inclusive communities, and become better neighbours. Throughout, scholars and community leaders focus on building new understandings, language, and ways of thinking about diversity and inclusion that will resonate with rural people. Scholars of rural studies will find this book useful as will rural community leaders and community organizers. Contributors: Clark Banack, Ray Bollman, Claudine Bonner, Corina Borri-Anadon, Jen Budney, Michael Corbett, Roger Epp, Murray Fulton, Stacey Haugen, Phil Henderson, Sivane Hirsch, Michelle Lam, Coleen Lynch, Aasa Marshall, Darcy Overland, Trista Pewapisconias, Dionne Pohler, Samuel Reimer, Jennifer Tinkham, Kyle White

Explores efforts of rural citizens to counter intolerance, build inclusive communities, and become better neighbours.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Clark Banack and Dionne Pohler

I Rural Demographics and Diversity

1 The Demographic Context of Rural Canada: The Size of the Indigenous and Visible Minority Populations

Ray D. Bollman

2 Making Diversity in Rural Areas Visible: A Changing Perspective for Rural Schools in Québec

Sivane Hirsch and Corina Borri-Anadon

II Understanding Rural Attitudes toward Inclusivity

3 Partisanship, Patriarchy, and Prejudice: Inclusivity among Evangelicals, Albertans, and Rural Canadians

Samuel Reimer

4 Understanding Rural Attitudes toward Cultural and Religious Minorities via Political Ethnography: The Case of Rural Alberta

Clark Banack

5 Driving into Nowhere: Refugee Resettlement and Integration in Rural Canada

Stacey Haugen

III Practical Tools for Building Inclusive Rural Communities

6 A Noisy Silence: Challenges for Rural Teacher Education

Michael Corbett, Jennifer Tinkham, and Claudine Bonner

7 Promoting Understanding and Equity in Rural Canada: The Role of Community Education

Michelle Lam

8 Contextual Bible Study: An Effective Practice to Promote Inclusivity in Rural Communities and Faith Groups

Coleen Lynch

IV A Rural Approach to Anti-racism and Settler-Indigenous Relations: Co-operation and Neighbourliness

9 Co-operative Development Possibilities in Rural Settler and Indigenous Communities: Lessons from the Co-operative Innovation Project and Co-operatives First

Dionne Pohler, Jen Budney, Murray Fulton, Darcy Overland, Aasa Marshall, Trista Pewapisconias, and Kyle White

10 Inclusion on Whose Grounds? Against Liberal Essentialisms and toward Radical Neighbourliness in Rural Anti-racism

Phil Henderson

11 The Work of Neighbours: A Rural Ethos for Reconciliation

Roger Epp

Conclusion

Clark Banack and Dionne Pohler

Contributors

"Clark Banack and Dionne Pohler’s essay collection, Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada, plants some critical seeds in a research field relatively ­barren of sustained inquiry. To what extent, their ­contributors ask, does racial intolerance prevail in rural Canada, and how do we create more inclusive rural communities in this country? The co-editor Clark Banack’s standout ­chapter on attitudes toward cultural and religious ­minorities is a must-read for anyone who picks up this volume.... His fascinating answers should be required reading for federal policy makers and community educators alike." Julie McGonegal, Literary Review of Canada, July-August 2023

“The contributors to Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada refuse to fall back on simple, misleading stereotypes about rural place—as uniquely friendly and welcoming or as places of entrenched racism and xenophobia—and instead do the difficult work of recognizing the heterogeneity of rural places, people, and practices." —Karen Foster, Dalhousie University

"This collection by scholars and practitioners is an important contribution to countering stereotypes about rural communities. It explores the complexity and diversity of attitudes and the work against intolerance taking place in groups and institutions in rural communities and offers helpful practical tools to foster inclusivity." Belinda Leach, University of Guelph