So who really cares about Rural Poverty anyways?

Lets make the invisible visible!

Tell us what you think and have your say on how poverty affects women in rural BC.

Did you know that right now a standing Senate Committee is examining and making recommendations on rural poverty?

Did you know that they have already come and gone? (Prince George, March 2007) To date, they have no further plans to visit BC again before they write their recommendations/report this fall.

One visit is not enough! The committee needs to hear from you and learn what you think about rural poverty and how it affects women and communities here in BC.

Over the coming months, the British Columbia Rural Women’s Network (BCRWN) will be having an online conversation with rural women across the province. We’d like to co-ordinate a public response to the recent interim Senate Report for a September submission to the Senate committee.

“The rural poor are in many ways invisible… They rarely line up at homeless shelters because with few exceptions there are none. They rarely go to the local employment insurance office because the local insurance office isnt so local any more…Canada’s rural poor have rarely been the subject of political attention”.

BCRWN has put the interim report on the website – we’d like you to take some time to review it and reflect on what is needed to create accessible rural services to make a difference in your life, your families lives, the community in which you live.

Check in regularly, over the next few weeks we will be posting a discussion guide for local use in your area; a questionnaire and, we will be setting up a safe on line discussion forum so that you can connect with other rural women across the province.