Ottawa’s First Rural Summit - 2005

Ottawa's Rural Summit logo Ottawa - Proud to be Rural

Ottawa’s first Rural Summit was held on November 15 and 19, 2005 with over 400 rural citizens taking part.

Spread over two days, the Summit was sponsored by the City of Ottawa to address the results of the 2004 Citizen Satisfaction Survey, which had identified that Ottawa’s rural residents were significantly less satisfied with municipal services than urban residents. Day One focused on promoting an overarching discussion of broad issues surrounding the rural-urban relationship and included presentations and panel discussions, followed by question-and-answer sessions. Day Two focused on “Strengthening Public Satisfaction in Rural Areas” using a workshop format based on six major issue themes identified during the consultation process.

[ top ]

Proposing solutions

In preparation for the Summit, Moira Winch, the Rural Summit Project Manager met with rural citizens to identify the issues. In the spring of 2005, 16 facilitated consultation sessions were held with over 300 rural residents participating in Cumberland, Goulbourn, Kanata, Osgoode, Rideau and West Carleton wards. In addition, feedback was received by e-mail, in writing, by telephone and by direct contact with the Rural Summit Project Manager. Most of the specific views, concerns and issues as provided by participants was grouped into six major categories: Access; Communications and Consultation; Agriculture; Governance; Policy Issues; Rural Business Issues; and Service Issues.

An overview of the issues and suggestions were compiled into the Issues Paper and the full results of the consultations were compiled into Appendix A. The Issues Paper was used by both the Day One and Day Two Summit Steering Committees to set the agenda for the Rural Summit.

On Day Two of the Rural Summit, over 50 workshops were held addressing the six major issue themes identified by rural citizens during the public consultation process. In preparation for the Rural Summit, sub-groups of community volunteers were tasked with the responsibility of researching, investigating and developing options for solutions in each major category. The options for solutions were reviewed and prioritized by participants into a list of recommended solutions that were brought forward to a plenary session.

Participant recommendations included:

  • Adopting a Policy Framework to guide policy development and decisions that affect rural Ottawa
  • Expanding the Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee’s current Terms of Reference to include additional responsibility with respect to various policy and/or service areas directly or indirectly affecting the rural community
  • Reinstating the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Advisory Committee
  • Creating a rural section on the City Web site, which would house all information relevant to the rural community
  • Enabling toll-free calling across the city
  • Ensuring broadband access is available to all rural businesses and residents
  • Allocating more of the City’s budget for road maintenance in rural areas
  • Having routine inspections of class 3 to 5 rural roads and ensuring action is taken to keep ditches clear and address other rural road maintenance issues

[ top ]

Implementing solutions

Following the Summit, the Rural Summit Task Force was established. The Task Force was made up of ten rural leaders, five City Councillors representing rural wards, as well as one Councillor from the City’s urban area, and was supported by City of Ottawa senior management. Participant recommendations from Day Two of the Rural Summit were submitted to the Task Force for follow-up and action. Through the winter, the Task Force met weekly to review and refine the recommended solutions, set priorities, and work with City staff to put in place practical and realistic implementation strategies. The Summit list of short, medium and long-term solutions provided the basis for an action plan that has resulted in many items being completed and others initiated.

In the spring of 2006, City Council approved:

  • Expanding the powers of the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee so that all rural issues are dealt first and foremost by rural Councillors in a rural forum
  • Establishing a Rural Issues Advisory Committee, made up of volunteer farmers, residents and business owners, to give the City advice and input on rural issues;
  • Setting up a permanent Rural Affairs Office to champion rural issues at City Hall and with the provincial and federal governments.

All three recommendations were widely supported by community members at the Rural Summit and were advanced by the Rural Summit Task Force.

The Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee began working under its new mandate in May 2006 alongside the establishment of the new Rural Issues Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee consists of a dedicated group of rural volunteers who work to ensure that the City hears rural points of view before issues are decided. Committee members also bring new issues to City staff and Council and review City policies to be sure they respect rural interests.

The Rural Affairs Office is led by the City’s first-ever Rural Affairs Officer who works within the City Manager’s Office. Its staff works towards building an improved relationship between City Hall and the community, and researching new policies and initiatives. The office also works with the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee to set priorities and support rural and agricultural organizations, and with provincial and federal agencies whose policies affect agriculture and rural affairs.

In addition to the implementation of the above recommendations, the report approved by Council also contained a complete update on all initiatives arising from the Rural Summit. These included:

[ top ]

For more information

To find out more about the Rural Summit and the resulting initiatives or information on municipal news and services affecting the rural communities, please visit us at ottawa.ca/rural or e-mail us at ruralaffairs@ottawa.ca.

[ top ]
W3000552