March 15, 2022 Newsletter

Clearing a New Path™ and Clearing a New Path Podcast™ are products of Radar Media, located in Dorchester, Ontario on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Neutral peoples who once used this land as their traditional beaver hunting grounds.  As a settler here I’m committed to deepening understanding of Indigenous communities and reframing responsibilities to land and community. I am grateful to Mother Earth for the opportunity for love and connection and to the spirits of the Elders and the Medicine People who still walk the Earth.

MARCH 15, 2022

Thank you for your continued support, it means a great deal. Creating the content for this newsletter is in service to rural women entrepreneurs all over Canada. Your feedback is always welcome. Please hit reply to tell us what you think and to suggest topics.This week's podcast guest is Sierra Lathlin, founder of Barkery Dog Treats Inc. in Gimli, Manitoba. She tells her story of resilience and what prompted her to quit her job and become her own boss at 24.

We also look at diversity through immigration in our rural communities and the craft beer industry's #MeToo movement.

As always, you can support us here by becoming a member.

Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

LISTEN AND LEARN! PODCAST EPISODE LIVE ON WEDNESDAY MORNING!

NEWS

On my mind this week:

1.

1 in 6 women-owned Canadian businesses is rural

Women are majority owners of about

15.6 percent of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

.The graph below shows female-owned businesses in Canada, broken into urban vs rural.

*Female-owned describes a business that is 51% or more.

If you look at the distribution of where those businesses are (in the image below), you can see that just a few provinces represent where the majority of women-led businesses are in urban areas and more importantly, that other provinces have a more evenly distributed split.

Stats Canada does not have a number of women of colour who own businesses in rural areas.

Any surprises here?

2.

Craft Beer #MeToo

A majority of Canada's craft breweries are located in rural cities and towns. Although there are some female owners, there is still an underbelly of misogyny, homophobia and racism. A craft brewery edition of #MeToo erupted last spring, after an

American woman asked the question on her Instagram

,

"Have you ever experienced sexism in the beer industry?"

The stories of sexism and sexual abuse came. A lot of them. Once it died down,

Erin Broadfoot of Little Beasts Brewing in Whitby, Ontario

kept it going by

posting on her own Instagram

and again the disturbing stories came. It actually prompted a

Regina brewery to start an anti-discrimination committee with the Canadian Craft Brewers Association

.

Erin was interviewed about her thoughts recently and the effects the movement had had on her business.

(Image is from

Little Beasts Brewery Instagram page

)

3.

If we build it, will they come?

Between 2013 and 2019, the

percentage of immigrants settling in smaller cities and towns

outside of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary grew by 40 per cent.

Last month, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser

set new targets for Canada’s immigration

. The plan will see Canada receive 1.3 million immigrants over three years. The associate director of immigration research with the Conference Board of Canada, Iain Reeve says

their research indicates this is the best way to address labour shortages

.

However,

a

new study published in the Journal of Rural and Community Development,

suggests that there are long-standing issues pertaining to immigration to rural Canada, related to newcomer attraction and retention.

"Rural communities looking to attract and retain newcomers have encountered a variety of challenges. Existing literature points to the difficulties created by rural areas’ relative lack of settlement services, language supports, cultural and religious groups, and other factors that help newcomers to integrate within a community."

What are municipalities doing to address barriers for newcomers?

The

Municipality of Kings County in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley

spent two years on a "Strategy for Belonging" over the next five years and is inviting other municipalities to collaborate.

"The document would guide municipal policies and priorities in each community to improve representation and economic empowerment, ensure equitable access to services and celebrate diverse cultures."

What is your rural area doing?

4. As rural entrepreneurs, we know that

who sits on municipal council matters

, especially as women. A number of organizations have come together across the country to encourage more women to run in municipal elections. British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, PEI and hamlets in the Northwest Territories will see elections this year.

• Equal Futures Canada has a list of all of female sitting municipal mayors and band council chiefs across Canada. If you're thinking about running you may want to reach out and ask questions or ask for support.

• The Federation of Canada Municipalities also has funded a few projects, aimed at getting more women to run.

• The Municipal Campaign School has training videos to help prepare women to run.

5. One of the things I keep hearing over and over again with

rural women entrepreneurs is they are continually denied access to capital.

But what happens when the bank leaves your town? The only large bank chain in three rural Newfoundland communities, is pulling up stakes.

This means the closest bank access for some residents is two ferry rides away.

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