The City of Ottawa’s land mass consists of 80% rural lands. Within these lands we have 5 Counsellors in comparison to the urban areas having 19 counsellors. This is a concern as rural communities across the world are recognized as marginalized populations with inequities compared to urban populations. A few inequities can include: unequal representation politically in comparison to urban residents, insufficient access to healthcare and inadequate access to social services and community resources

We are fortunate that the City of Ottawa has now acknowledged that there is an inequity between urban and rural residents as this has been a voiced concern since the amalgamation in 2001. With a renewed hope for rural residents with the latest elected officials, they have renewed an initiative called the Rural Summit. The purpose and promise of the project is to ensure that rural voices are heard and rural needs are understood with the hope that they will have the opportunity to have the same quality of life as residents in the urban boundaries.

In 2024 the first Rural Summit was held in 16 years!

Some key messages that came out of this process that are relevant to our fight as listed on Engage Ottawa are:

•  “The needs of farmers are different than other residents; municipal policies must reflect those varying needs”
• “Farmers feed our communities; our City government should be enabling them to succeed”
• “The City must do more to protect and conserve our natural heritage, such as forests, wetlands, and other natural lands”
• “Fighting climate change must be done in a way that considers the needs and interests of farmers and rural residents”
• “Ensure that policies under the purview of the environment file (such as renewable energy generation and storage, waste management, and stormwater management) should be reviewed with a rural lens”
• “Through the zoning by-law process, invest more time and energy into approaches that preserve agricultural [lands]”
• “Develop zoning rules for renewable energy and battery storage infrastructure that respects the needs and interests of rural Ottawa”
• “There is also concern about the impact of large trucks on rural roads, which disproportionally contributes to the deteriorating road conditions.”
• “The basic principles of good governance are: Accountability, Leadership, Integrity, Stewardship, Transparency”
• “…many departments lack strategic advocacy and issues knowledge necessary to advance rural issues. Residents and Councillors alike are often disappointed that staff have a poor understanding of the unique challenges and interests of rural Ottawa, and this is often reflected in program design that fails to consider rural Ottawa.”
• “Build a culture of respect and understanding of rural issues and voices.”

 Our group is eager to continue to be creative in providing education to all city counsellors on our way of life and how a BESS on Marchurst Rd puts health, environment and trust in governance at risk.