Small Cities, Big Issues Reconceiving Community in a Neoliberal Era

Small Canadian cities confront serious social issues as a result of the neoliberal economic restructuring practiced by both federal and provincial governments since the 1980s. Drastic spending reductions and ongoing restraint in social assistance, income supports, and the provision of affordable housing, combined with the offloading of social responsibilities onto municipalities, has contributed to the generalization of social issues once chiefly associated with Canada’s largest urban centres. As the investigations in this volume illustrate, while some communities responded to these issues with inclusionary and progressive actions others were more exclusionary and reactive—revealing forms of discrimination, exclusion, and “othering” in the implementation of practices and policies. Importantly, however their investigations reveal a broad range of responses to the social issues they face. No matter the process and results of the proposed solutions, what the contributors uncovered were distinctive attributes of the small city as it struggles to confront increasingly complex social issues.

If local governments accept a social agenda as part of its responsibilities, the contributors to Small Cities, Big Issues believe that small cities can succeed in reconceiving community based on the ideals of acceptance, accommodation, and inclusion.

With contributions by Lorry-Ann Austin, Jacques Caillouette, Graham Day, Robert Harding, Wendy Hulko, Paul Jenkinson, Kathie McKinnon, Sharlene Matthew, Jennifer Murphy, Diane Purvey, Mónica J. Sánchez-Flores, and Sydney Weaver

Pulling together an immense amount of material about the governance of small towns, Walmsley and Kading observe the new reality of governing and living in a small city. What they offer is a larger and much longer picture of the effects of neoliberal policy on municipalities in Canada.

Darlene Marzarii, former Municipal Affairs Minister of British Columbia, 1993–96

An interesting, easy to read volume packed with the complex, contemporary issues facing small cities. Crucial amongst these are globalization and ‘othering’ at the theoretical level, but also homelessness, austerity, substance misuse, and prostituion. Each chapter explores a different concern, but the optimistic tenor is evident throughout the book. For Canadians, small cities offer a way of living that is healthy and sustainable, but as Walmsley and Kading show, they need governmental support to develop into vibrant, welcoming, inclusive, socially cohesive multi-cultural and diverse entities.

Lena Dominelli, co-director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk, and Resilience Research, Durham University

As the title of the book implies, municipalities, including smaller ones, are playing an increasingly important role in addressing major social issues such as homelessness and poverty. Municipalities find themselves on the frontlines and are being asked to do more with less. In response, many are developing innovative strategies to deal with these issues and are contributing to a collection of promising practices which need to be shared. This book provides important lessons for municipalities, particularly smaller ones, and case study research which details the inherent opportunities and challenges. While this book highlights the importance of municipal action, it also emphasizes the need for all levels of government to collectively work together if significant and sustained progress is to be made in addressing major social issues.

Jonathan Coté, Mayor of New Westminster

About the Editors

Christopher Walmsley is professor emeritus at Thompson Rivers University. He taught social work for over twenty-five years at Thompson Rivers University, University of Manitoba, and University of British Columbia. He is the author of Protecting Aboriginal Children and co-editor with Diane Purvey of Child and Family Welfare in British Columbia: A History. He has also published numerous articles and reports on fathers and child welfare. He lives in New Westminster, BC. Terry Kading is associate professor of political science at Thompson Rivers University where he teaches courses in Canadian politics, comparative politics, and local government. He is also involved in several community-based research projects with a focus on social and economic challenges in the small city.

Reviews

When compared to the scholarship on metropolitan cities, studies of governance in small cities are relatively few in number, making Small Cities, Big Issues an important resource for researchers interested in the effect of neoliberalism on social exclusion and marginlization in small cities.

Ormsby Review

We are all richer for having this book to read. It should be required reading for each and every MP and MLA currently in government.

Spacing Magazine

A unique window into small city issues and politics that will be of interest to practitioners and scholars alike.

Canadian Journal of Urban Research

A critical and timely analysis of the state of small Canadian cities in the neoliberal era.

Great Plains Research

Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgements
2. Introduction
3. Part I. Displacement, Isolation, and the Other
   1. 1. Homelessness in Small Cities: The Abdication of Federal Responsibility / Terry Kading and Christopher Walmsley
   2. 2. Zoned Out: Regulating Street Sex Work in Kamloops, British Columbia / Lorry-Ann Austin
   3. 3. Needles in Nanaimo: Exclusionary Versus Inclusionary Approaches to Illicit Drug Users / Sydney Weaver
   4. 4. Being Queer in the Small City / Wendy Hulko
   5. 5. “Thrown Out into the Community”: The Closure of Tranquille / Diane Purvey
   6. 6. Fitting In: Women Parolees in the Small City / Jennifer Murphy
   7. 7. Walking in Two Worlds: Aboriginal Peoples in the Small City / Sharnelle Matthew and Kathie McKinnon
4. Part II. Building Community
   1. 8. Social Planning and the Dynamics of Small-City Government / Christopher Walmsley and Terry Kading
   2. 9. The Inadequacies of Multiculturalism: Reflections on Immigrant Settlement, Identity Negotiation, and Community in a Small City / Mónica J. Sánchez-Flores
   3. 10. Municipal Approaches to Poverty Reduction in British Columbia: A Comparison of New Westminster and Abbotsford / Robert Harding and Paul Jenkinson
   4. 11. Integrated Action and Community Empowerment: Building Relationships of Solidarity in Magog, Québec / Jacques Caillouette
   5. 12. Small City, Large Town? Reflections on Neoliberalism in the United Kingdom / Graham Day
5. Conclusion: The Way Forward
6. List of Contributors

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