September 30, 2013 - 4:55am
A team of researchers at Vancouver Island University is working on a project that will expand the public’s understanding of labour market issues in Canada – specifically as they relate to small scale artisans and agri-food producers.
Led by Dr. Nicole Vaugeois, VIU’s BC Regional Innovation Chair in Tourism and Sustainable Rural Development, the team is examining how to best support the traditional trades sector, which includes, among others, weavers, potters, jewelry makers, cheese makers, wine makers and meat processors.
Vaugeois and co-applicant Pascale Knoglinger, Project Manager of Économusée BC Artisans at Work, received a $25,000 Knowledge Synthesis Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to undertake the study. Their project is one of 16 SSHRC funded initiatives out of 47 applicants from post-secondary institutions across Canada.
“We’re excited about this opportunity. It is a unique university-community collaboration in the cultural sector,” says Vaugeois.
The research is important, she adds, because artisans and agri-food producers are often the backbone of Canada’s rural communities, which rely on self-employment as their economic base.
Yet according to Vaugeois, this group of entrepreneurs “is often ignored by government, education institutions and other funding agencies in favour of their larger cousins, the industrial trades.”
“Training supports are virtually non-existent. It’s a constant struggle for traditional trades entrepreneurs to survive. They are so busy exercising their crafts, they don’t have time or the resources available to learn skills necessary for successful entrepreneurship.”
The threat of losing the traditional trades sector is “at Canada’s doorstep within the next 10 to 20 years” as more entrepreneurs retire or give up their crafts, Vaugeois adds.
“If we lose these traditional trades, we not only lose their products, we lose a big part of our Canadian culture and heritage. These entrepreneurs keep our heritage alive through their crafts.”
With the right types of support, Vaugeois says the traditional trades sector can rejuvenate rural regions by providing jobs for young people, and at the same time, keep Canada’s cultural heritage intact.
Vaugeois says it’s gratifying to know the results of the research study will inform labour market policy in Canada. “Our final report, which is due in December, won’t be sitting on a shelf gathering dust,” she says. “SSHRC has matched our team with senior policy makers in Employment and Social Development Canada (formerly Human Resources Development Canada). They are keen to use our results in a meaningful way.”
Another unique aspect of the project is that students are key players. Monica Shore, a graduate student in VIU’s Master in Sustainable Leisure Management, and VIU Bachelor of Tourism undergraduate student Nichola Evernden, created an inventory of training supports for artisans and agri-food producers across Canada, completed a literature review into the traditional trades sector, and identified best practices within and outside of Canada.
Their report will be discussed by participants invited to a forum in the Cowichan Valley on Oct. 24 and 25. Policy makers and BC agri-food producers and artisans will engage in discussion about the kinds of supports or training programs needed in the labour market.
“In a perfect world, if our public secondary and post-secondary systems started to identity the traditional trades sector as an important niche, we could seriously look at what we can do to support it,” says Vaugeois. “But we need society as a whole to promote the traditional trades sector as a viable and valuable career choice for young people.”
“Maybe 10 years from now, if a young person goes through secondary school with a desire to become a cheese maker, they’d be supported in that choice and mentored by someone.”
Mentoring and collaborating with more experienced researchers is the most valuable part of being involved in this research project, according to Evernden, who is completing her final year of undergraduate studies at VIU.
“Just seeing how other people work and gain knowledge, and expanding my personal research skills has been a tremendous benefit,” she says.
Shore is also gaining valuable first-hand research experience. “I’d never written a grant proposal before and am thrilled it resulted in funding,” she says.
Vaugeois adds the project “exemplifies everything that VIU is about” from community engagement, to long term projects with community partners, to applied and relevant research that informs communities, and training and development policy within the labour market.
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Editor’s note: In addition to serving as BC Regional Innovation Chair in Tourism and Sustainable and Rural Development, Vaugeois is a co-director for the World Leisure Center of Excellence in Sustainability and Innovation at VIU. She maintains a blog on sustainable rural development
ABOUT VIU: Vancouver Island University is Canada’s west coast university. Known as a centre of excellence for teaching, learning and applied research, VIU offers a diverse range of certificate, diploma and undergraduate and master degree programs to more than 18,000 students on campuses in Nanaimo, Powell River and Cowichan, and at the Parksville-Qualicum Centre. For more information visit www.viu.ca
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