The Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN) fosters networking opportunities and enhances rural development knowledge exchange by supporting various events. Below you will see a list of completed events; if you are interested in any of these events and want more information, please contact Director of Community and Member Engagment Judy Ferguson.

Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD)

COMPLETED - Aboriginal Summit on Creative Pedagogy

Calgary – April 9, 2011
This meeting between creative Aboriginal scholars and ACAD faculty provided an open discussion regarding ideas on creative education by inviting Aboriginal scholars to describe their personal experiences, suggestions for new approaches to studio based creative learning, and suggestions for better ways of delivering education. ACAD faculty will use these suggestions to raise student attraction and retention and help address the needs of Aboriginal students.

Athabasca University

COMPLETED - Setting the Stage

Hinton – April 2011
Setting the Stage was one of the first steps in bringing together key stakeholders from Athabasca University, NorQuest College, and the towns of Hinton and Grande Cache in the “Sustainability Plans for Resource Based Communities” research project. The event brought together the partners discuss what they want and need from the project.

The Banff Centre

COMPLETED - The Banff Centre Workshop on Digital Media in Alberta 2020

Banff – May 8-10, 2011
This workshop will contribute to the collaboration between the small digital media content creator communities, key partners from the business, tech
nology, and cultural communities. Local knowledge and international networks were used to discuss digital media and opportunities in Alberta. The workshop hopes to result in an ongoing collaboration between post secondary member institutions and rural Alberta communities.

COMPLETED - Fostering Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy

Kingston, Ontario – November 19, 2010
The Monieson Centre at Queen’s University researched how the creative rural economy can revitalize a community. By attending this event, the Banff Centre was able to discuss ideas, theory, research findings and experiences with a centre that has a similar Arts and Culture focus. Creative economy includes art, advertising, design, film, publishing and education.
Results: Fostering Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy Report

Bow Valley College

COMPLETED - Community Engagement in Post-Secondary Education Solutions

Strathmore, Okotoks, Cochrane, High River - February/May 2011
This event will explore the readiness of rural Albertan communities to participate in increasing access to adult education and receive input from communities on what types of education is needed.

COMPLETED - Comprehensive Community Human Resource Profiles - Bow Valley College Rural Region

High River - May 19, 2010
The goal is to meet with communities and  produce by August 31, 2010, eleven ’community human resource profiles’ for the communities of Airdrie, Strathmore, Chestermere, High River, Okotoks, Cochrane, Canmore, Banff, Beiseker/Irricana, Crossfield, and  Black Diamond/Turner Valley. These community human resource oriented profiles will create an up to date base of information for communities, educators, government and other organizations to base service decisions on focused on the issue of human development.
Results: Partnering on Solutions - Conference Results

COMPLETED - Rural Health Workforce Development Event

Calgary – March 28, 2011
This event brought together a number of different groups to discuss issues surrounding the health workforce education in rural communities. Groups included small Calgary region communities, First Nations, Alberta Health Services care providers, Alberta Employment and Immigration, Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, local adult continuing education societies, Service Canada, public employment services, and three post-secondary institutions.

COMPLETED - Assessing & Enhancing Rural Employer Access to Workforce Training

High River, Okotoks – September 1, 2011
The event will create a partnership between Alberta Employment & Immigration (AE&I), Bow Valley College, ARDN, Community Futures Highwood, and the rural communities of Okotoks and High River. It also supports a pre-project launch consultation and a post-project wrap up conference for an AE&I funded project on sustainable employee training opportunities.

Grande Praire Regional College

COMPLETED -Foresight Scenario Creation Project

Grande Prairie County – October 5-6, 2011
The purpose of this event is to introduce a wide variety of people in the Grande Prairie region to Strategic Foresight tools and then show participants how to use
or apply them (Scenario Creation) and will also build regional capacity.

Keyano College

COMPLETED - Unwrapping the Research

Fort McMurray - October 22-24, 2010
This conference will be structured to facilitate dialogue and learning opportunities among researchers, local residents, and to stimulate creative thinking about innovating opportunities
Results: Unwrap the Research Summary Report
Related Documents: Curb Article - Fort McMurray: Life in the Fish Bowl

Mount Royal University

COMPLETED - Revitalization of Rural Alberta Business: Business Retention and Expansion

Calgary – March 1, 2011
This networking event helped players discuss the structure and financing of a province-wide Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E) project (page 24). The meeting addressed critical processes like community engagement, which rural communities to include in the study, providing an update on funding, and creating timelines that would help ensure a successful project launch. BR&E is an economic development tool that identifies problems and barriers to business growth.

COMPLETED - Informing and Engaging Communities

High River – March 30, 2011
This event saw representatives from communities like Cochrane, Crossfield, Irricana, Didsbury, Barnwell, Coaldale, and Vauxhall come together to network and discuss the upcoming “Finding Sustainable Solution(s) to Unique Environmental Problems of Selected Rural Alberta Communities” project. This meeting allowed each representative to share their ideas and concerns.

NorQuest College

COMPLETED - Adult Learning and Labour Market Needs Regional Partnership Conferences

Edson, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc – October 5, 12, 19, 2011

Key stakeholders from communities, post-secondary institutions and government are invited to share and evaluate the results from the Community Adult Learning Needs Assessment Project. This discussion will lead to enhanced adult training and learning within rural communities by developing collaborations between key stakeholders.

COMPLETED - Outcome Mapping Orientation

Edmonton - June 17, 2010
This event will begin to build the capacity of Alberta research and community development networks to use Outcome Mapping to demonstrate our collective impact on community learning and economic development.

COMPLETED - Putting Down Roots: Our Diverse Communities

Multiple - November 26, 2010 
This event will be a regional exchange for individuals and organizations in Alberta communities who are focused on supporting newcomers through language programming, welcoming, and other social sciences.
Results: Putting Down Roots Report

Northern Lakes College

COMPLETED - Aboriginal Leadership and Governance Training in Rural Northern Alberta

Wingate Hotel, Edmonton - Multiple
This event will share information about current Aboriginal leadership training opportunities, identify unmet needs and gaps in existing opportunities, and work toward solutions.
Results: Report on First Gathering, Report on Second Gathering, Report of Third Gathering

Portage College

COMPLETED - Food Production Rules and Regulations Workshops

St. Paul, Cold Lake, Two Hills – September 27 and October 12, 2011
These events will increase knowledge and awareness of local food producers of the regulations around labeling and packaging when entering the food production industry. Also, Portage College will be able to identify potential users of the proposed Regional Food Processing Facility in St. Paul.

COMPLETED - Community Disability Services Academic Networking

Lac La Biche – February 23, 2011
The main goals of this event were to build the capacity of the community disability services profession bproviding leadership and collaboration across post-secondary programs, and to promote the value of the community disability services sector by developing a communications strategy that focuses on rural schools with the most severely impacted enrollment in PSIs.

COMPLETED - Lakeland Regional Job Fair and Career Expo

Cold Lake – February 16, 2011
This career and job fair gave students and the rural labour force access to the Cold Lake and Bonnyville region’s career and training opportunities and job openings.

COMPLETED - Portage College Community Social Work Program Mini Conference

Lac La Biche - August 20 - 22, 2010
This event is a conference for Human Services professionals and credits will be given to students from Northern Lakes College and Portage who attend.

Red Deer College

COMPLETED - Central Alberta Social Work Conference

Red Deer – June 13-14, 2011
With a large number of social workers and human service professionals living and practicing in central Alberta, this event provided much needed professional development opportunities for social workers in the area. Professionals were able to share experiences and resources, and network with one another.

COMPLETED - Pathways to Sustainability

Red Deer – February 23-25, 2011

The “Pathways to Sustainability” conference started in 2009 as a way for participants to discuss different dimensions of a sustainable community such as governance, culture, socialization, environment and economy. At this year’s conference, community-led initiatives that arise gave support to over 35 communities in Alberta.

COMPLETED - Centre for Values and Applied Ethics (CVAE) Planning Workshop

Banff – December 3-5, 2010
This workshop brought people from different areas of applied ethics together in order to create meaningful discussion, collaboration, and to move towards a decision on the proposed charter of the CVAE and a possible partnership and development plan.  It was co-hosted with the Alberta Association of Colleges & Technical Institutes (AACTI).

SAIT Polytechnic

COMPLETED - Future Directions in Providing First-Responders with Protection from Workplace Trauma

Banff Centre -  October 6-7, 2010
This gathering will assist in placing Alberta in a leading position in protecting first responders and other workers exposed to traumatic stress

COMPLETED - Culinary Agro-Literacy Forum

Calgary – June 2011
The forum was created to bring together groups and people interested in agriculture and food production such as farmers, government, educators, chefs, grocers, and restaurateurs in order to discuss food issues in Alberta. The main theme of the event was sustainability and focused on aspects like education, running a sustainable farm/restaurant, sourcing local suppliers, food culture and the media, and slow foods.

COMPLETED - SimuNation

Calgary- June 7, 2010
This event brings Patient Simulation Educators together from across the province to participate in an exchange of ideas and techniques designed to improve healthcare practice in Alberta through use of highly realistic and sophisticated Patient Simulation

University of Alberta

COMPLETED - Building Mental Health Response Capacity in Rural Alberta

Viking - August 2010
This event will scope, assess, and being the design of a Rural Alberta Mental Health Crisis Response program that links university-based researchers, the Canadian Mental Health Association and first response caregivers such as  paramedics, police, firefighters).

COMPLETED - Continuing Care Needs in the Fort McMurray Area

Keyano College – May 10-11, 2011
Representatives from Keyano College, the Institute of Continuing Care Education and Research, affiliated organizations like the University of Alberta and NorQuest College, and the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities came together to discuss issues related to continuing care needs in local rural communities.

COMPLETED - Continuing Care Needs in the Grande Prairie Area

Grande Prairie Regional College – May 17, 2011
Representatives from Grande Prairie College, the Institute of Continuing Care Education and Research, affiliated organizations such as the University of Alberta and NorQuest College, and the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities came together to discuss issues related to continuing care needs in local rural communities.

COMPLETED - Framework for a Provincial Caregiver Strategy

Calgary or Edmonton - October 9, 2010
This event will bring family caregivers together to meet with other caregivers and organizations to assist the development of a provincial caregiver strategy.

COMPLETED - Health Law Institute - Issues of Consent in Electronic Health Records

Banff - June 22 – 24, 2011
This event allowed the Health Law Institute to network with other organizations related to Electronic Health Records in Canada as well as present and learn from academic research presentations. Discussion topics included the advantages/disadvantages and use of electronic records, whether or not consent should be required for creation, use, or disclosure of electronic health records, and access to electronic health records for clinical or research purposes.

COMPLETED - Managing Alberta’s Water - Linking Science to Citizen Management

Red Deer - March 25, 2011
This event will seek to develop collaborative relationships among the large universities in the province and the analytic needs of the Watershed Planning Advisory Councils. The event will raise awareness about the benefits and opportunities that social science research can bring to natural resource management.

COMPLETED - Rural Alberta Deliberates on Climate Change

Red Deer – May 9, 2011
This event was used to solidify the relationships between researchers at the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, and the Pembina Institute first sparked at a virtual conference in 2010 hosted by the Pembina Institute and Alberta Acts on Climate Change on engaging Albertans of the different facets and elements of climate change. These relationships will lead to further meetings and discussions.

COMPLETED - Rural Experiential Learning Initiative (RELI) Symposium

Olds – April 9, 2011
This event was used to highlight and explain the final outcomes of two community RELI projects including the Wetlands Interpretation Project and the Capital
Retention Project. It was a way for all involved, including the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, Olds College, Olds Institute, Community Learning Campus, and the town of Olds, to come together to discuss experiences and give feedback.

COMPLETED - Planning, Law and Property Rights Conference

Edmonton – May 26-28, 2011
This event was used to present and discuss new academic research regarding planning and law as well as interdisciplinary connections to the topic. The research presented at this conference directly impacts rural communities and people and includes topics like land use planning/regulation, governance and planning, property rights, expropriation and compensation, along with sustainability and economic development.

COMPLETED - The Social Transformation of Rural Canada: New Insights into Community, Culture, and Citizenship

University of Alberta - September 31 - October 1, 2010
The purpose of this networking event was to convene a workshop of academic researchers from across Canada on the topic of transformation in rural Canada. A premise for this workshop was a sense that something new is emerging from the spaces and places of rural Canada.
Results: The Social Transformation of Rural Canada Report

University of Calgary

COMPLETED - Alberta Green Energy Alliance Strategy Meeting

Calgary – December 6, 2010
This event helped the Alberta Green Energy Alliance refine their strategy for promoting low-impact renewable energy and to formalize the structure and governance of the Alliance.  It also helped strengthen the connections of the individuals and organizations involved in renewable energy technology and policy in Alberta.

University of Lethbridge

COMPLETED - Ecotone: An Art / Science Symposium

Lethbridge, Stavely – September 9-10, 2011
This project’s goal is to increase community development by creating networking opportunities while educating participants on the importance of the native fescue grasslands. Speakers from artistic and scientific communities will have a chance to share knowledge and experience in the hopes of creating thought and action.