People living in small towns and rural and remote communities across BC joined together last week for a virtual town hall meeting. The BC Healthy Living Alliance hosted the event to spark pre-election discussions about the challenges and opportunities for small communities to become healthier places to live.

Overall, participants identified 3 ‘high priorities’ for action, including:

Ensuring that there are doctors, nurses and other health care professionals in small communities;

Improved sidewalks/trails for pedestrians; and Affordable housing.

Participants from Prince Rupert raised the issue of walk-ability. When asked about priorities for creating a healthier community, one Rupert resident suggested, the need to create “vibrant, walkable city centres.”

There was also interest in ways of “getting more kids to use bikes when getting to and from school”. Food security was flagged as a high priority in terms of increasing community knowledge and connection with local foods, increasing local food production and looking for ways to reduce food waste.

Develop a Food Security Plan was the option highlighted by Rupert participants as the most important role for local government to promote food security.

Barbara Kaminsky, BCHLA Chair and Canadian Cancer Society CEO (BC & Yukon Division) and explains the connection between BCHLA’s attention to small communities and chronic disease prevention.

She said, “according to the Canadian Population Health Initiative, residents of more rural areas have a lower life expectancy, are more likely to be at an unhealthy weight and have poorer health practices when it comes to smoking, nutrition and physical activity.”

She added, “BCHLA has been advocating for supportive environments to help people live healthier, this is especially important in rural and remote communities where the lifestyle risks for chronic disease are higher. Local governments have an important role in making physical activity and healthy eating an easy part of our daily lives”

BCHLA has also developed a voter’s guide to give citizens a basic overview of the local government responsibilities that have a direct impact on health, the “Think Healthy, Vote Locally” Guide and the BC Healthy Living Facebook page.

The BC Healthy Living Alliance is a group of organizations that came together in 2003 with a mission to improve the health of British Columbians by addressing the risk factors and health inequities that contribute significantly to chronic disease.