Saint John: An Industrial City in Transition

The Community University Research Alliance (CURA) and the NB Museum offers three evenings of presentations about recent discoveries on the theme - Saint John: An Industrial City in Transition. This week's talk on Marsh Creek, Little Water Clears Us of This Deed will be presented by Graeme Stewart-Robertson. The series continues in February. The presentation will be held January 26, 2006, 7:00pm in the Mary Oland Theatre in the NB Museum, masked Square.

The Human Development Council is one of five partners in the CURA research project analysing the Industrial-Post-Industrial transition currently underway in Saint John, New Brunswick. It is documenting how a medium-sized industrial city of a 120,000 people is reshaping its economic base, sustaining its cultural life, and protecting and conserving its natural environment.

The Community-University Research Alliance program focuses on four broad and interrelated themes that will address many aspects of the Industrial City in Transition. Research themes include:

• The People of Saint John: A Community and Neighbourhood Profile
• The Environmental History of Saint John
• Urban and Rural Planning and the Changing Shape of Greater Saint John
• Cultural Representations of Greater Saint John

The Human Development Council is one of five partners involved in this research project. Others include:

• UNB Saint John
• Atlantic Coastal Action Program
• New Brunswick Museum
• Peninsula Heritage Inc.

Photo: Joe Godin

Mayor McFarlane's 2006 State of the City Address

The following is an excerpt from Saint John Mayor Norman McFarlane's State of the City Address, delivered Jan. 17, 2006. The Human Development Council figures prominently in the City's True Growth Strategy and it's commitment to reduce poverty.

True Growth: As I've said, True Growth is ultimately about attracting people to our community and in 2006 nothing will be more important. Saint John now has an unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent. This is record breaking news and presents us with a new challenge - work force shortages. I've heard this everywhere - in IT companies, trucking companies and throughout the trades, Saint John needs more people. Overcoming this growth-related challenge cannot be done without repatriation, retaining and creating a positive environment for immigration.To that end, continuing to engage our youth with initiatives like Fusion and the Human Development Council's Youth Cabinet will guide us to ensure that as a community we are developing the policies and infrastructure to retain many of our young people and our future leaders in our city.In 2006, through the efforts of our economic development arm, Enterprise Saint John and its partners, we will be developing and launching several 'made in Saint John' initiatives to attract new and former residents back to our community ensuring we have the labour force numbers so that we can continue to grow our city.

Social Development: I've said all along that the city has a leadership role to play in social development. With prosperity all around us, a poverty rate that drops from 29 per cent to 25 per cent is still unacceptable.We heard just last week at BCAPI's annual dinner about our community's many innovative projects, including Vibrant Communities, and the Human Development Council which are making a real difference combating unacceptable rates of poverty and developing more affordable housing. In a prosperous community this is only socially responsible.