Dal academics and community come together to "reimagine" post‑pandemic Nova Scotia

It has been a challenging year for Nova Scotians — not only given the global pandemic, but also Canada’s largest mass murder in April and the continuing imperative to attend to the crises of racism and colonialism.

In response, Dalhousie’s Faculty of Management has brought together academic experts from across the province and paired them with thoughtful and influential community members. Their goal: explore what a reimagined future for Nova Scotia could look like — how Nova Scotians embrace new ways of looking at collective challenges and collective responsibilities coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rolling out this fall, Reimagine NS focuses on five key aspects of Nova Scotians’ daily lives. For each aspect, a research and practice team drew on the talents of members of Nova Scotia’s business, government and non-profit communities. Project members sought to engage in constructive dialogue with each other and discuss what Nova Scotians want their future to look like.

Learn more: dal.ca/reimagineNS

“Nova Scotia is a close-knit community of people,” says Kim Brooks, dean of the Faculty of Management. “We engage in remarkably similar activities and we care about each other’s well-being; whether social, political, health, environmental or ecological.”    

Collaboration and connection

Each team’s report positions their recommendations to public, not-for-profit, and private sector actors and institutions within its Nova Scotia context. In each case, teams were attentive to the role of technology, innovation, inclusion, community and connection, as well as ways that this work builds on the recommendations in the Now or Never “Ivany” report.

“Unlike other recovery models that focus on the way industries engage with economies, and which might be generalizable across jurisdictions, the teams’ approaches to a reimagined Nova Scotia centres around the human experience and what makes Nova Scotians unique,” says Lori Turnbull, director of the School of Public Administration. “We hope this approach makes the reports accessible for Nova Scotians who are hungry to see us take advantage of the lessons learned in this era and move forward together.”

Each report will be accompanied with a free, open-to-the-public virtual panel event, the first of which is scheduled for Thursday, October 15.

Each week on Dal News, ahead of each event, we’ll be posting insights on each report directly from their authors.The list below will be updated to share each profile as they are published.

• Read our story on the Care and Connect report here.
• Read our story on the Support and Protect report here.
• Read our story on the Learn and Work report here.
• Read our story on the Cultivate and Consume report here.
• Read our story on the Create and Commemorate report here.
  

Learn more about the project and sign up for the panel events at dal.ca/reimagineNS