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Reimagining a brighter and more collaborative future for Nova Scotians in a post‑pandemic world

Posted by Communications and Marketing on October 12, 2020 in News

Monday, October 12, 2020 (Halifax, NS) - Nova Scotians have been challenged by the global pandemic, Canada’s largest mass murder, and the imperative need 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 to explore what a reimagined future for Nova Scotia could look like. Through the Reimagine Project, teams have explored and hope to inspire new ways of looking at our collective challenges and embracing our collective responsibilities as we move into a post-pandemic way of life. 

The Reimagine Project is framed around 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. This dialogue will provide Nova Scotians with an opportunity to share and reflect on their experiences with the objective of identifying action that will foster stronger social, political, ecological, and economic infrastructures.

Each team has produced a brief report that 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. Their work builds on the recommendations in the Ivany report.

“Nova Scotia is a close-knit community of people,” said Kim Brooks, Dean of Dalhousie’s 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.”  

Lori Turnbull, Director of the School of Public Administration adds, “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.  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.”

As part of its commitment to fostering open and collective dialogue, the Reimagine Project will be hosting a series of online public discussions. Media and community members are invited to learn about the research conducted by each team and the recommendations they have put forth. These dialogues are designed to spark individuals’ imagination, thought subsequent action, and to ensure that the possibilities for Nova Scotia in a post-COVID environment are fully realized. 

Below is a schedule of the online public discussions and a brief description of each discussion theme.  Each discussion will be chaired by Dr. Lori Turnbull. Full details of the Reimagine Project, reports, event information, and how to register can be found at dal.ca/reimagineNS.

Event Programing 

Oct 15th – Care and Connect
The Care and Connect team investigated how the formal and informal mechanisms of caring and connecting have been shaped by Nova Scotia's experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, the community tragedies of 2020, and the emergence of institutional racism issues into becoming a broad part public conversation. 

Oct 22nd – Support and Protect
This team looked at how we deal with vulnerabilities: financial insecurity, social services (including libraries, child care, and community centres, violence, court systems), infrastructure poverty and more. 

Oct 29th – Learn and Work
The Learn and Work team explored big data, information management, ways of sharing information between sectors, job retraining, small and family business, and education. 

Nov 5th - Cultivate and Consume
This team explored food security in Nova Scotia including what needs to be done to develop food procurement practices, supply chains, food security, agriculture, aquaculture and natural resources.

Nov 12th - Create and Innovate
This team studied how the arts communities can build community and foster connections by inspiring innovation, research and development, new ideas, construction and architecture, and culture. 

Please note that during the question and answer portion of each event, media will be asked to identify themselves and their respective outlet should they ask a question. The moderator will do their best to have all questions answered. 

 

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Media Contact:
Lindsay Dowling-Savelle
Communications Advisor – Media Relations
Dalhousie University
Cell: (902) 222-8810
lindsay.savelle@dal.ca