Nurturing Community
Development of a Brome-Missisquoi Nurturing Community
The West Bolton project
The municipality of West Bolton and seven other municipalities in the MRC Brome-Missisquoi are participating in an initiative by the Center local de développement (CLD) to create nurturing towns and villages. The Nurturing Community Project aims to place our food system at the heart of the collectivity and to make our local food provisioning more sustainable.
Some examples of cities that have adhered to the nurturing community movement: Montréal, Val-David, Saint-Bruno, Bromont, Saint-Camille, eight Saguenay municipalities and some municipalities in the Gaspésie region, to name but a few.
Action Plan
5 ingredients
- A productive territory
- Prosperous and responsible businesses
- Better access to healthy food
- An increased demand for proximity
- An optimized life cycle
Goal: To make our local food system more sustainable
Between now and February of 2023, the municipality of West Bolton will elaborate its Plan de développement de communauté nourricière, its nurturing community development plan (PDCN). This process will be carried out in two parts:
- Establish a diagnostic portrait of our current local food system;
This part is now completed:
Portrait and diagnosis Portrait and diagnosis – key facts - Elaborate a vision and a realistic action plan, developed in collaboration with the population and local stakeholders, to make our food system more sustainable.
To this end, we’ll be benefiting from the support and assistance of the Brome-Missisquoi CLD and the OROKOM group’s consulting services. In fact, as part of the implementation of its 2021–2023 Agri-food Strategic Plan, the Brome-Missisquoi Centre Local de Dévelopment (CLD) is rallying eight municipalities within its territory around the concept of nurturing towns and villages. These include (Bolton-Ouest, Brigham, Cowansville, Farnham, Frelighsburg, Lac-Brome, Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge and St-Ignace-de-Stanbridge).
The objectives and advantages for building a nurturing community in West Bolton as well as in Brome-Missisquoi are numerous:
- Improving the quality of life and sense of belonging for the citizens;
- Increasing food autonomy and access to quality food;
- Promoting the retention of agricultural and agri-food businesses;
- Reducing our food system’s ecological footprint;
- Reducing food waste;
- Adapting our practices to the impacts of climate change.
The information relating to this process will be posted on this web page and through other means such as municipal newsletters.
To learn more about the concept of nurturing communities, see the presentation of the MRC concept: Presentation (in french)
In the news
La voix de l’Est from March 30th, 2022
This project was funded by the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec as part of the Appui au développement de l’argriculture et de l’agroalimentaire en région (Support for the development of agriculture and agri-food in the region).
Agro-Forestry Committee
Agro-Forestry Committee is formed by the Municipal Council to develop ways to raise awareness of the cultural and rural heritage in order to preserve the rural and environmental legacy of one hand, promote land use and attract specialised farmers with a view to supporting agriculture niche as expressed by citizens during the Strategic Development Plan process. The protection of the environment and the protection of our landscape must always be at the heart of the recommendations.