The Centre for Local Prosperity began providing assistance to the Town of Lockeport, Nova Scotia beginning in February 2019 through a town hall meeting attended by 30 community residents. Since that time, a community group formed and has created a non-profit society and has been holding regular meetings about taking agency for the issues related to the future health of the community. Lockeport provides an inspirational example of cooperation between local business, community groups, residents and the Town’s municipal officials who all deeply care about the future of their community.
The Centre and the Town of Lockeport have recently partnered with the Green Resilience Project (GRP) to undertake a series of in depth conversations about the future of the town. The project has the following goals:
| * Explore and document the links between community resilience, income security and the shift to a low-carbon economy; Get community perspectives on the ways in which income security policies (like a basic income) can help build resilience and encourage local action on all the aspects of the climate crisis—from the response to local climate impacts to the transition out of fossil fuel employment; * Build conversation and understanding across the climate and energy, income security and labour communities, and with those who are too often left out of policy discussions and decisions; Deepen the levels of engagement in active planning for the community’s future. |
In late November and early December 2021, the Centre conducted a combination of virtual and in-person conversations with 35 adult Town residents and 31 students of Lockeport Regional High School. Participants identified a wide range of environmental and economic challenges facing their community, from coastal flooding and wells drying to the projected collapse of the fishery due to lobster migration. Discussion also highlighted concerns regarding losing the town’s causeway connection to the mainland due to sea-level rise. The Green Resilience Project bringing national attention to this important effort as a way to inspire other communities to engage with their core future issues. The full reports from Lockeport and the national GRP project are presented below.
The Future Proofing Lockeport community meetings are continuing.
