Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: stage 2 - Canada case study

2. Canada: The rural context

Canada is a geographically large country, and while over 90% of the territory is rural, its population is predominantly urban (OECD, 2010). The population of rural Canada is approximately 6.6 million people, representing 17.8% of the Canadian population (Statistics Canada, 2022). Between 2016 and 2021, the rural population of Canada grew by 0.4%, while urban populations grew by 6.3% (or 15 times faster). The share of rural populations by province and territory varies greatly across the country (see Appendix A). It should be noted that there is no single, universal definition of rural at the national, sub-national, or local levels in Canada. Multiple definitions of rural are used for policies and programmes (Du Plesis et al., 2001; Hammond, 2023) (see Appendix B). Regardless of which one is used, there are two common elements to rural definitions in Canada: distance and density (Markey, Breen, Lauzon, et al., 2015). Rural is often defined by large distances between communities and low population densities (Markey, Breen, Vodden, et al., 2015; Reimer & Bollman, 2010).

The proportion of Canadians living in rural communities has declined since the 1930s. Rural demographics in Canada are challenged by out-migration of young adults, workforce attraction and retention, and aging populations (Corbett & Forsey, 2017; Sitsofe, 2025). As noted by Hanlon and Skinner (2022), Canada’s rural communities have been aging more rapidly than urban communities for the past four decades. Rural communities historically were not sites of immigration, however, this has been changing in the past three decades. Many rural communities in Canada have begun to welcome community initiatives to support the attraction and retention of newcomers (Gibson et al., 2017; Khayambashi, 2024).

Rural landscapes in Canada are historically defined by natural resource-based activities and the export of these resources to urban areas (Markey, Breen, Vodden, et al., 2015; Vodden et al., 2019). Rural places still hold substantial connections to natural resource-based industries, however, since the 1980s significant transitions to a global economy have been witnessed (Epp & Whitson, 2001; Norcliffe, 2001; Stiles & Cameron, 2009).