This collection challenges misconceptions that rural Canada is a bastion of intolerance. While examining the extent and nature of contemporary cultural and religious discrimination in rural Canadian communities, the editors and contributors explore the many efforts by rural citizens, community groups, and municipalities to counter intolerance, build inclusive communities, and become better neighbours. Throughout, scholars and community leaders focus on building new understandings, language, and ways of thinking about diversity and inclusion that will resonate with rural people. Scholars of rural studies will find this book useful as will rural community leaders and community organizers.

Contributors: Clark Banack, Ray Bollman, Claudine Bonner, Corina Borri-Anadon, Jen Budney, Michael Corbett, Roger Epp, Murray Fulton, Stacey Haugen, Phil Henderson, Sivane Hirsch, Michelle Lam, Coleen Lynch, Aasa Marshall, Darcy Overland, Trista Pewapisconias, Dionne Pohler, Samuel Reimer, Jennifer Tinkham, Kyle White

Clark Banack is the director of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities and an adjunct professor of political studies at the Augustana campus of the University of Alberta.

Clark Banack's profile page

Dionne Pohler is Associate Professor at the University of Saskatchewan Edwards School of Business in Saskatoon.

Dionne Pohler's profile page

"This collection by scholars and practitioners is an important contribution to countering stereotypes about rural communities. It explores the complexity and diversity of attitudes and the work against intolerance taking place in groups and institutions in rural communities and offers helpful practical tools to foster inclusivity." Belinda Leach, University of Guelph

"Clark Banack and Dionne Pohler’s essay collection, Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada, plants some critical seeds in a research field relatively ­barren of sustained inquiry. To what extent, their ­contributors ask, does racial intolerance prevail in rural Canada, and how do we create more inclusive rural communities in this country? The co-editor Clark Banack’s standout ­chapter on attitudes toward cultural and religious ­minorities is a must-read for anyone who picks up this volume.... His fascinating answers should be required reading for federal policy makers and community educators alike." Julie McGonegal, Literary Review of Canada, July-August 2023

“The contributors to Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada refuse to fall back on simple, misleading stereotypes about rural place—as uniquely friendly and welcoming or as places of entrenched racism and xenophobia—and instead do the difficult work of recognizing the heterogeneity of rural places, people, and practices." —Karen Foster, Dalhousie University