1. Methodology
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In carrying out the mandate provided by the Office of the Commissioner, the research team followed a step-by-step methodology similar to that used in previous phases. This methodology was designed to ensure optimal participation of the communities selected, in an effort to focus on the opinions and aspirations of these communities while helping to strengthen their capacities for planning and for evaluating community vitality. The methodology has also been refined based on lessons learned in the previous two phases.
In cooperation with the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise (ACF), leaders of the Saskatchewan Francophone community (the steering committee) were first selected and consulted to support the consultants’ work and to establish the general directions of the study. The steering committee determined the community to be studied, priority sectors and other research criteria. It was agreed that the study would look at the region encompassing Duck Lake, St. Louis, Domremy, Hoey and St. Isidore-de-Bellevue.5 These rural communities have the advantage of being located fairly close to one another.
This region is currently part of an overall development initiative entitled “Projet d’alternative de développement rural : le terroir” (referred to as the Projet du terroir). In order to adapt the Office of the Commissioner’s study as closely as possible to Saskatchewan rural reality, the steering committee wanted to connect this research to the Projet du terroir.
With the help of the steering committee, a task force was set up, consisting of community leaders and key stakeholders from different sectors in the region. This group of approximately 15 individuals held meetings in the winter of 2009, during which it established the expectations for the Projet du terroir and expressed them in the form of a logic model. The task force then chose indicators to measure the achievement of anticipated results and discussed data sources that could be used in this community evaluation. The group also established a certain number of best practices recognized by the community.
This report was developed based on this work and on the collection and analysis of other pertinent documents and information on the Francophone community of the region encompassing Duck Lake, St. Louis, Domremy, Hoey and St. Isidore-de-Bellevue.
Notes
5 In the context of an inter-university research project on the geographic factors pertaining to development and to vitality conditions for Francophone minority communities, the University of Ottawa published, in 2005, a report on the vitality of the Francophone communities of St. Louis, Domremy and St. Isidore-de-Bellevue. For more information on this report (available in French only), please consult the Web site: http://langlois.geog.uottawa.ca/rapports/saskatchewan.pdf
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