In Atlantic Canada, long-distance commuting for work is a daily reality for many families, particularly those living in rural areas. Families can be separated for weeks, months, or sometimes even years, with loved ones working away and their families keeping life moving along at home.
Atlantic Canadian families living with long-distance commutes tend to face many of the same challenges. Many have developed formal and informal ways of dealing with the, often invisible, pressures of separation. In this episode of Rural Routes, we speak to community leaders, researchers, and people with lived experience about how long-distance commuting can affect families, about the networks and supports that those people are building and about ways these families and those who serve them might benefit from more support.
This episode of Rural Routes is based on interviews with researchers, mobile workers and their family members done at the Families, Work and Mobility Symposium in Prince Edward Island. The symposium happened because so many people lead organizer Christina Murray spoke with during her research told her, “I wish there was an opportunity for people to come together to talk about this issue and how it impacts me, my family and my community.”
Resources:
Families, Work, and Mobility
On the Move Partnership
Vanier Family Foundation
Christina Murray
Rural Routes Partners:
The Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development, MUN
Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation
Rural Policy Learning Commons Partnership
The National Campus and Community Radio Association
Music by Laura C. Bates performed by Trent Severn.