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Ridgetown Ontario

Peacock

Greenview Aviaries & Zoo, Ridgetown, Ontario

by Karin McFarlane

#karin mcfarlane #photographer #canadian geographic #peacock #greenview aviaries and zoo #ridgetown #ontario #canada #nature

A foot in one world, a toe in the other. How growing up in the Greater-Toronto-Area and Chatham-Kent shaped my conception of rurality in Canada.

I was born in Chatham, the epicentre of the Chatham-Kent region in Southern Ontario and was raised in Mississauga, the largest suburb of Toronto and the sixth largest city in Canada. Growing up, much of the summer was spent at an old farm property on Lake Ontario, first settled six generations ago by my ancestors, British loyalists fleeing American patriots during the war of 1812.

Map: Pins show the two locations of my upbringing; Mississauga symbolised by the house icon and Ridgetown symbolised by the barn and silo icon

My sister and I would spend our time gardening, exploring, and playing on the beach. Cicada calls personified and punctuated the heat; waves would crackle over hot sand below the clay cliffs facing the lake; titanic August thunderstorms would rupture the night air and shake us awake in the old farmhouse previously inhabited by workers when the land was used for agriculture. Occasionally you could hear the rumble of semi-trucks, but passing cars were too distant to make a difference. We could see stars at night.

My version of rurality has been defined by the differences in lived experiences between Ridgetown and suburban Mississauga, differences that have shaped my perception of the rural-urban divide in Southern Ontario. Perceptions of rural in the rest of Canada are wholly based on media and stereotypes.

As such, rural as I have experienced it, has been defined by wide open spaces; agriculture as the dominant type of land use; and reduced access to resources and amenities relative to the suburban counterparts I was used to. The environment is quieter in my rural places and relatively slow-paced; interpersonal connections were highly valued and flourished, promoting strong community bonds that thrived. While much of it productive agriculture, green space felt abundant with space for wandering.

Yet, this rural landscape is much different than that experienced by my friends who went to school, worked, and truly grew up in this area. I only spent my summers in Ridgetown and was either too young or there too infrequently to work a summer job locally. None of my summers were spent de-tassling corn or working as a labourer on a farm, or as a cook in one of the local restaurants. I haven’t had to contend with urban exodus, shifts and collapses in the agricultural industry, or community-wide problems of substance abuse, issues prevalent in rural communities throughout Canada although none I ever associated with my ‘rural’ experiences.

Reflecting, my experience is likely quite rare and aligned closely with the rural idyll - preconceptions held of the rural landscape so often perpetrated and valued by urbanites who romanticize the ‘country.’ While I am incredibly privileged to have been born in Chatham and grown up with an escape from the noise and concrete intrinsic to the suburban neighbourhoods I was raised in, I don’t believe I could call myself a ‘rural person’ honestly. Yet, I remain sincerely tied to the rural landscape of Southern Ontario due to longstanding family history in Ridgetown, much of my childhood spent in this region, and family members buried at a local church. The farmhouse – today, a misnomer – I spent so many summers in anchors me in a landscape I am learning I profoundly misunderstand and am more disconnected from than I ever realized. It is this conflict that drives me to deepen my understanding of rural Canada.