National Network for Equitable Library Service

At the close of WW II, politicians throughout western Canada were concerned about how small prairie towns would adapt to the new technologies and society of the post-war era. In Manitoba, Premier Stuart Garson appointed a Royal Commission to investigate the resources available to rural communities." "One of the commission's researchers was Jim Giffen, a young student of Innis's who would later become a prominent sociologist. Giffen did field research in three towns in southwestern Manitoba: Carman, Rossburn, and Elgin. He examined local organizations as diverse as the Pool elevator and Women's Institute, and looked at the impact of isolation on the education and activities of young people, the role of the church, and gender and race relations." "Giffen's report, never before published, is a look at the Canadian institution of the small prairie town on the brink of tremendous change. Much of what he found in rural Manitoba held true for small towns across the Canadian prairies. Rural Life records the last moments of a society that until then had enjoyed over seventy-five years of cultural stability. Gerald Friesen's Afterword is a detailed and thoughtful assessment of the political and economic climate surrounding the commission, and the influence of political priorities on its deliberations.