New voices in the debate: The Quesnel Women's Resource Centre and sustainable community development

To increase local diversity, and to enhance prospects of sustainability, two very distinct challenges must be addressed. First, attention must be given to local capacity building so that people and places can react to the challenges and opportunities encapsulated within processes of "change" or "adjustment." Second, there must be a wider participation in the sustainable development process and debate – after all, we cannot call it "community development" if the broader community does not participate. This paper provides an illustration of how one community group in small town British Columbia is working to address both the capacity building and participation challenges. Key words: community capacity building, diverse participation, women