With leadership and collaboration from recreation colleagues in municipal and provincial government, Recreation Nova Scotia is glad to continue to support positive movement towards addressing issues around Community Use of Schools (CUS). Following a sector survey in late 2025, an in-person and virtual meeting helped shape a path forward with potential actions and priority areas of focus.
A core working group met in July to examine these priorities and create an action plan including division of roles and responsibilities, as well as a timeline.
We invite those interested to join us online from 10.30 am-12.00 pm, Tuesday, September 15th to review our proposed areas of action and where there are actions we can collectively contribute to continue to move forward. This meeting will build upon previous meetings on CUS, but attendance at prior events is not required to join; please reach out to Lisa at RNS for an invite or if there are any questions.
Background
For Recreation Nova Scotia, the issue of inconsistent, inequitable, or challenging access to schools for community use has risen as a key priority to address. Although not a new issue, certain challenges have been exacerbated in recent years and with increased demand on recreation facilities, the potential for improved access to schools for community use is heightened. In a planning session at the RNS Conference in Antigonish in October 2024, Community Use of Schools was brought up by attendees as a key priority for the sector. In February 2025, RNS raised the issue when meeting the Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism, and Heritage (CCTH) to bring attention to the issue, seeking cross-departmental collaboration to address it with the recreation sector at the table.