Benito, Manitoba
Site Number: 21
CSD (1991):
Principal Researcher(s):
Assistant Researcher(s):
Located on Manitoba's western border, Benito has a large farming sector (27%). The total population (427) has decreased 5% over the last few years. The labour force participation rate is 42%, the unemployment rate is 7%, and 17% of the community is below LICO.
Site information
Located in Southwestern Manitoba, Benito sits in the Swan River Valley, adjacent to the Saskatchewan border and 474 km northwest of Winnipeg. With a population of 460, the community is known primarily as a farming service center as well as a health service provider because of the local hospital.
Although Benito provides essential services to its residents, including an elementary middle school, it relies on neighbouring Swan River for most things. Since there are only a few employers within Benito, most residents work and shop in Swan River.
Benito’s future as a viable community rests on maintaining the school and hospital as well as through marketing itself successfully as a “bedroom community” for Swan River. Benito’s budding tourism industry, if given the chance, could help compensate for the loss of business due to its three grain elevator closures.
Documents
These documents summarize the work completed and insights gained from updating Economic Capacity Profiles for the New Rural Economy2 (NRE2) sites. The initial set of Profiles was based on the 1996 Census and 2001 NRE site profiles data. The updated Profiles are based on 2001 Census data and 2003 NRE site profiles data.
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