Rural Kingston Perspectives

Consultation has concluded.

Rural Kingston aerial photo with lush trees and blue sky


The City is looking to learn about the experiences of Rural Kingston’s residents, business owners and farmers.

Away from the hustle and bustle of urban life, our rural communities bring unique perspectives to the Kingston identity. This is your chance to provide feedback on your experiences and share ideas about living or working in Rural Kingston.

Staff will use findings from this engagement to better understand the expectations and needs of Rural Kingston and inform how the City will communicate with and support rural communities in the future.

All information received will be compiled and considered by staff for use under the purposes of this site. Information will be collected and used in accordance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and other relevant privacy legislation. All comments made on this site are available to the public and may form part of public records.

Rural Kingston aerial photo with lush trees and blue sky


The City is looking to learn about the experiences of Rural Kingston’s residents, business owners and farmers.

Away from the hustle and bustle of urban life, our rural communities bring unique perspectives to the Kingston identity. This is your chance to provide feedback on your experiences and share ideas about living or working in Rural Kingston.

Staff will use findings from this engagement to better understand the expectations and needs of Rural Kingston and inform how the City will communicate with and support rural communities in the future.

All information received will be compiled and considered by staff for use under the purposes of this site. Information will be collected and used in accordance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and other relevant privacy legislation. All comments made on this site are available to the public and may form part of public records.

Tell us about your experiences living in Rural Kingston!

Rural residents: tell us about your experiences living and working in Rural Kingston!

  • What do you value most about your rural community? 
  • What makes its identity unique? 
  • What are the greatest challenges you face in Rural Kingston? 
  • What changes or opportunities would you like to see in Rural Kingston? 

Use this tool to share your stories and engage with other experiences. 

Thank you for sharing your story with us.
CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

  • Living in rural Kingston

    by ACAMP, over 2 years ago
    What I value the most about living in rural Kingston is the community. We share food that we grow and have too much of, meals, resources like wood, and services like tree-cutting and snow removal. This i what also makes it unique. We are rural but still know who are neighbours are.

    The greatest challenge my family and I face living in Rural Kingston is when we come into urban Kingston. Because we are rural we drive cars, and parking is expensive and not easily found in the city of Kingston itself. We therefore now travel to smaller communities to... Continue reading

    What I value the most about living in rural Kingston is the community. We share food that we grow and have too much of, meals, resources like wood, and services like tree-cutting and snow removal. This i what also makes it unique. We are rural but still know who are neighbours are.

    The greatest challenge my family and I face living in Rural Kingston is when we come into urban Kingston. Because we are rural we drive cars, and parking is expensive and not easily found in the city of Kingston itself. We therefore now travel to smaller communities to buy groceries, participate in recreation etc, to avoid the parking hassle and expense in Kingston


  • New to rural Kingston

    by stonehouse, over 2 years ago
    My partner and I purchased our home in South Frontenac in 2019 as a cottage with a five-year-plan to relocate. In May, I found work in Kingston and at the end of August, my partner followed and we can now fully call the Kingston area our home. With work and the move, it's been a busy summer so we haven't been able to explore and enjoy the area as much as we would like, but we're looking forward to settling in and becoming part of the community here.


    Our biggest challenge is trying to stay active. Back in the City... Continue reading

    My partner and I purchased our home in South Frontenac in 2019 as a cottage with a five-year-plan to relocate. In May, I found work in Kingston and at the end of August, my partner followed and we can now fully call the Kingston area our home. With work and the move, it's been a busy summer so we haven't been able to explore and enjoy the area as much as we would like, but we're looking forward to settling in and becoming part of the community here.


    Our biggest challenge is trying to stay active. Back in the City, we walked everywhere and had a gym 5 minutes away. Here in Kingston, we're lucky that we live near the Cataraqui Trail and have used it regularly to walk our dog and get outside, but getting to the gym is a 40-minute commute each way. At this rate, we're considering setting up a home gym but I wonder why there aren't more health & fitness facilities servicing rural communities. My partner and I would likely visit a gym 3 or 4 times a week if it was a 15-20 minute drive.


    Our other biggest challenge has been connectivity. My wife works from home and we were lucky that Starlink became available in our area this year. It's been fast and effective, although costly. There are whispers of Bell Fibe lines coming in, but our area is pretty remote and I'm not holding my breath. More urgently, there is no cellular service in our area. While that makes it challenging to contact friends & family, my biggest concern is safety in the case of emergencies. In the event of a car accident or personal injury, I cannot reliably call for help. This, to me, is an urgent need in our rural communities. We need local government to communicate this urgency to upper levels of government to help fund infrastructure and partner with big telecom to better serve rural Canadians.


    Other than those, I sometimes worry about the conservative values of our community. We are very lucky that our immediate community is reasonably progressive. There are a few rainbow flags on our road which helps signal the change we hope to see, but this is still a conservative area and long-term I'd really like to see some effort to educate and expose the community to diverse communities.


    And of course, nature conservation and climate change remain important issues facing our community. I know rural Kingston's population is growing and there are efforts to build and expand communities, but we need to make sure the natural environment that makes rural Kingston so beautiful and vibrant remains healthy and a political priority.


    Thanks!