Canadian Banks and Imperialism in the English-Speaking Caribbean

Canadian banks have been important components of an imperialist system since at least the 19th century. However, their long and rich history of operating as purely exploitative entities in the English-speaking Caribbean region is often overlooked— leading to many incomplete and conflicting narratives about Canada’s role within the global system. I argue that Canada is an imperial actor that exerts agency in supporting a Canadian banking oligopoly both within Canada and in the English-speaking Caribbean. Insufficient attention is given to these Canadian banks, especially considering the power they have wielded in the Caribbean over the centuries. By analyzing the relationship between Canadian banks and the Caribbean, this project helps compensate for a lack of attention given to the Caribbean region in international relations scholarship. The Caribbean region once informed the global political economy via the production of sugar using enslaved labor. In the present, Caribbean states provide incentives to foreign investors that maintain relationships of exploitation by foreign capital. My dissertation looks at how Canadian banks, in the context of global capitalism and structures of corporate power, have exploited their advantageous position in the Caribbean from the time of British colonialism to the present

Buying a home? consult an economist

1 online resource (46 p.) : col. ill.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-46).Calgary, Alberta and Halifax, Nova Scotia are two dramatically different cities in terms of their economic capabilities. Calgary’s economy is high-growth, driven by the oil and gas industry, while Halifax is a low-growth, service based economy. The future of both Calgary and Halifax looks to be unfolding quite differently. The population of Calgary is young, it is growing and demand is high for all types of housing. Halifax is becoming older, smaller and urbanized, as the young labour force is leaving Nova Scotia in search of employment. Making the decision to move to either Calgary or Halifax should be done by closely examining one’s personal finances and what the local economy has to offer. Calgary’s housing market boasts some of the highest prices but this is bolstered by a supercharged economy, which affords its residents economic freedom and a positive price-to-income ratio. The average price of a home in Halifax is above the Canadian average but as the demographic changes in Nova Scotia, demand for single- detached homes is cooling. Maintaining steady, positive net migration numbers adds to the growth of an economy in three different ways, according to the Conference Board of Canada: productivity growth, growth in the capital stock, labour force growth. Many factors should be taken into consideration before moving with the intentions of investing in a home. A career in oil and gas can be lucrative, generating an affluent lifestyle but an economy such as Alberta’s relies on global demand. Halifax’s economy has historically been low-growth and it appeals to residents relying on its service base. Before buying a home, an economist should be consulted

Investigating the appropriateness and relevance of mobile web accessibility guidelines

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develop and maintain guidelines for making the web more accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG 2.0 and the MWBP 1.0 are internationally regarded as the industry standard guidelines for web accessibility. Mobile testing sessions conducted by AbilityNet document issues raised by users in a report format, relating issues to guidelines wherever possible. This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation that examines how effectively and easily these issues can be related by experts to the guidelines provided by WCAG 2.0 and MWBP 1.0. Copyright 2014 ACM

Dis-locations and Broken Narratives: articulating liminal and interstitial experiences through a series of moving image and mixed media installations

This practice led research explores three video and mixed media artworks created and exhibited between 2006-17. Mariners and Migrants: in Search of Home, (2006) WAVE/ING, (2011/12) and Dear Child, (2016/7) are part of a substantive body of artwork which has been produced since the late discovery of my adoption in 1991. This event and its effect changed both the content and shape of my work reflecting my personal response to the experience of otherness and dis-location identified as, “The feeling of being between places and people, the sense of transience, the experience of seeing the world and one’s place in it from different perspectives.” 1 This led to the creation of multi-layered artworks inspired by narratives of migration and exile and the the development of various imagistic and material strategies which reflect liminality. These include acausal2, non-linear editing and asynchronous multi channel projections and layers of glass and silk within expanded installations. The three main sections of this commentary relate to different elements of the research journey. They cover responses to historic events and narratives, the distinctive use of original archives, the function of physical journeys in the development and making of artworks and the use of interpretive dance to create an embodied response to loss. I would argue that my situated and exploratory practice, applied throughout the development and production process was effective in transforming the effects of dissociation and dissonance3 into innovative imagistic outcomes. This is situated in relation to other artists working with trauma and memory and to key ideas around post adoptive psychology with reference to other feminist theorists. This body of work represents an effective and fluid response to the dis-locations of late discovery which is not principally therapeutic or sociological in intent

Development and application of a geomorphic-based vulnerability index for assessing relative coastal vulnerability to erosion under wave energy scenarios associated with climate change

xiii, 202 leaves : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 29 cmIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-181).With the projected increase in global mean sea level rise, small coastal communities face formidable challenges as they seek to sustainably manage their coastal assets and resources impacted by sea level rise (SLR). Consequently, it has become increasingly important to assess a community’s coastal vulnerability. In collaboration with the Partnership for Canada-Caribbean Community Climate Change Adaptation (ParCA) project, the aim of this research was twofold: 1) develop a tool to assess relative physical coastal vulnerability to erosion, incorporating the geomorphic components of assailing, resistance, and resilience characteristics and 2) apply the tool to Lockeport, Nova Scotia under four wave energy scenarios to simulate how the addition of storm winds and increases in water depths associated with climate change conditions changes the wave energy reaching the shoreline; ultimately allowing for the determination of coastline and building vulnerability to erosion and inundation. The identification of areas and buildings most vulnerable to SLR-induced erosion and inundation, under varying wave energy scenarios, is meant to guide coastal planning and SLR adaptation strategies in the Town of Lockeport, Nova Scotia

\u27A Literary Man & A Merchant\u27: The Legal Career of Sir William Young

Sir William Young (1799-1887) of Halifax was a leading lawyer, served as Attorney General, promoted legal reforms in the Assembly, sat as Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, and promoted the establishment of Dalhousie University\u27s Faculty of Law. He thereby fulfilled a variety of roles in his pursuit of two professional goals he had set at an early age, namely material success and intellectual interest. Nonetheless, his career in the law has been mostly ignored. By examining Young\u27s legal career in detail, especially by paying attention to the duties he performed in his professional roles, this thesis seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the province\u27s nineteenth-century law and legal culture, with an emphasis on three themes: legal professionals (lawyers and judges) at work; Nova Scotian legal culture; and the importance of print information for professional success in the law. Young\u27s legal apprenticeship involved more responsibility than generally attributed to legal apprenticeship in British North America, allowed Young to develop a rigourous and systematic approach to readings in the law, and was likely influenced by Scottish Enlightenment ideas. Demonstrating an awareness of the need for balance and diversity in legal practice, Young developed a highly successful law business. Establishing an extensive private law library, a demonstration of his career-long appreciation of the need for up-to-date and authoritative legal materials, was also key to his success. This thesis examines the nature of Young\u27s law practice, including areas of work, clientele, colleagues, income, and activities, such as railway-related services, with implications for the province as a whole. During Young\u27s generally-overlooked tenure as Attorney General, factors beyond his control, namely conflicts prompted by ethnic and religious differences, tended to obscure his successes in the administration of justice and development of legislation. This thesis also argues that Young\u27s leading role in law reform efforts, with emphasis on civil procedure, laws affecting private property, and systematic statutory reform, is attributable to his legal liberalism. This thesis pays considerable attention to the non-adjudicative side of Young\u27s work as Chief Justice, whereby he served as a chief administrator, advisor, spokesperson, and drafter of legislation. Political divisions, some caused by his public support for Confederation, helped to divert attention from the accomplishments of Young\u27s tenure, which included his leading role in promoting published case reports. Young\u27s reported decisions, which reveal an approach between adherence to authority and instrumentalism that does not squarely fit any model set out thus far in the historiography, are also examined. As seen through the lens of Young\u27s career, nineteenth-century Nova Scotian legal culture, with its diverse roots, signs of both liberal and more traditional influences, and capacity to admire and to look outside aspects of British legal culture, reveals signs of greater complexity and confidence than has been depicted in relation to the legal history\u27 of other parts of British North America

Restorative Justice and the Rule of Law: Rethinking Due Process through a Relational Theory of Rights

Restorative approaches to criminal justice can be reconciled with fundamental notions of the rule of law through a relational understanding of rights. Firstly, the paper demonstrates how theories of rights have evolved from a liberal understanding in representative democracies, where individual rights holders can trump the interests of others, to a relational theory where rights embody values which structure appropriate relationships among citizens. Second, the paper shows that relational theory can explain how formal criminal justice and restorative justice in a deliberate democracy interrelate, while embodying different, though compatible, rights, duties and remedies among wrongdoers, victims, communities and justice system authorities. Third, the paper invokes a relational understanding of administrative law to chart an approach to judicial review of restorative justice processes, which can reinforce their deliberative and participatory nature through vindication of relational rights and remedies, without simply returning cases to criminal courts. Finally, the paper details the substantive and procedural administrative law standards to be applied in reviewing restorative justice. The conclusion asserts that a relational understanding of the role and rule of law in relation to restorative justice promotes relationships of equality based on mutual concern, respect and dignity in ways that can enhance justice and social solidarity in a deliberative democracy

On the Poverty of Responsibility : A Study of the History of Child Protection Law and Jurisprudence in Nova Scotia

This thesis presents a history of child protection law and jurisprudence in Nova Scotia. The thesis begins by examining the development of the first child protection statute in Canada, the Nova Scotia Prevention and Punishment of Wrongs to Children Act in 1882. The Act was developed amidst a climate of reform in late-19th century Halifax, at the urging of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The Act, along with a number of other pieces of “domestic relations” legislation at the time, was focused on protecting children in poverty. With the passing of the Act, the legislature not only set out the harms to children that would justify an intrusive intervention into the family, but it affirmed the presumption of family autonomy in a liberal society. In this thesis, I detail how, through history, the defining, adjudicating and remedying of harm to children through child protection law and jurisprudence has helped to construct the division between the public sphere and the private sphere of the family in poverty. I explore how the divide has shifted over time, responding to new ideas from welfare professionals about harm to children and their best interests, as well as social policies setting out the proper relationship between the family and the state. I show how, despite the fact that knowledge of what constitutes harm to children has shifted significantly over time, families marginalized at the intersection of poverty, racism, sexism and ableism have always been more likely to be constructed as “dissolute”, “unfit” or “risky”, justifying a coercive intervention into the family and the denial of state support. Without subjecting concepts of harm and best interests to critical analysis, child protection law and jurisprudence will continue to perpetuate the same processes of subordination based on race, class, gender and ability that render the child vulnerable in the first place. I conclude with recommendations for a supportive legal concept of family autonomy for socio-economically marginalized families

Drivers of community engagement in protecting heritage assets in the context of a dynamic coastal landscape

1 online resource (vi, 183 pages) : colour illustrations, colour mapIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-141).Coastal archaeological sites in Nova Scotia, as in many jurisdictions around the world, are at risk of damage or destruction due to the impacts of climate change. Residents in a region of southwest Nova Scotia exhibit a strong connection to their ancestry and a high level of engagement in protecting their coastal heritage assets. Through an online survey and semi-structured interviews this study explores the factors motivating this engagement and identifies 15 drivers that can be categorized as either connecting to the past, relating to the present or preserving for the future. An understanding of these drivers can assist government and academia in achieving their goals to protect coastal archaeology by establishing a citizen science program, while allowing communities to have a say in decision making and play an active role in the preservation of their heritage. It can also aid in creating messaging around heritage preservation and developing interpretation about local heritage and climate change impacts in the region

Iranian cashes recognition using mobile

In economical societies of today, using cash is an inseparable aspect of human life. People use cashes for marketing, services, entertainments, bank operations and so on. This huge amount of contact with cash and the necessity of knowing the monetary value of it caused one of the most challenging problems for visually impaired people. In this paper we propose a mobile phone based approach to identify monetary value of a picture taken from cashes using some image processing and machine vision techniques. While the developed approach is very fast, it can recognize the value of cash by average accuracy of about 95% and can overcome different challenges like rotation, scaling, collision, illumination changes, perspective, and some others.Comment: arXiv #13370