Politics of Land Developers and Development in the Toronto Region

Urban land developers are influential actors in the governance, planning, and transformation of urban land. Yet developers and the development industry are not well understood, and are seldom scrutinized critically in academic scholarship. This dissertation investigates the role of land developers in the governance and transformation of land at the urban-rural fringe in the Toronto region. Critical theories of property, land use conflict, planning, and urban geography illuminate social, spatial, and policy issues associated with the rapid transformation of land. Theories of interpretive institutionalism contribute richly to these urban theories by directing attention to the historical, economic, and cultural contexts within which state and non-state actors and institutions operate, and the importance of discourse, the roles of individual actors, and the flow of ideas across spaces and scales. Drawing on these theories, I carried out extensive case study research on suburban developers and land use conflict in an urban-rural fringe area of the Toronto region. I investigated ongoing relationships between developers and policy makers in the context of Ontario provincial greenbelt and growth plan legislation. I interviewed developers, municipal and provincial planners, civil society actors, and planning and development consultants. Drawing on these interviews, archival research, and media analysis, I show that the Toronto region development industry, as well as many individual developers and development firms, are in practice powerful governance actors, deeply influential to land use decisions and outcomes. The development industry downplays its power and influence, working hard to reframe its economic interests as public good interests. Developers exercise power in new and subtle ways, by operating as privileged governance partners through consensus-based consultations, and by maintaining close, interdependent personal and financial relationships with political leaders and decision makers. But developers are also wealthy corporate elites capable of exercising raw money power, often in response to, and at times generative of, land use conflict. This dissertation draws upon, in new ways, diverse theories that contribute to a greater understanding of the power of developers and the development industry over land use change

Dare to Dream: Promoting Indigenous Children’s Interest in Health Professions through Book Collections

Introduction: Indigenous peoples in Canada experience significant health challenges, but few pursue careers in the health sciences. Two programs by medical librarians designed to encourage children in First Nations communities to dream of careers in the health professions will be presented. Description: An academic library in [Province] developed children’s health and science book collections with Indigenous school libraries. Library and information science students, as well as a librarian, participated in health education activities in the recipient schools. This project inspired the community service project of the joint MLA/CHLA-ABSC/ICLC Mosaic|Mosaïque 2016 conference, which focused on placing similar collections in Ontario Indigenous communities. The mechanics, benefits, and challenges of the programs will be discussed including book selection and delivery. Outcomes: Hundreds of books have been delivered and informal qualitative evaluative data from the recipient communities indicates positive outcomes. Some difficulties in providing optimal access to the books were identified due to communication problems or the relative lack of library infrastructure in these communities. Discussion: Reading for pleasure is linked to student's academic success. Access to varied and quality literature is important for school achievement, therefore these collections may potentially impact student’s future life chances. While a direct correlation between these collections and student’s future career choices cannot be easily measured, it is known that Indigenous high school graduates frequently choose to pursue professions linked to the needs of the community. Therefore any materials drawing attention to potential community health needs may well influence student’s choices

Explaining Collaboration in Nursing Education Programs

Abstract As a result of 2000 legislation changes regarding entry-to-practice for nurses, collaborative nursing education programs were formed in Ontario. These legislative changes required Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) to find university partners to enter into collaborative arrangements in order to continue delivering nursing education, due to their inability to confer university baccalaureate degrees independently. Subsequently, 21 CAATs in Ontario merged with 13 university nursing programs and entered into an education partnership in order for their graduates to meet an entry-to-practice requirement of a university baccalaureate degree. These newly formed collaborative nursing education programs varied in delivery formats and structures. After more than 17 years of program collaboration, perceptions of intergroup collaboration within these education partnerships, as well as the best practices for maintaining collaboration, have not been fully studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of a theoretically derived model, linking contributory factors to collaboration within collaborative nursing education programs amongst full-time CAATs and university faculty groups. This study used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships between faculty members’ perceived group identity salience, agreeableness, intergroup conflict, and structural empowerment on their perceptions of faculty group collaboration. The results revealed a significant relationship between intergroup conflict and collaboration, as well as structural empowerment and collaboration. However, group identity salience was not related to intergroup conflict. Finally, the variables of agreeableness and structural empowerment did not have significant moderating effects in the model. Further research is required in order to further illuminate the antecedent contributory variables to group collaboration between university and college educator teams charged with implementing collaborative nursing education programs. Keywords: Collaboration, Nursing Education, model testing, organizational structures, group conflict, conceptual framewor

Aboriginal Food Security in Northern Canada: An Assessment of the State of Knowledge

As the world’s population increases, as global markets become more interconnected, and as the effects of climate change become clearer, the issue of food insecurity is gaining traction at local, national, and international levels. The recent global economic crisis and increased food prices have drawn attention to the urgent situation of the world’s 870 million chronically undernourished people who face the number one worldwide risk to health: hunger and malnutrition. Although about 75% of the world’s undernourished people live in low-income, rural regions of developing countries, hunger is also an issue in Canada. In 2011, 1.6 million Canadian households, or slightly more than 12%, experienced some level of food insecurity. About one in eight households are affected, including 3.9 million individuals. Of these, 1.1 million are children. Food insecurity presents a particularly serious and growing challenge in Canada’s northern and remote Aboriginal communities (see Figure 1). Evidence from a variety of sources concludes that food insecurity among northern Aboriginal peoples is a problem that requires urgent attention to address and mitigate the serious impacts it has on health and well-being. Results from the 2007–2008 International Polar Year Inuit Health Survey indicate that Nunavut has the highest documented rate of food insecurity for any Indigenous population living in a developed country. According to estimates from the 2011 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), off-reserve Aboriginal households across Canada experience food insecurity at a rate that is more than double that of all Canadian households (27%). Recent data indicate that Canadian households with children have a higher prevalence of food insecurity than households without children, and preliminary evidence indicates that more women than men are affected

International Activities of Canadian Librarians

Guest editorial for themed issue on international activities of Canadian librarians