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

Annual Research Report, 2010-2011

Annual report of collaborative research projects of Old Dominion University faculty and students in partnership with business, industry and government.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/or_researchreports/1000/thumbnail.jp

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

Annual Research Report, 2009-2010

Annual report of collaborative research projects of Old Dominion University faculty and students in partnership with business, industry and governmenthttps://digitalcommons.odu.edu/or_researchreports/1001/thumbnail.jp

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

Engaging Citizens in Sustainable Development Policy in Regional Planning: A Comparative Study of the Regional Municipalities of York (Ontario) and Wood Buffalo (Alberta)

This paper explores whether changes in direct settlement patterns by recent visible minority immigrants influence the development and implementation of sustainability planning policy—the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP)—for two regional municipalities in Canada—York (Ontario) and Wood Buffalo (Alberta). Since 2005, having ICSPs has been required in Canada; furthermore, it has become a well-documented fact that Canada's current population growth is largely attributed to migration by ethnic visible minority immigrants. While historically, immigrants settled in traditional urban areas (i.e. Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver), recent immigrants are increasingly directly settling in suburban regions. As such, sustainability and sustainable development are the site of policy and politics at which this study will examine public engagement and consultation practices of the two regional municipalities, in regards to their changing social composition. Specifically, this study is interested in whether there has been culturally appropriate and adequate response by the two regional municipalities to the change in social composition that has occurred through migration by recent visible ethnic minority immigrants in terms of public engagement and consultation in the development and implementation process of their respective ICSPs

Removal of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) and Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) from Drinking Water

Studies have reported almost ubiquitous presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the aquatic environment globally. Many of these compounds have been documented to be detrimental to aquatic flora and fauna which have raised concerns regarding their potential health impacts on humans. Humans are unwittingly and indirectly exposed to EDCs and PPCPs as these emerging contaminants can easily flout conventional drinking water treatment processes. Lake Huron, despite being a major drinking water source for many communities around the Great Lakes area, remains largely unexplored in terms of assessing EDCs and PPCPs contamination. The current study thus focuses on the occurrence of selected EDCs and PPCPs in Lake Huron Water and their removal using O3/H2O2 based pre-coagulation advanced oxidation process (AOP). Raw water, collected from a drinking water intake on Lake Huron near Ontario and spiked with nine target EDCs and PPCPs at environmentally relevant concentrations, was treated in a dual train pilot scale treatment plant to achieve finished water turbidity less than 0.1 NTU. Poly-aluminum chloride (PAC1) was used as coagulant for the coagulation treatment during the study. Pre-coagulation AOP was applied on one side of the pilot plant. An O3 dose of 2.0-2.3 mg/L and 0.2 mg/L of H2O2 were applied. Solid phase extraction followed by LC-MS/MS, using electrospray ionization in both positive and negative modes was used to analyze the target micropollutants. Results show that pre-coagulation AOP can efficiently reduce the number of particles in finished water compared to the conventional treatment process. Also, improved filtered water turbidity was achieved during all the runs following AOP treatment. Sharp decline in ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV254) was observed right after AOP while only minimal overall decrease in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was achieved. This indicates that the pre-coagulation AOP treatment did not mineralize organic carbon but probably formed intermediate products. Atrazine, carbamazepine and fluoxetine were detected in raw Lake Huron water on at least four occasions at mean concentrations lower than 60 ng/L. None of the target chemicals showed any significant removal following conventional coagulation, sedimentation and filtration processes. Most of the target pollutants plummeted to concentrations below the method detection limit following AOP. However, ibuprofen and atrazine were consistently showing resistance to the applied doses during the study. No significant improvements in removals were observed following coagulation and filtration process preceded by AOP. The findings of the study suggest that certain EDCs and PPCPs are present in Lake Huron water. It also indicates that the majority of Canadian Drinking water treatment plants, since they employ only conventional coagulation and filtration processes, will be not be able to remove EDCs and PPCPs contamination, if these compounds are present in raw drinking water sources

Heritage Conservation and Social Engagement

Heritage Conservation and Social Engagement explores different kinds of engagement, participation, access, and creative use of resources motivated by the practice of conservation, and offers ethical and practical perspectives from which to approach cultural heritage projects. The chapters are structured around the themes of engagement and participation, with an emphasis on the value of cross-disciplinary collaborations and the adoption of more encompassing approaches to conservation decision-making. The authors explore the complexities of these collaborations, which are often influenced by the colonial baggage of museums and whose effectiveness vary according to context, objectives, methods and resources available. Given the variable nature of the factors involved, providing evidence for the beneficial impacts of engagement is not always a straightforward task. For a strong body of evidence to be formed, it is essential that conservators continue to create spaces to debate methods that may open new frontiers. Efforts to promote inclusion and engagement through museum collections and the broader heritage sector are becoming even more socially relevant, as in recent years we have observed a rise in intolerance towards minority groups in traditionally democratic societies. The heritage sector is responding strongly, however, as it has the tools to help fight prejudices that are invariably based on misinformation or manipulation of facts. This book joins these efforts, in the knowledge that nothing can be done without dialogue and engagement