Tools for Rational Development: The Canada Land Inventory and the Canada Geographic Information System in Mid-twentieth century Canada

From the 1960s through the 1980s, Canadian scientists, resource managers, and computer experts collaborated on two linked undertakings: the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) and the Canada Geographic Information System. CLI was an extensive project that assessed the state of key resources across much of the country, while CGIS was a pioneering effort at computerizing CLI data to support decision-making about resource use. Fundamental components of the Agricultural Rehabilitation and Development Act, CLI and CGIS reflect Canadian innovation in new information-management tools designed to facilitate state goals. This paper examines the production and affordances of CLI and CGIS, and considers the renewed optimism and collaborative relationships that emerged from them. It also examines historical concerns over the limitations of these technologies and explores how CLI and CGIS were oriented to change over space, not time. Ultimately, these technological innovations served to naturalize patterns of inequality and normalize urban-industrial modernity.Des années 1960 aux années 1980, des scientifiques canadiens, des gestionnaires de ressources et des experts en informatique ont collaboré à deux entreprises liées: l’Inventaire des terres du Canada (ITC) et le Système d’information géographique du Canada. L’ICA était un vaste projet qui évaluait l’état des ressources clés dans une grande partie du pays, tandis que le SCIG était un pionnier dans l’informatisation des données de l’ICA pour appuyer la prise de décisions concernant l’utilisation des ressources. Éléments fondamentaux de la Loi sur la réhabilitation et le développement de l’agriculture, CLI et CGIS reflètent l’innovation canadienne dans les nouveaux outils de gestion de l’information pour faciliter les objectifs de l’État. Cet article examine la production et les potentialités de CLI et CGIS, et considère l’optimisme renouvelé et les relations de collaboration qui ont émergé de ces deux organisations. Il examine également les préoccupations historiques sur les limites de ces technologies et explore comment CLI et CGIS étaient orientés vers le changement dans l’espace, et non dans le temps. En fin de compte, ces innovations technologiques ont servi à naturaliser les schémas d’inégalité et à normaliser la modernité urbaine-industrielle

Wet prairie : an environmental history of wetlands, flooding and drainage in agricultural Manitoba, 1810-1980

Southern Manitoba’s wet prairie region is marked by persistent problems with surface water management. Through a historical geographical approach to wetlands, flooding, and drainage from the early 19th to the late 20th century, this dissertation offers an environmental history of a dynamic landscape, emphasizing the complex two-way relations between changes in human communities and environmental conditions. European newcomers mimicked Aboriginal populations in making use of wetland resources, and the development of property relations attuned to the local environment helped define the Red River settlement, established at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in 1812. The creation of the Province of Manitoba in 1870 prompted new disputes over land rights, and perceived racial distinctions were consolidated by differences in how Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal claims were adjudicated. Farming expanded in late 19th century Manitoba. Many farmers failed to account for environmental variability and found their progress hampered by wet areas or periodic flooding. Early government drains were inadequate, and failed ditching efforts compounded settler frustration. The Land Drainage Act of 1895 expanded reclamation, but settler expectations remained unmet. The environmental consequences of intensive agriculture compounded the problem. Provincial inquiries in the first half of the 20th century revealed the patterns of contention that, along with the ditches themselves, defined the drained landscape. Flood problems at the international border, the continental significance of waterfowl habitat, and the catastrophic 1950 flood along the Red River were catalysts of change, and led to involvement by American interests and the Canadian federal government. Still, contention continued. Ultimately, it was new concern over surface water erosion--a problem in many ways specific to the local topography of southern Manitoba--that proved most important to the reconceptualization of the drained landscape. This dissertation examines efforts to reconcile progress, property and the Manitoba landscape, often through the exercise of government authority. It engages the notions of bioregion and nation, highlighting the importance of culture in the interconnected processes of human and environmental change. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of cultivating the capacity for adaptation to dynamic environments.Arts, Faculty ofGeography, Department ofGraduat

Tools for Rational Development: The Canada Land Inventory and the Canada Geographic Information System in Mid-twentieth century Canada

From the 1960s through the 1980s, Canadian scientists, resource managers, and computer experts collaborated on two linked undertakings: the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) and the Canada Geographic Information System. CLI was an extensive project that assessed the state of key resources across much of the country, while CGIS was a pioneering effort at computerizing CLI data to support decision-making about resource use. Fundamental components of the Agricultural Rehabilitation and Development Act, CLI and CGIS reflect Canadian innovation in new information-management tools designed to facilitate state goals. This paper examines the production and affordances of CLI and CGIS, and considers the renewed optimism and collaborative relationships that emerged from them. It also examines historical concerns over the limitations of these technologies and explores how CLI and CGIS were oriented to change over space, not time. Ultimately, these technological innovations served to naturalize patterns of inequality and normalize urban-industrial modernity.Des années 1960 aux années 1980, des scientifiques canadiens, des gestionnaires de ressources et des experts en informatique ont collaboré à deux entreprises liées: l’Inventaire des terres du Canada (ITC) et le Système d’information géographique du Canada. L’ICA était un vaste projet qui évaluait l’état des ressources clés dans une grande partie du pays, tandis que le SCIG était un pionnier dans l’informatisation des données de l’ICA pour appuyer la prise de décisions concernant l’utilisation des ressources. Éléments fondamentaux de la Loi sur la réhabilitation et le développement de l’agriculture, CLI et CGIS reflètent l’innovation canadienne dans les nouveaux outils de gestion de l’information pour faciliter les objectifs de l’État. Cet article examine la production et les potentialités de CLI et CGIS, et considère l’optimisme renouvelé et les relations de collaboration qui ont émergé de ces deux organisations. Il examine également les préoccupations historiques sur les limites de ces technologies et explore comment CLI et CGIS étaient orientés vers le changement dans l’espace, et non dans le temps. En fin de compte, ces innovations technologiques ont servi à naturaliser les schémas d’inégalité et à normaliser la modernité urbaine-industrielle

The Affordances of MacKinnon Ravine: Fighting Freeways and Pursuing Government Reform in Edmonton, Alberta

This article examines the disputes that erupted in the second half of the twentieth century over the proposal to build a freeway through Edmonton’s MacKinnon Ravine, a landscape some saw as fundamental to the city’s network of recreational lands along the North Saskatchewan River and its extensive ravine system. MacKinnon Ravine, as a possibility-rich landscape, helped successive waves of urban activists articulate opposition to freeway development by serving as the keystone in a multi-decadal arc of civic activism. An orientation to the ravine allowed a series of distinct advocacy efforts to build on each other both in methods and in goals. These successive waves of activism not only altered MacKinnon Ravine’s future but also helped reshape civic governance in Edmonton.Cet article étudie les conflits survenus au cours de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle entourant le projet de construction d’une autoroute traversant le ravin MacKinnon à Edmonton, paysage jugé essentiel au réseau municipal d’espaces récréatifs longeant la rivière Saskatchewan Nord et son vaste système de ravins. Le riche potentiel du ravin MacKinnon a été la pierre angulaire d’une période pluridécennale d’activisme civique permettant à des vagues successives d’activistes urbains de s’opposer à l’aménagement de nouvelles autoroutes. Une orientation vers le ravin a permis à une série d’efforts de sensibilisation distincts de tirer parti de leurs méthodes et objectifs respectifs. Ces vagues successives d’activisme ont non seulement modifié l’avenir du ravin, mais aussi contribué à remodeler la gouvernance civique à Edmonton