Showing papers in "Canadian Geographer in 2007"

Towards the construction of place-specific measures of deprivation: a case study from the Vancouver metropolitan area

Abstract: There have been numerous attempts to measurepopulation health outcomes using socio-economicindicators. Few investigations have utilized asurvey-based approach. This article develops a newmeans for identifying key socio-economic indicatorsof relative health outcomes within greater Vancouver,British Columbia (BC). The index, referred to as theVancouver Area Neighbourhood Deprivation Index(VANDIX), was constructed from a survey ofprovincial Medical Health Officers (MHOs). The MHOswere asked to rank socio-economic indicators selectedfrom the 2001 National Census by their relativeinfluence on health outcomes throughout theprovince. Response consistency was evaluated with aweighted Kappa test statistic. The VANDIX score wasassigned to Census Dissemination Areas and CensusTract administrative geographies. The scores werethen compared to a subset of the 2003 CanadianCommunity Health Survey (CCHS) Cycle 2.1 databaseon self-assessed health. Outcome scores between theVers la construction de mesures de privationsp «ecifiques au lieu: une «etude de cas sur la r«egionm «etropolitaine de VancouverOn a tent «e, `a plusieurs reprises, de mesurer lesr«esultats de sant «e d e la population `a lOaidedOindicateurs socio «economiques. Seul un nombrerestreint dO «etudes sOappuient sur une enqu oete parsondage. Cet article pr «esente une nouvelle mani `eredOidentifier les principaux indicateurssocio «economiques concernant les r«esultats de sant «edans la r«egion de Vancouver, Colombie-Britannique.Un indice de privation `a lO«echelle des quartiers de lar«egion de Vancouver (VANDIX) est «elabor «e `a partirdOun sondage men «e aupr `es de m «edecins hygi «enistesen chef de la province. Ces derniers ont «et «e invit «es `aclasser des indicateurs socio «economiques tir «es duRecensement canadien de 2001 selon la r«epercussionpossible sur les r«esultats de sant «e dans lOensemble dela province. La concordance des r«eponses a «et «ev«erifi «ee par un test statistique Kappa pond «er «e. Le

Intimate colonialisms: the material and experienced places of British Columbia's residential schools

Abstract: The theoretical premise of this paper is that place is an unbounded material, social and cultural agent within and through which practices of colonialism were enacted in British Columbia. Specifically, the places of British Columbia's ‘Indian’ residential schools, and the subjects who occupied them, are conceptualized as intimate sites nested within Canadian colonial and nation-building agendas that were predicated on policies of assimilation, enculturation or annihilation of indigenous people. Such conceptualizations allow for an understanding of both how colonialism was actualized against First Nations' peoples and how First Nations' peoples actively navigated and resisted that colonial project. In order to access experiences of residential school places, the article draws from published First Nations' testimonial literatures. It also draws from creative materials produced by students within the schools in order to understand how First Nations' students articulated against assimilative educational processes. The article concludes with a consideration of how nested place, First Nations' resistances, and Euro-colonial concepts of gender are circulating today with reference to a Dakelh woman (and former residential school student) under consideration for beatification in northern British Columbia.

Urban pattern and land cover variation in the greater Toronto area

Abstract: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Conway, T.M. and J. Hackworth. 2007. Urban pattern and land cover variation in the greater Toronto area. The Canadian Geographer 51(1): 43-57, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.2007.00164.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

Mining amid armed conflict: nonferrous metals mining in the Philippines

Abstract: In recent years the government of the Philippines has attempted to accelerate the growth of the nation's economy by encouraging the extraction of its mineral resources by multinational corporations. The Philippines is also a nation beset by armed violence carried out by anti-state groups. This article discusses how the presence, and activities, of these groups generate problems for a mining-based development paradigm. The article examines: the literature on the topic of natural resource abundance and conflict, how there have been attacks upon mines by armed groups, how mining companies have served as a target of extortion, how grievances related to mining can act as a source of conflict, how mining could disrupt the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and how mines are accompanied by a militarization of the area in their vicinity. Ultimately, violence is a manifestation of poverty and social exclusion inherent in Philippine society. Mining may not diminish, and indeed may increase, this poverty and social exclusion. Unless poverty and social exclusion is alleviated the violence will continue and alternative efforts to develop the Philippine economy will be precluded.

Competing use of marine space in a modernizing fishery: salmon farming meets lobster fishing on the Bay of Fundy

Abstract: Coastal fishing communities are frequently portrayed as bastions of tradition at odds with the modernizing forces of technological change and industrial capitalism. This article examines this debate in the context of intensive aquaculture introduced into regions formerly dependent on the wild fishery, specifically with respect to the explosive growth of salmon farming in New Brunswick. New farm sites are large, often located within or close to traditional lobster fishing areas, which has motivated considerable opposition from local fishermen. This article presents findings from research on interactions between salmon farming and lobster fishing around Deer Island and Grand Manan, New Brunswick. Fishermen and salmon farmers are concerned about possible long-term effects of farm operations on marine environmental quality and lobster health, and many are concerned about the concentration of ownership and lack of local control over the aquaculture industry. The potential for physical displacement from traditional fishing grounds is real, but the actual impacts have been tempered by a combination of factors, including unusually large lobster catches in recent years; technological advances that have encouraged a shift in lobster fishing effort further offshore, away from salmon farm sites; and social accommodations between salmon site managers and those who fish L’exploitation compétitive de l’espace marin dans un secteur de la pêche en voie de modernisation: la salmoniculture se heurte à la pêche au homard dans la baie de Fundy Les villes côtières vivant de la pêche sont souvent considérées comme les derniers bastions de la tradition, en opposition aux forces modernisatrices représentées par les changements technologiques et le capitalisme industriel. L’article étudie cette position dans le contexte de l’arrivée intensive de l’aquaculture dans des milieux qui dépendaient de la pêche de stocks sauvages, particulièrement en ce qui a trait à la croissance fulgurante de la salmoniculture au Nouveau-Brunswick. Les nouvelles fermes d’élevage sont de taille importante, souvent situées à l’intérieur ou à proximité des lieux de pêche traditionnels du homard, ce qui amène les pêcheurs locaux à manifester leur opposition. Cet article présente les conclusions d’une recherche portant sur les interactions entre la salmoniculture et la pêche au homard dans les eaux environnantes de Deer Island et Grand Manan au Nouveau-Brunswick. Les pêcheurs et les éleveurs de saumon sont préoccupés par les impacts potentiels à long terme des exploitations salmonicoles sur la qualité du milieu marin et sur la santé des homards. Plusieurs s’inquiètent de la concentration de la propriété et de l’absence de contrôle local sur l’industrie aquicole. Si les risques

A regional comparison of the implications of climate change for the golf industry in Canada

Abstract: Golf is a recreation industry particularly sensitive to climate, yet the potential implications of climate change for the industry remain largely unexamined. This study presents findings of the first known impact assessment to compare the regional impacts of projected changes in the climate on the golf industry in Canada (or internationally). Empirical relationships between daily rounds played and four weather variables were defined through multiple regression analysis and then used to examine the potential impacts of two climate change scenarios on the length of the golf season and the number of rounds played in three regions of Canada (West Coast, Great Lakes, East Coast). Regionally, the West Coast region was projected to benefit the least from projected climate change, as golf courses that are currently open year round experienced only slight projected increases in rounds played in the 2020s and 2050s. Golf courses in the Great Lakes region could experience a 10- to 51-day longer average golf season and a 21 percent to 3 percent increase in rounds as early as the 2020s, and an even more pronounced increase in the 2050s. East Coast golf courses were projected to benefit the most under both climate change scenarios, experiencing larger gains in average operating seasons (25 to 45 days in the 2020s) and a 40 percent to 48 percent increase in rounds played by as early as the 2020s.

Social capital, environmental health and collective action: a Hamilton, Ontario case study

Abstract: This article explores the relationships among environmental health, social capital and collective action in the industrial city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Survey results from 512 households are used to document intra-urban variation in levels of social capital (defined as norms, networks and trust) and collective action in the context of environmental health issues, and specifically air quality. Despite real differences between areas in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, little variation in either social capital or collective action by area was observed. Further, while social networks and community involvement were significant predictors of collective action, indicators of norms and trust were not. Hence, the conception of social capital as a unitary construct that produces place-specific benefits is not reflected in the example explored here.

Fixed links and the engagement of islandness: reviewing the impact of the Confederation Bridge

Abstract: Introduction: A Contentious Affair Valentia is a small island off County Kerry, on the southwest coast of Ireland. A recent count for the island's permanent population is around 650. A ferry operates daily from 1 April to 30 September. However, should you visit outside this period, there is a bridge (the longest opening span bridge in Ireland). One may thus be pleased to note that all-season access to/from Valentia is available. Yet, bridge technology can also arouse passionate responses: There are some who have swapped their birthright for a stretch of tar. A bridge that will allow their cars to link with roads that lace mainlanders together, permitting islands to become like a landlocked place. Surrendering their separateness to loop with these larger shores, becoming both part and prisoners of the whole. Bridge to Valentia, by Donald S. Murray (Murray 2003) A bridge, a stretch of tar, is a contentious subject, especially for islands and islanders. Murray (2003) does not mince his words: the convenience of the bridge is obtained at too high a price, since it irrevocably transforms otherwise whole islands into mere parts, fractions of mainlands. Thus, the island not only loses its geographically, historically and culturally defining islandness; it also becomes a small and insignificant appendage of, and therefore hostage to, a much larger whole, for which the island is but a nondescript peninsula or cul-de-sac. The technology of the automobile conspires with that of the bridge in transforming local identities, and in privileging mobility above place. The outcome is one other example of 'space-time compression' (Harvey 1990, after Janelle 1969); 'the end of geography' (Virilio 1997, 17) and of a move towards a 'zero-friction society' (Flyvbjerg et al. 2003, 2). This article seeks to deconstruct the concept of the bridge as more than just a value-free symbol of inexorable technological progress, and uses islands as the reference point to flesh out such an argument. Bridges impact on the subtle balance between the characteristic 'local-global' nature of an island identity; such an impact is multi-faceted, complex and case-specific. Separated or Apart? Social scientist Georg Simmel (1994, 10) observed that a human being is 'a connecting creature who must always separate and cannot connect without separating'. In connecting two objects, we simultaneously acknowledge and underscore what separates them; in separating two objects, we underline their connectedness. Thus, as Simmel argued, in the act of bridging two items, we actually underline their distinctiveness. Insularity and connectedness are but two sides of the same coin, their meanings forever entangled (Gillis 2004, 147). Moreover, Simmel observes (1994, 6) that it is only human beings who differentiate between two objects--say, the opposite banks of a river--as either being apart or else as being separated. 'Apartness' is static, a non-relational statement of fact; in contrast, 'separation' is a dynamic condition that betrays a need for, or interest in, connection. Castells (Susser 2002, 359) goes further. He reminds us that apartness and separation are predicated on two different spatial logics. Apartness concerns locale-specific but scattered, segmented places, unrelated to each other, unable to share codes; their occupants proud in their defiant expressions of difference, of nationalism, of defining fundamentalism. Churches, resource-based communities (like hunting, fishing, mining) and monoethnic nations (like Iceland or Portugal) could be such places apart. In contrast, separateness concerns a networked and a-historical 'space of flows' (after Castells) or 'spaces of pause' (after Deleuze 1989): 'non-places' that exist as conduits, as sites of diverse people in transit. Escalators, streets, stations, airports, institutions, workplaces--as well as bridges, tunnels and causeways--could constitute such indeterminate spaces. …

Secondary migration of immigrants to Canada: an analysis of LSIC wave 1 data

Abstract: Introduction The distribution of Canada's immigrant population largely reflects previous immigration history and channelized migration flows, particularly to the three immigrant magnets of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Despite hopes or preferences for immigrant dispersion after entry to Canada, the immigrant population has become increasingly concentrated in Canada's metropolitan areas, with new immigrants more likely to choose Toronto or Vancouver as their initial destination as compared to two decades ago (Hou 2004, 2005; Schellenberg 2004), while a decreasing number of immigrants settle outside the largest metropolitan areas (Hyndman and Schuurman 2004). Together, the evolving immigrant settlement pattern has raised public concerns regarding their spatial distribution and their socio-economic and socio-demographic impact on receiving communities (Hou 2004). In response to growing concerns over the spatial concentration of immigrants, the federal and provincial governments have moved to encourage the dispersal of immigrants out of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Aided by a series of policy tools, the intent is to direct immigrants to smaller centres (Hou 2004). Yet, these policies, and most related analytical studies, have focused on the initial destination of new arrivals, or where immigrants first settle in Canada. In fact, the initial destination may be very different from their intended (stated) destination, with relatively little work evaluating the secondary migration of new arrivals at a national scale and in the period immediately after arrival. Once in Canada, however, there are no policies or restrictions on post-arrival moves, and individuals are free to relocate. Moreover, policies of dispersion could be counterproductive, as the relative isolation of new arrivals can be disruptive to their integration, particularly among refugees (Simich et al. 2002). Clearly, policies aimed at immigrant dispersion will only work if non-gateway centres can retain immigrants. Evidence from the United States and Canada, however, suggests that new immigrants are highly mobile, particularly in the period immediately after arrival, implying the potential for considerable adjustments to the spatial patterns of new arrivals as location choices are solidified in response to housing needs, personal preferences and broader social, cultural and economic needs (Moore and Rosenberg 1991; Newbold 1996, 1999b; Ram and Shin 1999; Smith 2004). This argument implies, therefore, that any settlement pattern established at the time of arrival could be relatively short-lived. As such, ignoring the immediate post-arrival secondary migrations of new arrivals in Canada is problematic and short-sighted. Even with this mobility, however, the geographical concentration of immigrants does not appear to change over time, although it may increase immigrant concentration in large metropolitan areas (CIC 2000; Moore and Rosenberg 1995). Still, it is likely that immigrant settlement patterns are inherently more dynamic and diverse than those observed at the time of the census. Settlement patterns, e.g., are likely to be differentiated by the intended settlement choice (the destination identified to immigration officials at entry), the initial settlement choice (where immigrants initially settle, including short-term distributional changes), and the established settlement pattern (the long-run distribution and settlement pattern of the immigrant population) (Newbold 1999a, 1999b; Hou 2005). However, such distinctions have not been fully or adequately explored within the Canadian literature. Moreover, settlement patterns and secondary migration propensities are also likely to vary with respect to immigrant type (i.e., refugees, economic immigrants, family reunification arrivals), a question that has remained relatively unexplored within the literature due to data limitations. Utilizing wave 1 of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), the purpose of this article is twofold. …

Rivers as resources, rivers as borders: community and transboundary management of fisheries in the Upper Zambezi River floodplains

Abstract: Introduction Discussions concerning natural resources in Africa often question the role of the state and nation as suitable institutional and spatial scales for management (e.g., Hulme and Murphree 2001; Adams and Mulligan 2003). Proposed alternatives include community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) and transboundary natural resource management (TBNRM). Support for CBNRM argues that increased local-level involvement leads to more equitable and effective management of natural resources (Agrawal and Gibson 1999; Barrow and Murphree 2001), and that communities have the most at stake in the conservation and sustainable use of locally important resources (Li 2002). By contrast, TBNRM is premised on the idea of the ecosystem being the most appropriate scale at which to manage resources. As such, management should not be restricted by national boundaries, but should cross them as necessary (Wolmer 2003; Duffy 2006). This article explores questions regarding suitable scales (institutional and spatial) for the management of artisanal fisheries in southern Africa. We consider the promises and challenges of fisheries management at ecosystem and local scales in a floodplain river shared by two countries; thus, in this case, ecosystem management implies transboundary management. In particular, we examine differences in settlements, users, fishing practices and institutions on either side of the political boundary formed by the river. In turn, we consider how these differences may affect the feasibility of a 'hybrid' combination of transboundary and community-based fisheries management being considered for the fishery. Our case study focuses on the Zambezi River as it flows between Namibia and Zambia. In order to evaluate potential differences in resource use and management norms, we conducted a comprehensive survey of fishing settlements and fishers on the Namibian and Zambian sides of the river to determine: (1) the number, age, and seasonality of settlements; (2) characteristics of fishers in settlements, including their ethnic backgrounds; (3) fishing assets and activity; (4) knowledge of rules concerning what types of fishing are allowed and where, as well as the authorities responsible for setting and implementing these rules; (5) beliefs about forms and causes of fishery-related conflict; and (6) opinions regarding if the fishery should be managed, the rationale for management, and the most appropriate management authority. In doing so, we sought to determine if differences exist between Namibian and Zambian fishing settlements, fishers and fishing practices and how such differences might impact attempts to implement hybrid CBNRM-TBNRM management in the region. We suggest that attributes of both TBNRM and CBNRM have potential application to biologically and socially dynamic environments such as floodplain fisheries (or drylands, e.g., Haro et al. 2005). However, challenges exist when attempts to fuse transboundary and community-based management carry assumptions of a smooth nesting of homogenous and congruent users, activities and institutions within a broader management area (Young 2006). These challenges, described below, emerge from contradictions in the spatial scales of ecosystem and local-level resources, as well as the institutional scales of transboundary and community-based management. The first challenge is the potential mismatch between the highly dynamic movement of resources and users at the scale of the ecosystem typifying TBNRM, against the local-scale resources, users, practices and institutions characterizing CBRNM. In our case study, this tension is illustrated by results showing the majority of conflicts occur when fishers from the more populated Zambian side of the river enter Namibian waters to take advantage of the more abundant habitat and fish. In the context of hybrid management, a freer movement of users in the floodplain through transboundary management focused on the ecosystem may conflict with existing locally defined rules of tenure and access to what are considered local resources (e. …

Income inequality across Canadian provinces in an era of globalization: explaining recent trends

Abstract: Introduction Though the question of how income is distributed among individuals is one that has long puzzled social scientists, it is only recently that scholars have refocused their attention on the dynamics of inequality in industrialized economies (Atkinson 1997; Conceicao and Galbraith 2001). In large part, the resurgence of interest in the subject has been driven by a series of empirical studies seeking to identify and explain changing patterns in the earnings and employment structure of the United States and the United Kingdom during the late 1970s through the 1980s. Most notable among these trends are well-documented cases of increases in the inequality of wages, for both men and women, as well as significant increases in earnings differentials by skill (Burtless 1990; Bound and Johnson 1992; Katz and Murphy 1992; Levy and Murnane 1992; Freeman and Katz 1995; Jenkins 1995, 1996; Goodman et al. 1997; Gottschalk et al. 1997). In Canada, similar studies of income distribution find that inequality increased throughout the 1980s, albeit at a less pronounced pace than in the United States or United Kingdom (Blackburn and Bloom 1991; Freeman and Needels 1991; Card and Freeman 1994). More recent empirical evidence, however, suggests that the pace of inequality has picked up during the 1990s. Data at the national level show that growth in total income inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) among Canadian households accelerated from a 2.9 percent increase over the 1981-1989 period to a 6.5 percent increase from 1990 to 1999. A look at provincial-level data reveals even more pronounced variations. Across the provinces, family income inequality increased modestly and even decreased in a few cases during the 1980s. However, from 1990 to 1999, it increased significantly: for all provinces except Saskatchewan the growth in inequality ranged from about 2 percent in Manitoba to as much as 9.7 percent in Ontario and 11.4 percent in Newfoundland. Despite the evidence that inequality is on the rise in Canada, there remains little agreement as to the causes of such an increase (MacPhail 2000; see also Bluestone 1996 and Storper 2000 for more general perspectives). Several competing explanations have been offered. Factors tied to globalization (trade, immigration, FDI) figure prominently among them and given Canada's greater integration into the global economy there may be some credence to this line of explanation. (1) Other explanations focus more closely on deeper structural changes occurring within economies, namely, those related to technological change, deindustrialization and demographic shifts. Yet others focus on changes to various institutional factors such as declining unionization and real minimum wages or cutbacks to social programs. To examine the potential contribution of these different sources of inequality, most studies use decomposition techniques of one sort or another. While these certainly have merit, trying to quantitatively determine the precise portion of the rise in inequality explained by each possible cause can be quite problematic (Freeman and Katz 1994; Bluestone 1996; U.S. Congress Joint Committee 1997). Above all, the downside of this approach is that it tends to force researchers into limiting the scope of their investigation on only a few specific explanations at a time (MacPhail 2000). In reality, it is most likely that the observed rise in inequality stems from a 'mixed cocktail' of several possible factors (Bluestone 1996; Cline 1997; Gottschalk and Smeeding 1997). The goal of this article is to explore the relationship between rising income inequality across Canadian provinces and the various causal explanations offered in the literature. This question has been examined previously: MacPhail (2000), in particular, offers an excellent entry point into the investigation of the various possible causes of rising inequality in Canada during the 1980s (see also Morissette 1996). …

The boundaries of suburban discontent? Urban definitions and neighbourhood political effects

Abstract: Residents of city and suburban neighbourhoods have diverged in the way they vote, with inner-city dwellers preferring political parties on the left while suburbanites increasingly vote for parties on the right. Yet it is not clear whether such a division is more evident between residents of central and suburban municipalities (the jurisdictional hypothesis), or between residents of neighbourhoods differentiated by urban form and, by assumption, lifestyle (the morphological hypothesis). While there are clear reasons for the predominant reliance on municipal differences in research based in the U.S. and other countries, it is not evident that these reasons apply in the Canadian context. This article examines how urban boundaries articulate electoral differences between metropolitan residents in Canada's three largest urban regions, using aggregate election data for federal elections between 1945 and 2000, survey data from the 2000 Canada election study and a series of indices developed by the author. It is found that while trends towards city–suburban polarization are similar regardless of the boundaries used to define the zones, in the Canadian case the results are stronger and more significant when boundaries based on urban form (between pre-and post-war development) are employed. The implications of these results for the relationship between urban space and political values in Canadian cities are then discussed. Le comportement electoral des habitants des metropoles canadiennes differe selon le lieu de residence. Les electeurs des quartiers centraux votent de preference pour des partis politiques de gauche, alors que les habitants des banlieues votent de plus en plus pour des partis de droite. Toutefois, il n'est pas certain qu'une telle division s'observe entre les residents de municipalites situees dans les zones centrales et ceux en peripherie (l'hypothese des juridictions), ou entre les residents de quartiers qui se distinguent par la forme urbaine et, par supposition, par le style de vie (l'hypothese de la morphologie). Si les recherches aux Etats-Unis portent davantage sur les differences entre les municipalites, la question n'a pas eteetudiee de maniere systematique au Canada. Dans cet article, la question est de savoir quelles sont les frontieres qui exposent le plus clairement les differences electorales entre les residents des trois plus importantes regions metropolitaines du Canada. L'analyse utilise des donnees agregees issues des scrutins federaux tenus de 1945 a 2000 et des resultats d'un sondage sur les elections canadiennes de 2000, en plus d'un indice de desequilibre zonal que l'auteur a developpe. Si les tendances se maintiennent en ce qui concerne la polarisation intra-urbaine, peu importe les frontieres utilisees pour definir les zones, les resultats obtenus sur les trois villes canadiennes sont plus significatifs lorsque les frontieres definies en fonction de la forme urbaine sont utilisees dans l'analyse des differences entre la ville et la banlieue. Les conclusions ont des incidences sur les relations entre l'espace urbain et les valeurs politiques.

Modélisation spatiale de la pauvretéà Montréal: apport méthodologique de la régression géographiquement pondérée

Abstract: L'ile de Montreal est particulierement touchee par la pauvrete, puisqu'en 2000 29 pour cent de sa population vivait sous le seuil de faible revenu tel que defini par Statistique Canada. La pauvrete ne constituant pas toutefois un phenomene homogene a l'echelle intra-urbaine, l'identification et la qualification des zones de pauvrete deviennent des enjeux de recherche de premiere importance. Dans cette perspective, cet article propose une analyse des facteurs qui determinent la distribution spatiale de la pauvrete au niveau des secteurs de recensement de l'ile de Montreal. Pour ce faire, l'analyse mobilise un outil methodologique particulier: la regression geographiquement ponderee, et en compare les resultats avec un modele de regression multiple global. Au niveau global, on constate que les facteurs classiques conduisant a la pauvrete sont a l'œuvre sur le territoire de l'ile de Montreal. Dans l'ordre, ces facteurs sont: le chomage, la monoparentalite, le fait de vivre seul, le fait d'etre un immigrant recent, le travail atypique et la non-frequentation scolaire des jeunes de 15 a 24 ans. Au niveau local, s'il est vrai que le chomage et la monoparentalite agissent significativement dans presque tous les secteurs, les quatre autres facteurs sont uniquement significatifs dans certains secteurs du centre de l'ile. Au terme de l'analyse, les avantages de la regression geographiquement ponderee apparaissent clairement, sa plus grande sensibilite aux variations spatiales du phenomene permettant de mieux identifier et qualifier les zones de pauvrete montrealaises.

The making of an ‘arcane’ infrastructure: immigrant practitioners and the origins of professional engineering regulation in Ontario

Abstract: Many immigrant professionals have difficulty securing the appropriate licenses required to practice their professions in Canada. Complex licensing procedures managed by professional regulatory institutions compose what a former federal immigration minister called an ‘arcane infrastructure’. This article draws on a discourse analysis of historical professional periodicals to investigate the origins of these institutions, using the regulated engineering profession in Ontario as a case study. Within a conceptual framework based on institutional cultural capital, cultural regulation of labour and habitat, the article analyzes the justifications employed by Canadian engineering societies to establish institutional qualification standards. We conclude that these standards represented a strategic effort on the part of engineering society members to protect their professional, social and economic interests by excluding non-members and foreign engineers. Passage of engineering licensing legislation in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s institutionalized these processes of exclusion and established the professional regulatory framework that is still in place today. Beaucoup de travailleurs immigrants ont des difficultes a obtenir les permis necessaires pour exercer leur profession au Canada. Les procedures complexes de delivrance des permis, administrees par des institutions specialisees dans le domaine de la reglementation des professions, font parties de ce qu’un ancien ministre federal a nomme une ≪infrastructure arcane≫. Cet article, base sur une analyse des discours tenus dans des periodiques professionnels, a pour but d’etudier les origines de ces institutions en prenant comme exemple le cas de la reglementation de la profession d’ingenieur en Ontario. Un cadre conceptuel est defini en fonction du capital culturel institutionnel et de la reglementation culturelle du travail et de l’habitat, afin d’analyser les elements de justification utilises par des societes d’ingenierie canadiennes pour mettre en place des normes institutionnelles relatives a la qualification. Nous en tirons la conclusion que ces normes representaient un effort strategique de la part des adherents de la societe d’ingenierie pour proteger leurs interets professionnel, social et economique en ecartant les non-adherents et les etrangers. L’adoption de lois canadiennes sur la reglementation en ingenierie dans les annees 1920 et 1930 a permis d’institutionnaliser la question des processus d’exclusion et d’etablir le cadre reglementaire professionnel qui demeure toujours valide aujourd'hui.

Measuring biological heterogeneity in the northern mixed prairie: a remote sensing approach

Abstract: Biological heterogeneity, defined as the degree of dissimilarity between biological variables (e.g., biomass, green vegetation and Leaf Area Index [LAI]), is one of the most important and widely applicable concepts in ecology due to its close link with biodiversity. To investigate grassland biological heterogeneity, we selected three transects extending from upland to valley grasslands at Grasslands National Park (GNP), Canada, representing the northern mixed grassland. For the purposes of our analysis, three types of data were collected: remote sensing ground level hyperspectral data, biological data (LAI, biomass, and vegetation cover) and environmental data (soil moisture, organic content, and bulk density). Methodologically, field-level remote sensing data were used to calculate spectral vegetation indices. These indices, plus the biological variables, were then used in regression analyses with the goal of assessing the feasibility of using remote sensing data to study biological heterogeneity. The results indicate that it is feasible to use ground-level remote sensing data to represent biological variables. These indices can explain about 40–60 percent of the biological variation. Semivariogram analyses were further applied on these data to investigate their range of spatial variation. Spatial variations in the Mesurer l'heterogeneite biologique dans la prairie melangee du nord: une approche basee sur la teledetection L'heterogeneite biologique renvoie au degre de dissemblance entre des variables biologiques comme la biomasse, la vegetation verte, et l'indice de superficie foliaire (ISF). Elle est l'un des principaux concepts en ecologie, largement applicable en raison de son lien etroit avec la biodiversite. Dans cette etude de l'heterogeneite biologique des prairies, nous avons selectionne trois transects allant des prairies des hautes terres a celles des vallees, dans le Parc national du Canada des Prairies qui a des terrains representatifs des prairies mixte du nord. Trois sortes de donnees ont ete recueillies pour notre analyse: des donnees hyperspectrales de teledetection collectees par des capteurs au sol, des donnees biologiques (ISF, biomasse, et couvert vegetal), et des donnees environnementales (humidite du sol, contenu organique, et densite brute). Sur le plan methodologique, des indices spectraux de vegetation sont calcules a partir de donnees de teledetection. Ces indices, auxquels s'ajoutent les variables biologiques, ont ensuite ete utilises dans des analyses de regression dont l'objectif est d'evaluer la faisabilite mixed grassland for LAI, total biomass, green cover and spectral vegetation indices range from 31 to 120 metres, with the majority occurring around 50–60 metres. Therefore, the most appropriate spatial resolution for detecting variation from upland to valley grasslands is 10–20 metres. de recourir a des donnees de teledetection captees au sol pour l'etude de l'heterogeneite biologique. Ces indices expliquent entre 40 et 60 pour cent de la variabilite biologique. En outre, des analyses par semivariogramme ont ete appliquees a l'ensemble de ces donnees pour etudier leur structure spatial. Les variations spatiales des prairies mixtes pour l'ISF, la biomasse totale, le couvert vegetal et les indices spectraux de vegetation se situent entre 31m et 120m, mais la plupart sont d'environ 50 ou 60m. La resolution spatiale la mieux adaptee pour detecter des variations dans les prairies des hautes terres et des vallees varie donc de 10 a 20 m.

The ‘greening’ of global project financing: the case of the Sakhalin‐II offshore oil and gas project

Abstract: Introduction Recently, Hayter et al. (2003) urged economic geographers to pay greater attention to the world's 'resource peripheries'. The logic for such a reorientation is two-fold. First, the resource sector is a crucial component of the global economy, worthy of study in its own right. Resource scarcity, of various types (Rees 1999; Klare 2001), is an increasingly dominant theme in the 'developed economies', while securing the benefits of relative resource abundance is a major challenge for many 'less developed resource rich economies' (Rosser 2006). Second, 'resource peripheries' provide insights into the global economy that cannot be derived from the experiences of the 'core' regions, and can therefore act as a catalyst for new forms of economic geography theorizing. This article takes up the challenge to produce a more critical approach to resource geographies through the study of a particular resource periphery, Sakhalin in the Russian Far East, a particular resource sector, offshore oil and gas exploration and development, and a particular issue, namely, how the 'greening' of international financial institutions and major commercial banks provides environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) a means to hold the global oil companies to account. The analysis highlights the four dimensions identified by Hayter et al. (2003) that set 'resource peripheries' apart from core regions: industrialism (the economic dimension), environmentalism (the environmental dimension), aboriginalism (the cultural dimension) and imperialism (the geopolitical dimension). The article also responds to Bridge's (2002) call to 'ground globalization'. Bridge (2002, 362) suggests 'researchers have been more interested in understanding and debating processes (original emphasis) of globalization than in relating these processes to specific outcomes or examining the significance of diverse outcomes for those who live with globalization as an everyday social reality' (see Dicken 2004). The analysis embeds its theoretical concepts within the empirical account. There are already numerous reviews by geographers on globalization, scale politics, relational geographies and related issues, though much of this discussion fails to address the resource economy. However, two general comments about theoretical approach are important. First, this analysis is part of a longer-term study of the Sakhalin projects conceptualized in terms of scales, networks, and actors, notably Massey's (1994, 263) concept of 'Power Geometry' (Bradshaw 1998). Power geometry she defines as 'a way of thinking in terms of ever-shifting geometry of social/power relations, and it forces into view the real multiplicities of space-time' and as 'a complex web of relations, of domination and subordination, of solidarity and co-operation'. Most recently, Massey (2005, 101) has observed: 'Understanding of spaces as the constant open production of topologies of power points to the fact that different "places" will stand in contrasting relations to the global'. Although the concept is widely accepted, there are precious few attempts to map out power geometries and relationships within particular places (Latham 2002 is a notable exception). In my Sakhalin research I have used the concept as a way of thinking about the constantly changing social/power relations between the various actors, who gain legitimacy at particular scales, but who are constantly engaged in a dialogue across those scales. Second, I deploy the concept of the network in a relational sense (Dicken et al. 2001, 91; Yeung 2005, 451). A large integrated oil and gas project such as Sakhalin-II is the focal point of numerous networks. The project itself is a hollow endeavour comprised of numerous contracts and subcontracts that combine to produce the necessary infrastructure to exploit and deliver to market hydrocarbon resources. The international oil companies (IOCs) see their ability to manage such large complex networks (project management) as major competitive advantages. …

Seeking red herrings in the wood: tending the shared spaces of environmental and feminist geographies

Abstract: Introduction: Sowing the Seeds for Joint Endeavours A man in the wilderness asked this of me How many strawberries grow in the sea I answered him as I thought good As many red herrings as swim in the wood (Anonymous, n.d.) Amid the political struggles to protect West Coast wilderness areas from clear-cut logging, scientists have discovered that bears improve soil nutrition through their excretions or by littering the forest floor with the carcasses of consumed salmon (Reimchen 2000; Hilderbrand et al. 1999; Wilkinson et al. 2005). So perhaps this nursery rhyme is prescient. Rather than being a diversion from our main purpose, red herrings can lead us to significant, if unexpected, findings. Scientifically, red herrings in the wood--or more literally, salmon--are now viewed as significant contributors to forest ecology. Bears have served as a key link--in a sense, a boundary object--between scientists who study aquatic and terrestrial environments, respectively. In the social sciences as well, there are enormous intellectual and social benefits from undertaking studies from multiple vantage points. For example, in her tribute to Suzanne Mackenzie, Damaris Rose (1999) told us how Suzanne encouraged a research team studying the economic and social impacts of restructuring in the Canadian newsprint industry to ensure that their research strategy considered both companies and families with the focus being, to use one of Suzanne's favourite words, on the 'intersection' (Rose 1999, 407) between global economic forces and the everyday lives of individuals. Just as bears helped both aquatic and terrestrial ecologists create new joint understandings, a focus on families and companies helped this team develop a rich critique of the changing face of corporate and small-town Canada. These examples resonate with me as, over the years, I have attempted to bring insights from feminist geography into the ambit of environmental management and policy making. In this article, I reflect on these efforts with an aim to encourage environmental and feminist geographers to work more diligently to find, mind and tend the intersections of their research agendas to enrich their scholarship and deepen their impact on public policy. Such a project requires us to move beyond an obvious call to acknowledge one another and to move towards the boundaries of our respective fields in order to seek out 'edge effects'. According to Bonnie McCay, an edge effect is a metaphor for 'the bringing together of people, ideas and institutions from different systems.... [to] exchange data and narratives, theories and methods' (McCay 2000, 6). But cultural edge effects do not simply happen, they must be purposively generated and maintained (Turner et al. 2003). In a sense, we have to look for red herrings in the wood and take responsibility for them if we are to stimulate research exchange, advance our societal commitment, and thereby reap the harvest of collective scholarship. You may ask, 'can an individual, like myself, not simply become a "feminist environmental geographer"; that is, someone who actively integrates insights from both traditions within an individual research program'? The simple answer is 'yes, of course' and I encourage other individuals to use such tactics. However, in this article I also amply illustrate the limitations of singular vision and suggest that we may make a stronger theoretical and policy contribution through additional collaborative efforts. Organization and Approach of the Article To advance my position, in the next section, 'Minding the Intersection', I identify commonalities between environmental and feminist geographic scholarship and argue that fruitful collaborations can be achieved through the co-creation of boundary objects. Next, in 'Tending the Intersection', I draw on my own research to illustrate how elaborating on the notion of 'worker' contributes new insights about multi-stakeholder decision making and social sustainability. …

Hybrid identities in Canada's Red River Colony

Abstract: Fitzgerald, S. A. (2007). Hybrid identities in Canada's Red River Colony. The Canadian Geographer, 51(2), 186-201.

Understanding change in cities: a personal research path

Abstract: At the invitation of the editor, this article offers an overview of my personal research trajectory in one thematic area—the study of urban form, structure and growth. The purpose of the article is not to assign prominence to any particular research style or approach but to illustrate how ideas and priorities in research evolve over a given time period and under specific conditions, as viewed through the lens of my own experience. The article traces the sequential evolution of my research activity and publications from an initial emphasis on understanding change in inner-city land use and built form, through studies of decision making and the behavioural bases of urban form, to analyses of social change, income inequalities and spatial polarization, and then to issues of planning, policy and governance in emerging city regions. The review highlights lessons learned and concludes with an argument for more inclusive and comparative research. A l'invitation de l’editeur en chef, cet article offre un apercu de ma trajectoire de recherche axee sur un domaine specifique–l’etude de la forme, de la structure et de la croissance urbaine. L'article ne vise pas a mettre en valeur un style ou une approche de recherche en particulier, mais plutot a fournir, a partir de ma propre experience, un exemple de la maniere dont les idees et les orientations de recherche peuvent evoluer au cours d'une periode de temps et sous certaines conditions. Cet article presente de facon sequentielle l’evolution de mes activites de recherche et de mes publications qui portaient initialement sur les changements de l'occupation du sol et des formes urbaines dans les centre-ville, pour porter par la suite sur l’etude des processus decisionnels et des facteurs comportementaux lies aux formes urbaines, a des analyses des changements sociaux, des inegalites de revenu et de la polarisation spatiale, et finalement aux enjeux entourant la planification, les politiques publiques et la gouvernance dans les regions urbaines en emergence. Ce bilan permet de degager des enseignements et se termine par une discussion sur le besoin d'une recherche plus inclusive et comparative.

Comment réorganiser le réseau postal suisse? Une application de l'aide à la décision territoriale

Abstract: How to reorganize the Swiss postal network? A case study of spatial decision making-support. This article presents a case study of spatial decision making-support in relation to the Swiss Post and its efforts to reorganize the postal network in eight Swiss cities. The first part of the article describes the methodology and highlights selected original elements used in the processing of geographic information (spatial analysis and multi-criteria analysis). The second part, more analytical, examines the process used to apply the method defined in the previous section. Based on a constructivist approach of decision-support, it explores the modes of interaction between available information and decision makers. The analysis shows that the decision maker is relatively difficult to identify since the decision making process includes a set of partial and dependent decisions that are taken by a diversity of people. In conclusion, geographic information played an important role, not only on the decision, but mainly in allowing decision makers to better understand spatial complexity Cette contribution presente une application de l'aide a la decision territoriale afin d'aider la Poste suisse a reorganiser son reseau postal dans huit villes de Suisse. Le texte comprend deux parties. La premiere decrit l'approche methodologique en mettant en lumiere certaines originalites dans les traitements realises pour valoriser l'information geographique (analyse spatiale et analyse multicritere). La seconde partie est plus reflexive et porte sur le processus qui a mis en œuvre la methode precedemment decrite. Elle explore, en s'inspirant notamment d'une approche constructiviste de l'aide a la decision, les modes d'interaction entre l'information mise a disposition et les acteurs du processus. Cette reflexion montre notamment que le decideur est en fait relativement difficile a identifier, puisque le processus decisionnel comprend un ensemble de decisions partielles et imbriquees qui sont prises par des acteurs differents. On observe en conclusion que l'information geographique a joue un role tres important, non seulement sur la decision, mais aussi ou surtout, en permettant aux acteurs de mieux comprendre la complexite territoriale.

Vanishing the Haida: George Dawson's ethnographic vision and the making of settler space on the Queen Charlotte Islands in the late nineteenth century

Abstract: Introduction A score of individuals sit huddled in the underbrush, each tightly wrapped in the dye-banded wool of a Hudson Bay Company blanket (Figure 1). Above the blanket hems, attentive faces--some elderly, many quite young--peer at us, unflinchingly meeting our gaze across the historical gulf that separates our time from theirs. In the background their dwellings rise above the twisted thicket of vegetation--large houses of unadorned cedar planks facing the open water just visible in the middle distance along the image's right edge. The subjects of this provocative image were the Kwakwaka'wakw inhabitants of Forward Inlet, an arm of Quatsino Sound located on Vancouver Island's northwestern coast. The date was 18 September 1878 and the photographer was George Dawson, the Geological Survey of Canada's principal surveyor in British Columbia (BC) during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Following an extensive and productive exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands, (1) Dawson had come to Forward Inlet in search of the rich coal seams that several tantalizing rumours and his own geological instincts told him were there. As was his practice, Dawson occupied himself with a careful reconnaissance of the inlet's coal-bearing rocks throughout the day before visiting the native village with his photographic equipment in the evening, once his official obligations had been met. Dawson's interest in documenting these Kwakwaka'wakw villagers was not unprecedented. In addition to being one of Canada's leading geologists, Dawson had become something of an amateur ethnographer in the course of his BC field work. Whenever circumstances permitted, Dawson recorded myths, collected vocabularies, observed ceremonies and photographed the native villages and peoples he encountered. Indeed, the Forward Inlet photograph was merely one of many ethnographic images that Dawson had produced over the course of the 1878 field season. Something, however, is not right with this particular image. The figures in the foreground have the blurred features and undefined edges of ghostly apparitions. Fewer than half a dozen faces have discernable expressions and several of the individuals appear as little more than smoky voids against the crisply-rendered vegetation and dwellings in the background. Dawson's field notes offer an explanation: '[I] had endless difficulty in getting them [the villagers] to understand what was wanted, to go to the right place, & finally to sit still. The photo if it turns out visible at all I fear will be a very poor one' (Cole and Lockner 1989, 530). Dawson's pessimism was based on his recognition that late nineteenth century field cameras required subjects to remain absolutely stationary during the long exposures in order for images to be rendered crisply and clearly. Of course, for a native community that was unaccustomed to posing for the camera and was both uninterested in and disconnected from the final product, the inclination to sit completely still for several minutes at a stretch was understandably low. As unintentional as it was, however, Dawson's photograph nonetheless depicted these villagers as strangely ethereal and decidedly ephemeral. Indeed, looking at the photograph, it is hard to escape the perception that these people are dissipating into the air before our eyes--vanishing, quite literally, into the woodwork that will continue to stand sentinel over Forward Inlet after their passing. It is an arresting effect, creating a melancholic image richly tinged with pathos and loss. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Dawson's photographic 'mis-take' at Forward Inlet thus provides an ideal point of departure for this article because it serves as an especially apposite visual metaphor for his ethnographic vision--a vision that Dawson articulated explicitly not long after his visit to Quatsino Sound: [T]he ultimate fate of the Red Man of North America is absorption and extinction: just as European animals introduced into Australia and other regions, frequently drive those native of the country from their haunts, and may even exterminate them, and as European wild plants accidentally imported, have become the most sturdy and strong in our North American pastures; so the Indian races seem to diminish and melt away in contact with the civilization of Europe . …

La dynamique spatiale des marchés locaux de l'emploi au sein du champ métropolitain de Québec, 1981–2001

Abstract: Introduction Au Canada, nombreuses sont les etudes portant sur les deplacements residence-travail en milieu metropolitain (Thomas 1995; Lemelin et Gatignol 1999; Thomas et Villeneuve 1998; Vandersmissen, Villeneuve et Theriault 2001a, 2001b, 2003), mais plus rares sont celles qui etendent leur champ d'analyse au-dela des frontieres des regions metropolitaines de recensement (RMR) et qui s'interessent par la meme aux interactions entre les milieux metropolitains et leur arrierepays (hinterland). Le dynamisme des milieux nonmetropolitains situes a proximite des regions metropolitaines, ainsi que la restructuration sectorielle et spatiale de l'emploi qui l'accompagne, justifient pourtant de s'interesser a la question des migrations pendulaires a une echelle plus vaste, celle du > (Villeneuve, Lee-Gosselin et Barbonne 2006). Differents processus se conjuguent ainsi pour donner lieu a la constitution de vastes ensembles regionaux polynucleaires (Scott 2001). Toutefois, cette nouvelle forme d'organisation spatiale merite d'etre mieux documentee, notamment sous l'angle des deplacements residence-travail et de l'articulation entre les differents bassins de main-d'oeuvre qui structurent leur territoire, et cela particulierement dans le cas de plus petits ensembles metropolitains. S'inscrivant dans cette perspective de recherche, cette etude vise a analyser la dynamique spatiale des differents bassins de main-d'oeuvre situes au sein du champ metropolitain de Quebec et a mieux documenter ainsi les echanges entre le coeur metropolitain et les bassins de main-d'oeuvre non-metropolitains situes dans son arriere-pays. Pourquoi S'interesser Aux Migrations Pendulaires a l'echelle Infra-Regionale? La restructuration des milieux non-metropolitains > Le dynamisme economique des milieux nonmetropolitains situes a proximite des centres metropolitains implique de s'interesser a la problematique des deplacements residencetravail a une echelle plus vaste que celle des regions metropolitaines de recensement (RMR). A l'echelle du Quebec par exemple, Polese et Shearmur (2002) ont montre que les regions nonmetropolitaines dites >, c'est-a-dire celles situees sur la Rive-Sud du Saint-Laurent et dans un rayon d'approximativement 150km des regions metropolitaines, connaissaient un developpement economique notable, contrairement aux regions plus peripheriques (Gaspesie, Cote-Nord, Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Abitibi-Temiscamingue). Plusieurs etudes ont montre en effet que les processus de desserrement de l'emploi, observes a l'echelle metropolitaine, et donnant lieu a un phenomene de suburbanisation de l'emploi, se prolongeaient parfois jusque dans les milieux non-metropolitains avoisinants (Nelson 1990; Gordon et al. 1998; Steinacker 1998). Si certaines activites continuent de se concentrer plus fortement dans les centres metropolitains, particulierement les activites du tertiaire superieur, certaines autres, comme les activites manufacturieres peuvent se deconcentrer plus largement sur le territoire, a un tel point que l'on peut parler d'un veritable phenomene d'industrialisation des campagnes (Villeneuve 1996). Parallelement, on observe un declin des activites du secteur primaire dans les milieux non-metropolitains. L'agriculture ou encore l'exploitation des ressources naturelles ne constituent plus l'epine dorsale de l'economie des regions peripheriques, encore moins des milieux non-metropolitains plus centraux. L'emploi des milieux non-metropolitains se caracterise desormais de plus en plus par l'emploi non-agricole, dans les secteurs manufacturier, du tourisme, du commerce ou des services a la population. Par ailleurs, cette restructuration sectorielle de l'emploi des milieux non-metropolitains se double d'une restructuration spatiale. L'emploi se concentre de plus en plus massivement dans les poles d'emploi et centres urbains (Barbonne 2003), de telle sorte que la population active des milieux ruraux se trouve de plus en plus contrainte a effectuer des migrations pendulaires. …

The spatial and temporal dimensions of a rural landscape: the Yucatec Maya k'ax

Abstract: Introduction For most of the past century, academic descriptions of different types of rural landscapes primarily focused on the various material elements that comprised these areas. Such landscapes have mainly been interpreted by outsiders, who have paid limited attention to the processes and mindsets of the people who created them. This neglect does not deny that there is a long tradition of sensitivity to the role of culture in affecting the form and character of rural landscapes, notably the 'landscape school' of Carl Sauer (Sauer 1925; Matthewson and Kenser 2003). More recently, the pioneering work of Cosgrove (1988) and others (Bender 1993; Mitchell 2000; Robertson and Richards 2003) have made it clear that it is necessary to go beyond the description of empirical conditions. Instead, these contemporary scholars have argued that these landscapes are cultural constructions that have meaning for their inhabitants and are intimately linked to the social reproduction of the societies that created them. Indeed, landscapes embody material, social and cultural (meaningful) elements of these societies, and play a role in the transmission of values and environmental practices through the generations. Hence, the physical manifestation of landscape should be understood as a cultural expression of values and meaning systems. Advocates of this approach, known as the New Cultural Geography, have contributed to the study of rural landscapes by providing four innovative arguments. First, it is proposed that agricultural landscapes should be seen as 'text', with the individual elements having meanings that can be read in the landscape and which have specific roles in the transmission of cultural values. Such interpretations parallel the work of Duncan (1990) who showed how the urban landscape of historic Kandy did not simply reflect societal values but that aspects of it were actively created as representations designed to reproduce particular values and beliefs, themselves linked to specific power structures in the regimes that created these urban landscapes. Second, cultural features should not be viewed as objects, of a series of products, but understood as evidence of a process (Mitchell 2000, 294). As summarized by Davies and Gilmartin (2002, p. 18) emphasis is placed upon 'why the object was created, what agencies were involved, the alternative forms that could have been taken, the struggles over which form or trait was chosen, the power that conditioned the final choice, and the inevitable inequalities that result, among individuals, groups or spaces where the objects or activities are found'. Third, study of the use of the local environment by rural societies reveals the presence of specific environmental values that influence how areas are used, for the use and/or modification of the natural environment frequently plays a significant part in the cultural distinctiveness of various groups. That is, the new approaches offer a more holistic view, one that contrasts with a conventional Western dichotomy into 'nature' and 'society' that were embedded in earlier understandings. Fourth, the new approach stresses the need to create concepts and interpretations of landscapes that are not culture-specific or culturally dominant, and in which a more focused understanding of indigenous values and practices in the description and evaluation of these landscapes is an integral part of the interpretation. Many recent studies have shown a growing self-consciousness of the researcher as positioned and privileged which, in turn, has led to a new sensitivity to indigenous organizational principles (e.g., Basso 1996; Escobar 1998; Steinberg 1998; Dove 2003; Duvall 2003; Hunn et al. 2003). The concern to understand local spatial concepts is salient when comparing landscapes across cultures, or in areas where competing principles for resource definition and use produce contested landscapes. In such a comparative framework, there is a heightened need to be cautious about applying concepts and labels emerging from the outsider if specific indigenous landscapes are to be properly understood. …

Speaking the land: exploring women's historical geographies in Northern Québec

Abstract: Introduction In 2003, The Nation--which is the Eastern James Bay Cree's main periodical--published the legend of 'The woman who turned cannibalistic' (Masty 2003). (1) It tells the story of a couple who lived on the land a long time ago 'when it was easy to catch beaver' (p. 59). One day the man notices that his wife does not eat much of the meat he brings home but seems satiated after a few bites. Spying, he observes her leaving their lodge with a cooking pot and walking over to a mound near the edge of a swamp. There he sees her sitting beside the mound and cutting something inside which she then transfers to the pot. Confronting her, he realizes that she has killed a bear and is cutting meat from it a little at a time. Outraged, 'the man dragged the partially butchered carcass out of the den and took it home' where he proceeds to 'properly' (p. 61) clean and butcher the bear. This killing and consuming of the bear outside the traditional ritualistic procedures followed by male hunters has severe consequences. Gradually, the woman starts to exhibit strange behaviour. After skinning a beaver, she licks the blade of the flesher against the prohibition that beaver meat is not eaten raw. Worse, she tries to stab her husband when he mentions this rule to her. Fearing that she 'no longer had any sense of right from wrong' (p. 63) the man leaves their camp the following morning to fetch her parents who are hunting nearby. When they reach the camp, the crazed woman walks toward her parents, kills them, and later eats their corpses. From then on, it is clear that the woman has stopped being human: 'She was no longer the size of a human. She was becoming a giant cannibal. She was eating people now' (p. 65). Following in her father's trail, the cannibalistic woman walks back to the main camp where the rest of her clan is ready for her and a shaman kills her. The legend concludes that: 'The spirit of the bear was vengeful to those who showed disrespect. This was before there was religion. Nobody knew God'. Nevertheless, 'the man wasn't killed because he was very observant' (p. 65). Interestingly, that issue of The Nation also contained an article, this time non-fictional, about a woman who was making a formal plea to the Cree Trappers' Association (CTA) in order to become lead hunter of her family trapline, a role now referred to as 'tallyman'. (2) The woman, who at the time was in her late sixties, was born on her family's land and spent her youth in the bush. She never went to school and always led a traditional lifestyle. Her father died when she was very young and her mother became the sole provider and teacher of the family. She remembers her mother as a role model: 'She patiently taught us everything about our traditional lifestyle, and the hunting, trapping and fishing skills. She worked as hard as any man at our family camp when my late brother was still small and unable to do heavy chores' (Valade 2003, 41). When her brother died in 2002, his last wish was to leave the trapline to his sister; as an elder and a respected member of her community, she was the best person to ensure that the land would be well taken care of, and that its wealth would continue to be shared. This simple plea, however, would put the CTA in a delicate situation for, in granting such a wish, it would have to go against the traditional patrilineal practice of transferring land from father to son. (3) The juxtaposition of these two pieces only a few pages apart is an intriguing editorial commentary by The Nation on the dilemma facing the CTA, and Cree society as a whole. Indeed, it would constitute a surprising break from tradition if the CTA were to grant official responsibility of a trapline to a woman. Yet, in practice, men and women often accomplished many of the same tasks while out on the land. The extensive list of skills that traditionally had to be acquired by both men and women to maintain a successful hunting lifestyle attests that the division of labour between them was a matter of survival: living off the land meant that each gendered task was developed toward the goal of maximizing every effort, resource, or movement in space. …