The Red Tail site is one of 19 archaeological sites that lie within central Saskatchewan’s Wanuskewin Heritage Park. Since the creation of a long-term research program in 1984, many of these sites have been excavated making this the longest running archaeological project in Canada. This has provided an extensive body of archaeological evidence of human activity dating as early as the Early Precontact Period. Despite the extensive archaeological excavation and research that has occurred, relatively few geomorphic and paleoenvironmental studies have been conducted within the area. Paleoenvironmental data provide important context in building archaeological interpretations of past lifeways. The Red Tail site was originally excavated in 1988 and 1989 to a depth of approximately 2.7 m. In 2007, the site was revisited in order to conduct subsurface coring to a depth of over 6 m using a Geoprobe coring rig. This method allowed recovery of culturally sterile soils/sediments beyond the depth of the original excavation. This project includes analysis of these cores in order to investigate geomorphic processes active at the site and proxy indicators of paleoenvironment and paleoclimate. Analysis of two of the cores included detailed description of the recovered soils and sediments, as well as stable isotope and phytolith analysis of selected units in one of the cores. This suite of methods provides a robust, multi-proxy interpretation of geomorphic change and paleoenvironmental conditions at the site. The site was geomorphically active during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, reflective of a dynamic and fluctuating climate following the glacial retreat. As the environment became more stable during the Middle to Late Holocene, periods of landscape stability are reflected in a sequence of buried soils. The paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic record recovered from these buried soils shows a fairly consistent history of C3-plant dominated communities, reflective of moist, cool climate conditions. The relatively stable environmental and climatic conditions reflected at the site contribute to the understanding of the Wanuskewin area as an oasis on the prairies.

Electricity accounts for much of the primary energy used in China, and more thanthree-quarter of the total electricity is generated by coal combustion. Coal burningcombined with flue gas cleaning system generates large quantity of coal combustionproducts (CCPs), which has caused significant environmental and economic burden tothe economy, ecology and society. Of great importance are thus different applicationswhich contribute to the increased use of CCPs. This thesis looks at an overview ofCCPs production and utilization all around the world and investigates current CCPsapplications as well as potential technically sound and economically justifiedtechnologies. Results of this thesis show that CCPs utilization rate in differentcountries varies widely from 13% to 97%. Worldwide, a significant proportion ofCCPs from the main producers, e.g. China, the United States and India, is still beingdisposed off, resulting in a low-level of overall utilization of these products. It isevident that the amount of CCPs produced substantially exceeds consumptionsbecause of various existing obstacles and limitations. In order to formulate effectiveapproaches, identifying challenges to increased use of CCPs is of great weight. The aimof this thesis is to analyze current and potential utilizations of CCPs and morespecifically address factors that inhibit or promote the use of CCPs from coal-firedpower plants in China. Savings of natural resources, energy, emissions of pollutants, GHG emissions anduseful land were found as the major incentives for CCPs utilization. In China, a ban ofsolid clay bricks was also found to be a very powerful measure to stimulate thedevelopment of other by-product based wall materials while saving useful land andprotecting the environment. However, this strong support from the government hasnot been fully implemented, which seriously hampered CCPs uses. Results presentedin this thesis also show that high transportation cost of low unit-value CCPs,competition from available natural materials and spatial variation in supply-demandposes three of the most important barriers to the increased use of CCPs in China.Industrial organizations with assistances from the government have shown to be offundamental importance for formulating approaches to take in overcoming thebarriers. This thesis emphasized that transforming laboratory- and pilot-scale technologies intocommercial productivity is of the highest priority for increased use of CCPs. Aconceptual model of CCPs Eco-Industry Park (EIP) as a potential effective solutionwas proposed. Mutual economic and environmental benefits can be achieved throughthe collaboration between different industries in the CCPs EIP. And other feasiblerecommendations of initiatives from both the government and industries were alsodiscussed.

Weddings and funerals are some of the most universally profound events of our lives. Both acts, however disparate, ultimately celebrate life. This thesis draws on themes of life and regeneration in its reading of a neglected yet historically significant site in the port lands of Toronto. The changes that have occurred at the mouth of the Don mirror the changes that have occurred in Toronto from settlement to post-modernity. It is here that the thesis proposes a place that simultaneously reclaims its roots and creates a new identity for the port lands. As a means of reinhabiting this site, the design uses the power of weddings and funerals to generate a collective point of gathering that reflects the multicultural nature of Toronto today.

The tension between 'acceptable' human use of the environment and the management systems that intend to mitigate this use continues to be an important focus for discussion and research. This is particularly evident in the situation of recreation in parks and protected areas. Enhancing public participation in the development and implementation of resource management objectives has received much attention, in literature and in practice, as a way to mediate this tension. However, how this participation will come about or is to be facilitated necessitates further investigation. This thesis further develops the notion of public participation with a focus on recreationists as a valuable source of assistance for achieving the conservation agenda. It also highlights that the assistance that recreationists could potentially offer remains predominately untapped. Two reasons for this include the restrictiveness inherent in current recreation and environment management approaches, and underlying assumptions that discount the value of public participation or cater to an active public, or recreationist, minority. Drawing on relevant social research, this thesis attempts to better understand the individual recreationist and derive from this an understanding of possible opportunities through which recreationist participation in conservation could be enhanced. Complementing this discussion is an identification of park managers as key recipients of this research, and a redefinition of their role from manager to one that emphasizes aspects of leadership. Two methods were employed to further investigate this research: an extensive review of relevant theory as well as the use of two case studies: Killarney Provincial Park (Ontario, Canada) and Fish Creek Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada). Within each case study, interviews were conducted in the months of June and July 2000 with park staff and other appropriate individuals. At the same time, recreationists from both parks were surveyed. Interviews and survey questions were guided by the primary question of, how can the role of recreationists in the conservation of parks and protected areas be enhanced? Eleven recommendations emerged from this research in regard to: opportunities for recreationists to participate in conservation, the role of social research, and the relationship between park manager and recreationist. This paper concludes by establishing an argument advocating recreationist participation in conservation, and offers ways in which this participation could be achieved.

In the last one hundred years Toronto’s cultural identity has been completely transformed. Once a quiet and thoroughly conservative Anglo-Saxon town, Toronto has become a thriving and dynamic multicultural city. Today a majority of the city’s residents are visible minorities and almost half are foreign-born; the largest of any city in the world. Never before have so many ‘different’ people shared place. While successive waves of immigration have had a profound and measurable impact on Toronto’s cultural and social character, the impact on its public spaces and institutions remains more illusive. This thesis proposes an architectural design for an intercultural library and language centre that seeks to give voice to the principles of diversity that have energized Toronto, while acknowledging the city’s history of divisiveness and political indifference to immigrants. Set adjacent to the Bickford Centre, an existing ESL school dedicated to serving new immigrants, the proposed intercultural library and language centre will face the Christie Pits Park, the site of Toronto’s worst race riot. Three lines of inquiry structure this thesis. The first is an in-depth sociodemographic investigation of immigration to Toronto. This is followed by an analysis of the meaning and significance of critical intercultural gathering spaces in the city. Finally, the thesis, through the design of the language centre, seeks to explore the capacity of architecture to simultaneously unite and provide amenity for a multicultural city population.

A park management plan is an important tool used in protected areas to successfully develop and achieve goals and objectives. Planning in modern protected area environments is challenging due to the requirement of finding the balance between its primary goal of preserving ecological and cultural features while managing to achieve tourism and visitation objectives. There are different perspectives regarding the purpose of a management plan and the role that the public should play in having an influence over the decision making process, including access to information required. This study evaluated the amount of detail in visitor and tourism policies that was found in park management plans compared to the amount of detail that park stakeholders desired, revealed through a case study of Ontario Provincial Parks. Findings include: a consistently low level of detail provided in park management plans; a large gap between the larger amount degree of detail desired by stakeholders’ compared to the sparse detail contained in plans; and a significant difference in the degree of detail desired by stakeholders affiliated with one park, Algonquin Park, over others. The low level of detail contained in management plans can be a reflection of five elements: 1) a low value of visitation and tourism, 2) a blueprint planning goal of management plans, 3) a weak role of the public in decision making, 4) sparse human resources/finances, and 5) imprecise legislation and guiding provincial policy. The large gap between the detail stakeholders desire compared to the content provided in plans reflect weak public participation and governance principles such as transparency, accountability, and fairness and power sharing. Lastly, differences in the degree of detail desired based on park affiliation suggest that park features, beside park classification and park visitation levels, also have an effect on the degree of detail expected from park stakeholders.

“It seems to me that Canadian sensibility has been profoundly disturbed, not so much by our famous problem of identity, important as that is, as by a series of paradoxes in what confronts that identity. It is less perplexed by the question ‘Who am I?’ than by some such riddle as ‘Where is here?’” - Northrop Frye Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity. – Marshall McLuhan As Canadians we struggle with issues of identity. Our land is so vast that it can never be simply categorized and our culture is so diverse and rich that it can never be reduced to a single group or ancestry. In Ontario, the question of identity is equally complex. Larger than many counties, Ontario is made up of three distinct geographic regions, its edges defined by borders on five US states and two provinces, and it is home to one of the most culturally diverse populations in the world. Ontario holds 40% of Canada’s population and Toronto, it’s capital, is the largest city in the country. Sitting at the very centre of Toronto’s educational and ceremonial core is Queen’s Park, home of the Provincial Legislature the place from which Ontario is governed and the place which is tasked with embodying and representing all of Ontario. Composed of a 19th century building and a generous public landscape, Queen’s Park is easily recognizable at a distance, yet it suffers from a deficit of meaning and identity. The park may ‘work’ in the most basic sense but leaves much to be desired for one of the most prominent, and symbolically significant places in both the city and the province. Over the course of its 150 years of history, the park has seen the disappearance of Taddle creek, various alterations in the landscape, the accrued collection of monuments and memorials, the demolition and construction of several buildings and countless public gatherings. All of these manipulations, deletions, additions and events fail to suggest anything other than our society remains supplicant to greater powers, disconnected from its environment and unsure of its identity. Yet, in spite of all these issues, Queen’s Park is full of potential. The goal of this thesis is to test the capacity of architecture to give voice to a new vision for Ontario’s capital that more fully reflects the forces at work in society. Equally significant for this thesis has been my own parallel quest for meaning and identity as a woman in the 21st century who is both prospective architect and engaged citizen. I deeply felt a need to find architectural sources of inspiration founded on compassion, empathy and an engagement with the land. This desire for meaning has led me to discover the ancestral heritage of Ontario and to take ownership of my own roots. These two streams, one architectural and one personal are woven together to build a design approach for Queen’s Park. The thesis is organized in four parts, completing one cycle of design. Part 1: ‘Stories of Migration’ uses female voices extending back to the land’s geological formation in order to invent a mythology for Toronto and to engage with the voice of the other. Part 2: ‘Capitols of Identity’ uses case studies of civic architecture and public space in Ontario to explore the relationship between power, landscape and place in cities. Part 3: ‘Messages of Queen’s Park’ recovers the lost identity of this urban artifact by forging more meaningful connections to its physical and metaphorical context. And finally, Part 4: offers a concluding vision to the building and landscape which create memorable spaces for civic engagement and play for the people of Ontario.

Point Pelee National Park in Ontario, Canada has been affected by a long history of human activity. This activity has encouraged the establishment of approximately 276 exotic invasive plant species. These plants decrease biodiversity and effective function of ecosystems within the Park. A 5 Year Exotic Plant Species Management Plan for the Park was written in 1990. Since that time inventories have been done on some of the species but a monitoring of all the high priority exotic invasive plants has not. As part of this study an inventory of the high priority exotic invasive plants and their spatial extent in the Park, was created. From May to September, 2011 a comprehensive inventory took place within a 5.5km stretch in the terrestrial area at the southern end of the Park. Systematic belt transects were performed, on foot, from west to east at 100 m intervals. Within the quadrats percent cover of each plant species was determined. The data collected in the field were compiled using geographic information systems (GIS), resulting in maps of the extent of the most abundant species studied. Analysis as part of this study included using the data to determine which plants and areas are higher priorities for management within the Park. Quadrats were analysed for diversity using the Simpson Index and, since the data was non-parametric, comparisons were made across diversity and native richness using the Kruskal Wallis test. Alliaria officinalis is the only non-native species that is widespread within the study area. Other non-native species with a high potential for invasiveness were observed but only consisted of a few individuals along roads and paths. Some non-native species were present along or near roads and paths in denser patches (17-100% plot coverage). Recommendations include removal of some non-native species deemed to be a potential threat to native richness and diversity, followed by re-vegetation with native species, and continued monitoring. Future restoration efforts are best directed at the area around DeLaurier, along west beach and at the Tip. These areas have the lowest diversity and native richness and therefore need the most improvement.

The Meewasin Creek site (FbNp-9) is a multicomponent precontact site located within the confines of the Wanuskewin Heritage Park, three kilometres north of the city of Saskatoon. The University of Saskatchewan conducted field school excavations as part of a long term study by in conjunction with Wanuskewin Heritage Park. Excavations exposed over 40 m2 and 10 occupation levels. Cultural affiliations of the buried levels range from the McKean complex in the deeper levels, through Pelican Lake, Sandy Creek, Besant, Avonlea, and indeterminate components. Radiocarbon dates from four levels corroborate the time frame of the occupation levels. Research includes an analysis of artifacts, ecofacts and features from each cultural level to determine how the site was used in each time period.<p> The Terminal Middle Precontact period is a time of increased cultural complexity on the Northern Plains. This study focuses on the 2500 to 2000 B.P. time frame during which a number of cultural expressions are observed in the archaeological record including Pelican Lake, Sandy Creek, Besant, Plains Woodland, and previously un-named complexes. The archaeological remains recovered from Meewasin Creek are compared to a number of similarly aged sites in the Northern Plains including Mortlach, Sjovold, Walter Felt, as well as the single component Rocky Island site. By comparing the lithic and faunal assemblages at these key sites, we can draw a better view of the cultural systems present on the Northern Plains. From this benchmark we can form a more holistic cultural chronology on the Northern Plains, particularly in central Saskatchewan.

This essay discusses the use of history, and primarily how the current Swedish society perceives and uses the Viking age. The analysis is based on a literature study as well as a case study of the planned theme park in Fullerö north of Uppsala, Sweden. The aim of the essay is to understand the regional debate which arose in media regarding the planning of Fullerö Park and how it reflects the contemporary use of history. Research about the use of history has become increasingly common in recent years and deals with how history is actively being used in society in order to meet its existing needs. These needs varies among different groups and individuals and results in a multitude of usages, where the interests of the different actors may be contradictory. This essay highlights such a conflict of interest in the case of Fullerö; namely between the official heritage management and the commercial use of history. In the latter it is often the stereotypical images of history that are being used, since it fits well into the contemporary society’s quest for experience. Although these images are often romanticized and scientifically incorrect, this usage still has a purpose. The receivers and visitors do not necessarily perceive this as the true history, they appreciate it for other reasons, and it can function as a means of generating further interest.