Many French-speaking people came to the Pacific Northwest. Although most came from Quebec, some traveled from as far away as France, Belgium and Switzerland. When they arrived in Oregon Territory, a juxtaposition of three cultures merged to form a unique French-speaking community governed by a dominant Western Anglo-American character and a living Indian culture for daily subsistence. Most importantly, the French brought their own traditions from Quebec and France. Also, French individuality became altered upon their arrival and through their necessity to adapt to the strange, unknown wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. Some changes came through the need for convenience, such as learning to maneuver a canoe across a quiet lake or down a swift moving stream. Such skills enabled them to cover large distances quickly. Other adaptations developed through a need for survival, such as learning the ways of unknown Indian cultures and living amongst them, or the methods to hunt and eat different types of game for their dinner.

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Increased urban diversity in the metropolises of North America urges us to examine the different forms of mobility of transnational communities in cosmopolitan societies. Recent technological advancements, including developments in transport and communication networks, have significantly influenced participation in transnational activities and belonging to transnational social spaces. This study examines the relationships between long-term mobility (migration) and short-term mobility (tourism) by investigation the “visiting friends and family” travel of immigrants that best exemplifies the nexus between the two contemporary phenomena. As increasing levels of globalization and international migration are likely to be accompanied by increased transnationalism, the research uses transnationalism as a conceptual framework to study immigrants’ overseas travel. Research into the relationship between tourism and migration requires engaging with issues of citizenship as different categories of migrants have different rights in the country of settlement. This has implications for travel as revealed in the movements that occur between the places of origin of immigrants (which become destinations) and the new places of residence (which become new origins). These movements are likely to be influenced by the rights and duties of immigrants as citizens living within and moving around different states. This study examines the relationship between the overseas travel patterns of immigrants and their citizenship status. It also examines the role of ethnic and family reunion in shaping these travel patterns. The study also provides a deeper theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of ethnic reunion in shaping the travel patterns of immigrants and of the social and cultural meanings associated with the travel to the ancestral homeland. All of these issues are tackled by examining Palestinian immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and by employing a mixed methods approach engaging both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. Major research methods that are employed in the research include key informant interviews, questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews, observation and field notes, and the use of secondary data. The study explored the politics of mobility for Palestinian-Canadians, an understudied population in terms of transnational practices and issues of identity and hybridity. It also explored issues of citizenship and belonging using extensive interview data with Palestinian-Canadians in the GTA. Throughout the thesis the highly politicized aspect of mobility/immobility, national identity, and national autonomy in the Palestinian case was present. The research highlighted the continuing role of state actors in determining mobility and rights, despite the increasing rhetoric of borderless mobility. The study reveals that the majority of the Palestinian Canadians travel overseas regularly and their outbound travel patterns demonstrate a significant ethnic component. Palestinian Canadians travel to their country of birth as their dominant outbound travel destination for the purposes of visiting friends and relatives and maintaining social and cultural ties, indicating strong ties with homeland that have ethnic links. However, Palestinians holding Canadian citizenship have a higher propensity to travel overseas than permanent resident. The return visits have social and cultural significance to the first and second generations. However, these return visits do not facilitate return migration.

This thesis forwards the concept of “diasporic epistemology” in order to better understand how Filipino Canadian young males make sense of their educational success and failure. Diasporic epistemology means a dual frame of reference created by the intersection of both structural and cultural conditions specific to a particular diaspora. To investigate this concept, I examined the interview transcripts of six Filipino Canadian young men using the constructivist approach to grounded theory. My research reveals that school structure and Filipino consciousness play a significant role in educational success and failure. Situating my thesis within the academic fields of epistemology, intersectionality, and student achievement, I contend that understanding the diasporic epistemology of racialized minority and immigrant students challenges certain truism in educational research, such as current belief that family’s socio-economic status and parental education are predictors of students’ academic success. The implications for education are greater teacher-student-home relationships and alternative schooling methods

This thesis forwards the concept of “diasporic epistemology” in order to better understand how Filipino Canadian young males make sense of their educational success and failure. Diasporic epistemology means a dual frame of reference created by the intersection of both structural and cultural conditions specific to a particular diaspora. To investigate this concept, I examined the interview transcripts of six Filipino Canadian young men using the constructivist approach to grounded theory. My research reveals that school structure and Filipino consciousness play a significant role in educational success and failure. Situating my thesis within the academic fields of epistemology, intersectionality, and student achievement, I contend that understanding the diasporic epistemology of racialized minority and immigrant students challenges certain truism in educational research, such as current belief that family’s socio-economic status and parental education are predictors of students’ academic success. The implications for education are greater teacher-student-home relationships and alternative schooling methods

This thesis is a study of attitudes towards the final disposition of archival records among representatives of five organizations in the Chinese community, Vancouver, British Columbia. The findings reveal three different types of attitude towards the final disposition of their archival records: "closed", "fairly open", and "open". Organizations with a political mission, a long history, and financially independent of government support tend to hold a "closed" attitude towards the final disposition of archival records; those with a project-oriented mission, existing for a limited time, and financially dependent of the government tend to hold an "open" attitude; those with missions such as cultural and social services tend to hold a "fairly open" attitude. The size of an organization does not influence the attitudes. The organizations open or fairly open towards access of their records possess higher potential for acquisition of ethnic archives by a public archival institution, whereas those closed to access of their records hold lower potential for acquisition. It is argued that these findings, though preliminary in nature, have significant importance for the archival community as regards the development of acquisition policy and strategy in keeping with the situation anddesires of records generators, in this case, ethnic groups. Its implications are especially significant in the Canadian setting, being a country widely acknowledged to have many ethnic groups.

This is a project about a specific group of peopleand place: the Chinese elderly in Strathcona, Vancouver. The parameters are cultural, social and physical. It is about a traditional culture at a crossroad with a North American culture, the implications being a critical exchange. I have proposed a living space that combines the closeness of a private world and the openness of an active and meaningful public face. The design of the housing addresses not only the area's need for elderly housing, but social and architectural perspectives as well. The private housing component is combined with a community (public) part - a daycare - and a semi-public part - the lounge, both of which allows the participation of the residents as well as the community. The lounge is a space for small exhibitions and performances. The semi-private component consists of a dining facility with kitchen, a small reading room (family room), a laundry and a clinic (beauty parlour). This combination means a dynamic connection of the public and the private faces. Through the use of the community's own design language and ideas from Asian housing and village designs, I have linked together a world of singular intracacies to create a rich sphere - one that will begin an urban repair through a breakdown and restructuring of the integral components of a place and the idiosyncracies of a culture.

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In the decade between Canada's first two decennial censuses, taken in 1851 and 1861, the Province, despite internal political difficulties, had become the largest, wealthiest, most populous, and most economically diversified of all Britain's colonies. The lower St. Lawrence was rugged and inhospitable, but above Quebec the valley widened into a fertile plain on both sides of the river which, in conjunction with the fertile Ontario "peninsula" to the west, supported the bulk of Canada's apopulation. [...]

For centuries, Western societies thought of wilderness as a barren, desolate place that harboured temptation and sin. Over the last hundred and fifty years, a marked shift has occurred in Western perception of this so-called savage place; it has become revered, protected, and even worshipped. What was once the Devil's playground is now thought to provide a locus of spiritual regeneration and hope for the future. In North America, this pronounced shift is thought to coincide with notions of the sublime and the frontier. This study explores the perceptions of wilderness among Chinese Canadian immigrants in British Columbia, people who have been less influenced by concepts of the sublime and frontier. It examines closely the idea that wilderness today is a self-evident construct that holds across most inhabitants of the province. Instead, ideas about wilderness held by people who have immigrated from China, similar to the ideas held by early immigrants from Europe, are influenced by tradition (especially Confucianism, Taoism, and, more recently, Maoism), space (i.e. coming from densely populated areas), and language. Through this study, it has become apparent that the language and discourse surrounding wilderness in Canada is markedly different from that of Chinese Canadian immigrants. While the language and meaning of wilderness, as referred to in Western society, is assumed relatively easily for interviewees, the identification with moral and aesthetic responses common to discussions of wilderness in North America is much less likely to manifest itself. Wilderness, which represented barrenness and desolation to interviewees when they lived in China, has come to represent forests, mountains, animals, and lack of human influence. What previously had different philosophical meaning, now, in a cognitive sense, represents beauty and, potentially, a locus of spirituality. The results of this study have important consequences for decision-making in cross-cultural environments. Policy surrounding wilderness or environmental preservation may be without meaning or relevance to new immigrants, who bring with them shared meanings and relationships to nature that may or may not be incongruous with Canadian environmental policy. In facing such debates, it is crucial to understand the perceptions of various players and how those ideas are linked to tradition, language, and the geography of the familiar. It is also critical to ask - What is wilderness and why are we protecting it above all else?