Alternatives are required to replace the dominant paradigm of modernization if the residents and communities of Canada's Northwest Territories are to benefit fully from northern development activities. One such alternative is a bottom-up, community-based development process wherein communities engage in active planning to control and manage the resources of their regions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the implications of staple theory, a model of economic growth based on the export of primary resources, and community development approaches for development in the Northwest Territories. The thesis is that an Anarchist formulation of staple theory provides a theoretical foundation for an alternative, community-based approach to northern regional development. The study describes the contexts of development theory, Canadian regional development, and the dependent nature of northern development. Staple theory, in a basic descriptive form, is then introduced. The prescriptive interpretations of staple theory posited by W.A. Mackintosh, H.A. Innis, and W.L. Gordon and M.H. Watkins are discussed. The study then compares staple theory's prescriptions with those indicated by the Anarchist approach to regional development and community development literature. The combined prescriptions are placed within the context of northern development. The study concludes by outlining the implications of staple theory and community development approaches for regional planning theory and practice in the Northwest Territories. In the context of northern development, the study recommends the adoption of a community-based development policy and a reconnection of regions to their resources as suggested by both the staple theory and community development approaches. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

During the last twenty years, community development has become a recognized way of dealing with problems in underdeveloped countries, but its application in industrialized countries is comparatively recent. In Canada, it has been chosen as one of the ways in which disadvantaged people can improve their living standards, develop their communities and utilize their resources. This study has examined some important characteristics of community development pertinent to the projects and programs which have been initiated to combat the socially and economically deprived Indian, Eskimo and Negro communities. To give a conspectus of all developmental activities in Canada, the study has examined the extent of federal and provincial participation in community development. It has considered, also, programs of adult education and leadership training. Although the study has been in the nature of a survey, it has concluded that the commitment to community development in Canada has been too limited. The programs presently operating have been found to be too few in number, irregular in quality and uneven in distribution, and they have not been found to serve all deprived people throughout the nation. Until higher priorities and more funds have been apportioned to community development, it is believed that community development will remain limited. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Communities throughout Canada have been faced with economic problems as a result of global restructuring, national and regional recessions, and a reduced demand for primary resource commodities. Over the course of the past decade those communities have begun to utilize various forms of community economic development (CED) strategies to overcome local economic problems. Although CED has been interpreted in various ways, resulting in no single readily identifiable definition of the term, a few concepts seem to prevail throughout most of the interpretations. Generally, CED is a process which involves community members banding together to initiate their own solutions to their common economic problems. There are, however, several impediments to this bottom-up approach to economic development Community Futures, a program sponsored by the federal government, has been designed to promote and facilitate CED by helping to remove some of those impediments. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the extent to which a government program, namely Community Futures, can promote CED. A three part methodology has been used to accomplish this goal. First, a review of the relevant CED literature was performed to determine the goals of this approach to economic development and the impediments which exist. Four goals were identified: self-reliance, local control, institution-building, and equity. Self-reliance can be achieved through policies which decrease the level of economic leakages from the community and by recognizing the significance of the informal economy. Local control is a key element of the CED model. The goal is to increase the broader community's political control over the local economy through increased participation in community affairs. Local control manifests itself in institution-building processes. Community-based institutions allow the community to better control its collective economic destiny and ensure equitable access to resources by all community members, through policies which decrease the level of economic leakages from the community and by recognizing the significance of the informal economy. Local control is a key element of the CED model. The goal is to increase the broader community's political control over the local economy through increased participation in community affairs. Local control manifests itself in institution-building processes. Community-based institutions allow the community to better control its collective economic destiny and ensure equitable access to resources by all community members. The impediments to bottom-up CED are: difficulty accessing financial resources, difficulty accessing information, and underdeveloped human resources. These are the impediments which government programs should attempt to overcome to facilitate the CED process. The second part of the methodolgy consisted of a historic review of Canadian regional and local economic development policy to determine the nature of top-down economic development in Canada. This study found some of the relevant trends which have developed throughout the past decades, thus placing Community Futures into its appropriate historical context. Among the trends which emerged, we witness that policy: has been slow to develop; has lacked significant innovation; has traditionally been firmly controlled by the federal bureaucracy; has been influenced by political disputes at all levels; has been subject to the quantifiable, efficiency indicators which characterize the policy analysis approach to planning; and has regularly failed to meet its prescribed objectives. Having analyzed the relevant theory and practice, the third part of the methodology studied the policy design of Community Futures to determine the program's ability to overcome the impediments to bottom-up CED and thereby facilitate the acheivement of the goals described by CED writers. Eligibility requirements of the program, such as unemployment and minimum levels of economic infrastructure, restrict the ability of the program to operate comprehensively and be universally available. Other eligibility requirements, such as minimum population requirements and ministerial approval requirements tend to be counterproductive to the local control objective of CED. A positive effect of the program is its ability to facilitate institution-building through the use of a community-based Community Futures Committee. However, the ability of that committee to develop a community-based plan is restricted by the limited nature of the program and by the onerous procedural guidelines set by CEIC. Five broad conclusions concerning government involvement in CED programs are drawn from the literature review, the historical review, and the Community Futures case study. First, top-down strategies do, to a degree, have the potential to promote the goals of CED by addressing the impediments to the bottom-up approach. Second, the state's potential ability to promote comprehensive CED is impeded by the scale and national focus of top-down programs. Third, the government's sectoral structure also acts as an impediment to comprehensive top-down CED. Fourth, programs which are considered to be bureaucratic innovations may not be substantially different from those programs which preceded them. And finally, quantitative techniques of analysis and evaluation which characterize the policy analysis approach to planning are not capable of assessing the success of communities in achieving the ‘softer’ goals advocated by CED proponents. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

For many Indian bands across Canada, community development planning has emerged as an important approach to change. By forging close economic and political links with one another, small bands can accelerate their development through new economies of scale, heightened political influence, more innovative capacities and other advantages of cooperation. In practical terms, however, the initiation, formalization and consolidation of close inter-band cooperation presents several problems. Native culture lacks traditions in institutionalized inter-community cooperation, internal disharmony in many Indian villages frustrates unity on such Important decisions as whether or not to cooperate, and many. Indian communities are poor in organizational skills essential to planning and implementing cooperative strategies. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the factors responsible for apparently successful cooperation in the case of five Indian bands in the Nicola Valley and to assess the applicability of findings to other groups of Indian communities across the country. A literature review guides the selection of research questions and criteria used in assessing the case. Fifteen factors for effective inter-communlty cooperation are isolated from a literature review and grouped into three general categories: those Important to the initiation of cooperation, those relating to the delivery of the rewards of cooperation, and those affecting the capability of the cooperative organization. Six factors for Initiation include the presence of a common crisis or threat, inter-community similarity and familiarity, consensus, committed leadership, a propensity to cooperate and preliminary planning. Successful cooperation was also found to be linked to the capture by cooperating communities of four types of rewards, each representing a factor: Improved resource acquisition, adaptabli1ity to change, efficiency in community resource use and ability to achieve common goals. Finally, ongoing success was found to be reflected in the capability of inter-community cooperative organizations to accomplish five tasks: build community and staff commitment, plan harmonious inter-community relations, manage its environment, exploit common geography and culture, and solve problems. Case research focuses on five Indian bands in the Nicola Valley of southern British Columbia and is based on forty-one Interviews held in the valley. These bands are represented by the Nicola Valley Indian Administration CNVIA), a centralized bureaucracy which coordinates on behalf of the five communities a wide range of administrative services. Fifteen questions - each corresponding to a success factor derived from the literature - were asked in Interviews with people representing a broad spectrum of the native communities. Responses were compiled and analyzed to assess the degree to which inter-band cooperation conformed to expectations from the literature on successful inter-community cooperation. Analysis led to the conclusion that despite deficiencies in preliminary planning, ongoing planning and problem-solving, NVIA is a successful inter-community cooperative enterprise which has delivered many significant benefits to its member communities. While NVIA's existence suggests a successful initiation process, better planning in the formative years would likely have avoided several problems encountered in later years. Some of the rewards of cooperative effort have been inequitably distributed to member bands and various cooperative programs have been adversely affected by political interference. Perhaps most seriously, NVIA itself was found to be deficient in building broad commitment and designing mutually acceptable solutions to internal difficulties. Effective planning in the early stages is vital to establishing and, more importantly, ultimately maintaining inter-community cooperation. Incomplete planning during the formation of NVIA led to lack of clear consensus on the purpose of cooperation, the nature of inter-band power relations, the obligations of each band, and ways of distributing rewards and minimizing risks to participant bands. NVIA provides evidence that Indian communities can establish close formal relations with each other and thus capture certain Important benefits. Problems encountered suggest, however, that bands ought to temper enthusiasm with deliberation when considering formal copperatlve relations. Analysis of the Nicola Valley story confirmed that consensus, early planning, reward delivery, ongoing planning and problem-solving capacity are especially Important factors in establishing and maintaining lnter-communlty cooperation. The case makes a key contribution to interorganizational relations theory by highlighting the importance of Informal cooperation as a means of preparing Indian bands for more structured cooperation. It also reveals the critical role of persistent and far-sighted leadership in the formalization of inter-band cooperative relations. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Many communities in Canada are experiencing high levels of unemployment, poverty, social breakdown and environmental degradation. In an effort to address these problems, individuals, community groups and all levels of government, are experimenting with an approach to development called community economic development (CED). CED is a grassroots, bottom-up process that focuses on the creation of stable, viable, and equitable local economies. In trying to implement CED strategies, communities and individuals face many obstacles, one of the most significant of which is a lack of capital. Credit unions are locally-owned and controlled co-operative financial institutions with access to significant pools of “local” capital and therefore logical places for communities to turn. This thesis explores ways these institutions can support community economic development in their communities. An examination of the literature and interviews with credit union leaders and CED practitioners, demonstrate that most credit unions are not involved in CED lending. Nor are they particularly committed to CED ideals. This being said, however, the research shows that there are a few credit unions, in both Canada and the United States, that do participate in CED. These credit unions--some with a holistic commitment to CED, others with a partial commitment--support CED in a variety of ways, only one of which is through financing. In addition to providing access to capital, these credit unions fulfil other support functions such as providing technical assistance, building “community” and supporting community infrastructure development. Credit unions that participate in CED are not typical of the credit union movement. Most credit unions do not play a role in supporting community economic development in their communities. The study found that there are significant barriers to their participation in CED, barriers such as a lack of vision, the nature of CED lending, and competition from private financial institutions. In order for credit unions to participate in CED, these barriers must be removed. Ways to reduce some of the barriers are explored in the thesis. The research shows that in order to be able to participate in CED, credit unions require: a committed leadership, staff with community development expertise, new deposits of capital, a means of subsidizing the costs of CED lending, and institutional mechanisms that reduce risk as well as government support. Ways for credit unions to fulfil these needs are outlined. Lastly, research findings are summarized and conclusions are drawn about the role individual credit unions can play in CED. The kinds of initiatives credit union centrals, governments and planners can adopt to support credit unions in this work also explored.

The purpose of this thesis is to look at a non-conventional approach to increasing well-being at the community level. This new approach to development is called community-based economic development (CBED). Interest in CBED has been stimulated both by crises at the local level and by global problems. In Canada the impetus for CBED is attributable to three factors: the dependency of small communities on external factors and the alienation it promotes; a globalizing international economy; and the failure of past Canadian regional development planning policies. Community-based economic development is a new approach that seeks to increase community self-reliance. Many different CBED initiatives are currently operating in various regions, communities, and neighbourhoods across Canada. These CBED initiatives have centred on stimulating local employment and income levels almost exclusively within the formal "monetized" economy. This thesis examines a CBED initiative that operates within the "non-monetized" informal sector called the Local Exchange Trading System (LETS). LETS is a barter network that uses a local currency, "green dollars", to facilitate trading between members. To ascertain if the LETSystem can improve well-being at the local level, this thesis has examined three Canadian LETSYstems: Victoria, Cowichan Valley, and Ottawa. Three central goals of CBED were distilled: increased local control; implementation of an integrated approach to development; and sustainable development. The three LETSystems were then evaluated using the above goals. There are two main findings of this thesis. The first finding is that CBED can be, and presently is being, promoted in the informal sector. The second finding is that the LETSystems three examined, pursued goals similar to those of other CBED initiatives and sought to improve community well-being. The continued promotion of CBED by LETS is subject to two constraints: the novelty of the idea; and the lack of variety of goods and services traded. Nevertheless, there exists additional opportunities for the increased promotion of CBED through LETS, increased community development, and an expanded range of employment opportunities. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Many communities in Canada are experiencing high levels of unemployment, poverty, social breakdown and environmental degradation. In an effort to address these problems, individuals, community groups and all levels of government, are experimenting with an approach to development called community economic development (CED). CED is a grassroots, bottom-up process that focuses on the creation of stable, viable, and equitable local economies. In trying to implement CED strategies, communities and individuals face many obstacles, one of the most significant of which is a lack of capital. Credit unions are locally-owned and controlled co-operative financial institutions with access to significant pools of “local” capital and therefore logical places for communities to turn. This thesis explores ways these institutions can support community economic development in their communities. An examination of the literature and interviews with credit union leaders and CED practitioners, demonstrate that most credit unions are not involved in CED lending. Nor are they particularly committed to CED ideals. This being said, however, the research shows that there are a few credit unions, in both Canada and the United States, that do participate in CED. These credit unions--some with a holistic commitment to CED, others with a partial commitment--support CED in a variety of ways, only one of which is through financing. In addition to providing access to capital, these credit unions fulfil other support functions such as providing technical assistance, building “community” and supporting community infrastructure development. Credit unions that participate in CED are not typical of the credit union movement. Most credit unions do not play a role in supporting community economic development in their communities. The study found that there are significant barriers to their participation in CED, barriers such as a lack of vision, the nature of CED lending, and competition from private financial institutions. In order for credit unions to participate in CED, these barriers must be removed. Ways to reduce some of the barriers are explored in the thesis. The research shows that in order to be able to participate in CED, credit unions require: a committed leadership, staff with community development expertise, new deposits of capital, a means of subsidizing the costs of CED lending, and institutional mechanisms that reduce risk as well as government support. Ways for credit unions to fulfil these needs are outlined. Lastly, research findings are summarized and conclusions are drawn about the role individual credit unions can play in CED. The kinds of initiatives credit union centrals, governments and planners can adopt to support credit unions in this work also explored. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate