This thesis explores the history of Mounted Police and Cree relations on two Saskatchewan Reserves: Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in the north-east of the province, and Poundmaker Cree Nation in the central south-western portion of Saskatchewan.<p> Sources include oral interviews of elders from each reserve as well as a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police records.<p> One of the main goals of this thesis is to present a Cree perspective on contact and interaction with the Mounted Police. Although police policies were supposedly the same towards all Indians, specific elements of the Mounted Police dealings were altered according to a variety of external influences. For example, different environmental features from one region to the other prohibited the adoption of agriculture in the north. Diverse patterns of Euro-Canadian settlement, concentrated in the north but widespread in the south, also influenced relations. In addition, differences in the two Cree groups forced the Mounted Police to realize that not all Indians were the same.<p> This thesis supplies a brief history of the two Cree groups to provide insight on the existing methods of Cree law enforcement long-established prior to the arrival of the Mounted Police, and the complexities encountered in adapting to the laws of the Canadian government. Consideration is given to the difficulties in creating a law enforcement group to police the newly acquired North West Territories, as well as the initial phases of Cree and police contact for each region.<p> Each region experienced its own history, which contributed to the relationship between the Cree and the Mounted Police. For example, in the Battleford region the 1885 Rebellion played a key role in denigrating the image of the Poundmaker Cree, whereas the Peter Ballantyne Cree experienced no such event which created such a negative image. Poverty, starvation, and disease among both Cree groups were unfortunate elements which resulted from police enforcement of certain detrimental government policies. All the same, the Cree perceived the police as "protectors", yet were fully aware that they were also forced to carry out the orders of the Canadian government. It is this delicate balance between duty and humanity that had the greatest impact on relations between the Cree and the Mounted Police in Saskatchewan.

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Current trends toward warmer air temperatures and longer ice free seasons in Hudson Bay are expected to cause changes in Arctic marine ecosystem dynamics. Ringed seals (Phoca hispida) will likely experience changes in levels of predation, competition, and prey availability. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate seasonal, inter-annual, and spatial variation in Hudson Bay ringed seal feeding ecology. Fatty acid composition, δ15N, and δ13C varied significantly by season, suggesting seasonal changes in foraging habitat and diet. Spatial differences in ringed seal stable isotope ratios occurred between western and eastern Hudson Bay, and there was a strong relationship between spring air temperature and δ15N. Peak δ15N occurred within a range in spring air temperatures between approximately -5°C and -2°C. I propose that the high δ15N observed in ringed seals within this temperature range is indicative of relatively greater importance of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the ringed seal diet.

The first documented carbonatites in Manitoba occur as dykes and pods up to 15 meters in length and several meters in width at Eden Lake hosted in a post-orogenic syenitic complex within the Trans-Hudson Orogen. The carbonatites consist dominantly of calcite with lesser clinopyroxene, feldspar, apatite and titanite. Primary and xenocrystic clinopyroxene have distinct compositions, whereas xenocrystic feldspar has well-developed plagioclase and alanite rims. The whole-rock major- and trace-element composition of the carbonatite is consistent with global averages for calcio-carbonatites. Stable-isotope compositions of calcite indicate an igneous origin; the low δ13C ratios may reflect the influence of subducted sedimentary carbonate. A zircon age of 1815±8 Ma corresponds with the time of emplacement, whereas younger titanite ages reflect local thermal history. Although field relations suggest a genetic link to the host syenites, whole-rock geochemical data is incompatible with immiscibility or crystal fractionation models, suggesting a discrete mantle source for the carbonatite.

The investigation of a species’ repertoire and the contexts in which different calls are used is central to understanding vocal communication among animals. Beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, calls were classified and described in association with behaviours, from recordings collected in the Churchill River, Manitoba, during the summers of 2006-2008. Calls were subjectively classified based on sound and visual analysis into whistles (64.2% of total calls; 22 call types), pulsed or noisy calls (25.9%; 15 call types), and combined calls (9.9%; seven types). A hierarchical cluster analysis, using six call measurements as variables, separated whistles into 12 groups and results were compared to subjective classification. Beluga calls associated with social interactions, travelling, feeding, and interactions with the boat were described. Call type percentages, relative proportions of different whistle contours (shapes), average frequency, and call duration varied with behaviour. Generally, higher percentages of whistles, more broadband pulsed and noisy calls, and shorter calls (<0.49s) were produced during behaviours associated with higher levels of activity and/or apparent arousal. Information on call types, call characteristics, and behavioural context of calls can be used for automated detection and classification methods and in future studies on call meaning and function.

The first documented carbonatites in Manitoba occur as dykes and pods up to 15 meters in length and several meters in width at Eden Lake hosted in a post-orogenic syenitic complex within the Trans-Hudson Orogen. The carbonatites consist dominantly of calcite with lesser clinopyroxene, feldspar, apatite and titanite. Primary and xenocrystic clinopyroxene have distinct compositions, whereas xenocrystic feldspar has well-developed plagioclase and alanite rims. The whole-rock major- and trace-element composition of the carbonatite is consistent with global averages for calcio-carbonatites. Stable-isotope compositions of calcite indicate an igneous origin; the low δ13C ratios may reflect the influence of subducted sedimentary carbonate. A zircon age of 1815±8 Ma corresponds with the time of emplacement, whereas younger titanite ages reflect local thermal history. Although field relations suggest a genetic link to the host syenites, whole-rock geochemical data is incompatible with immiscibility or crystal fractionation models, suggesting a discrete mantle source for the carbonatite.

The investigation of a species’ repertoire and the contexts in which different calls are used is central to understanding vocal communication among animals. Beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, calls were classified and described in association with behaviours, from recordings collected in the Churchill River, Manitoba, during the summers of 2006-2008. Calls were subjectively classified based on sound and visual analysis into whistles (64.2% of total calls; 22 call types), pulsed or noisy calls (25.9%; 15 call types), and combined calls (9.9%; seven types). A hierarchical cluster analysis, using six call measurements as variables, separated whistles into 12 groups and results were compared to subjective classification. Beluga calls associated with social interactions, travelling, feeding, and interactions with the boat were described. Call type percentages, relative proportions of different whistle contours (shapes), average frequency, and call duration varied with behaviour. Generally, higher percentages of whistles, more broadband pulsed and noisy calls, and shorter calls (<0.49s) were produced during behaviours associated with higher levels of activity and/or apparent arousal. Information on call types, call characteristics, and behavioural context of calls can be used for automated detection and classification methods and in future studies on call meaning and function.

Current trends toward warmer air temperatures and longer ice free seasons in Hudson Bay are expected to cause changes in Arctic marine ecosystem dynamics. Ringed seals (Phoca hispida) will likely experience changes in levels of predation, competition, and prey availability. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate seasonal, inter-annual, and spatial variation in Hudson Bay ringed seal feeding ecology. Fatty acid composition, δ15N, and δ13C varied significantly by season, suggesting seasonal changes in foraging habitat and diet. Spatial differences in ringed seal stable isotope ratios occurred between western and eastern Hudson Bay, and there was a strong relationship between spring air temperature and δ15N. Peak δ15N occurred within a range in spring air temperatures between approximately -5°C and -2°C. I propose that the high δ15N observed in ringed seals within this temperature range is indicative of relatively greater importance of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the ringed seal diet.

Rapidly changing climates in northern Canada make the western Hudson Bay region an area of high importance for paleoenvironmental studies. Long-term changes in assemblages of diatoms (microscopic algae) were analyzed from lake sediment cores from Baker Lake, Nunavut, and Lake AT01, northern Ontario, to track responses to past environmental changes. Diatom assemblages dating to 6700 years ago in AT01 were initially characterized by cold- tolerant Fragilarioid assemblages, but shifted to an assemblage dominated by large benthic species and Cymbella diluviana consistent with the timing of the Holocene Thermal Maximum after 6300 years BP. A possible drainage event in Lake AT01 may have added significant hydrologic control on the diatom assemblages. The post-industrial period is marked by the largest compositional shifts in both records. Assemblages during the 20th century are indicative of reduced ice cover and enhanced thermal stratification linked to a climate regime shift noted in Hudson Bay since the mid-1990’s.

Approximately 7000 to 8000 years ago when Hudson Bay became ice-free the Tyrrell Sea flooded the Hudson basin and deposited fine grained marine sediments overlaying the previous glacial tills. Coincident with the ablation of the ice sheet isostatic rebound occurred causing regression of the Tyrell Sea and the emergence of a flat, relatively impermeable surface that would eventually host one of the world’s largest wetlands: the Hudson Bay Lowlands. The low permeability marine sediments and low regional slope reduced recharge and runoff, respectively, so that basal tidal marshes were established, and with isostatic up lift were eventually replaced by swamp forests and then forested and non-forested bogs. Recent discovery of kimberlite (diamondiferous) pipes in an area of the lowlands has led the development of an open-pit diamond mine which requires dewatering of the regional aquifer. Dewatering is depressurizing the surrounding Silurian bedrock that underlies the marine sediments. It was hypothesized that these marine sediments would act as a confining layer, isolating the overlying peatlands from the regional bedrock aquifer. We tested this hypothesis by instrumenting a 1.5 km long transect located within the zone of the mine’s influence that crossed various bogs and fens overlying these marine sediments, and was anchored at both ends by bedrock outcrops (bioherms), which represented areas of no marine sediment. Along this transect wells and piezometers were installed within the peat profile and upper marine sediments and bedrock to determine changes in water table and hydraulic head. The exposed bedrock outcrops (bioherms) did act as local drainage nodes, however, this effect was limited to ~30 m, beyond which water tables and hydraulic heads were similar to a control site located 25 km away. However, within this 30 m zone daily losses of water by the enhanced recharge often exceeded those of evapotranspiration (~3mm/day) representing a major local loss of water to the system. It is the distance to bedrock, rather than distance to bioherm, that determines strength of recharge. In areas of thinner marine sediments the daily fluxes were similar (but less) than those in the areas directly surrounding the bioherms, despite being 100s of meters away from the bioherms. The stratigraphy surrounding the bioherms lead to complicated flow regimes with higher conductivity layers (e.g., sands) circumventing the lower permeability marine sediments which may help extend the effect of the bioherms beyond the 30 m distance. The drying peat around the bioherms, and the elevated nature of the bioherms in a flat landscape, put them at increased risk for lighting strikes and thus fires; however, very little viable fuel exists in the peatlands around the bioherms and any fires that might occur would be confined to the bioherm and not spread into the surrounding peatland. Overall, at least within the first 5 years of aquifer dewatering, seasonal weather played the dominant role in affecting the hydrology of the peatlands; a heavy snow pack and cool, wet summer can mask, or at least minimize the effects of aquifer dewatering.