In the 1850s, the government of Canada West initiated a project to colonize a vast region of the Canadian Shield known as the Ottawa-Huron Tract. Later, in his influential interpretation, Arthur Lower argued the myth of the inexorable forward movement of the settlement frontier was here shattered by a reality of lakes, rocks, and forest inherently unsuitable for farming. This refrain continues to be repeated by proponents of what I call the failed-settlement narrative. A contrasting narrative emphasizes the perseverance of settlers and their descendants. This dissertation was born of an interest in the tension between these competing narratives. On the one hand, the failed-settlement narrative ignores the fact many people succeeded in farming on the Shield. On the other hand, the romanticized image of the pioneer is disconnected from the larger historical contexts which shaped the settlement process and informed those notions of success and failure by which we judge the actions of people in the past. If the colonization project was an unmitigated failure, how do we account for the persistence of settlers and their descendants? If the landscape and soils of the Shield were unsuited to cultivation, why did people continue to cultivate the land for decades after the settlement project was condemned? What follows is an exploration of these questions, focusing on the township of Brudenell, Ontario as a site of Canadian colonial experimentation. Failure and desertion were certainly important parts of the settlement experience in the Ottawa-Huron Tract, but these themes have been overemphasized by historians. Early on, many settlers realized the variability of the landscape in places like Brudenell and found small parcels of land which they turned to a variety of purposes. Settlers took advantage of government policies that made landowning a realistic goal even for those of modest means and diverse backgrounds. By embracing new and emerging forms of local authority settlers were also able to tune the structures of the colonial state to further their own interests. They profited from the proximate shanty market for agricultural produce wherever practicable, while also pursuing economic activities oriented toward local, regional, and national markets. Economic opportunities and the accessibility of land in Brudenell allowed cultural groups to develop spatially-distinct communities, which expanded to fill much of the available land in the township. This revision of the failed-settlement narrative stands out in the historiography of the Ottawa-Huron Tract, but dovetails with histories of settlement in other agriculturally-marginal regions of nineteenth-century Canada. / Graduate / 2019-03-01

<p>Natural and constructed rocky reef habitats constitute important areas for lithophilic spawning fishes and their embryonic and larval offspring. Interstitial spaces created by the structure of rocky reefs create micro-environments where incubating embryos and juvenile fishes are potentially protected from predators. However, if interstitial spaces are filled or blocked by sediment deposition or biofouling, the reef structure may lose the protective benefits for embryonic and larval fish survival. Lake whitefish (<i>Coregonus clupeaformis</i>) and walleye (<i>Sander vitreus</i>) are native Great Lake lithophilic broadcast spawning fish that use rocky spawning habitats that are vulnerable to degradation caused by deposition of suspended sediments. To restore degraded rocky reef habitat, common practices include addition of material to existing reef structures or construction of new reefs, but both of these practices can be costly and time intensive. In this study, we measured the effect of different types and amounts of sediment cover on hatching success of walleye eggs and assessed if differences in female walleye (female length and egg size) account for tolerance to sediment cover. Additionally, we explored an alternative approach for reef restoration, custodial maintenance, in which we created two novel devices to potentially clean rocky reef habitat. We carried out two laboratory experiments in 2018 and 2019 to test the effect of sediment cover on hatching success of walleye eggs (2018) and to test how female identity and female length or egg size may interact with sediment cover to influence hatching success (2019). We exposed walleye eggs to instantaneous sediment cover (0 mm – 7mm) of either sand (course) or silt (fine) sediments from fertilization until day 15 of incubation. Our results indicated that walleye eggs were sensitive to silt cover (71% mortality- 2 mm cover silt) but not sand (47% mortality- 7mm cover sand). While there was an indication that hatching success was marginally related to female length and egg size, we concluded that sediment cover seemed to have similar effects on eggs, regardless of female length or egg size. The susceptibility of walleye eggs to mortality caused by sediment cover underscores the need for non-degraded spawning habitat. Our two cleaning devices used either propulsion or pressurized water jets to clean sediments from the rocky structure as they were towed behind a small vessel (i.e., did not require the use of SCUBA divers). We used devices to clean two natural rocky reefs in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron in 2018 and 2019. We measured relative hardness before and after use of devices on cleaned and uncleaned study plots to determine effectiveness of devices. In addition, we measured egg deposition by fall (lake whitefish) and spring (walleye) lithophilic spawners on study plots to determine potential differences in fish usage of cleaned and uncleaned areas. We found that cleaning devices contributed to changes in relative hardness among study plots. Egg deposition was also variable on study plots but in general, egg deposition was consistently highest on treatment plots cleaned by our device that used propulsion. The practicality of cleaning devices was seemingly related to the magnitude of degradation of rocky reefs, nevertheless, our results show that the use of these or similar devices may potentially increase egg deposition by creating areas of higher-quality habitat. While more testing is necessary to fully understand the potential of our reef cleaning devices, this two-year study suggests that these devices may be capable of restoring degraded rocky spawning habitat which could potentially minimize the negative effects associated with sediment degradation on lithophilic spawning fish.</p>

No description available.

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2010-2011 / Le wendat est une langue de la famille iroquoïenne qui ne se parle plus depuis le début du vingtième siècle. Comme les autres langues iroquoïennes, le wendat contient un morphème qui pourrait correspondre au phénomène de la voix moyenne. Ce mémoire compare la forme et la sémantique de la voix moyenne en wendat au concept "d'élaboration relative des événements", tel que l'emploie Suzanne Kemmer (1993; 1994). Les fonctions de la voix moyenne en wendat sont examinées dans le contexte des fonctions du "semi-réfléchi" que décrit Floyd Lounsbury (1953). Le développement diachronique de la voix moyenne en wendat fait aussi partie des questions discutées dans ce mémoire. Les phénomènes de la transitivité et de la lexicalisation sont examinés à la lumière de leurs relations à la voix moyenne en wendat. Les annexes donnent un échantillon du corpus, ainsi que l'ensemble des données qui se sont avérées relever de la voix moyenne.

<p> This report is the only detailed study concerning the fresh water cobble beaches of the Georgian Bay Islands. It includes extensive studies on the morphological characteristics, especially the platform development and profile configuration, and the sedimentary provenance of the cobbles. </p> <p> It was found that the platform configuration (step topography) acts as a substrate control for the cobble beaches. The presence of two cobble generations, angular and well-rounded, indicate that t he shore platform is the source for these cobble beaches. </p> <p> The roundness values of these cobble generations depends on t heir mode of transport. Evidence indicates that longshore movement of cobbles increases their roundness values, but their angular shape i s indicative of their lack of transport. </p> <p> Very little proof was found within this study to correlate relict cobble beaches with any specific stage of the Lake Huron Basin, although it was possible to generalize and state that the relict cobble beaches were generated by high-energy wave events during the transition from the Algoma stage to Lake Huron. </p> <p> Clast analysis determines the relationship between the length of the wave fetch and its related energy environment. It was found that high-energy coastal environments have oblate cobbles with a high roundness and low sphericity. In each case, the samples were associated with a large fetch. Those cobbles of a low-energy coastal environment have a high sphericity, low roundness, and are associated with smaller fetches. </p> <p> The steepness of the beach profile results from the increase in wave height, generated by an increase in shallowness. It also depends upon the volume of backwash. The backwash is reduced by the increased percolation rates through the cobbles, thus reducing the combing down effect of the backwash. </p> <p> This study also provides a discussion on the minor morphological features such as sinkholes and imbrication. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

<p>This study explores the extent to which migration, kinship and social and economic security programs were utilized by individuals in order to increase their 'life chances'. The study area consists of three contiguous townships on the north shore of Lake Huron during an era of profound transit ions in Canadian society between 18 79 and 1939 and also encompassing the local evolution from frontier to established agricultural community. Within nineteenth century North American populations, two groups can be distinguished: the geographically stable ' core ' minority and a geographically mobile majority . In the study area, as elsewhere, the farm family functioned as a socio-economic institution. The family farm was a source of security, stability and wealth. Paradoxically, while it bound some to the land, it also forced others to leave. As a social unit, the farm family tried to protect and promote the interests of all family members in order to increase their 'life chances' . However, economic realities meant that social welfare often had to be subordinated to the need to attain economic stability in a society with few alternate sources of assistance.</p> <p>Farmers wanted to provide a 'start in life' for all of their children; but they were loathe to subdivide the farm lest that practice compromise its economic viability. Small farms could not support a family. Conversely, providing for non-inheriting children also depleted capital accrued by the farm. Kinship conventions governed the crucial interface between social and economic functions of these families. They provided flexibility in the orderly transfer of land from the older generation to the younger and fair compensation for those who didn't inherit.</p> <p>The Rowell-Sirois Report of 1940 suggests that the stresses upon families of unemployment, aging, illness and untimely death, accelerated by the changes from a predominantly rural, agricultural society to an urban, industrial one, were inadequately met by traditional kinship-oriented mutual support networks.</p> <p>This study examines the extent to which this assertion is valid and the extent to which the first government programs to improve social and economic welfare modified the uncertainties of survival to 1939. Personal characteristics indicative of kinship relations are strongly associated with geographical stability or mobility among farm family members.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis consists of an analysis of Middle and Late Iroquoian sites located within the Middle Trent Valley region of south-central Ontario. Comparsions between the assemblages from these sites suggests that Iroquoian culture developed in situ in this area, and was not the result of migrations from the south. Several interrelated Middle to Late Iroquoian foci inhabited the interior areas of this region . until atleast the end of the fifteenth century, when the Middle Trent Valley was abandoned. Two sites in particular, the late Middleport Wilson site and the early Late Iroquoian Bark site, are discussed in detail. The Bark site is a small mid-fifteenth century Huron village with close socio-cultural ties to contemporary Huron groups in the Upper Trent Valley. The Wilson site is a large Middleport village dating to the end of the fourteenth century. It is suggested that the Bark site inhabitants represent a portion of the earlier Wilson site occupants, who returned to the area of the Wilson site to take advantage of their abandoned fields. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No description available.

À partir de l'analyse critique des écrits des jésuites de la Nouvelle-France, nous tentons de décrire l'évolution des conceptions relatives aux intérieurs de chapelles au cours d'une période donnée et dans un lieu précis (la colonie française au XVIIe siècle). La notion de « décor » a été négligée en histoire et en anthropologie de l'art au profit de « l'image » qui a fait l'objet ces dernières années de plusieurs travaux. Par conséquent, l'introduction analyse la notion de décor: celle-ci s'avère intrinsèque au concept de « sujet » tel qu'il s'est élaboré à la Renaissance. De surcroît, la dialectique issue de l'aristotélisme médiéval entre corps du fidèle et sanctuaire rend possible de définir dans ses grandes lignes les spécificités du catholicisme latin. En s'appuyant sur les Relations des jésuites nous décrivons au chapitre l la mise en place des premiers décors de chapelles de mission jésuite en Amérique du Nord en faisant valoir les enjeux inhérents à la construction de décors religieux destinés à la fois aux pères et à leurs missionnés. Le deuxième chapitre est consacré à l'histoire des divers chantiers décoratifs destinés aux Hurons domiciliés vivant dans la vallée laurentienne. Sont tour à tour étudiés le décor de la chapelle de Notre-Dame de Foy et celui de la chapelle de Lorette non loin de la ville de Québec. Au chapitre III, à partir d'un passage d'un journal de mission jésuite, nous tentons de comprendre la description d'un des autels de la première chapelle de Saint-François-de-Sales à Chaudières en 1683. En effet, celui-ci est sans ambiguïté sur les concessions des jésuites envers la spiritualité et la culture des Abénaquis et son analyse détaillée invite à remonter le fil historique de l'évolution de l'apostolat jésuite au cours du XVIIe. En conclusion, nous revenons sur la notion de « décor » afin d'en révéler les limites épistémologiques et historiques dans le contexte des missions jésuites de la Nouvelle-France à l'époque moderne. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Jésuites, Décors, Nouvelle-France, Mission, Amérindiens du Nord-Est.

No description available.