This thesis is an on-the-ground exploration of the radical hypothesis that each individual human being bears responsibility for constructing order out of the overwhelming plurality and dissonance of normative experience. It constitutes an empirically-based, critical legal pluralist analysis of everyday life at L'Arche Montreal---a community serving persons with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this thesis is to highlight the active role persons with intellectual disabilities living at L'Arche Montreal play in constructing legal normativity.

Note: / Nature has used shrubbery in the glades of her woods, along the edges of her waterways, softening the angles, changing them into graceful curves. This shows us that if we are to have beautiful surroundings we must copy nature, and use shrubs liberally around our homes, in our public parks and plaqygrounds. [...]

The relationship of musicmaking to the city is a complicated one as it often takes very specific and complex spatial and social forms. The example of Montreal can be used to illustrate some of the ways in which these forms manifest themselves. By considering the way in which two particular cultural spaces, namely scene and bohemia, emerge in relation to musical activity, this project analyzes the nature of musicmaking and its role in shaping a unique experience of the city. It frames a case study of Montreal musicmaking to explore the ways in which scenes and bohemias are connected to city life. It also considers the way in which a particular image of the city manifests itself through musicmaking. The collective representation of Montreal as a bohemia by anglophone musicmakers works with and through a number of social divisions and cultural distinctions. It is argued that the nature of place-images and mythology in musicmaking is such that they have a profound effect on the sociomusical experience of the city. Montreal is privileged by many anglophone musicmakers as an ideal city in which to be culturally active, as the city's weak economic state is perceived to foster the conditions best suited to a flourishing bohemia. This project examines the relationship of musicmakers to Montreal, using a variety of research methods and theories. Cognitive mapping, diaristic accounts and interviews are utilized to better apprehend how a chosen image of Montreal affects musical practice. The socioeconomic history of Montreal in the latter half of the twentieth century is used to frame an analysis of the emergence of an independent music scene in the city. By exploring a number of relevant factors, this project documents the ways in which musicmaking is structured in relation to the economic, political and social dimensions of Montreal.

Children form a bulk of the Canadian population, but have no control over the economic purse that decides their future. The "action-radii" of children between the ages of 6 years to 10 years is limited to the surrounding neighbourhood. This is also the age of physical exercise, emotional, social and full personality development in which play constitutes an important education tool. Over the years, the urgent need to create high-density housing led to subsidized housing projects. During this process, providing an ideal environment in which to raise children has been overlooked. So, what do the children do? Where do they play? The objective of this study is to decipher the functional and safe outdoor areas preferred by children living in high-density housing in Montreal. This led to the evaluation of various mini-parks in the neighbourhood of the Plateau Mont-Royal with respect to their design elements and the play patterns of the children. The identification of positively and negatively perceived play areas demonstrates the child's point of view. This research investigates the relationship between the child, the open spaces and the surrounding built environment in an effort to create an awareness of the need to design a more responsive, cooperative and sympathetic environment for children in urban settings.

In this paper we offer as an object for study a small area in the city of Montreal, which although a few minutes walk from old Ville-Marie was in those days a forest lying north of a brook which ran along what is now Craig Street.

Objective. To describe the factors predictive of hepatitis A disease severity. / Design and setting. Cross-sectional study of hepatitis A cases during the recent HAV outbreak in the Montreal gay community. / Subjects. All 631 hepatitis A cases documented in the Montreal-Centre region between November 1994 and December 1996. / Outcome measures. Hepatitis A severity was operationalized as (1) the need for hospitalization and (2) a symptom severity index (vomiting, dark urine and abdominal pain). / Results. Subjects were predominantly male (84%). Homosexual behaviour was reported in 68% of cases. Prevalence of a high severity index was 8%, and 12% of cases required hospitalization. Non parenteral drug use was the only factor predictive of both hospitalization status and severity index. Our data could not establish homosexual behaviour as a determinant of disease severity. / Conclusion. Non parenteral drug users are at increased risk of suffering from a severe disease when infected with the hepatitis A virus. In addition to the current recommendation for routine vaccination of travelers and of homosexual men, drug users could benefit from immunization against this virus.

Building a home is a process, not an event. It is a continuous and dynamic relationship between dwellers and their dwellings. Using houses as cultural artifacts, this thesis examines the morphogenesis of a French-Canadian neighbourhood in Montreal. / Cite-Jardin du Tricentenaire was a wartime effort of a small group of entrepreneurs who had dreams of building an "ideal", French-Canadian community. Its high rate of persistence over the past fifty years--one in five households are original settlers--makes it a convenient laboratory for the study of community development. / The research revolves around several themes: the planning behind the original housing; the physical evolution of the houses themselves; the experiences and perceptions of the homeowners; and the cultural and temporal context into which the housing was placed. This research establishes relationships between transformation behaviour and household characteristics, by analyzing how households adapt their housing situation to accommodate changing needs and aspirations.

No description available.

Thèse diffusée initialement dans le cadre d'un projet pilote des Presses de l'Université de Montréal/Centre d'édition numérique UdeM (1997-2008) avec l'autorisation de l'auteur.

No description available.