This thesis explores the complexities of Muskoka’s past between 1850 and 1914. Through the lenses of class-consciousness and popular notions of ethnicity and race, Muskoka’s geographical and social landscape were redefined during this period by the government, the area’s industries, visitors, and local inhabitants. It was not until the early twentieth century that the nature-tourism industry was able to standardize a regional identity for the district; this identity has remained prevalent through to the twenty-first century. As the title of Edward Roper’s 1883 booklet "Muskoka; the Picturesque Playground of Canada" suggests, the area became closely associated with leisure and recreation. However, this Muskoka identity misrepresented the district’s terrain and populace, and our contemporary understanding of the region has consequently been compromised. In order to better recognize Muskoka’s diverse social and geographical landscape, this thesis explores several historical viewpoints and questions the manner in which the district was promoted.

This thesis explores the complexities of Muskoka’s past between 1850 and 1914. Through the lenses of class-consciousness and popular notions of ethnicity and race, Muskoka’s geographical and social landscape were redefined during this period by the government, the area’s industries, visitors, and local inhabitants. It was not until the early twentieth century that the nature-tourism industry was able to standardize a regional identity for the district; this identity has remained prevalent through to the twenty-first century. As the title of Edward Roper’s 1883 booklet "Muskoka; the Picturesque Playground of Canada" suggests, the area became closely associated with leisure and recreation. However, this Muskoka identity misrepresented the district’s terrain and populace, and our contemporary understanding of the region has consequently been compromised. In order to better recognize Muskoka’s diverse social and geographical landscape, this thesis explores several historical viewpoints and questions the manner in which the district was promoted.

Shallow lakes in Muskoka-Haliburton have been largely ignored in previous limnological and paleolimnological studies, as many are considered to be less desirable for cottage development and other cultural activities. Nonetheless, shallow lakes offer important habitat for many animals. 30 oligo- and mesotrophic, shallow lakes were chosen for a paleolimnological study to assess the impacts of multiple stressors on cladoceran invertebrates. Fossil cladoceran remains preserved in the sediment samples of the study lakes were used to evaluate the nature and magnitude of any changes in assemblages from both modern and pre-industrial times. Relationships between present-day assemblages and key environmental variables were investigated using redundancy analysis, which identified that lake area (p<0.01) and Secchi depth (p<0.05) were significant predictors of assemblage composition in the shallow lakes. Secchi depth was not correlated to water clarity measures, as it usually is, but rather to macrophyte abundance. The modern-day assemblages were compared to the pre-industrial assemblages using the snapshot “top-bottom” paleolimnological approach. The top and bottom assemblages were compared using an ANOSIM which was not significant (p=0.2), confirming that modern assemblages were similar to pre-industrial assemblages in shallow lakes. Full core analysis from three shallow lakes also showed only subtle changes in littoral assemblage composition through time, further supporting results from the top/bottom study. The changes recorded were mainly in the pelagic taxa, with the littoral taxa relatively very stable through time. These small, shallow lakes were then compared and combined with a deep lake set from the same region. The results show some striking differences between shallow and deep lakes. For example, pelagic taxa appear to be driving changes within assemblages across a depth gradient, with most of the changes in the deeper lakes. Water chemistry has an increasingly important role in structuring cladoceran assemblage as lakes become deeper, although lake morphometry does play an important role in defining cladoceran assemblages in all the study lakes. Cladoceran assemblages in shallow lakes appear to be more stable than deeper lakes, despite being exposed to the same regional stressors, such as acidification, calcium decline, and climate change. / Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-31 13:41:52.662

Freshwater ecological issues are increasingly being recognized within the context of multiple stressors, even though relatively little is known about the limnological and biological consequences of the interactions between various environmental impacts. Moreover, long-term monitoring data are often lacking. To help address these issues, the overall goal of this thesis was to use paleolimnological approaches to document how multiple environmental stressors have altered limnological communities in south-central Ontario lakes. During the last two centuries, Ontario lakes have been subjected to varying intensities of different environmental impacts, including increases in shoreline residential development, forest clearance and regrowth, the deposition of strong acids via the atmosphere, invasion by non-indigenous species, and climate change. I used multiple paleolimnological approaches to: 1) demonstrate how multiple natural and anthropogenic stressors have affected biological assemblages across lakes in the Muskoka-Haliburton region of south-central Ontario, and 2) reconstruct the limnological histories of four lakes from Algonquin Park that have recorded the near complete extirpation of native crayfish species. In the Muskoka-Haliburton lakes, I assessed the extent of limnological changes that have occurred during the past ~15 years by resampling lakes from an earlier survey, using identical paleolimnological methods. Limnological monitoring data document that, since 1992, the lakes have experienced declines in lakewater calcium and SO4 concentrations, while pH declined marginally; in contrast dissolved organic carbon, silica and Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen increased. Marked regional increases in planktonic diatom taxa, including Cyclotella stelligera, Asterionella formosa and Fragilaria crotonensis, occurred in many lake systems, while colonial scaled chrysophyte algae have undergone a widespread decline in favour of unicellular forms (i.e., Mallomonas spp.), driven by interactions between resource limitation and climate change. In the Algonquin Park study lakes, crustacean zooplankton remains revealed a marked decline in daphniid species with high Ca requirements, in favour of smaller Bosmina spp., while diatom and chrysophyte analysis suggest varying degrees of industrial acidification in the four study lakes. The paleolimnological data suggest that the crayfish decline may have began prior to the long-term monitoring record, likely as a result of declines in pH and lakewater Ca related to atmospheric acid deposition. / Thesis (Ph.D, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-27 12:53:20.518

This thesis expands upon the concept of the global culture wars in sub-Saharan Africa from a Canadian perspective, focusing on the growing division within Canada between conservative, religious values and liberal, progressive ones (Caplan, 2012). This division led to a political and cultural realignment alongside the increased visibility and leadership of religious and faith communities in Canadian public and political life. Amidst this polarization, Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper was elected Prime Minister in February 2006. Under his leadership, a conservative, pro-family agenda was established. This agenda, which advocates a traditional understanding of family life and structure, in particular refers to a legally married, heterosexual couple with children. It was supported by the evangelical Christian population in Canada, which grew from a united religious community in Canada into a significant constituency of the Conservative Party. Harper’s tenure, coupled with the increased visibility and leadership of faith and religious communities significantly affected domestic and international policies during his tenure as Prime Minister, from 2006 to 2015. This thesis examines the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Child, and Newborn Health (Muskoka-MNCH) and shows how this initiative, which fostered anti-abortion rhetoric abroad, was utilized to appease the evangelical community’s anti-abortion position in Canada.