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The basic objectives of this thesis are to build an earnings function for farm incomes of Canadian farm operators, and estimate the rate of return to schooling. It is hypothesized that the low levels of farm income are related to the low investment in education by farm operators. If reasonable estimates of positive returns to schooling are found, they will be useful for policy makers in considering the improvement of the quality of farm operator labour via schooling, as an alternative measure to increase farm income. To achieve the goals of this study, an earnings function is built for the group of entrepreneurs, in particular the farm operators. As a test of functional form a digression is made and a value added approach discussed and utilized as an alternative way of computing the contribution of schooling to farm income. Although both methods yielded significant estimates of the return to schooling comparable to previous studies, the value added approach was found to be a better specified formulation with respect to estimating the productivity of schooling in farm production. The estimate of the marginal product of schooling using the earnings function approach was found to be higher as we concentrated on the full-time farmers. For the value added approach, the estimates differed as we varied the input specification, being higher as we decrease the number of decision variables in the estimating equation. Estimates for both models however have their respective biases and shortcomings attributable mainly to the variables omitted in both specifications. These estimates could be improved with the availability of better specified variables and use of an alternative analytical procedure. In addition to providing strong evidence that schooling is a significant determinant of farm incomes, this study also led to another important conclusion. Using a transformed labour variable in the value added function at the census division level led to an important finding that a similar output-input relationship exists in the agricultural sectors of both the U.S. and Canada. Specifically the relationship was identical for the elasticities of output with respect to labour, with respect to education (schooling), and with respect to the weighted labour variable (product of labour and schooling) values of selected years. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Current understandings of aging and the life course are largely based on taken-for-granted hetero-normative assumptions. Gay men lack aging road maps that are unique to their life course experiences and which consider the changing contextual and social conditions that shape their participation choices in family and community roles. This is particularly so for gay men aging in rural environments as most studies of aging gay men focus on the urban experience. This study adds to understandings of aging and the life course by examining the lives of three gay men aging in rural environments. I use a life history approach to shed light on how sexual identity development and marginalization within rural environments intersect with shifting social contexts to shape the aging process in terms of engagement in social role opportunities, namely, community and family participation. As a life course researcher, I pay particular attention to the tensions between individual agency and structural constraints and how they are revealed through the life histories. Epistemological and methodological assumptions based on social constructivism, critical and queer theory inform the study while my own lived experiences as a gay man and an occupational therapist practitioner and educator ground the study. Cross-cutting themes identified in the life narratives reveal connections between sexual identity development and the coming out processes with patterns of social relationships and the gay aging process. These themes are then discussed in terms of their relevance to broader aging and life course constructs including generativity, social capital and gay aging; agency and structure in identity development; and expanded notions of family and social support for gay men. Findings from this study have implications for current explanations of ageing and life course processes; challenge limiting stereotypes of older gay men; inform health and social service professionals who work with older gay people; and provide examples of alternative queer life pathways for gay people of all ages.

Current understandings of aging and the life course are largely based on taken-for-granted hetero-normative assumptions. Gay men lack aging road maps that are unique to their life course experiences and which consider the changing contextual and social conditions that shape their participation choices in family and community roles. This is particularly so for gay men aging in rural environments as most studies of aging gay men focus on the urban experience. This study adds to understandings of aging and the life course by examining the lives of three gay men aging in rural environments. I use a life history approach to shed light on how sexual identity development and marginalization within rural environments intersect with shifting social contexts to shape the aging process in terms of engagement in social role opportunities, namely, community and family participation. As a life course researcher, I pay particular attention to the tensions between individual agency and structural constraints and how they are revealed through the life histories. Epistemological and methodological assumptions based on social constructivism, critical and queer theory inform the study while my own lived experiences as a gay man and an occupational therapist practitioner and educator ground the study. Cross-cutting themes identified in the life narratives reveal connections between sexual identity development and the coming out processes with patterns of social relationships and the gay aging process. These themes are then discussed in terms of their relevance to broader aging and life course constructs including generativity, social capital and gay aging; agency and structure in identity development; and expanded notions of family and social support for gay men. Findings from this study have implications for current explanations of ageing and life course processes; challenge limiting stereotypes of older gay men; inform health and social service professionals who work with older gay people; and provide examples of alternative queer life pathways for gay people of all ages.

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2008-2009 / Depuis plusieurs années l'immigration est confrontée à une forte concentration géographique des nouveaux immigrants. En 2001, ce sont plus de 70% de ces immigrants qui ont choisi de s'établir dans l'une des trois grandes rnétropoles canadiennes que sont Toronto, Vancouver et Montréal. Cette concentration géographique s'avère à plusieurs égards problématique. Afin de résoudre ce problèrne, l'objectif de ce mémoire consiste à étudier les déterminants affectant le choix de localisation initiale des nouveaux immigrants au Canada. Nous procédons à l'estimation à l'aide d'un modèle de choix discret de type logit conditionnel et notre ensemble de choix est constitué des 15 principales régions métropolitaines de recensement (rmr). Pour effectuer cette étude, nous avons recours à l'enquête longitudinale auprès des immigrants du Canada de Stat istique Canada (ELIC). Les informations contenues dans cette base de données étant extrêmement riches, elles nous perrnettent de nous distinguer à plusieurs égards des études antérieures. Nos estimations démontrent notamment que la taille de la communauté provenant du pays d 'origine de l 'immigrant ainsi que la proximité des membres de sa famille sont des déterminants influents dans un choix de localisation initiale. Le système de sélection des immigrants économiques, créé en 1967, constitue également un élément central de notre étude. Nous vérifions notamment si les immigrants possédant les critères compris dans ce système de sélection sont plus susceptibles de s'établir à l'extérieur des trois grandes métropoles. Nous constatons entre autres que les immigrants de la catégorie économique ayant déjà véçu au Canada avant d'y immigrer ainsi que ceux maîtrisant bien la langue d'accueil s'avèrent en général moins susceptibles de s'établir dans l'une des trois grandes métropoles. En revanche, bien qu'accordant moins d'importance à la taille de la communauté provenant de leur pays d'origine, les immigrants détenant un diplôrne universitaire ont une probabilité plus forte de se diriger vers l'une des grandes métropoles.