The thesis begins with a notion to design a school of architecture in Saskatchewan. The context, at first, appears overwhelmingly basic: an agricultural grid superimposed on a horizontal plain, under an endless sky. This formulaic description cannot capture what it is to experience the place. Stemming from this archetypal divide between earth and sky, the character of the prairies develops through a series of pairs. Each four-part section begins by setting up a polarity; on one side, a grid, and on the other, a ghost. The intersection of these two elements is illustrated through an interface and a segment of time. With each added layer, the polarities become increasingly entwined. The school of architecture is located, conceptually, in this space of reciprocity. The physical site is an industrial wasteland near the centre of Saskatoon, bounded on the east and west sides by two sets of train tracks. A timber and masonry warehouse, constructed for the John Deere Plow Company in 1910, is located along the end of the spur line to the east. The school of architecture finds itself within this building. The view down the tracks provides a glimpse of the prairie fields; the nondescript site itself alludes to this Deleuzian smooth space beyond the city limits. Even as it precisely situates and contains itself in this physical urban context, the school of architecture internalizes the dream of the prairie landscape. It is an educational institution and an incubator for the architectural imagination.

The study on dehydration of frozen saskatoon berries and the need for dried fruits have been strategically identified in the Canadian Prairies. The motivation for this research was to find a suitable method for dehydration and extend saskatoon berry shelf life for long term preservation. Microwave, convection and microwave-convection combination drying processes were identified to finish-dry saskatoon berries after osmotic dehydration, using sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) sugar solutions. Osmotic dehydration removes moisture in small quantities introducing solutes into the fruit that acts as a preservative and also reduces the total drying time. <p>Due to the very short harvesting season of saskatoon berries, an accelerated process such as the microwave combination drying can reduce the moisture to safe storage levels immediately after harvest. Untreated and osmotically dehydrated berries were subjected to convection (control), microwave and microwave-convection combination drying conditions at different product drying temperatures (60, 70 and 80oC) until final moisture content was 25% dry basis. A laboratory-scale microwave combination dryer was developed with integrated temperature and moisture loss data acquisition systems using LabView 6i software. A thin-layer cross flow dryer was used for convection-only drying and for comparison. <p>Drying kinetics of the process were studied and curve fitting with five empirical equations, including the Page equation, was carried out to determine drying constant, R2 and standard error values. The microwave-combination drying method proved to be the best for drying saskatoon berries. Dehydrated product quality analyses were accomplished by measuring the color changes, rehydration ratio and any structural changes, using a scanning electron microscope technique.<p>This research was instrumental in the modification and development of a novel drying system for high-moisture agricultural materials (fruits). Microwave-convection combination drying at 70oC, yielded good results with higher drying rates and better end-product quality.

Given the relative lack of information about female gang membership in Canada and the hidden nature of this population, a qualitative approach for understanding the lives of female gang members, through a life course perspective guided by feminist standpoint epistemology is utilized in this dissertation. The data for this study are obtained from interviews with fifteen girls and young women who claimed youth gang membership in their lives, from the cities of Saskatoon and Edmonton. .<p>The critical feminist perspective serves as the theoretical framework for this study. It directs us to an understanding in which girls are regarded as active agents in their own lives and who are striving to better their lives albeit with the limited options available to them in the face of locally available constructions of opportunity and possibility. The analyses reflect the lived experiences of the respondents and illuminate the ways in which the personal troubles and daily lives of respondents are explicitly overshadowed by larger public issues. Through critical analysis, this study draws attention to the ways in which girls experiences of ageism, racism, classism, and sexism interact, resulting in social exclusion, isolation from social institutions, and a subsequent involvement with youth gangs. .<p>The study reveals a heterogeneity of respondents experiences especially with respect to being treated as equals by their male counterparts. From the analysis, it is evident that gangs are highly gendered groups in which gender hierarchies force girls to find ways both to create personas of toughness and independence through participation in violent activities yet also to display appropriate feminine behaviours of sexually non-promiscuous females. Importantly, the decisions to leave the gang are triggered by the negative affects of gang life. Once out of the gang, the girls under study seemed to refocus their efforts toward educational opportunities and obtaining job-related skills. In the end, my research indicates that awareness about the dangers of gang life including the negative consequences of gang membership need to form a core of prevention programs, especially those designed for younger girls and children.

In the last decade historians have focused greater attention on the Canadian home front during the Second World War. This increased scrutiny has led to studies of not only the wars impact on the nation at large, but also on specific urban communities. A weakness in all of these urban accounts, however, is that patriotism is too often taken for granted. An examination of Saskatoon between 1939 and 1945 provides a case study for how patriotism was fostered in a community thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield. Of particular interest here were the ways in which Saskatoons collective imagination, stifled for nearly a decade by the Great Depression, nourished the citys patriotic zeal. Patriotism is considered from three main perspectives. The ways in which Saskatoon re-created at home the war over there are examined first. Instrumental to this endeavour were a deep and sympathetic interest in Englands weathering of the Nazi Blitz, a fear that the Germans might attack North America, and an idolization of the Canadian soldier, both abroad and in the citys own midst. Secondly, Saskatoons vicarious experience of the Second World War in turn energized the countless patriotic initiatives in the city. Saskatonians, from women to the smallest children, were encouraged to do their bit to contribute to the war effort on the home front. Finally, there was also a darker side to the patriotic imagination: a disturbing xenophobia dominated Saskatoon during the war years. People of German and Japanese ancestry, as well as those on the left of the political spectrum, were suspected of being fifth columnists. Using the Star-Phoenix newspaper as a mirror of the community, this thesis provides new insight into patriotism, Saskatoon, and the Second World War.

This research is dedicated to the modern history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Drawing on the analysis of the major events in the history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada and fieldwork at the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral parish in Saskatoon, this research explores the institutional response to sociocultural change and examines how the institutional practices and strategies of adaptation impact the spiritual lives of church followers. To do so, I have addressed the following questions: how has the institutional identity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada changed over time and particularly in the period of 1990-2013; what are the features of this institutional identity change and how do these changes impact the regular Church members lives; how have the adherents of the UOCC defined for themselves the meaning of being the members of the Ukrainian Orthodox community in Canada? Looking at both the institutional development of the UOCC and then focusing on a particular parish and its experiences with institutional changes, I am presenting insights as to how religious and ethnic identities of the UOCC have been intersecting, reshaping, and evolving in the period of 1990-2013.

The thesis begins with a notion to design a school of architecture in Saskatchewan. The context, at first, appears overwhelmingly basic: an agricultural grid superimposed on a horizontal plain, under an endless sky. This formulaic description cannot capture what it is to experience the place. Stemming from this archetypal divide between earth and sky, the character of the prairies develops through a series of pairs. Each four-part section begins by setting up a polarity; on one side, a grid, and on the other, a ghost. The intersection of these two elements is illustrated through an interface and a segment of time. With each added layer, the polarities become increasingly entwined. The school of architecture is located, conceptually, in this space of reciprocity. The physical site is an industrial wasteland near the centre of Saskatoon, bounded on the east and west sides by two sets of train tracks. A timber and masonry warehouse, constructed for the John Deere Plow Company in 1910, is located along the end of the spur line to the east. The school of architecture finds itself within this building. The view down the tracks provides a glimpse of the prairie fields; the nondescript site itself alludes to this Deleuzian smooth space beyond the city limits. Even as it precisely situates and contains itself in this physical urban context, the school of architecture internalizes the dream of the prairie landscape. It is an educational institution and an incubator for the architectural imagination.

A growth chamber experiment was carried out for ten weeks to reduce post-rooting dormancy in juneberry micropropagation. An RCBD with a split plot arrangement and three replicates were used. Plantlets subjected to 750 mg/L GA, 100 mg/L BA, and 250 mg/L GA + 100 mg/L BA recorded the greatest leaf number. Pre-rooted ‘Thiessen’ plantlets recorded the greatest biomass (fresh and dry weight) and root volume. In a second study, a cultivar evaluation was conducted in Absaraka, ND, where ten juneberry cultivars and a native biotype planted were evaluated for plant and fruit characteristics. An RCBD with four replicates was used. The high yielding cultivars for total yield were ‘Thiessen’, ‘Martin’, ‘Parkhill’, ‘Pembina’, ‘Regent’ and Native. ‘Thiessen’, ‘Martin’, and ‘Parkhill’ maintained a significant higher marketable yield. ‘Thiessen’, ‘Regent’, ‘Martin’, ‘Parkhill’ and ‘Northline’ had the largest fruits, while ‘Thiessen’ and ‘Martin’ fruit had the greatest mass.

Food insecurity is a growing problem in Canada including Saskatoon. How gender is linked to household food insecurity is largely unexplored. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between gender and food insecurity based on the lived experience of 11 heterosexual couples seeking food assistance or living on social assistance in Saskatoon. This study assessed their perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about food security, household resource management, coping strategies, and food shopping and preparation practices. Data were collected by interviewing 11 couples and ten key informants and analyzed using Giorgi’s phenomenological approach. This study found food decision and grocery shopping were gendered. Female participants were involved more than their partners in decision-making about what food to buy and grocery shopping where. Male participants viewed their partners more knowledgeable about food and shopping as feminine activity. Female participants felt more challenged than their spouses in grocery shopping and food preparation. There were no gender differences in other activities of household food management. Spouses supported each other and shared other household resources to manage food related activities. They held similar views about their food household situation and often agreed with each other about their household resources and the price, quality and type of food to buy. They bought foods that were affordable and nutritious. The food preferences of their family were accommodated where possible. They worked to ensure household food security. Food or money received from the Food Bank, CHEP and family were important in dealing with food insecurity. All participants and key informants agreed that food availability was not an issue but for some participants, affordability, access and time constraints were. Key informants and the participants suggested increasing support for families including more opportunities for income generation, increases in government welfare benefits, more grocery stores, transport assistance, and nutrition knowledge and cooking skill. The findings suggest policies related to gender as well as programs to improve food security in Saskatoon.

The study proposes an application of Talens (2003) methodological framework for assessing neighbourhood-level (i.e., non-motorised mode) accessibility, and offers recommendations for improving non-motorized transportation (NMT) accessibility to enhance multimodal integration between bicycles and buses in contemporary North American suburban neighbourhoods. Accessibility (or access) is defined as the average travel time or distance between a given origin and destination along the shortest available street network route. The study considers characteristics of the transportation network such as available route directness, facilities, and transit service provision to determine their impacts on bicycle access. A further methodology for comparing bicycle versus bus modal efficiencies within suburban contexts is developed and applied to the case study. A review of approaches designed to promote bicycling while discouraging personal automobile use provides a toolbox of proven treatments that are applied to a case study of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan a city of approximately 200,000 people. The approach provides a process that can be used by city or transit planners to identify neighbourhoods that lack sufficient access and apply treatments that improve bicycle accessibility and bicycle-transit integration. Results suggest existing potential for the bicycle as an access mode within contemporary suburban neighbourhood transportation networks. The case study supports the notion that suburban bicycle-bus integration could be used as a viable alternative to automobiles for daily home-to-node activity trips, and raises questions about the current allocation of public transit service to suburban routes within the context of the case study. Discussion and conclusions suggest directions for future research in this field of sustainable urban transportation planning.

Little research has examined the role traditional health care systems play today among Native populations. The present research examined the role these systems play among the urban Native population of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The research was conducted at the Westside Community Clinic, located in the downtown core area of Saskatoon. This area of the city has previously been identified as having a high concentration of Native people. The present study represented one component of a much larger project which examined both Native and non-Native utlization patterns of the Western health care system at the Westside clinic. An interview schedule was used to gather data, with a total of 103 Native and 50 non-Native interviews being conducted. Since no sampling frame exists for the Native population of Saskatoon, an availability sampling technique was used. "Native" was defined in this study as status Indian, non-status Indian and Metis.<p> It was discovered that traditional health care systems play an important role in the health care of this population, with the use of these systems being quite extensive. It was determined that the variable of language was a somewhat useful predictor of the utilization of traditional health care systems, although language retention (the ability to speak a Native language) was found to be more important than the frequency with which a Native language was spoken. It was also discovered that use of traditional health care systems was not found only among older respondents, but rather was generalized among the respondents. The economic variables of income and education levels were also found to be related to utilization of traditional health care systems, with those respondents with higher income and education levels reporting greater use of these systems. Use of traditional health care systems was not found to be restricted to respondents with Indian status; rather, use was generalized among status Indian, non-status Indian and Metis respondents.<p>Respondents who utilized traditional health care systems also fully utilized the Western health care system. Further, use of traditional health care systems was not found to be related to difficulty respondents may have encountered in using the Western health care system, such as language or economic problems, or experiences of racism, although such problems were found to exist. Clearly, respondents did not turn to traditional health care systems because of difficulties in utilizing the Western health care system. Rather, traditional health care systems were used to supplement the Western health care system. It was further found that the majority of the respondents in the study desired access to traditional medicines and healers within the city of Saskatoon-and, again, this finding was not confined to any sub-group (I.e. older respondents) of the study but was generalized. The extent to which this access is presently available is questioned, and this could represent an important unmet health need of this population.