<p> An analysis was performed using LANDSAT Thematic Mapper digital imagery to determine the feasibility of fine scale vegetation classification in southern Ontario. </p> <p> MICROPIPS, an image processing program, was used to analyse the Thematic Mapper data, based on spectral response patterns of different land cover types. Final classified images were compared with vegetation classifications as determined by the Royal Botanical Gardens, in Hamilton, Ontario. </p> <p> It was concluded, that it was possible to classify land cover types using MICROPIPS, but only at a general level. Thus, it was not feasible to classify vegetation on a fine scale. </p> / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

Hi Donald, It just occurred to me that I might be finished with this fieldwork. I’m sitting at the side of the road looking over this fucked up landscape of cattle, golf carts, trees with turning leaves, being rained on, frozen out, everything feels forced, and I’m double-taking sight after sight, saying to myself I’ve seen this before, I’ve done this already. I’m packing up my things. I’ll write more later, or perhaps I’ll call. bau Thirty-three locations in pursuit of the long view, from the borders of an expropriated forty year old ghost town. Thirty-eight Polaroids, thirty-six mobile phone photographs, thirty-six photos from a digital single lens reflex camera with an oiled lens filter, forty 15.2 x 10.2 cm drawings, fifty-six 38.4 x 16.4 cm drawings, sixty-three white-bordered 38.4 x 20.8 cm drawings, sixty-four 33.5 x 17.2 cm sketchbook spreads. 20 085 words; 14 123 by choice, 5962 out of obligation. It is important to figure things out for yourself. It is important to not learn too much of any one thing. This is a thesis because it’s a thesis; it is what it is. (That’s begging the question.) This is a thesis about begging the question.

The ways that categories of immigration are drawn and standards of successful citizenship are measured in Canadian society influence the ways that people script themselves to appear as worthy immigrant applicants and potential Canadian citizens. For immigrant hopefuls, scripting oneself using the language of immigration and positioning oneself as a deserving and desirable immigrant is crucial for gaining mobility and passage into Canadian society. In my thesis, I explore the literature surrounding processes and concepts like borders, mobility, good citizenship, the ???white standard???, and racialization that serve as foundations and outcomes of scripting ???good??? immigrants and ???successful??? citizenship. I embed the experiences of my informants within an analysis of this literature as well as the processes of immigration outlined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). I find that scripting immigrant categories and citizenship can result in immigrants enacting only a limited Canadianness. Immigrant categories involve restrictive policies that can result in exploitation. I also offer that immigrants may live a double-consciousness through their transnationalism and constituting of ???back home???. The larger hope for this project is to provide an understanding of the processes of scripting that work to make exclusive the right to be Canadian so that the vulnerability and suffering caused by the existence of hierarchies of citizenship can be tackled as a public issue and make for a more inclusive and equitable Canada.

Hi Donald, It just occurred to me that I might be finished with this fieldwork. I’m sitting at the side of the road looking over this fucked up landscape of cattle, golf carts, trees with turning leaves, being rained on, frozen out, everything feels forced, and I’m double-taking sight after sight, saying to myself I’ve seen this before, I’ve done this already. I’m packing up my things. I’ll write more later, or perhaps I’ll call. bau Thirty-three locations in pursuit of the long view, from the borders of an expropriated forty year old ghost town. Thirty-eight Polaroids, thirty-six mobile phone photographs, thirty-six photos from a digital single lens reflex camera with an oiled lens filter, forty 15.2 x 10.2 cm drawings, fifty-six 38.4 x 16.4 cm drawings, sixty-three white-bordered 38.4 x 20.8 cm drawings, sixty-four 33.5 x 17.2 cm sketchbook spreads. 20 085 words; 14 123 by choice, 5962 out of obligation. It is important to figure things out for yourself. It is important to not learn too much of any one thing. This is a thesis because it’s a thesis; it is what it is. (That’s begging the question.) This is a thesis about begging the question.

Note: Missing "Diagram A: Block Diagram of Site" on page "28a" / <p> A reconstruction and description of the settlement and land use patterns of the village of Waterdown in Southern Ontario, at four periods of time: 1841, 1880, 1920 and 1960. The primary source of data used were Registry Office Documents concerning land transactions. The resulting maps are analyzed using a regression analysis to isolate some factors which have been considerations in any decision to locate within the settlement and through them to predict where future locations are most likely to occur. </p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Glacial sediments are found across formerly glaciated regions across the world and host a variety of important resources, ranging from groundwater to hydrocarbons, aggregate material, and mineral deposits. In southern Ontario, Canada, thick successions (up to 200 m) of Quaternary glacial sediments are truncated by large valleys (>30km long, 2 to >8.5 km wide, and up to 200m deep) that formed subglacially and have characteristic morphology and infill stratigraphy. These valleys are interpreted as (a new class of) tunnel valleys and strongly affect groundwater resources and flow systems at local and regional scales. The overall context of the valleys is evaluated through an introduction to the study area, objectives, and background information on subglacial systems and geologic history of south-central Ontario (Chapter 1). Interpretation of valley genesis in Simcoe County is provided through an integrated, multi-faceted approach, involving: description of the morphology and sediment infill succession within the valleys from surficial mapping, sedimentological logging of continuously-cored boreholes, and geophysical surveys (Chapter 2); delineation and characterization of seismic architecture from high-resolution lake-based sub-bottom profiles in one of the valleys (Chapter 3); detailed site-scale field description of the internal characteristics of the regional Late Wisconsin till sheet in various subglacial settings (Niagara Escarpment, uplands, lowlands; Chapter 4); comparison of the characteristics of the subglacial bed within the study area to adjacent regions in southern Ontario (Chapter 5); and a synthesis of the major findings from all the different components of this investigation and suggestions for future work to shed further light on several questions that arise from this study (Chapter 6). Together, key data from these studies of tunnel valleys and related deposits – a near-continuous till sheet on the surface of uplands and along the flanks and floors of the tunnel valleys, multi-stage drumlinization of the till sheet following development of the tunnel valleys, variations in internal facies and physical properties within the till sheet in different subglacial settings, localized distribution of coarse-grained tunnel valley in-fill sediments, and gradational upward transitions from tunnel valley in-fills to fossiliferous proglacial lacustrine sediments – indicate multiple phases of subglacial meltwater, and direct subglacial, erosion and deformation contributed to the development of the valleys over a protracted time period during the Late Wisconsin. Landform and sediment associations within the valleys in Simcoe County and surrounding parts of the bed of the former Laurentide ice sheet in south-central Ontario, are inconsistent with previous conceptualizations involving the presence of large (>1000 km2) subglacial lakes and the storage and discharge of regional-scale subglacial meltwater sheetfloods followed by ice stagnation. This study provides new data and insight to help refine reconstructions and better understand the evolution of past ice dynamics and subglacial processes, evaluate competing theories of regional landscape evolution, and provide new conceptual and (hydro)stratigraphic frameworks for future hydrogeological investigations related to groundwater exploration and use. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The research project upon which this dissertation is based focused on enhancing understandings of the nature of current First Nations/non-Aboriginal relations in environmental management. The project was undertaken as a collaborative initiative by the author, a non-Aboriginal doctoral researcher, in partnership with Walpole Island First Nation. The research served as an opportunity for co-producing knowledge on this subject across cultures and worldviews, and as an effort to build towards our shared aspiration of learning how distinct, yet inextricably linked, First Nations/non-Aboriginal understandings, approaches and worldviews can come together within a context of mutual respect and mutual benefit. The purpose of the research was to investigate the existence and types of issues leading to First Nations/non-Aboriginal tensions in environmental management, to analyze and unpack underlying causes of challenges identified via the research, and to construct avenues for relationship improvement. The research project was grounded in a specific investigation into relations in species at risk conservation and recovery in southern Ontario, Canada. The resulting dissertation is structured around three primary focal areas: 1) investigating and exposing colonial influences at play in Canada’s Species at Risk Act, and offering a new model for co-governance in this arena and beyond; 2) investigating relations surrounding efforts towards traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) transfer in species at risk work, with a focus on exploring issues identified in relation to intellectual imperialism; and 3) introducing and characterizing an original, reconceptualized approach to First Nations/non-Aboriginal relationships in academic research; this approach focused on ways in which investigatory practice can become a means of working towards broader reconciliation goals. Research findings from this dissertation indicate that colonial factors, often unevenly visible to actors involved in environmental management and research, continue to strongly affect the potential for positive, productive First Nations/non-Aboriginal relations in these spheres - including within the species at risk conservation and recovery arena examined here. Project results provide insight into the nature of the factors influencing relationships, as well as potential avenues for addressing the vitality of colonialism in contemporary relations and overcoming the influences on First Nations and on First Nations/non-Aboriginal relationships.

The research project upon which this dissertation is based focused on enhancing understandings of the nature of current First Nations/non-Aboriginal relations in environmental management. The project was undertaken as a collaborative initiative by the author, a non-Aboriginal doctoral researcher, in partnership with Walpole Island First Nation. The research served as an opportunity for co-producing knowledge on this subject across cultures and worldviews, and as an effort to build towards our shared aspiration of learning how distinct, yet inextricably linked, First Nations/non-Aboriginal understandings, approaches and worldviews can come together within a context of mutual respect and mutual benefit. The purpose of the research was to investigate the existence and types of issues leading to First Nations/non-Aboriginal tensions in environmental management, to analyze and unpack underlying causes of challenges identified via the research, and to construct avenues for relationship improvement. The research project was grounded in a specific investigation into relations in species at risk conservation and recovery in southern Ontario, Canada. The resulting dissertation is structured around three primary focal areas: 1) investigating and exposing colonial influences at play in Canada’s Species at Risk Act, and offering a new model for co-governance in this arena and beyond; 2) investigating relations surrounding efforts towards traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) transfer in species at risk work, with a focus on exploring issues identified in relation to intellectual imperialism; and 3) introducing and characterizing an original, reconceptualized approach to First Nations/non-Aboriginal relationships in academic research; this approach focused on ways in which investigatory practice can become a means of working towards broader reconciliation goals. Research findings from this dissertation indicate that colonial factors, often unevenly visible to actors involved in environmental management and research, continue to strongly affect the potential for positive, productive First Nations/non-Aboriginal relations in these spheres - including within the species at risk conservation and recovery arena examined here. Project results provide insight into the nature of the factors influencing relationships, as well as potential avenues for addressing the vitality of colonialism in contemporary relations and overcoming the influences on First Nations and on First Nations/non-Aboriginal relationships.

Groundwater chemistry on the Niagara Peninsula has been identified as highly mineralized in comparison to groundwaters collected from the same bedrock formations elsewhere in southern Ontario. Three geochemical zones were discerned using hierarchical cluster analysis and other geochemical and isotopic methods. The Escarpment Zone, located along the Niagara and Onondaga Escarpments, is characterized by unconfined aquifer conditions, parameters reflective of surficial contaminants, including road salt, and elevated HCO3, DOC, NO3-, coliform bacteria and tritium. In contrast, in the Salina Zone thick, low-permeability sediments and gypsiferous bedrock results in highly mineralized groundwaters with Ca-SO4 geochemical facies and elevated S2-, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, SO42-, Cl-, Br-, Sr2+, NH4+ and CH4. The Guelph Zone contains the lowest electrical conductivity of the three zones and elevated F-. Outliers exist with groundwater geochemistry that differs from the local geochemical zone and the host aquifer. These sites have elevated SO42- (>1000 to 5200 mg/L) with depleted δ34SSO4 (-2.2 to 14.3‰ VCDT) signatures that differs starkly from Devonian and Silurian evaporites (~20 to 32 ‰) in the host formations. This exogenic SO4 was identified in a cross-formational northeast – southwest linear trend crossing three major groundwater flow systems. The lack of down-stream impact in these systems and tritium groundwater ages that are typically only decades old indicate a young, non-geological origin and implicate anthropogenic activities. Additionally, nine samples were identified with elevated methane concentrations and δ13CCH4 signatures within the thermogenic range. As thermogenic methane is not produced within shallow aquifers and would be short-lived in the presence of the ubiquitous sulfate, these samples imply recent upward migration of methane from depth through vertical conduits. Taken together, the evidence supports large-scale upward movement of fluids in the centre of the Niagara geochemical anomaly and more sporadic upward transport of gases over a wider area of the peninsula. The most likely vector is through corroded and leaking casings or boreholes of abandoned (century) gas wells that are common across the peninsula. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>This dissertation examines contemporary cultural representations of rurality in southern Ontario. It demonstrates how literary and cultural texts construct, support and/or expand our understandings of the social composition and character of rural culture. Examining various literary forms (drama, life narrative, and the novel), music, and photography, my research and analysis responds to Chris Philo’s pivotal call in the field of rural geography “to pay more careful attention to ‘the multiple forms of otherness’ present in . . . rural areas” (“Neglected” 199) and to foreground what he identifies as “neglected rural geographies.” I argue that dominant literary and cultural representations of rural southern Ontario overwhelmingly mobilize and rarely contest white heteromasculinist rural discourses that support rural cultures of sameness and exclusion. As a means of exposing the motivations for and deleterious effects of these discourses, I draw attention to alternative representations of the region’s rural social geography that expand the imaginative scope circumscribed by hegemonic conceptualizations of what it means to be rural in southern Ontario. As such, my project responds to Philo’s call in three ways: first, it repositions southern Ontario as a rural locale of critical relevance; second, it addresses a gap in Canadian literary and cultural studies by taking up new and evolving approaches in rural studies, with respect to rural “others,” being developed in disciplines like geography, sociology, history and political science; third, it intervenes in dominant socio-spatial discourses currently circulating in Canadian literary and cultural studies that eagerly address issues of gender, sexuality, race and class in Canada’s urban environments while too often neglecting how they intersect with discourses of rurality.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)