This thesis investigates expressions of tradition currently being brought forth by members of the Comox First Nation as markers of their identity. A history of massive depopulation and territorial movement, combined with extensive intermarriage outside of the community, has left the Comox peoples with varying degrees of traditional and cultural knowledge. Bound on all sides by the Central Coast Salish, the Nuu-chah-nulth, and the Kwakwaka'wakw, rights to their traditions are restricted to certain families in the community. This limitability of tradition has led the Comox peoples to bring forward and reinvent traditions that are accessible to all members of the First Nation. This study moves away from the tendency of anthropological investigations to concentrate work amongst perceived cultural cores, and instead looks directly at dilemmas and resolutions of identity that are prevalent within border communities.

This thesis investigates expressions of tradition currently being brought forth by members of the Comox First Nation as markers of their identity. A history of massive depopulation and territorial movement, combined with extensive intermarriage outside of the community, has left the Comox peoples with varying degrees of traditional and cultural knowledge. Bound on all sides by the Central Coast Salish, the Nuu-chah-nulth, and the Kwakwaka'wakw, rights to their traditions are restricted to certain families in the community. This limitability of tradition has led the Comox peoples to bring forward and reinvent traditions that are accessible to all members of the First Nation. This study moves away from the tendency of anthropological investigations to concentrate work amongst perceived cultural cores, and instead looks directly at dilemmas and resolutions of identity that are prevalent within border communities. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This study examines the residential subdivision of land in rural areas within the context of Community Planning Area Number 14 in the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona, British Columbia. Two separate elements comprise the major portion of the study. Interviews with a select sample of developers who practise within the Community Planning Area provide information about the extent and practise of residential land development in the study area. The interview schedule is designed to elicit both facts and opinions. The analysis of these interviews supplies the necessary background for the study. A random sample of residential subdivisions provides the basis for subdivision case studies. Each sample subdivision is subjected to a physical evaluation in terms of commonly accepted planning standards and principles for location and design. The extent to which the sample subdivisions meet the needs of the residents is discovered through interviews with the residents. These interviews are designed to elicit facts, opinions and levels of satisfaction pertaining to the subdivisions. The background to the problem and the methodology of the study are described. Concepts of residential subdivision location and design are discussed. The results of the comparative physical evaluation of the sample subdivisions and the results of the interviews with residents are also discussed. Conclusions are made about the location and design of the subdivisions and about the level of satisfaction which the residents express. It is shown in the study that "rural area residential subdivisions" in Community Planning Area Number 14 do not conform with accepted planning standards and principles. However, it is also shown that the needs of residents who have chosen to live in these subdivisions are satisfied despite those deficiencies. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Block 71, the location of this design thesis, is within the Comox Valley, British Columbia, Canada. Situated on Vancouver Island and four kilometers North of the City of Courtenay. The site is 925 acres of cut-block, used for lumber, and owned by Raven Forest Products. Raven Forest Products clear-cut the site as recently as the late 1970's. Second growth has been allowed to persist on the site. In 1994, a development permit for a proposed village was submitted to the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona and is still pending. This proposed village was named 'View Ridge' and was intended to create higher densities and preserve more open space than convention subdivisions. The relevant proposed design for this property, View Ridge Revisited, endeavours to meet and surpass the intentions of the its predecessor. The View Ridge Revisited proposal allows for a minimum of eight hundred dwelling units and a maximum of one thousand and one hundred. Sustainability is the ultimate goal for View Ridge Revisited. The three parts of this goal are economic sustainability, social sustainability and ecological sustainability. As a template for the structure of the village, Transit-Oriented Developments and the principles of New Urbanism were employed. Economically, the proposed design should support a community of approximately two thousand two hundred persons. Seven hundred of these should be employed within the community itself. Appropriate retail, office and service-office space has been provided for this purpose. This assumes at least one job per household. At least seventy-five percent of all the housing units in the village are within one thousand-three hundred feet walking distance from the downtown commercial core, or a five minute walk. These two thousand and two hundred people will live in medium density (12 du/acre) and low-density (8 du/acre) areas. The latter housing type includes ancillary suites above lane-access-only garages. The higher density housing types should be at least three stories, with possible basement suites. All housing should meet some type of precedent typology. The most likely typology sources come from older parts of Courtenay and Comox. Adequate recreation space is provided for the residents. Approximately twenty acres are located adjacent to the Recreation Centre and the Schools. The schools should be adequate for the given population of the community. Additional green space is included throughout the site, in the form of neighbourhood parks. Ten percent of each block is designated to park space. These parks will also function as storm water channels and filtration areas. From an ecological perspective, the design proposal attempts to integrate the functioning, natural environment with the cultural processes of its human co-inhabitants. In general, the village is centred upon a sixty to eighty meter riparian corridor, a wetland area and a community forest. All of these features should maintain their ecological functions, as well as provide vital components to both the image of the community and its healthy existence. The riparian corridor is a diverted stream from Seal Bay Park. It should be engineered to follow its pre-logging path down into the Little River watershed Storm water is drained from the village into this stream, after being naturally treated within the previously mentioned wetland area. All water from the site is treated in this manner. Sewage is treated at a three acre solar aquatic treatment facility next to the commercial core. The community forest will allow a habitat connection to the riparian corridor as well as provide an educational component to the inhabitants. It is hoped that sustainable logging practices will become a part of this forest's character. The overall goal of sustainable community design is met at View Ridge Revisited by satisfying the economic, social and ecological requirements. The transit-oriented design of this village provides the template upon which this becomes possible.

Block 71, the location of this design thesis, is within the Comox Valley, British Columbia, Canada. Situated on Vancouver Island and four kilometers North of the City of Courtenay. The site is 925 acres of cut-block, used for lumber, and owned by Raven Forest Products. Raven Forest Products clear-cut the site as recently as the late 1970's. Second growth has been allowed to persist on the site. In 1994, a development permit for a proposed village was submitted to the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona and is still pending. This proposed village was named 'View Ridge' and was intended to create higher densities and preserve more open space than convention subdivisions. The relevant proposed design for this property, View Ridge Revisited, endeavours to meet and surpass the intentions of the its predecessor. The View Ridge Revisited proposal allows for a minimum of eight hundred dwelling units and a maximum of one thousand and one hundred. Sustainability is the ultimate goal for View Ridge Revisited. The three parts of this goal are economic sustainability, social sustainability and ecological sustainability. As a template for the structure of the village, Transit-Oriented Developments and the principles of New Urbanism were employed. Economically, the proposed design should support a community of approximately two thousand two hundred persons. Seven hundred of these should be employed within the community itself. Appropriate retail, office and service-office space has been provided for this purpose. This assumes at least one job per household. At least seventy-five percent of all the housing units in the village are within one thousand-three hundred feet walking distance from the downtown commercial core, or a five minute walk. These two thousand and two hundred people will live in medium density (12 du/acre) and low-density (8 du/acre) areas. The latter housing type includes ancillary suites above lane-access-only garages. The higher density housing types should be at least three stories, with possible basement suites. All housing should meet some type of precedent typology. The most likely typology sources come from older parts of Courtenay and Comox. Adequate recreation space is provided for the residents. Approximately twenty acres are located adjacent to the Recreation Centre and the Schools. The schools should be adequate for the given population of the community. Additional green space is included throughout the site, in the form of neighbourhood parks. Ten percent of each block is designated to park space. These parks will also function as storm water channels and filtration areas. From an ecological perspective, the design proposal attempts to integrate the functioning, natural environment with the cultural processes of its human co-inhabitants. In general, the village is centred upon a sixty to eighty meter riparian corridor, a wetland area and a community forest. All of these features should maintain their ecological functions, as well as provide vital components to both the image of the community and its healthy existence. The riparian corridor is a diverted stream from Seal Bay Park. It should be engineered to follow its pre-logging path down into the Little River watershed Storm water is drained from the village into this stream, after being naturally treated within the previously mentioned wetland area. All water from the site is treated in this manner. Sewage is treated at a three acre solar aquatic treatment facility next to the commercial core. The community forest will allow a habitat connection to the riparian corridor as well as provide an educational component to the inhabitants. It is hoped that sustainable logging practices will become a part of this forest's character. The overall goal of sustainable community design is met at View Ridge Revisited by satisfying the economic, social and ecological requirements. The transit-oriented design of this village provides the template upon which this becomes possible. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

This thesis presents the results of recent sampling of the Q’umu?xs Village site (DkSf-19) at Comox Harbour, British Columbia. Bucket auger and column sampling was undertaken to ascertain resource use patterns associated with the unique abundance of wooden stake fish traps located in Comox Harbour through zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains. Fish remains were identified and quantified to trace changes in resource use and linked to the chronology of fish trap use. Incorporating the theoretical frameworks of human behavioural ecology (optimal foraging models), intensification, household archaeology, and the archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers, this thesis discusses the use of fish traps in Comox Harbour in relation to larger questions of Northwest Coast social and economic complexity, in particular the emphasis on herring seen in the fish remains. / October 2008

This thesis presents the results of recent sampling of the Q’umu?xs Village site (DkSf-19) at Comox Harbour, British Columbia. Bucket auger and column sampling was undertaken to ascertain resource use patterns associated with the unique abundance of wooden stake fish traps located in Comox Harbour through zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains. Fish remains were identified and quantified to trace changes in resource use and linked to the chronology of fish trap use. Incorporating the theoretical frameworks of human behavioural ecology (optimal foraging models), intensification, household archaeology, and the archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers, this thesis discusses the use of fish traps in Comox Harbour in relation to larger questions of Northwest Coast social and economic complexity, in particular the emphasis on herring seen in the fish remains.

This thesis presents the results of recent sampling of the Q’umu?xs Village site (DkSf-19) at Comox Harbour, British Columbia. Bucket auger and column sampling was undertaken to ascertain resource use patterns associated with the unique abundance of wooden stake fish traps located in Comox Harbour through zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains. Fish remains were identified and quantified to trace changes in resource use and linked to the chronology of fish trap use. Incorporating the theoretical frameworks of human behavioural ecology (optimal foraging models), intensification, household archaeology, and the archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers, this thesis discusses the use of fish traps in Comox Harbour in relation to larger questions of Northwest Coast social and economic complexity, in particular the emphasis on herring seen in the fish remains.