Inner-city revitalisation poses perhaps the most complex challenge faced by urban planners today. This dissertation explores the role of planning in urban restructuring by providing a critical empirical investigation into a major Canadian tripartite planning intervention that spans a decade -- The Winnipeg Core Area Initiative (1981 to 1991). The purpose of the dissertation is to study the Winnipeg Core Area Initiative (CM) as a prototypical model for urban regeneration and public-policy intervention, to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the CAI, and to evaluate the impact that this urban intervention had over a period of ten years. Backed by a comparative analysis of urban regeneration efforts in Great Britain and the United States, it explores the concept of "distress" in inner-city areas and attempts to answer the questions: Distress -- who can relieve it and how? The case-study method is used for an evaluation of the CAI that includes content analysis of published materials produced about, and for, the Initiative and public-attitude surveys and newspaper reports over the period 1981 to 1991. The results of interviews with twenty-five "key or core players" provide qualitative data that enriches the dissertation by presenting a picture of the CAI that is missing from evaluation reports commissioned by the tripartite partners or from published commentaries on the Initiative. This case study reveals an urban intervention strategy with objectives that were conceptually broad and comprehensive, perhaps too much so for the level of financial and organisational resources available and the level of public expectations that was raised. While the model was an excellent vehicle to harmonise scarce public resources and leverage private investment, this study reveals a disjunction between policy intent and policy implementation in attempting to balance economic development with disparity relief efforts. This dissertation concludes that there are components of the CAI model that provide valuable instruction for urban restructuring but it is unlikely that the model as originally designed, could, or should, be replicated. The importance of this study is to provide a broad examination of the theoretical framework behind the Winnipeg CAI as an instrument for urban public policy that will assist future planning-and-policy formation attempts in urban revitalisation and strengthen the public and private ability to generate comprehensive, strategic and cohesive urban policy. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Over the last century the Prairie region has undergone a transition from predominantly rural to predominantly urban settlement. By the early 1900s emphasis began to shift from rural-based primary activities to urban-based industrial activity. One product of this transition was the marginalization of rural communities. An examination of literature pertinent to Canadian development policy reveals no single solution to rural decline. Instead there are numerous theories and recommendations which communities can adopt. One such strategy has been locally-based development. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to knowledge concerning what locally-based organizations can do to mitigate the impact of decline in rural communities. As a case study, Manitoba's Regional Development Corporations (RDCs) are analyzed within the context of the provincial government's overall approach for rural development in order to investigate their effectiveness in contributing to locally-based rural development. This effectiveness is measured in goals, strategies and processes of an RDC as they changed over three periods: (1) 1963/73, (2)1973/83, (3) 1983/90. In each period the following questions were asked: 1. What priorities or objectives were emphasized in provincial development policy? 2. What strategies were used by the province and RDCs to achieve rural development? 3. What role was established for locally-based participation? Throughout the three study periods the province's regional policies remained based on laissez-faire economic principles, while the RDC approach was oriented to regional-national integration (i.e., merging of regional economic activity with national and international markets). The conclusion is that RDCs affected rural development by enhancing the abilities of local businesses participating in the provincial marketplace. RDCs have concentrated on supporting a process for adapting to rural transition, rather than reversing forces impinging on rural communities. Lessons extended from the RDC study suggest that if efforts to enhance a rural area's competitive position in national or international markets become the principal objective for local development, the unique qualities associated with rural life may be difficult to maintain. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to determine to what extent inequalities in the distribution of educational services exist in Manitoba, and, should extensive inequalities exist, to propose ameliorative policies to provincial policy-makers. Inequalities are considered to exist when access to services varies consistently, on a basis other than need, for students in the province. Since unitary school divisions are the administrative units responsible for providing educational services to the great majority of public school students in Manitoba, and since variations in administrative unit size have been associated with variations in service provision in other jurisdictions, the method adopted is to present data on 10 different educational services and resources, by size of school divisions. This presentation shows that students in larger school divisions, which are generally urban, have substantially higher levels of access. These vary by service, but the direction of advantage or disadvantage is constant. There is no evidence that the discrepancies are positively associated with need differentials. The second portion of the study examines the financial aspects of existing inequalities in access to services. The financial statements of school divisions reveal that small divisions generally spend less per student, and that a larger proportion of their expenditures is directed to support services. Thus expenditures on instruction are very substantially lower in those divsions providing relatively low levels of service. Only an increased share of provincial resources seems likely to give thern the financial power to improve the provision of educational services. A series of policy objectives and standards is developed, against which the probable output of policy proposals in financing can be evaluated. The first objective is "resource equalization", and the standard required is a reduction in the current range in revenues and local effort of divisions. The second objective, "adaptive capacity", requires that policies be readily adaptable to changing needs, and that an information system be available to signal changes in needs, service levels, and financial characteristics, and thus monitor progress towards equality of educational opportunity. The proposal of policies intended to further these objectives is constrained by an important characteristic of educational administration in Manitoba, the provision for local autonomy in decision-making. The proposals for provincial funding are of the "inverse allocation" type. To achieve equaIization objectives while at the same time providing for a diversity of expenditure patterns and levels, at the discretion of local decision-maker's, the proposal provides for three types of grants: categorical grants; basic grants per pupil; and equalization grants, inversely proportional to division wealth. The final section of the study also establishes equalization and adaptive capacity as objectives in the provision of services, and proposes a system of regional educational service agencies, to provide those services which divisions are not large enough to provide effectively and economically for themselves. Again, local autonomy acts as an important constraint. The study asserts that major changes in provincial financing of school divisions, and less sweeping changes in administrative structures, can increase the power of local authorities to change the distribution of educational services in Manitoba. Because decision-making will continue to reside with local authorities, no guarantee can be offered that the policies proposed will actually change the distribution of services in the province. However, should the policies proposed here be adopted, the proposed data system will allow provincial policy-makers to monitor progress towards equalization continuously, and thus to evaluate the actual output of the policies. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

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Aboriginal youth well-being is an increasingly important topic. Research with mainstream populations highlights two keys to well-being, namely perceived personal control, and a clear sense of self-identity. However, despite relevance for Aboriginal groups, underappreciated to date is the potential role of perceived collective control, and clarity of collective identity, for well-being. Thus, the present program of research investigated the impact of collective control and identity on the well-being of Aboriginal youth. Residents of two Cree communities in northern Manitoba collaborated in the research. Based on community members' input on important community and youth issues, we developed two surveys on youth well-being, which were completed by students in grades 7 and up. / The results of Study 1 indicated that greater perceived individual-level internal control was associated with greater psychological well-being. As well, investigating for the first time perceived group-level control and Aboriginal youth well-being, the results indicated that greater perceived group-level internal control was associated with greater well-being. However, the results additionally suggested an association between greater perceived external control (Others and Creator) and greater well-being. The effect of group-level internal control on well-being was mediated by individual-level internal control, but not moderated by strength of Native identity. Finally, the results suggested a significant relationship between greater strength of aspects of cultural identity and greater well-being. / Study 2 expanded upon these findings, employing revised measures to assess perceived control, identity clarity, and substance use. Similar to Study 1, the results of Study 2 indicated an association between greater perceived individual-level internal control and greater psychological well-being, as well as between individual-level others control and well-being. Additionally, multidimensional measures of control indicated an association between greater perceived individual-level control over drinking and decreased well-being. Furthermore, Study 2 indicated an association between greater perceived group-level internal control and greater psychological well-being. This relationship was partially mediated by individual-level internal control. Finally, the results suggested an association between greater strength of cultural identity and greater well-being. / Overall, the present program of research provides key preliminary support for a greater consideration of group-level factors in well-being, particularly in efforts to enhance and support Aboriginal youth well-being.

VPW, a community-access television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, hosted an array of programming ranging from the pragmatic to the truly bizarre, from 1971 until the station was bought out and dismantled in 2001. Grassroots media does not have the same institutional and archival frameworks as its mainstream counterpart; its losses often go unremarked, or must be reconstituted and memorialized in improvisational, provisional ways. In recent years, several Winnipeg artists have begun a kind of reclamation project around the station. This paper considers the various threads of nostalgia, political economy, and decline narratives at work in VPW's reclamation. It argues that thinking about why certain things are celebrated and others thrown away is itself a problem of aesthetics, politics, and publics. It examines why certain shows are remembered and others not, and the role of unanticipated uses of public infrastructure in such a dynamic.

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Histories give little attention to language dominance in school and community -- to the fact that the past one-hundred years of "One People, One Language, One School" attitudes, policies, and goals in Anglo-American schools and communities have brought with them the demise of Native-American languages, the disappearance of linguistic differences due to immigrant origin, the disvalue or stereotype of linguistic patterns derived from regional and ethnic variation, and the insistence on English as a mark of linguistic and intellectual virtue. Telling Stories (0ut of School) of Mother Tongue, God's Tongue, and the Queen's Tongue: An Ethnography in Canada gives attention to one such history. Told in Mennonite perspective and framed in Manitoba schools between 1890 and 1990, Telling Stories (Out of School) begins with tales of English-speaking Canadian insistence on and German-speaking Mennonite resistance to English-only language education policies in public and private schools serving a Mennonite speech community in southern Manitoba. The research problem links itself historically to a series of language education acts passed by the Manitoba Legislature, adjudicated by the Manitoba Attorney General, the Canadian Supreme Court, and the British Privy Council, and enforced by the Manitoba Department of Education -- all between 1890 and 1920. These English-only policies, deemed an expedient response to the question of how to unify English Canadians, French-Canadians, Aboriginals, and immigrants, abrogated the language education rights of all linguistic minorities. English prevailed in Manitoba schools until the 1960s. After the mid-1960s, though, the Canadian Parliament in concert with the Manitoba Legislature, the Manitoba Department of Education, and local public school districts re-affirmed Canada's English-French legacy as well as its multilingual, multicultural heritage with yet another series of language and language education acts -- the Canadian Official Languages Act of 1969, the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982, and the Canadian Multicultural Act of 1988. Today, the Canadian "Cultural Mosaic," or "Multiculturalism within a Bilingual Framework," dispels the "Melting Pot" myth borrowed from the United States at the turn of the century. And, the 1990 right to "language education choice" in Manitoba's system of public schools denies the 1890 rule of "One People, One Language, One School." To trace historical and recent developments in a Mennonite speech community associated with these policies, and subsequently with the contact of English, High German, and Low German” outside the classroom," the ethnographer -- an insider-outsider -- synthesizes the Hymes-type work in ethnographies of speaking and the Milroy-type work in language and social networks to examine the Ferguson-coined phenomenon of diglossia and the Fishman-extended relationship between societal diglossia and individual Bilingualism. Interviews with fifty-seven speakers, treated as a sequence of ethno-acts and ethno-events, are guided by the general question of sociolinguistic research -- who uses what language with whom, when, where, and why? Using Hymes mnemonic code of SPEAKING leads to the description of a shared history and a shared way of speaking as well as to insights into linguistic continuity, change, and compartmentalization. Telling Stories (Out of School) ends; with tales of an ethnic revival in Mennonite schools and community today -- with new voices speaking Low German High German, and English. While the present ethnography of a Mennonite speech community in Canada, framed in Manitoba schools between 1890 and 1990, should be regarded as impressionistic and preliminary, the fact remains -- language dominance does do something to the life of language in a community as does language education policy that attempts to "start where the child is ... linguisticallly."

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