Dominant discourses on youth sexual health construct young people as at-risk subjects who engage in risky behaviours due to ignorance or poor decision-making. This dissertation challenges the prevailing assumption embedded in these discourses that young people’s sexual behaviours are based on individual rational choices. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and R. W. Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, this dissertation uses an interpretive approach to analyze the narratives and resonant texts of 24 young men in Toronto. It explores how young men construct and perform their masculine identities in the context of their socio-spatial environment; it also examines the strategies that young men use to compete for cultural capital and dominant positions in the homosocial and (hetero)erotic fields. The analysis yields a number of findings. First, it shows that gender identity is a state of being-doing-becoming. Guided by their gender-class-race habituses, young men engage in an unceasing process of defining, affirming, declaring, and validating not only their sense of who they are (self-identity) and where they belong (collective identity), but also the boundary that differentiates the ‘Self’ from the ‘Other’. Second, there is a dialectical relationship between the young men’s masculine habituses and their sexual practices. While all the young men engaged in hegemonic masculine practices to gain ‘respect’ from their peers, their practices varied according to their classes and ethnoracial backgrounds. At the same time, their (hetero)erotic practices are intricately intertwined with their homosocial practices, whereby the intra-group masculine expectations coupled with the broad hegemonic masculine discourses assert significant influences on their interactions with both young women and other young men. Finally, hetero-guy-talk constitutes an important everyday social interaction in which young men actively engage in the (re)production and/or resistance of hegemonic masculine discourses and practices. These results suggest that effective sexual health promotion (SHP) must go beyond the focus on individual sexual behaviours to address the historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts that shape the collective sexual health practices of young men. Furthermore, it may be useful to explore ‘hetero-guy-talk’ as an important ‘third’ space where young men are invited to interrogate and resist misogynist, masculinist, and homophobic practices and be supported to engage in humanizing sexual practices.

Dominant discourses on youth sexual health construct young people as at-risk subjects who engage in risky behaviours due to ignorance or poor decision-making. This dissertation challenges the prevailing assumption embedded in these discourses that young people’s sexual behaviours are based on individual rational choices. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and R. W. Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, this dissertation uses an interpretive approach to analyze the narratives and resonant texts of 24 young men in Toronto. It explores how young men construct and perform their masculine identities in the context of their socio-spatial environment; it also examines the strategies that young men use to compete for cultural capital and dominant positions in the homosocial and (hetero)erotic fields. The analysis yields a number of findings. First, it shows that gender identity is a state of being-doing-becoming. Guided by their gender-class-race habituses, young men engage in an unceasing process of defining, affirming, declaring, and validating not only their sense of who they are (self-identity) and where they belong (collective identity), but also the boundary that differentiates the ‘Self’ from the ‘Other’. Second, there is a dialectical relationship between the young men’s masculine habituses and their sexual practices. While all the young men engaged in hegemonic masculine practices to gain ‘respect’ from their peers, their practices varied according to their classes and ethnoracial backgrounds. At the same time, their (hetero)erotic practices are intricately intertwined with their homosocial practices, whereby the intra-group masculine expectations coupled with the broad hegemonic masculine discourses assert significant influences on their interactions with both young women and other young men. Finally, hetero-guy-talk constitutes an important everyday social interaction in which young men actively engage in the (re)production and/or resistance of hegemonic masculine discourses and practices. These results suggest that effective sexual health promotion (SHP) must go beyond the focus on individual sexual behaviours to address the historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts that shape the collective sexual health practices of young men. Furthermore, it may be useful to explore ‘hetero-guy-talk’ as an important ‘third’ space where young men are invited to interrogate and resist misogynist, masculinist, and homophobic practices and be supported to engage in humanizing sexual practices.

In this thesis, I undertake a study of skilled immigrant labour market integration in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by examining the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC). TRIEC is a relatively new governance institution in the Toronto city-region established to address barriers preventing immigrants from gaining meaningful employment in their fields. Barriers include systemic discrimination, lack of credential recognition, and lack of Canadian work experience. TRIEC was created in response to a recommendation from the 2003 Toronto City Summit Alliance (TSCA) report Enough Talk. TRIEC is a multi-stakeholder organization that aims to engage employers to find solutions to address labour market barriers facing skilled immigrants in the GTA. This thesis examines some of these labour market barriers and the work of TRIEC and poses the following research questions: - What are the factors both impeding and facilitating the labour market integration of skilled immigrants in the GTA? - Has the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council model proven effective in terms of its impact on skilled immigrant labour market integration in the GTA? - What are possible solutions for addressing the challenges that impede the labour market integration of skilled immigrants in the GTA? To answer these questions, this thesis draws on insights from immigration geography literature, statistical and policy data, as well as fifty-seven (57) semi-structured interviews with a variety of key stakeholders in the GTA. The results point to TRIEC as a potential model to emulate for other large city-regions facing challenges with respect to labour market integration. In addition to highlighting TRIEC’s advantages, this thesis also provides recommendations at a more general societal level for improving skilled immigrant labour market integration in Canadian city-regions. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-06 13:54:23.707

This thesis explores the recognition of institutional racism in Ontario. It examines discourses of institutional racism between the late 1960s and early 1980s and argues that the recognition of institutional racism at the provincial and national levels was facilitated by overt acts of racism in one of Canada’s most populous and diverse cities – Toronto. The targets of overt racism were new immigrants from decolonizing nations who utilized the discourse of rights in the context of an increase in racist incidents to press for state recognition of institutional racism. This rise in racially motivated violence concerned most Canadians as it went against Canadians’ self-perception as a raceless, tolerant and peaceful society. The recognition of structural racism was a gradual and contested process as municipal, provincial and federal government actors often denied its existence and deemed overt acts of racism aberrant. When racist acts did occur, state officials and media reports blamed the increased racial tensions on the personal prejudice of extremists. Activist groups composed of visible minorities and human rights activists were key in the formation of a counter-narrative that challenged this persistent denial of structural racism. These groups played a fundamental role in redefining the nature of racism in Canadian society. A central theme of this dissertation is that disintegrating race relations allowed for a redefinition of the Canadian state. It was the increase in racist incidents in 1970s Toronto that fostered a broad discussion on racism in Canada. This discussion emphasized that Canada’s people of colour experienced second-class citizenship because of structural inequalities which were rooted in Canadian institutions. Racial violence in 1970s Toronto was crucial in the recognition of institutional racism as racist incidents brought visible minorities into the public sphere and gave them an opportunity to identify the existence of systemic and institutional racism in Canadian society. However, the recognition of institutional and systemic racism did not result in a deep transformation of the Canadian racial state as policy changes have not been successful in challenging structural inequality. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-28 21:13:35.14

Dominant discourses on youth sexual health construct young people as at-risk subjects who engage in risky behaviours due to ignorance or poor decision-making. This dissertation challenges the prevailing assumption embedded in these discourses that young people’s sexual behaviours are based on individual rational choices. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and R. W. Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, this dissertation uses an interpretive approach to analyze the narratives and resonant texts of 24 young men in Toronto. It explores how young men construct and perform their masculine identities in the context of their socio-spatial environment; it also examines the strategies that young men use to compete for cultural capital and dominant positions in the homosocial and (hetero)erotic fields. The analysis yields a number of findings. First, it shows that gender identity is a state of being-doing-becoming. Guided by their gender-class-race habituses, young men engage in an unceasing process of defining, affirming, declaring, and validating not only their sense of who they are (self-identity) and where they belong (collective identity), but also the boundary that differentiates the ‘Self’ from the ‘Other’. Second, there is a dialectical relationship between the young men’s masculine habituses and their sexual practices. While all the young men engaged in hegemonic masculine practices to gain ‘respect’ from their peers, their practices varied according to their classes and ethnoracial backgrounds. At the same time, their (hetero)erotic practices are intricately intertwined with their homosocial practices, whereby the intra-group masculine expectations coupled with the broad hegemonic masculine discourses assert significant influences on their interactions with both young women and other young men. Finally, hetero-guy-talk constitutes an important everyday social interaction in which young men actively engage in the (re)production and/or resistance of hegemonic masculine discourses and practices. These results suggest that effective sexual health promotion (SHP) must go beyond the focus on individual sexual behaviours to address the historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts that shape the collective sexual health practices of young men. Furthermore, it may be useful to explore ‘hetero-guy-talk’ as an important ‘third’ space where young men are invited to interrogate and resist misogynist, masculinist, and homophobic practices and be supported to engage in humanizing sexual practices.

Dominant discourses on youth sexual health construct young people as at-risk subjects who engage in risky behaviours due to ignorance or poor decision-making. This dissertation challenges the prevailing assumption embedded in these discourses that young people’s sexual behaviours are based on individual rational choices. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice and R. W. Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, this dissertation uses an interpretive approach to analyze the narratives and resonant texts of 24 young men in Toronto. It explores how young men construct and perform their masculine identities in the context of their socio-spatial environment; it also examines the strategies that young men use to compete for cultural capital and dominant positions in the homosocial and (hetero)erotic fields. The analysis yields a number of findings. First, it shows that gender identity is a state of being-doing-becoming. Guided by their gender-class-race habituses, young men engage in an unceasing process of defining, affirming, declaring, and validating not only their sense of who they are (self-identity) and where they belong (collective identity), but also the boundary that differentiates the ‘Self’ from the ‘Other’. Second, there is a dialectical relationship between the young men’s masculine habituses and their sexual practices. While all the young men engaged in hegemonic masculine practices to gain ‘respect’ from their peers, their practices varied according to their classes and ethnoracial backgrounds. At the same time, their (hetero)erotic practices are intricately intertwined with their homosocial practices, whereby the intra-group masculine expectations coupled with the broad hegemonic masculine discourses assert significant influences on their interactions with both young women and other young men. Finally, hetero-guy-talk constitutes an important everyday social interaction in which young men actively engage in the (re)production and/or resistance of hegemonic masculine discourses and practices. These results suggest that effective sexual health promotion (SHP) must go beyond the focus on individual sexual behaviours to address the historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts that shape the collective sexual health practices of young men. Furthermore, it may be useful to explore ‘hetero-guy-talk’ as an important ‘third’ space where young men are invited to interrogate and resist misogynist, masculinist, and homophobic practices and be supported to engage in humanizing sexual practices.

Mixed-use development is one of the canonical elements of modern urban planning theory and practice. The principles of this approach to development are applied throughout the world and have seen a resurgence in the last several decades as part of the rise of populist movements such as smart growth and new urbanism. At the same time, cities across the industrialized world have been reshaped within the broader context of fundamental restructuring in the labour market over the past several decades. The urban core of the post-industrial city has increasingly become the site of residential development amongst various complementary land uses, marketed to an upwardly mobile professional class. Who benefits from this kind of mixed-use development in the housing market? Despite its popularity, mixed-use development is not often examined with regard to the affordability of housing. This study explores the affordability of housing in areas zoned as mixed-use in the old City of Toronto in relation to shifts in the occupational structure of the city’s workforce between 1991 and 2006. Using census data and spatial analysis methods, the cartographic and analytical outputs of this study demonstrate two major findings: first, that housing in mixed-use areas was more expensive than the rest of the city over the study period; and second, that socioeconomic polarization between classes of occupations is not only evident in mixed-use areas, but in some ways more pronounced than in the rest of the city. Based on these findings, the study concludes with a realistic assessment of why and how academics, practitioners and policymakers active in urban planning should step up efforts to couple the revitalization of Toronto’s urban core with gains to the affordability of housing.

Positioning itself as an investigation into the affective capacity of transport, this thesis argues that the potential of a city is both composed and revealed through its systems of movement, contending that the sensorial and expressive qualities of a city’s transit govern how its citizens perceive and access the scope of experiences available to them. Essays on movement and identity, the limits of the city, immobility, adaptation, and eccentricities, move in parallel with meditations on departures, arrivals, and the time of transit toward a mandate for an amplification of motion and energy. The thesis traces a route from Ontario through London, Rome, and northern Europe before returning to Toronto only to founder in the region’s gridlock. To free the city’s constricted potential, a new passenger rail line running from Pearson Airport, through Toronto on the Canadian Pacific Rail corridor north of Dupont Road, to the site of Pickering’s future international airport is proposed. The key interchange of the new line, Lake Iroquois Station, is developed in detail, feeding on an intense overlap of historic and contemporary infrastructures. Located just south of the historic First Nations trading trail of Davenport Road at Dupont and Spadina, the station gathers the primary midtown electrical corridor, extensions of the Bathurst and Spadina streetcar lines, the existing University/Spadina subway, and expansions of the city’s cycling network, knotting them together with regional passenger rail in order to transport the city and its imagination.

This thesis examines School Generated Funding (SGF) within the Toronto District School (TDSB) to see if SGF is reinforcing a two-tier education system. Five sources of data were analyzed: The SGF Record of the TDSB from 2008-2009, The Preliminary School Budget from 2010-2011, EQAO test results from 2008 to 2009, The Learning Opportunity Index (LOI) from 2009, and three socio-economic status factors (income, education and occupation) using the Toronto Wards Profiles. Using the SGF record, twenty green schools (schools that raised the most SGF, amounting to $4,043,837) were compared, using the five sources of data against twenty red schools (schools that raised the least amount of SGF, amounting to $109,885). Two recommendations have been suggested: SGF be capped at a median amount throughout the TDSB and extra funding be put into a funding account for the TDSB to disperse to schools that need it.

The present study examines the relationship of emotional awareness to anticipatory psychophysiological markers and performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The IGT is a computerized card game that simulates real-life decisions through uncertainty of reward or punishment. The participant’s goal is to make advantageous card choices. Anticipatory somatic markers of physiological arousal, like electrodermal activity and heart rate, have been proposed to bias decisions in the IGT. The central hypothesis is that a participant’s emotional awareness is related to their ability to make advantageous decisions through biasing psychophysiological responses. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale was used to assess each participant’s emotional awareness. Less emotional awareness was associated with enhanced performance on the IGT. However, anticipatory physiological arousal (electrodermal activity and heart rate) and emotional awareness yielded no significant relationships. Findings suggest a need for further research on cognitive models, such as the expectancy valence model, in relation to decision-making.