Digital Commons Network^™

Regional Integration: Physician Perceptions On Electronic Medical Record Use And Impact In South West Ontario, Sadiq Raji

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Regional initiatives in the health care context in Canada are typically organized and administered along geographic boundaries or operational units. Regional integration of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) has been continuing across Canadian provinces in recent years, yet the use and impact of regionally integrated EMRs are not routinely assessed and questions remain about their impact on and use in physicians’ practices. Are stated goals of simplifying connections and sharing of electronic health information collected and managed by many health services providers being met? What are physicians’ perspectives on the use and impact of regionally integrated EMR? In this thesis, I …

A Novel Spatio-Temporal Examination Of Children's Accessibility, Exposure, And Engagement To Parks And Recreation Spaces In Middlesex-London, Ontario, Malcolm K. Little

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Children are spending more free time engaged in activities indoors, rather than in outdoor environments such as parks and recreation spaces. Parks and recreation spaces provide amenities that promote physical, cognitive, and social health among children. As it relates to the complexities of children’s living situations, properly measuring children’s levels of interactions with these spaces is poorly understood in geography research.

By examining various attributes of children, this thesis improves on the measurement of children’s levels of interactions with parks and recreation spaces. Research herein utilized household survey data, a high-resolution GIS dataset of environmental factors, and GPS logs from …

Gender, Technology And Innovation In Health Care Panel, Melanie Katsivo

Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020

8 graduate student/recent graduate presentations on gender, technology, and innovation in health care. Moderated by Dr. Melanie Katsivo. Reporting of panel done by current GHS students of the 2021 class. Abstracts can be found under "Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts". Presenters as follows:

Florence Wullo Anfaara, "To Include or Not to Include: Men and the Liberian Women's Peace Hut Initiatives Towards Transformational Justice"

Uche Ikenyei, "Diversification of Research Methodological Approach During Model Enhancements in Health Information System Research"

Denise Kamyuka, "Female Social Entrepreneurship in Sport, in the African Context: Systemic Review"

Ebenezer Martin-Yeboah, "Through the Lens of Egocentric Design: Do …

Education, Migration And Development Panel, Henri Boyi

Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020

8 graduate students/recent graduate presentations on education, migration and development. Moderated by Dr. Henri Boyi. Reporting of panel done by current GHS students of the 2021 class. Abstracts can be found under "Africa-Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts". Presenters as follows:

Jemima Nomunume Baada, "Experiences of Social Reproduction among Migrant Women in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana"

Elmond Bandauko, "This is a Good Place to Live! Narratives and Counternarratives on Territorial Stigmatization in Harare's Informal Settlements"

Chinelo Ezenwa, "A History of 19th Century European Missionaries in Colonial Africa with Specific References to the Impact of Missionary Schools"

Rebecca Jackson, Jade Rozal, …

Canadian Mayors Respond To Tent Cities: The Old Bums Rush Or A New Script For Homeless Populations?, Dani Coffey

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper seeks to examine how Canadian urban mayors respond, in the media, to homeless encampments in their communities. A qualitative content analysis of news articles involving tent cities and the current mayors of two Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) in British Columbia is completed. Social constructions of the homeless population will be considered through the coding of media “frames.” Through the integration of frames with the Narrative Policy Framework, the interplay between social constructions and housing policy solutions generated at the local level will be explored.

Financial And Strategic Planning In Ontario Municipalities: Examining The Theoretical Framework And Linkages Between Municipal Financial And Strategic Planning In Ontario, Brian Geerts

MPA Major Research Papers

Municipal councils in Ontario are charged with the administration and control of organizations through the Municipal Act, 2001. Councils are responsible for the financial and service performance of a wide variety of activities. Should the activities and finances be poorly linked, this could lead to an accountability disconnect. This research explores how well municipalities in Ontario link strategic planning to financial planning, and how they communicate this to the public. Nine municipalities were randomly selected representing small, medium, and large municipalities in the south, central, and northern regions of the province. Municipalities primarily rely on their corporate strategic plans and …

Administering A Ranked-Choice Voting Election: Lessons From London, Ontario, Charlotte Kurs

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

To elect its mayor and council in October of 2018, the City of London, Ontario used ranked-choice voting instead of the traditional first-past-the-post system; the first Canadian city in decades to use an alternative electoral system. London’s experience as the first Ontario municipality to implement ranked-choice voting allows it to offer its experience as a lesson to other municipalities that may be considering making changes to their voting systems.

From the Ontario government’s review of the Municipal Elections Act in 2016 through to the implementation of a ranked-ballot election in 2018, this report details the experience of City of London …

Tracing Controversies In Internationalization: National Actors In Canadian Higher Education, Melody Viczko

Education Publications

No abstract provided.

Weaving The Braid Of Culturally Responsive Leadership Within Policy And Governance To Improve Indigenous Student Success, Shelly L. Niemi

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that highlights the need for why the Board of Education and the Senior Administration team within the Raven Bay School Division (RBSD, pseudonym) would benefit from using a culturally responsive leadership approach when making decisions and how this may be achieved through policy and governance to guide their practice. The goal of this OIP is to examine why this leadership approach would be relevant for the Board of Education and the Senior Leadership team when they are making any policy and governance decisions, as it relates to Indigenous …

Who Has Seen The Wind Benefits? Impacts Of Ontario Green Energy Policy On Municipal Community Benefit Agreements From Large Wind Energy Projects, Jason Cole

MPA Major Research Papers

The province of Ontario has become Canada's largest wind energy market. This was a result of distinct policies established by the provincial government to encourage renewable energy developments as part of its power supply system. Using distributive justice as a lens, this study aims to clarify how wind energy policy design influences community outcomes for municipalities that host wind turbine projects. Community benefit agreements between municipalities and wind project developers are a prominent tool for distributing financial benefits to local populations and these were used throughout Ontario as part of the wind energy development process. A comparative analysis is undertaken …

Inclusionary Zoning: Identifying Possible Legal Challenges Within Canada And How Best To Pre-Empt Them, Christina Pilatzkie

MPA Major Research Papers

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the legal issues that surround inclusionary zoning. More specifically, the question to be answered through this research is: How can Canadian municipalities shield themselves from legal challenges that may put inclusionary zoning policies at risk of being nullified? Through inductive research byway of qualitative content analysis of 16 American court cases, in which the legal challenges posed to inclusionary zoning ordinances are then extrapolated and applied to the Canadian context, the fundamental legal issues pertinent to Canadian municipalities become illuminated. What has been observed is that there have been a number …

Supporting Knowledge Clusters: An Analysis Of The Organizational Structures And Policies Of Economic Development Agencies In Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, And Windsor, Duncan Purssell

MPA Major Research Papers

To determine if there is a correlation between the organizational structure of economic development agencies and whether these structures facilitate or hinder the success of development policies. To determine what factors other than the organizational structures of economic development agencies facilitate or hinder the success of economic development policies. Methods Used: In this paper a review of the literature in municipal economic development was completed. Three case studies of economic development strategies for midsized urban areas in Southwestern Ontario were completed. The success of each urban areas economic development strategies was evaluated. The structure of each regions economic development agencies …

Comparative Analysis Of Emergency Communication Practices Of Local Public Health Units In Ontario During Covid-19 Pandemic, Thulasika Ledchumikanthan

MPA Major Research Papers

Local Public Health Units play a key role in mitigating the spread of infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to leverage the prevalent information communication technologies including social media to communicate with citizens. The aim of this research paper is to conduct a comparative analysis of how methods and content of communication practices across Ontario Public Health Units have differed during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore possible reasons why. Due to the nature of this research being exploratory, a Grounded Theory approach was used. Content analysis included a systematic review of 10 of the 34 public health units’ …

Preparing Communities For The Golden Years: Approaches For Developing Age-Friendly Communities For Seniors, Shivi Darubra

MPA Major Research Papers

The heterogeneous nature of aging has led policymakers to reconsider how seniors are impacted by localized decision-making and implementation efforts (Remillard-Boilard, 2018). Forecasted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the population of seniors (60+) is expected to reach over two billion worldwide, surpassing the number of children being born across the world for the first time in human history (United Nations, 2006). To better address the local challenges faced by the aging population, WHO devised an Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) framework to guide urban communities into redesigning policy and intervention models to better reflect the needs of seniors while also allowing …

Addressing Water Security Through First Nations-Municipal Cooperation, Corrine Codina

MPA Major Research Papers

To what extent can municipalities support a multi-barrier approach (MBA) to improving First Nations water security in Ontario? Through a systematic content analysis of legislation, standards, guidelines, and reports, capacities of First Nations and municipalities to implement the MBA are identified in relation to the approach’s three barriers: source water protection, water treatment systems, and water distribution systems. The results of this paper show that municipalities are equipped with the capacities to support a First Nations’ MBA, and are particularly well equipped in their managerial, technical, and political capacities to support efforts of source water protection. Water treatment and distribution, …

Corporate Structures In Transit: Comparing The Development Of Intermunicipal Transit In British Columbia And Ontario And Why Ontario Should Consider Reform, Luke Charlton

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper will argue for changes in the corporate structure of transit authorities in Ontario by contrasting their effectiveness in producing intermunicipal transit with British Columbia’s transit authorities. It is well established that transit is correlated to many benefits: socioeconomic opportunities, increased quality of life, boosting the local economy, and reducing the environmental impact of transportation. However, one area of neglect within Ontario has been the development of intermunicipal transit within Ontario outside of the Greater Toronto Area. British Columbia proves that with a centripetal authority structure (power towards the centre), transit organizations can be adaptive and cooperative. Ontario’s centrifugal …

Going Back: The Case For Remunicipalization: Analyzing The Ottawa Case To Understand Why Municipalities May Remunicipalize A Service Instead Of Choosing Another Private Contractor, Stephen Coppola

MPA Major Research Papers

With the wave of New Public Management, privatization of services in the public sector became a popular choice among government managers who believed this would improve the quality of services while also lowering costs. This turned out to not always be the case, and municipalities have slowly begun to turn towards the remunicipalization of services that were once contracted out. The purpose of this research paper is to take a Canadian case of remunicipalization and analyze what the primary reasons were for remunicipalization. The city of Ottawa served as the case example and the research paper identified that the City …

Community Improvement Plans: An Analysis Of Content And Outcomes Of Community Improvement Plans In Ontario, Paul Pirri

MPA Major Research Papers

Community Improvement Plans are an often used, but seldom studied economic development and planning tool used to spur economic growth within an economically depressed area. But are they effective? This paper answers two questions concerning Community Improvement Plans. First, “How are Community Improvement Plans used in the Province of Ontario?”; and second, “Is the execution of these plans resulting in greater economic prosperity for the communities that have enacted them?”. This work is undertaken by reviewing the content of 202 Community Improvement Plans across the Province of Ontario. Regression tests on municipal assessments from 2001-2018 to determine what effect the …

Oh Caledonia! Our Home Or Native Land? Haldimand County’S Role In The Caledonia Land Dispute, 2005-2016, Aren Plante

MPA Major Research Papers

In 2006, when over a dozen protesters from the Six Nations took control of the Douglas Creek and rechristened the land Kanonhstation, the Caledonia land dispute went from being a local clash to a national story. In recent years, land disputes between Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian state have inaugurated much scholarly intrigue. Despite the topic’s popularity, the vast majority of material examining land disputes looks at the role of First Nations, the federal government, the provincial government, and provincial police departments; however, nothing has been written on the part municipalities play in land disputes. The research questions for this …

Streamlining Information Technology Services In Local Government, Michael Ben

MPA Major Research Papers

This research paper examines the outcome of the City of Toronto's Shared Services foundation project. Drawing on the lessons learned from previous shared services projects at the City, it aims to answer the question: "What factors promote or discourage shared services between a local government and its agencies?" The paper conducts a systematic literature review with the aim of discovering a candidate set of factors that promote or discourage participation in shared services between a local government and its agencies. It then uses the literature review to explore the potential for future shared services between the City of Toronto and …

Strategic Planning And Management In Mid-Sized Ontario Municipalities: What Factors Contribute To Successful Adoption And Implementation Of Strategic Plans?, Lori Cruthers

MPA Major Research Papers

This research report focuses on the use of strategic planning and management practices in mid-sized municipalities in Ontario. The paper analyzes the adoption of strategic plans as well as the implementation of strategic management practices to determine what factors contribute to successful adoption and implementation of strategic plans. Bryson (2010) indicated that “significant improvements in strategic planning practice will come when ‘it’ is widely understood in its richness as a managerial practice or set of practices – and not as some kind of fairly rigid recipe for producing standardized objects called strategic plans that somehow are meant to implement themselves” …

Where Have All The Local Politicians Gone? A Preliminary Examination Of Causes And Impacts Of Acclamation In Canada’S Municipal Governments, Sheena Earl

MPA Major Research Papers

Why are local government acclamations so common, and is it a problem for municipal democracy? This paper provides a preliminary examination of local uncontested elections through the exploration of various opinions and arguments raised on this topic. Since the academic literature on acclamations at the local level is extremely sparse, information was gathered through a content analysis of online newspaper articles and by performing interviews with current mayors from some of the most and least competitive municipalities following the 2018 election cycle. The following eight reasons for the occurrence of acclamations are referenced in the non-academic literature, many of which …

Pot For Potholes: Could Cannabis Taxation Revenues Solve The Municipal Infrastructure Funding Deficit In Ontario?, Lori Jivan

MPA Major Research Papers

In Canada, it is estimated that the total value of core municipal infrastructure is over $1.1 trillion dollars or about $80,000 per household. Of this value one-third is in poor or very poor condition which increases the risk of service disruption. Municipalities are struggling to fund these infrastructure renewal needs with limited revenue tools. Property taxes remain the largest source of revenue for Canadian municipalities but are currently insufficient to meet their long-term needs. Municipalities in Ontario have been advocating for additional revenue tools to address this challenge. This paper uses a common set of evaluation criteria to analyze three …

A Declaration Of Interdependence: An Analysis Of Multilevel Governance And The Role Of Municipal Governments As Climate Policy Entrepreneurs, Tyler Raponi

MPA Major Research Papers

Since March 2019, municipalities in Ontario have become increasingly conscious of the role of local government in addressing the global climate emergency. Although minor departmental initiatives such as green infrastructure development policies are understood as environmentally conscious, the larger policy network of municipal governance has only recently entered the climate change mitigation and adaptation policy field. Declarations of climate emergencies are a modern way for municipal governments to signal both interest and intended action in climate change policies. In one year, Ontario municipal climate emergencies increased from 0 to 47, with the 47 municipalities representing nearly 90% of Ontario’s population. …

Considerations For School Reopening In Ontario: Building A More Resilient Education System For Recovery, Prachi Srivastava

Education Publications

School closures in Ontario affect over 2 million elementary and secondary school students. Ontario issued the first school closure announcement on 12 March 2020 to take effect for an initial period from 14 March to 4 April 2020, compelling all publicly funded elementary and secondary schools to close during this time.On 17 March 2020, the government declared an official state of emergency under s 7.0.1 (1) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. This required the immediate closure of all private schools as defined in the Education Act and of all licensed child care centres, amongst other public …

Policy Problems: Preparing Students For The “Real World”, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

Employability of students has risen as a key indicator of success of institutions, alongside an increased focus on policy for skills development in Canada. In Ontario, a hub for Canada’s economy, the issue of the “skills gap” has sustained interest as a significant but contested policy issue in public post-secondary education (Viczko, Lorusso, & McKechnie, 2019). Directed by policy and by public demand, significant resources at universities are invested into efforts to increase students’ skills capacities, career prospects, and overall employability. For student affairs staff (SAS), developing student career readiness and employability is central to many portfolios of our work …

The Practice Of Local Policymaking: Understanding Decision Maker Roles And Agency In Local Implementation Contexts, Katherine L. Salter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation presents three studies that, collectively, seek to contribute to our understanding of the practice of implementation policymaking grounded in the experience of the practitioner. Herein, policymaking is conceptualized as a shared set of practices enacted by actors purposefully engaged in collective performances. This thesis makes important contributions to the iterative processes of theorizing by advancing knowledge about local policymaking practices in the following ways: 1) creation of the Knowledge Enactment in Practice Settings (KEPS) framework as a guide to assist in the exploration of knowledge-based practices including the co-creation of context; 2) use of new insights informed by …

Beyond Books: Evaluating Maker Spaces In Ontario’S Municipal Library Systems, Lise Conde

MPA Major Research Papers

This exploratory research paper looks at how Ontario’s municipal library systems evaluate their maker spaces and programming. The literature review provides context on the purpose and value of libraries, the structure and agency of municipal libraries in Ontario and academic and applied studies of program evaluation. The research seeks to answer four questions: What municipal libraries have maker spaces and what are their characteristics? How have they positioned this service in terms of purpose and value? How have they measured success? What can Ontario’s municipal library systems learn from the evaluation of maker spaces to position themselves for the future? …

The Experiential Learning Connections Between University And Community: Recent Ontario Experience, Emmanuel Asafo-Adjei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Experiential Learning (EL), including a range of pedagogical approaches such as co-ops and community service learning, connect the university and its external community. Universities are considering such approaches to meet a number of needs and priorities both on and off-campus. As it unfolds rapidly at the present time, EL becomes the connection between the university and the community beyond its gates, both locally and more extensively. However, university-community or so-called town-gown (TG) connections traditionally focus on research and/or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This thesis focuses on the teaching and learning connections, especially in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences …

Farmer And Herder Conflict Dynamics In Ghana: The Role Of Environmental Scarcity, Daniel Kofi Banini

Africa Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts

No abstract provided.