Digital Commons Network^™

No. 26: Pandemic Precarities And Remittance Narratives In The Global South, Jonathan Crush, Sujata Ramachandran

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The COVID-19 pandemic has been referred to as a great disruptor of global migration leading to a crisis of immobility caused by public health lockdowns, closed borders, and the suspension of visa processing. Layoffs and retrenchments of migrant workers led to widespread hardship and an intensification of pre-pandemic precarity, as well as disrupted remittance channels and flows. Against this backdrop, the paper provides an overview of current debates about the relationship between COVID-19 and international migration in the context of South-South migration. We assess how pre-pandemic South-South migration flows were disrupted by the pandemic and the evidence for a crisis …

Experiencing Gospel: Luther, Men, Women, And Children Around The Table In Reformation And Contemporary Eras; A Tribute To Gordon Jensen, Karen Kuhnert

Consensus

Building primarily on Gordon A. Jensen’s text Experiencing Gospel: The History and Creativity of Martin Luther’s 1534 Bible Project (2023) and the work of Kirsi I. Stjerna et. al in Women Reformers of Early Modern Europe: Profiles, Texts, and Contexts (2022), this essay demonstrates that the theological legacies of knowable Reformation era men, women, and children (in their own cultural, geographic, and linguistic contexts) can be recognized as having crossed the Atlantic with explorers, settlers, and pioneers and that these theological legacies continue to shape North American religious-cultural contexts today. The combined depth and quality of the cited research from …

No. 23: Enforcement And Exclusion: Covid-19 Policies, Urban Migrants, And Food Insecurity In Pandemic South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Sean Sithole

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

On March 5th, 2020, South Africa recorded its first official case of COVID-19 when a South African tourist returning from a holiday in northern Italy tested positive. The number of excess deaths is now over 300,000. The policy response to the pandemic is widely regarded as amongst the most draconian in Africa. In 2020, the government imposed a stay-at-home lockdown for 100 days, which was strictly enforced by armed police and the army. Breach of lockdown was a criminal offence and arrests were widespread. By April 2021, over 400,000 had been apprehended, more than in any other country globally. In …

No. 21: Refugee Migration And Urban Food Security: Somali Migrants In Nairobi, Kenya, Zack Ahmed, Jonathan Crush, Samuel Owuor, Elizabeth Onyango

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This paper investigates the relationship between refugee migration and urban food security, focusing on Somali migrants in Nairobi, Kenya. Despite the abundance of literature on urban refugees and their economic integration, scant research has addressed their food security challenges. Utilizing a household survey conducted in Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighborhood, the paper explores the levels, determinants, and spatial variations of food security among Somali refugees. Findings reveal that while migration to Nairobi generally improves food security compared to conditions in Somalia, substantial disparities exist within the refugee population, with a significant portion still facing severe food insecurity. Factors such as household type, …

No. 22: Migrant Remittances, Food Security And Multi-Local Households: Ghanaian Labour Migration To Qatar, Bernard Owusu, Jonathan Crush

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This paper investigates the impact of migrant remittances on food security among multi-local households within Ghana and Qatar, focusing on the experiences of Ghanaian labour migrants. Through a mixed-methods approach comprising household surveys in Ghana and in-depth interviews with migrants in Qatar conducted from March to June 2023, the paper explores how remittances influence the food security status of recipient households and the socioeconomic conditions of migrants. The findings suggest that remittances play a critical role in enhancing household food security in Ghana by enabling better access to food and improving dietary diversity. Migrants prioritize sending money for basic needs, …

No. 20: Informal Cross-Border Traders And Food Trade During The Pandemic In Zimbabwe, Abel Chikanda

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy in the 2000s resulted in the country relying largely on food imports from other countries, especially from South Africa. Informal cross-border traders have become crucial players in the country’s food economy, playing an important role in the importation of food as well as its retail across the country. Cross-border trading also provides employment opportunities to a large number of people in the country, especially women in an environment of depressed economic opportunities. The paper first uses data from a survey conducted by the Southern African Migration Program (SAMP) in 1997, 2007 and 2014 to document …

No. 19: Covid-19, Food Insecurity And South Sudanese Urban Refugees In Nairobi And Nakuru, Kenya, Cherie Enns, Samuel Owuor, Abbey Lin, Natasha Knebelow, Jacqueline Fanta, Cobby Achieng, William Kolong, Kristin Swardh

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The challenges and struggles of refugees are well documented, mainly within refugee camps. However, more needs to be documented and understood about the exertions and hardships of urban refugees, including the experiences of young South Sudanese urban refugees living in Kenya. Although Kenya is one of the major countries that hosts refugees from South Sudan, it has adopted disparate policies for refugees in camp settings and those outside the camps. This divergent approach placed urban South Sudanese refugee youth in highly precarious circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rampant food insecurity for refugee youth was one of the key negative consequences. …

No. 18: Refugee Protection And Food Security In Kampala, Uganda, Andrea M. Brown

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This study proposes strategies to better recognize and protect the food security needs of Kampala’s refugee population. Uganda is Africa’s largest refugee host, with a policy approach that has been widely lauded for its flexible settlement provisions and commitment to durable solutions. However, growing refugee populations and underfunding have led to serious pressures, severely exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Food insecurity in designated refugee settlements is at critical levels: 75% of residents are food insecure. One unique aspect of Uganda’s refugee governance approach is the allowance of refugee populations to self-settle outside of designated camps, in the capital city, Kampala. …

143 Wing (Rcaf) Typhoons Over Normandy: Some Operational, Geographical And Archaeological Perspectives, David G. Passmore, David Capps-Tunwell

Canadian Military History

This article presents the first attempt to conduct a geographical analysis of every air-to-ground attack conducted by a tactical fighter-bomber wing over the period 1 May–31 August 1944 in support of Operation Overlord. Ninety-five per cent of the 606 attacks made by 143 Wing Typhoons on single or multiple targets can be resolved to a map reference or place name, and their chronology and distribution reveal new insights into the Wing’s operational history. Commemorative and heritage perspectives are also highlighted for attacks on targets in woodland settings where archaeological survey of bomb craters can be linked to specific raids.

No. 17: South-South Migration, Pandemic Precarity, And The Informal Food Sector In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The analysis of COVID-19 pandemic precarity in Africa should focus on the ways in which pre-pandemic migrant vulnerabilities were reconfigured in ways that weakened economic resiliency and reinforced disadvantage. This is the first paper to apply the concept of pandemic precarity to the impact of COVID-19 on migrants working in the informal food sector of African cities. The paper develops a new method for measuring pandemic precarity and applies this to data from a 2021 survey of migrant-owned informal food enterprises in the city of Cape Town. The Informal Pandemic Precarity Index (IPPI) and Informal Pandemic Precarity Scale (IPPS) are …

No. 15: International Migration And Food Insecurity In Urban Namibia, Lawrence Kazembe, Godfrey Tawodzera, Ndeyapo Nickanor

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

Food security and migration have emerged as key development challenges in Namibia. Internal migration, where people move from rural areas to urban centres such as the capital, Windhoek, has been given a great deal of research and policy attention. However, there is a dearth of research on the relationship between international migration and food security in the country. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the nexus between international migration and household food security in Windhoek. Drawing on data from a city-wide household food security survey of the city, the paper compares the food security status of international …

No. 14: Food Insecurity And Irregular Labour Migration From Northern Malawi To South Africa, Anil Dhakal

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The factors influencing migration decisions from Malawi to South Africa have changed with the end of contract migration to the mines and the new normal of irregular migration of both men and women to work in other sectors of the South African economy. Food insecurity is now one of the main drivers of migration as migrants seek to earn income to remit to family in Malawi to purchase food and to invest in agriculture. Food insecurity is normally associated with rural households, but this paper shows that it is also a driver of migration to South Africa from urban Malawi. …

Church After The Corona Pandemic: Consequences For Worship And Theology, Mark W. Harris

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Reporting Of And Policy On Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Air Travel At Canadian Universities, Derek Hall

Political Science Faculty Publications

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the extent and characteristics of Canadian university reporting of and policy regarding greenhouse gas emissions from air travel. It identifies current approaches’ details and limits and recommends improvements.

Design/methodology/approach

The study developed questions and considerations for analysing reporting and policy, reviewed university documents and webpages and contacted university staff.

Findings

Roughly 20% of Canadian universities report flight emissions. Figures vary by factors of over 100 even when normalized or expressed as a percentage of institutional emissions. Inter-university differences in data collection and emissions calculation practices shape reporting. Canadian university air travel emissions cannot be …

The Laurier Legacy Project - Concluding Report, Katelyn Arac

The Laurier Legacy Project

No abstract provided.

Inheriting Power: The Old Boys Network And The Reproduction Of Privilege At Upper Canada College, Sara Hancock

Communication Studies Major Research Papers

This study investigates the ideology of meritocracy through the lens of Upper Canada College (UCC), a prestigious all-boys private school in Toronto, Ontario. UCC promotes a 100 percent university acceptance rate for its students with an International Baccalaureate (IB) curricula and membership to elite private school organizations (Upper Canada College, n.d.). The research uncovers how the institution serves to symbolize and reproduce the social and economic domination of elites in Canada, particularly through the social mobility and power wielded by its alumni, known as the Old Boys. Through examination of neoliberalism’s impact on education, the differences between public and private …

Thirty Years Of ‘Emergency’ Food Aid In The Us And Canada: Findings From Comparative Research To Inform Uk Efforts To Tackle Food Poverty And The Need For Foodbanks, Charlotte Spring

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Research observed how food providers in the United States and Canada have made changes during the decades of neoliberal policymaking that have seen foodbanking expand across North America and beyond. These changes, in part, reflect responses to critiques of foodbanking as an inadequate solution to food insecurity. Food charities have variously attempted to improve provision through healthier procurement, choice-based distribution models, diversified programming, and advocacy for policy solutions. Better foodbanking, however, does not negate the influence of corporate donors on food charities’ capacity to foster hunger-preventative change, such as the employment practices of those same donors. Meanwhile, grassroots organisers …

Understanding The Dynamics Of Food And Economic Development In The Community Of Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Canada, Laura Rodriguez Reyes

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

For Indigenous Peoples, the land embodies a source of cultural and spiritual well-being that is linked to their way of life and identities through divine and traditional connections. Unfortunately, colonial powers, the global food system, socioeconomic inequalities and environmental degradation are impacting northern Indigenous lands and food systems, leading to food insecurity. Nevertheless, communities are still thriving in the face of adversity. In the Northwest Territories, on the lands of Ka’a’gee Tu First Nations (KTFN) in the community settlement of Kakisa, people are growing food through vegetable gardens and greenhouses to support their vision of a resilient food system.

Through …

Rates And Patterns Of Permafrost Thaw Induced Landcover Change At Scotty Creek, Canada, Mason Dominico

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In the peatland-dominated regions of discontinuous permafrost in northwestern Canada, permafrost thaw is altering landscapes at rates without precedent in the historical record. The present study uses a combination of remote sensing and ground based methods to examine the rates and patterns of permafrost thaw and how such thaw is changing the form and function of the landscape. The area within a 4 km2 area of interest underlain by permafrost decreased from 51% in 1977 to 43% in 2010, and to 40% in 2018, indicating an increase in the permafrost thaw rate from 0.24% yr-1 between 1977 and 2010, and …

Making The Pluriverse Visible: World-Making On The Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula, Lauren Judge

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation argues that visual artists who live and work on the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula, in Ontario, Canada, are co-creating artworks with non-humans, which is evidence of more-than-human world-making. Such co-creative experiences are the result of, and catalysts for the kinds of enchantment our human worlds need to form meaningful and holistic connections with non-humans, effectively creating a more inclusive pluriverse. After reviewing interdisciplinary literature in posthuman studies, creative geography, arts-based practices, environmental humanities, Indigenous knowledges, and political ontology, I designed my research to include a combination of qualitative methodologies and methods, including autoethnography and research-creation, to investigate fourteen visual …

Indigenous Wholistic Abolition: Visioning Indigenous Queer, Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Futures, Giselle Dias

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As a queer Métis, activist and organizer in the field of prisoners’ rights, penal abolition, and transformative justice, I have been interested in learning about how Indigenous peoples’ relationship with Aki (Land) grounds abolition theory and guides the ways that I and other Indigenous abolitionists engage in abolition. As part of this process, I wanted to speak to other Indigenous queer, Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary, and/or Indigiqueer (Q2STNBI) people about their visions of abolition and abolitionist futures through a relational Land-based lens. Therefore, I used a methodology that centres Métis worldviews and community organizing and is grounded in the ethics of …

Leadership And Emergent Faith Communities In Canada: A Phenomenological Study, Anne Anderson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this study is to explore how participants within emergent faith communities in Canada experience leadership. Through a phenomenological approach, members from five emergent faith communities across Canada have been interviewed in a semi-structured format. Emerging themes of transformational leadership, community along with belonging, and possible future areas of research will be discussed.

Advancing The Implementation Of Connectivity Conservation In Canada: A Case Study Of The Policy And Management Environment Of The Chignecto Isthmus Region, Rachel Hodgson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Connectivity conservation is a means to enable the unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes to sustain life. Understanding how connectivity conservation functions between parks and protected and conserved areas is a key component of addressing the global biodiversity crisis. The governance and associated policy environment of protected and conserved areas is often complex, and it is challenging for practitioners to understand how connectivity conservation practices can function. In this case study, protected and conserved areas practitioners working in the Chignecto Isthmus region of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada were interviewed assist in better understanding the …

Examining The Mental Health Experiences Of Lgbtq+ Identifying Muslim Students In Ontario’S Post-Secondary Institutions, Bushra Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative study explores the unique mental health experiences of Ontario’s LGBTQ+ Muslims in post-secondary settings. The study looks at how LGBTQ+ Muslim students’ mental wellness (i.e., sense of belonging, feeling affirmed in their intersecting identities of being Muslim and belonging to LGBTQ+ community) is affected as they try to navigate systemic barriers and make space for themselves in various settings (i.e., academic, LGBTQ+ affirming spaces, Muslim-specific spaces, student services) on campuses in Ontario, Canada. The study sample consists of four LGBTQ+ identified Muslim students across post-secondary institutions in Ontario and participants discussed their emotional, mental, and sense of belonging …

Investigating The Mobility Of Arsenic In Subarctic Mining Pollution-Affected Peatlands Near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Jeremy Leathers

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Arsenic (As) is a pollutant of global concern that is detrimental to human and environmental health. Between 1948 and 2004, mining operations near Yellowknife, NT released over 20,000 tonnes of As trioxide (As₂O₃) that continues to persist in the surrounding landscape. Although much effort has been put into studying the chemical forms, spatial distribution, ecological impacts, and environmental cycling of As in the area, more work is needed to determine the controls of As mobility between the terrestrial and aquatic components of the landscape. Soils are known reservoirs of legacy As that can release it downslope …

Mapping With The Land: Co-Developing A Cumulative Impact Monitoring And Land Stewardship Framework With Sambaa K’E First Nation, Northwest Territories, Canada, Michael S. Mcphee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Across the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, Indigenous populations are striving to achieve effective environmental protection, whilst navigating complex methods, policies, and research relationships within co-management contexts. This thesis seeks to identify how differing cultural systems, environmental change, and fractured partnerships may be unified to align with the needs of the Sambaa K’e First Nation (SKFN), a remote Dehcho Dene community. Indigenous methodologies guided co-development of research questions with SKFN leadership which yielded objectives a) develop a GIS-based method to manage, organize and mobilize cultural and environmental data; b) develop a new stewardship monitoring procedure so that users can apply the …

Troglodyke's Delight: A Deep Listening Of Pauline Olivero's Troglodyte's Delight, Calum Robertson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Pauline Oliveros, renowned lesbian composer, left a legacy of experimental music and groundbreaking ideas about music and sound, both as maker and listener. She is best known for her concept of Deep Listening, the active engagement of listening to sound and being open to all possibilities, being receptive to the resonant currents emanating from the sounds, to go beyond hearing and to listen, to Deeply Listen, to the sounds, to experience fully those sounds. Deep Listening was inspired by an experience Oliveros had in a cistern in 1988, where beneath the earth she truly experienced listening and the sounds present …

Understanding Health And Well-Being Outcomes Associated With Protected Coastal Ecosystems: A Fundy National Park Case Study., Mhairi K. Chandler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the mental health and well-being of Canadians, prompting many to turn to nature for consolation and social interaction. However, there is a lack of evidence linking these outcomes specifically to coastal areas. To address this gap, we conducted a self-reported survey at Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada, in summer 2022. Over 400 visitors participated, revealing nature enjoyment, physical health, and mental well-being as primary motivators for park visitation. Notably, mental well-being showed significant differences across gender, sexual identity, and ethnicity, with males, straight individuals, and others exhibiting distinct preferences compared to females, 2SLGBTQIA+ …

Integrating Biodiversity Protection And Climate Mitigation In Nature-Based Climate Solutions: An Indicator Analysis, Tatyana Feiner

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Climate change and biodiversity loss have been recognized as complex, interconnected issues that require synergistic and mutually reinforcing policy solutions. Given the ambitious commitments by the Canadian government to abate the two “wicked problems”, this study investigates whether the government has constructed a policy framework that synthesizes climate and biodiversity concerns through policy integration and mainstreaming processes. Through a semi-systematic and comprehensive content analysis approach, this study assesses the degree to which biodiversity protection and climate mitigation have been effectively mainstreamed into federal policies, programs, and instruments. Specifically, the study constructs an evaluative framework based on established “best practices” of …

Impacts Of Wildfire On Subcanopy Energy Balance, Thermal Regime, And Permafrost Stability In Peat Plateaus At Scotty Creek, Canada, Maude Auclair

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The stability of permafrost in peatland-dominated regions of northwestern Canada is compromised by ongoing climate warming and increased wildfire activity. This study examines an 8-year record of changes to the surface and subsurface properties of a peat plateau following a low-severity wildfire that occurred in 2014 in a region of thawing, discontinuous permafrost. This is accomplished by comparing the burned portion of a peat plateau to two unburned control sites, one of which is the unburned portion of the same plateau that was affected by the fire. Net radiation was not significantly different one year following the wildfire but became …