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The first people to suspect or know about someone involved in acts of violent extremism will often be those closest to them: their friends, family and community insiders. They are ideally placed to play particular roles: (a) to notice any changes or early warning signs that someone is considering violent action to harm others, and (b) to influence and facilitate vulnerable individuals to move away from violent extremist involvements. The willingness of those close to potential or suspected violent actors to come forward and share their knowledge and concerns with authorities is thus a critical element in efforts to prevent violent extremist action. This Canadian study replicates the focus and methodology of three previous Community Reporting Thresholds studies with an increased scope and sample size. Our findings highlight the ways in which Canadian community respondents framed their understanding of and engagement with reporting as intimate bystanders on someone close radicalising to violence in relation to three main domains: needs-based, rights-based and systems-based. This paper will explore what we have learned from data across three Canadian cities with a particular emphasis on how the domains of needs, rights and systems are conceptualized and enacted by Canadian respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building sector is responsible for nearly 40% of the total global direct and indirect CO2 emissions. Urban green infrastructure, which includes features such as urban trees, vegetation, green roofs, and green facades, are examples of nature-based solutions often employed as municipal climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. This approach offers a range of cost-effective strategies for reducing municipal CO2 emissions and presents compelling public policy co-benefits such as improved urban livability and enhanced environmental conditions. For municipalities to confidently deploy these solutions at a scale necessary to achieve climate benefits, acquiring knowledge of quantifiable and demonstrated outcomes is an essential requirement. The objectives of this paper are to (1) provide a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and limitations of nature-based solutions (NBS) to address the challenge of reducing CO2 emissions; (2) evaluate existing design guidelines and policies as may be available across Canada, and that that support the of implementation of NBS in urban agglomerations; (3) identify knowledge gaps and research needs to address challenges to the implementation of NBS. In this review, suggestions and requirements as presented in these documents are examined while giving due consideration to the scientific evidence available in research papers. It was found that the adoption of NBS can contribute to carbon neutral communities through reduced building energy consumption and carbon sequestration. Supportive guidelines and policies have been developed, or are in development, to promote the implementation of NBS at the city scale, despite challenges in assessing, quantitatively, their impact due to uncertainties in data, methods, and scale. Nonetheless, existing research provides sufficient evidence to qualify the measures and suggestions outlined in the guidelines and policies described in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-demand transit (ODT) has been widely piloted in recent years by many transit agencies in response to changing travel behaviour and preferences among people. Some agencies have adopted ODT to replace underperforming bus routes, as part of a continuous service planning process while others incorporated it within network re-design. All these trends highlight the critical need for transit agencies to have guidance for incorporating ODT into transit network planning both at the strategic, tactical, and service planning levels. Thus, the purpose of this research is to provide a discussion of the key guiding principles to facilitate the development of transit networks with integrated on-demand and scheduled services. To achieve this goal, a thorough review of the states of practice and research was conducted. Findings from the practice review were also reinforced through ODT practitioners' engagement in Canada. This paper provides discussions on the service goals and objectives of an integrated network design and highlights the key planning requirements for developing integrated networks. At the service planning level, the paper provides a discussion on service goals, service design parameters, and scenario development of ODT service. • On-demand transit (ODT) have grown in many cities around the globe, mostly as pilot projects. • Review of the literature and practice shows that planning for ODT is based on best practices , without "built" guidelines. • Principles of planning are discussed within two applications, the network design level, and the service planning level. • Opportunities of integration and mode selection criteria are defined to integrated ODT with existing bus network. • Simulation and analytical tools are useful to complement the principles of planning in the decision-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, Canadian census tract boundaries are available in digital form for 1951 and at 5-year intervals for the 1976–2021 period; the 1956–66 census boundary files have not been digitized and associated data are not readily available for the pre-1971 period. This inhibits the mapping and analysis of neighbourhood change for a period of rapid urban and social transformation. To fill this gap, we digitized 1956–66 census tract boundaries from paper maps for all cities for which such data were disseminated. We adjusted 2006 boundaries to match georeferenced historical maps in concert with ancillary data, including topographic and cadastral maps. All decisions are documented in the files. Finally, printed profile tables for 1951 and 1956 were digitized for joining the boundary files. Researchers may use these datasets to explore, analyse and map geospatial trends in the Canadian population at the neighbourhood scale back to 1951. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this empirical case study is to study and explain the role of public leadership in the expansion of municipal climate action in Canada. Design/methodology/approach: In 2017 and 2018, the authors conducted13 semi-directed interviews with municipal staff and elected officials from three municipalities, a documentary analysis of primary and secondary sources. Interviews and documentation collected were also coded using the software NVIVO 12. The authors compared three municipal case studies: the City of Toronto (Ontario), the City of Guelph (Ontario), and the Town of Bridgewater (Nova Scotia). Findings: The authors found that leadership is a prominent factor explaining the expansion of municipal climate action in Canada. Municipal climate action is initiated and championed by an individual, elected officials or municipal staff, who lead and engage in the development of policy instruments to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change. These leaders facilitate the formulation and implementation of instruments, encourage a paradigm shift within the municipality, overcome structural and behavioural barriers, and foster collaboration around a common vision. Optimal municipal climate leadership occurs when the leadership of elected officials and municipal is congruent, though networks play a significant role by amplifying municipal sustainability leadership. They support staff and elected officials leadership within municipalities, provide more information and funding to grow the capacity of municipalities to develop instruments, to the point that conditions under which municipalities are driving climate action are changing. Research limitations/implications: This paper hopes to contribute to better understand under what conditions municipalities drive change. Originality/value: There is an international scholarly recognition that municipalities should be further explored and considered important actors in the Canadian and international climate change governance. Gore (2010) and Robinson and Gore (2015) highlighted that we are yet to understand the extent to which municipalities are involved in climate governance in Canada. This article directly addresses this gap in the current scholarly literature and explores the expansion of climate municipal leadership with the aspects of interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how policymakers interpret and deploy cultural economy approaches within municipal economic development strategies and cultural plans. Focusing on the 33 largest municipalities in Ontario, Canada, we conduct a keyword analysis of 63 municipal planning documents, supplemented with key informant interviews with economic development and cultural planning staff. Our analysis reveals that the use of cultural economy approaches in economic development and cultural plans varies depending upon city size, municipal governance structure and municipal organizational structure. However, despite the widespread use of cultural economy ideas in planning documents, we conclude that its uptake in municipal policymaking fails to reflect its professional and scholarly popularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-sloped roofs such as commercial and high-rise buildings in a dense urban area provide vast "unused" surfaces that can be used to manage storm-water and mitigate urban flooding. Storm-water Detention Assembly (SDA) known as "blue roof" exerts advanced drainage technologies and operational strategies to store-and-release storm-water during and after heavy rainfall events. SDA can reduce peak flow and decrease storm-water run-off volume. However, the SDA application is limited due to the lack of science-based regulatory requirements. This paper introduces SDA, summarizes the benefits and challenges of this system, reviews the existing code specifications on roofing drain systems, and documents the criteria to design and construct SDA. With this systematic approach, the missing links are identified that shall form code change request for possible inclusion in the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) and National Plumping Code of Canada (NPC). In addition, a road map is stated to calculate and benchmark the drain requirements on low-sloped roofs for a given design climatic load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Geographer is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Many commentators are concerned about automobility's ill-effects and seek a shift away from auto dependence towards more sustainable transport. Little research, however, considers the ways that parent-child mobilities are linked to such a transition. Through the lens of social practice theory, this paper explores how parents travelling with young children preserve and challenge automobility as they enact auto dependency, multimodality and altermobility. The paper argues that it is vital to understand these practices for identifying 'cracks' in automobility and the possibility of more sustainable and equitable daily mobilities. The research is based on qualitative parent interviews undertaken in Vancouver (British Columbia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, municipalities are involved in an increasing number of policy areas, but they remain largely absent from the nation's system of intergovernmental relations. Municipal representatives do not attend First Ministers' meetings that gather the Prime Minister and heads of each province and territory. They are also largely excluded from intergovernmental councils or committees focused on specific policy areas. Nor do they participate in the negotiation of most intergovernmental agreements. This paper explores how Canada's intergovernmental infrastructure could be reformed to include municipalities. It does so through an analysis of how other countries have made space for municipalities in their intergovernmental processes. After drawing five lessons from international experience, the paper concludes with four approaches to reforming intergovernmental relations in Canada: (1) ensure municipalities have the capacity, voice and structures to participate effectively in intergovernmental relations; (2) increase municipal involvement in provincial policy-making, including potentially through co-governed intergovernmental councils; (3) as far as possible, eliminate unfunded mandates (ie responsibilities devolved without adequate funding to discharge them) through, for example, provincial legislation or provincial-municipal intergovernmental agreements that require consultation on the fiscal impacts of draft legislation or regulation on municipalities; (4) strengthen trilateral (national/provincial/municipal) relations, including through location-specific or policy-specific agreements, and trilateral intergovernmental councils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper transposes aspects of the histography of Fernand Braudel to the exploration of planning. It explores the extent to which different time scales, dominated by a longue durée perspective, reveal different facets of the history of planning and of how it operates. Lesser time scales focus on specific events while long perspectives bring to light durable aspects of planning, such as those relating to its embeddedness within fundamental relations between the state and the market economy. The paper contends that planning history and theory are largely shaped by a middle-scale histography, focussed on the succession of periods in the evolution of planning and on how they mark its progression. It proposes to counterbalance this historical perspective with a long-term historical lens highlighting persistent dimensions of planning, many referring to the fundamentals of its political economy. The paper argues that a full understanding of planning requires a consideration of different historical scales. The object of study is Downtown Toronto planning and development since 1945. A medium time scale identifies three distinct phases in Downtown Toronto history over this period, while a long-term perspective reveals how this district evolved with remarkable consistency into an expanded and diversified downtown during these years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In power systems, an asset class is a group of power equipment that has the same function and shares similar electrical and/or mechanical characteristics. Predicting failures for different asset classes is critical for electric utilities toward developing cost-effective asset management strategies. Previously, physical age based Weibull distribution has been widely used for failure prediction. However, this mathematical model cannot incorporate asset condition data. As a result, the prediction cannot be very specific and accurate for individual assets. To solve this important problem, this paper proposes a novel and comprehensive data-driven approach based on asset condition data: K-means clustering as an unsupervised learning method is used to analyze the inner structure of historical asset condition data and produce the asset conditional ages; logistic regression as a supervised learning method takes in both asset physical ages and conditional ages to classify and predict asset operation statuses. Furthermore, an index called average aging rate is defined to quantify, track, and estimate the relationship between asset physical age and conditional age. This approach was applied to a medium-voltage cable class in an urban distribution system in West Canada. Case studies and comparison with standard Weibull distribution are provided. The proposed approach demonstrates higher accuracy measured by F1-Score than Weibull distribution method for asset class failure prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's immigration policy is regarded globally as a best practice model for selecting highly skilled migrants. Yet, upon arrival many immigrants face challenges integrating into employment. Where immigrants settle is one factor that has been shown to impact on employment integration. In Canada, regionalization policies have resulted in more immigrants settling in small to mid‐sized cities. It is important to understand how these local systems are organized to promote immigrant integration into employment. Using a systems approach, this paper presents a case study of immigrant employment in a mid‐sized city in Ontario, Canada. Through a document review and stakeholder interviews, a systems map was developed, and local perspectives were analyzed. Results demonstrate that in a mid‐sized city, few organizations play a large role in immigrant employment. The connections between these core organizations and the local labour market are complex. Any potential challenges to the system that interfere with these connections can cause a delay for newcomers seeking employment. As cities begin to experience growth driven by immigration, there is a need to ensure local services are not only available but also working effectively within the larger employment system. Key messages: An important focus of Canada's immigration policy has been to improve employment integration locally.Using a systems approach allows mid‐sized cities to identify local services and how they are connected to promote employment integration of newcomers.Greater connectivity between services can streamline the employment process for immigrants settling in mid‐sized cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the political history of the failed struggle to require companies to justify their plant closing decisions in Canada's industrial heartland of Ontario. Demands for the public review of plant closing decisions began, locally, in the auto town of Windsor in the 1950s and 1960s and reached Toronto with the closure of Dunlop Tire in 1970. Another wave of closures struck in 1980, this time reaching deep into rural and small-town Ontario as well as larger industrial towns and cities, generalizing concern. The resulting Select Committee on Plant Shutdowns and Employee Adjustment, created by the Ontario legislature, took it upon itself to conduct the kind of public review of recent closures that was long demanded. Due to the strength of the political opposition to any interference with management rights, it was essential that proponents could point to precedents in Western Europe. Trade unionists also grounded their argument in favour of government regulation in the moral economy idea that long-service workers accrued a proprietary right to their jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the residential location of cultural workers in the smallest Canadian cities, with the primary goal of understanding the factors making some more successful than others in attracting them. The study examines employment in 13 cultural industries in 109 small Canadian urban areas using data drawn from the 2006 Canadian census. Six explanatory factors are put forward and entered into a regression model to explain the location of cultural workers in small places: size, location with respect to metropolitan areas, work structure, amenities, elderly populations and public-sector choices. The results suggest that, beyond industry-specific production processes, the location of cultural workers in small cities is also driven by residential and lifestyle preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It has been argued that collaborative and associative forms of governance can enhance the economic competitiveness of cities and regions. Institutionalist approaches to urban and regional economic development have been particularly influential in emphasising the potential role that collaboration between firms, governance agencies, labour and supporting institutions can play in enabling communities to promote progressive competitiveness. At the same time, there has been relatively little discussion and empirical analysis of the actual process of institutional change and institution-building that characterise city-regions situated in liberal political economies that are not historically endowed with 'pre-existing' stocks of social capital and associative governance. In addition, institutionalist perspectives on urban and regional economic change have produced economistic explanations, while underplaying the importance of political factors. This paper offers an analysis of the various institutional barriers to associative governance by examining the case of 'Canada's Technology Triangle', a city-region which has experienced several attempts to develop associative governance institutions since the early 1990s. The evidence from this case study suggests that the experience of institution-building in this city-region has been intertwined with a struggle to create a regional scale of engagement for a range of governance actors. The analysis in this paper demonstrates the importance of paying careful attention to the factors that shape the political mobilisation of actors into associative institutional structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien is the property of Gesellschaft fuer Kanada Studien e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, the author explores how the practice of walking the city may open curricular spaces to nurture a deep engagement and feelings of enchantment with the world. By disrupting the taken-for-granted sensibilities of our everyday urban lives and being open to the unexpected voices, bodies and more-than-human beings who co-exist in urban spaces, the author contends that when we slow down and become attuned to our surroundings, possibilities of transformation can emerge. In this interdisciplinary unfolding, the author first shares how walking allows us to experience time and space to accentuate our relations, engagements, and being in the world. Through narrative and photography, the author then reflects on encounters from recent walks through the city of Calgary, addressing notions of self-reflexivity, play and experience. Through these walking encounters, this paper reflects on considerations for embodying a curriculum to promote a modern ecological ethic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Sociology is the property of Canadian Journal of Sociology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study presents the first nationwide spatial assessment of flood risk to identify social vulnerability and flood exposure hotspots that support policies aimed at protecting high‐risk populations and geographical regions of Canada. The study used a national‐scale flood hazard dataset (pluvial, fluvial, and coastal) to estimate a 1‐in‐100‐year flood exposure of all residential properties across 5721 census tracts. Residential flood exposure data were spatially integrated with a census‐based multidimensional social vulnerability index (SoVI) that included demographic, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic indicators influencing vulnerability. Using Bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association (BiLISA) cluster maps, the study identified geographic concentration of flood risk hotspots where high vulnerability coincided with high flood exposure. The results revealed considerable spatial variations in tract‐level social vulnerability and flood exposure. Flood risk hotspots belonged to 410 census tracts, 21 census metropolitan areas, and eight provinces comprising about 1.7 million of the total population and 51% of half‐a‐million residential properties in Canada. Results identify populations and the geographic regions near the core and dense urban areas predominantly occupying those hotspots. Recognizing priority locations is critically important for government interventions and risk mitigation initiatives considering socio‐physical aspects of vulnerability to flooding. Findings reinforce a better understanding of geographic flood‐disadvantaged neighborhoods across Canada, where interventions are required to target preparedness, response, and recovery resources that foster socially just flood management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Injuries have become devastating and often under-recognized public health concerns. In Canada, injuries are the leading cause of potential years of life lost before the age of 65. The geographical patterns of injury, however, are evident both over space and time, suggesting the possibility of spatial optimization of policies at the neighborhood scale to mitigate injury risk, foster prevention, and control within metropolitan regions. In this paper, Canada's National Ambulatory Care Reporting System is used to assess unintentional and intentional injuries for Toronto between 2004 and 2010, exploring the spatial relations of injury throughout the city, together with Wellbeing Toronto data. Corroborating with these findings, spatial autocorrelations at global and local levels are performed for the reported over 1.7 million injuries. The sub-categorization for Toronto's neighborhood further distills the most vulnerable communities throughout the city, registering a robust spatial profile throughout. Individual neighborhoods pave the need for distinct policy profiles for injury prevention. This brings one of the main novelties of this contribution. A comparison of the three regression models is carried out. The findings suggest that the performance of spatial regression models is significantly stronger, showing evidence that spatial regressions should be used for injury research. Wellbeing Toronto data performs reasonably well in assessing unintentional injuries, morbidity, and falls. Less so to understand the dynamics of intentional injuries. The results enable a framework to allow tailor-made injury prevention initiatives at the neighborhood level as a vital source for planning and participatory decision making in the medical field in developed cities such as Toronto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of automation and emerging technologies on federal, provincial, and local economies have direct implications for labour markets across the country and require a policy response. Taking into account the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic on economies and workforces across the country, this paper reviews the policy choices available to various levels of Canadian governments and businesses in response to the challenges posed by automation. It concludes that reskilling workers, closing economic gaps between rural and urban areas, and preparing for widespread automation are just some of the ways that policymakers, business leaders, and local employers can prepare for, and address, the effects of emerging technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada has been celebrated in popular and academic work for its relative immunity to nativist populism. No competitive nativist party has recently emerged in federal politics that challenges the mainstream consensus around mass immigration, unlike virtually every other postindustrial democracy. This paper argues that existing explanations for this "exceptionalism" are lacking. In particular, they fail to appreciate the importance of Quebec nationalism in contributing to this outcome. Quebec nationalism fractured the stronger anti‐immigration sentiment found in rural and smaller urban areas in both Quebec and Anglophone Canada and thereby prevented right‐wing parties from mobilising that sentiment in a way that could feasibly win elections. This forced such parties to moderate their message and court "ethnic voters" in suburban ridings around Toronto and Vancouver. We illustrate this argument using novel data which permit a comparison of the Canadian experience with nativist politics in Australia and New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This municipality invested in an innovative and timely multi-community collaboration for broadband internet services delivery, involving some four municipalities and five First Nations - a collaborative approach celebrated in the annals of rural development (e.g., Beattie & Annis, [4]; Korsching et al., [43]), and currently being rearticulated in so-called New Regionalism (Daniels et al., [15]). And if the senior government subscribes to moving its constitutionally corralled local government mandate more and more toward "community government" (Douglas, [19]; Tindal, [69]), then the principle of subsidiarity, and the requisites of devolution, endogeneity, and increased self-government, will be the guiding lights here. A further contrast is with the Netherlands where the status of local government in a highly decentralized country is evidenced by the fact that the personnel resources employed by local government are some 60% higher than the entire national government (VNG, [73]). This trajectory has taken us from a thoroughgoing colonial enterprise facilitating the agendas of European geopolitical and mercantile interests relating to resources exploitation, settlement, and the secure reproduction of power structures, via a colonial government, and then the Federal and Provincial governments, through to the post-war maturation of a more independent welfare state and the rapid urbanization of Canadian society, on to today's conditions in a highly globalized, technologically driven world. The founding role of these municipalities, as a provincially sanctioned agency to provide services to property, such as roads maintenance and water and sewage services has, for most municipalities, been transformed to a locally responsible government that is now expected to deliver a diverse range of services to people, community organizations, local businesses, international industrial corporations, and others. [Extracted from the article]

The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides an accurate navigation solution in the open sky. However, in some environments such as urban areas or in the presence of signal jamming, GPS signals cannot be easily tracked since they could be harshly attenuated or entirely blocked. This often requires the GPS receiver to go into a signal re-acquisition phase for the corresponding satellite. To avoid the intensive computations necessary for the signal re-lock in a GPS receiver, a robust signal-tracking mechanism that can hold and/or rapidly re-lock on the signals and keep track of their dynamics becomes a necessity. This paper augments a vector-based GPS signal tracking system with a Reduced Inertial Sensor System (RISS) to produce a new ultra-tight GPS/INS integrated system that enhances receivers' tracking robustness and sensitivity in challenging navigation environments. The introduced system is simple, efficient, reliable, yet inexpensive. To challenge the proposed method with real jamming conditions, real experiment work was conducted inside the Anechoic Chamber room at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). The Spirent GSS6700 signal simulator was used to generate GPS signals, and an INS Simulator is used for simulating the inertial measurement unit (IMU) to generate the corresponding trajectory raw data. The NEAT jammer, by NovAtel, was used to generate real jamming signals. Results show a good performance of the proposed method under real signal jamming conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set within the framework of the birthplace effect literature and the seminal work of Curtis and Birch, this paper draws information from the publicly available database www.hockeydb.com and from the Census to examine the hometowns of Canadian National Hockey League (NHL) players from 1970 to 2015. It found that from a regional perspective, the distribution of players' hometowns remained fairly stable over the 46-year period with Ontario and the three Prairie provinces being prominent. Players from small centres have been well represented in the NHL. While larger urban areas have historically produced the most players, there has been a marked increase in 'big city' players while the odds of making it are low. However, when the analysis is adjusted according to the population aged 10-19, boys growing up in small and mid-sized centres were at advantage in reaching the NHL until 2009. Finally, we discuss whether the growing presence of big city players in the NHL will affect the image of hockey as a national sport, as for many, small-town hockey remains at the heart of Canadian sporting culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to develop a comparative framework through which to study the effects of immigration-driven demographic change in the ethno-cultural composition of municipal populations on municipal politics and governance in Canada. It asks two central questions. First, how do municipalities respond to dramatic change in the ethno-cultural composition of their populations? Second, what explains the variation in municipal responsiveness to the concerns and policy preferences of immigrants and of ethno-cultural minorities? The paper develops a typology of municipal responsiveness to immigrants and to ethno-cultural diversity to characterize patterns in policy outputs in multiculturalism policy at the local level. Furthermore, in the quest to explain local policy behavior, it brings together two theories – urban regime theory and the social diversity thesis – arguing that the ethnic configuration of municipal societies structures the likelihood that local leaders will coalesce in urban regimes with multiculturalism goals as well as influences the dynamics of the governing arrangements. The paper engages these theoretical ideas with the findings of a comparative study of seven highly diverse municipalities in some of Canada's most numerically significant immigrant receiving city-regions. By showing how local context and politics matter, the paper challenges traditional conceptions of municipal agency in Canada that portray municipalities as mere creatures of provinces rather than as important democratic governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the contribution certain large Canadian cities may make to the over-representation of aboriginal people in the criminal justice system. The nine cities under study are large urban areas known in Statistics Canada terms as Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA's). The cities are located in eight provinces, and represent Western, Prairie, Eastern and Atlantic Canada. For the analyses, a variety of Statistics Canada and Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) data, as well as Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) and Correctional Services Canada (CSC) data on aboriginal offenders and over-representation and other aboriginal criminal justice research, were analysed. The paper explores a number of theoretical concepts such as social disorganization, social learning theory, and posits others to understand the urban reality for aboriginal populations and, from that, regional variation in over-representation. Prairie cities appear to contribute disproportionately to the over-representation problem and advantage and disadvantage are disproportionately distributed in urban centres across the country. The nine cities are grouped into high, medium and low “contribution to over-representation” cities based on the demographics of their aboriginal populations. The paper suggests that more research is required to understand how advantage and disadvantage are bestowed on reserve and, by implication, on urban aboriginal populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responds to a critique of the paper "Housing Tenure and Social Cleavages in Urban Canada," published in a 1986 issue of the periodical "Annals of the Association of American Geographers." Background on the discipline of geography in the U.S.; Approach used in writing the paper; Details of the surveys and maps used in the study; Geographic content of the study.

Green gentrification implicates urban greening as a driver of neighbourhood 'upgrading' and subsequent displacement. However, it is unclear whether the concept resonates with, or supports the work of, those responsible for much of the greening occurring in cities – urban green planners/practitioners. We interviewed 33 planners/practitioners in Canada to refine our understanding of the relationships between urban greening and gentrification. We found that greening is closely tied to development, with funding/space for greening often provided through development requirements/incentives. Thus, rather than greening causing gentrification (as described in current literature), here greening is often a requirement and direct outcome of new development – contributing to what we describe as a broader greening of the gentrification process that is facilitated by various political-economic factors. Many interviewees stated that their current work focuses on addressing existing inequities rather than strategizing to limit future gentrification. However, they had mixed opinions about whether knowledge of green gentrification as a concept can help them promote equitable urban greening due to their lack of power over where/how urban greening occurs, along with the finding that greening is not causing gentrification. The uneven power dynamics between urban green practitioners/planners, developers, and elected officials also influenced views on whether gentrification is an intended outcome of greening. We conclude that relying on new development to provide urban greening is antithetical to addressing existing green inequities and is likely to exacerbate inequities through associating greening with gentrification. Recent measures to improve housing affordability (i.e. the removal of developer greening requirements) will disrupt the current development-greening relationship but are unlikely to address the issue of inequitable greening. Increased and ongoing collaboration between those working in urban greening, housing, and planning is paramount and should focus on affordability and equity across urban systems – attending to the interplay between greening, housing, affordability, and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether it's a big city or a small town, all Canadian municipalities have core issues that their elected politicians are concerned about. Regardless of size, the daily business of a municipality must be managed and policies determined about such bread-and-butter issues as garbage collection, snow removal, wastewater and sewage, fire protection, economic development and fixing potholes. However, when size increases, so do the layers of issues that engage municipal politicians. This paper examines the results of a cross-Canada survey of more than 1,000 mayors and councillors from communities ranging in population size from 5,000 to more than two million. With an increase in population size, the numbers and complexity of issues creep up as well. Tiny municipalities typically aren't concerned with issues such as immigrant settlement, homelessness and public transit. Those issues are much more pressing for larger municipalities. A focus on some types of issues, such as public transit, grows right alongside population growth. The physical size of large municipalities means they contain a population whose needs are naturally more diverse than they are in smaller cities, towns and villages, thus shifting politicians' concerns to such things as homelessness and climate change. However, issues such as relations with Indigenous people and climate change also tend to hold regional, not just municipal, importance. They may be extremely important to a small municipality because of its geographic location and less important in a larger municipality located elsewhere. For example, municipal politicians in British Columbia reflect regional concerns with their emphasis in the survey on the importance of tackling homelessness, affordable housing, climate change and Indigenous relations. Yet, next door in Alberta, Indigenous relations and climate change ranked in the survey as being of low importance, along with climate change, despite the presence of two cities in the province with populations hovering around the million mark. The number one issue for municipalities regardless of size is economic development, since job creation and attracting investment are key for a healthy municipality regardless of its location or size. And nearly every politician surveyed listed planning, water supply and transportation infrastructure (roads, highways and bridges) as being of deep importance to their communities. Of almost equal importance in the survey were a second slate of issues including emergency planning, parks and recreation, public health, solid waste removal and policing. The results of this survey are intended to lay the groundwork for future researchers who want to focus on specific problems in the area of urban policy-making. Those who want to study the bread-and-butter issues can do so among a wide range and size of municipalities, knowing that these issues are vital to all. Those with an interest in homelessness and immigrant populations can focus on the big cities while being assured they are not missing out on key points among smaller communities. This survey will be highly beneficial for researchers in urban policy issues as it will help them to decide where to look and exactly what to look for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the recognition of marginalized social groups has become widely accepted as an important consideration for contemporary planning, the particular challenge of Indigenous recognition has barely registered in urban planning contexts. In this paper, we use a discursive and interpretive analysis of urban planning texts from Victoria, Australia, and British Columbia, Canada, to illustrate how the ‘contact zone’ between Indigenous peoples and urban planning is produced and reproduced through texts. Discursive processes serve to bound and limit the recognition of Indigenous rights and interests, allowing only very small and shallow zones of contact in each place. Our findings from these cases show that these processes arise from quite different orders of discourse, and two social fields: Indigenous recognition and urban planning. The discourses present in both fields really matter for how the contact zone is persistently bounded to established territorial, political and administrative orders. In identifying these boundaries, our paper opens up new ways of thinking about, and engaging in, boundary-crossing work in planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the existing knowledge that urban rapid rail transit has many effects on surrounding areas, and despite some attempts to understand the links between transit and gentrification, there remain methodological gaps in the research. This study addresses the relationship between the implementation of urban rapid rail transit and gentrification, which is conceived of as an event. As such, an event analysis approach using ‘survival analysis’ is adopted as the statistical analytical tool. It tests whether proximity to rail transit is related to the onset of gentrification in census tracts in Canada’s largest cities. It is found that proximity to rail transit, and to other gentrifying census tracts, have a statistically significant effect on gentrification in two of the three cities analysed. By providing a methodological framework for the empirical analysis of the impact of urban rail transit on gentrification, this paper is a reference for both researchers and transportation planners. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Debates on sex work in Canada have focused on its criminal aspects, its harms, and the 'nuisance' it posits for communities. Not much attention has been devoted to more subtle forms of regulation that take place in other juridical spaces, such as the legal apparatus of municipalities. A growing number of cities are restricting sex work and using micro-regulation to police, constrain and control the activities and lives sex workers.1 Municipal bylaws are used by local governments to suppress sex work and prosecute sex workers. By 'micro-regulation' I mean the devious introduction of a myriad of rules that strictly constrain the range of activities that can take place in massage parlours, effectively creating barriers to sex work, even though municipalities do not have the power to prohibit the offering of sexual services. This paper aims to alleviate a lacuna in the research and literature on sex work in the juridical space of the municipality. I wish to bring attention specifically to the plight of Asian sex workers employed in massage parlours in the city of Toronto, whose voices and struggles are ignored and go unnoticed.2 My data was collected during a practice-based research study conducted in Toronto in 2014. My findings will show that municipal bylaws create barriers to the practice of sex work in the context of holistic centres, barriers that push sex work underground, endangering sex workers and exacerbating their stigmatization and exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21st century economy is knowledge-intensive, creative and flourishing in larger urban centres. Less is known about how smaller urban centres are faring in this new economy. This research aims to fill that gap by exploring whether mid-sized cities, in a designated growth area in Ontario, Canada, can leverage the knowledge economy and foster local economic development to help revitalize their ailing downtowns. Through a case study approach, this research looks at the role that coworking, or shared workspaces, can play in the local economy of mid-sized cities in Ontario. Recognizing the role that community-based actors play in urban affairs, this paper uses a local economic development framework to explore the role of coworking spaces in the urban economic fabric of mid-sized city downtowns. Survey responses and interviews, coupled with insights from global surveys on coworking and a literature review, begin to tell the story of how economic change is playing out in mid-sized cities, illustrating the importance of an innovative, collaborative and inclusive approaches to city building and local economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of urban social divisions and changing race relations on the experiences of disadvantaged youth living on the periphery of two Canadian cities: Vancouver and Toronto. We analyze a cross-national subsample of 60 disadvantaged youths’ perceptions of urban social conflict and changing race relations in their city and school. We raise the larger question of how and why economically disadvantaged young people might embody particular understandings of safety, race, the other and security in different spatial registers of the city. We utilize an ethnographic methodology drawing from diverse but interrelated fields: border studies, the phenomenology of estrangement and a materialist version of critical race studies [(Ahmed, S. 1999. “Home and Away Narratives of Migration and Strangeness.”International Journal of Cultural Studies2 (3): 329–347, Ahmed, S. 2010.The Promise of Happiness. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, Ahmed, S. 2013.The Cultural Politics of Emotion. London: Routledge; Kearney, R., and V. E. Taylor. 2005. “A Conversation with Richard Kearney.”Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory6 (2): 17–26)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a disproportionate impact on the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs (PWUD) in Canada. However less is known about jurisdictional commonalities and differences in COVID-19 exposure and impacts of pandemic-related restrictions on competing health and social risks among PWUD living in large urban centres. Methods: Between May 2020 and March 2021, leveraging infrastructure from ongoing cohorts of PWUD, we surveyed 1,025 participants from Vancouver (n = 640), Toronto (n = 158), and Montreal (n = 227), Canada to describe the impacts of pandemic-related restrictions on basic, health, and harm reduction needs. Results: Among participants, awareness of COVID-19 protective measures was high; however, between 10 and 24% of participants in each city-specific sample reported being unable to self-isolate. Overall, 3–19% of participants reported experiencing homelessness after the onset of the pandemic, while 20–41% reported that they went hungry more often than usual. Furthermore, 8–33% of participants reported experiencing an overdose during the pandemic, though most indicated no change in overdose frequency compared the pre-pandemic period. Most participants receiving opioid agonist therapy in the past six months reported treatment continuity during the pandemic (87–93%), however, 32% and 22% of participants in Toronto and Montreal reported missing doses due to service disruptions. There were some reports of difficulty accessing supervised consumption sites in all three sites, and drug checking services in Vancouver. Conclusion: Findings suggest PWUD in Canada experienced difficulties meeting essential needs and accessing some harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings can inform preparedness planning for future public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resolving urban land claims is an important facet of enacting sovereignty in cities and is occurring in the cities of settler states like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The creation of urban reserves is an important means by which First Nations in Canadian cities, especially on the Prairies, are settling outstanding land claims. Findings from interviews with key informants on the urban reserve creation process in Saskatchewan, Canada’s two largest cities, shows urban reserves as liminal spaces in dynamic tension between self-determination, jurisdiction, economic development, and colonial processes of property stipulation, government relations, and approval. This policy area can be enhanced at each stage of the process and offers a pathway toward active treaty relationships in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic pollution is a global problem and many countries are strengthening their regulations to mitigate the related environmental degradation and health risks and to support the development and deployment of circular economy for various types of plastics. As Canada also develops its strategy for regulating single-use plastic as one element of the plastic pollution, aligned federal and provincial policies are essential. This study presents an analysis of existing and emerging policies to provide guidance on Canada's future regulations. Qualitative and quantitative data regarding plastic regulations were gathered from similar countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and relevant scientific articles. Analysis was also conducted of current Canadian regulations that both impact and guide the path for plastic regulation, international examples provided guidance for future Canadian regulations. The analysis found that there is a need for public education on the gravity of plastic pollution to gain their support; for establishing pioneering provinces or cities in plastic regulations to learn from and provide other cities with support; and to start with banning items with available alternatives, to be followed by phasing out other items that are more difficult to replace. The study also showed potential areas of improvement in impact data. The need for reliable regulatory performance data against a baseline scenario; consistency in methodology; and proper scoping to reduce the risk of displacement or exclusivity in policy were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreasing spatial transaction and trade costs have given rise to growing economic specialization of cities. While most studies focus on industries as the primary manifestation of urban specialization, a growing body of literature examines occupational functions, i.e., activities and tasks performed within a given industry or firm. This paper explores how the two dimensions (industries and functions) interact across the urban system and their relative importance over time. Is there a trend toward increasing functional specialization in the Canadian urban system? How much of this phenomenon is attributable to spatial shifts in regional industrial structures as opposed to spatial divisions within industries? The paper uses a unique data set drawn from Statistics Canada Census microdata files between 1971 and 2006. Based on the employed population, the data are spatially organized and cross-tabulated over industries and occupational groups. A decomposition methodology is used to compare the relative weights of industry and regional (functional) effects in accounting for the changing spatial division of functions across Canadian urban areas. Clear patterns of increasing functional specialization are found within the Canadian urban system. Regional effects are generally greater than industry effects, suggesting that spatial divisions of functions (spatial shifts within industries) are progressing more rapidly than regional shifts in industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay villages have been developing as a feature of Western cities since the 1980s. By the 1990s, their markets diversified and expanded and they were redefined as 'queer' sites. While the incorporation of lesbian nightlife into gay villages played a pivotal role in this diversification, their participation has received limited attention in the urban studies literature. This paper, therefore, uses a case study of Montréal to analyze the relationship between lesbian identities and the production of commodified 'queer space' in the city's Village gai in the 1990s. In contrast with the literature that stresses their exclusions, I argue that this site was productive in terms of reworking lesbian identities. I begin by examining the development of the gay village as a location for lesbian nightlife in the 1990s. Next, I analyze the changing content of lesbian bar advertisements that came with this relocation. Finally, I use in-depth interviews with lesbians regarding their perceptions of the Village, its nightlife spaces and emerging Village lesbian identities. The paper finds that although lesbians often felt marginalized in gay village space, this site was central to the production and expression of new forms of lesbian identity in the 1990s [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper looks at arts-related employment in 135 Canadian urban areas over 35 years (1971–2006), successively examining location patterns, co-location with knowledge-rich industries and impacts on employment growth. Arts-related employment is found to be highly concentrated in the very largest urban centres, with no indication of change. Smaller places with particular attributes (attractive natural setting, proximity to large urban centres) are increasingly successful in attracting arts-related activities, but this is not necessarily associated with stronger employment growth or the development of knowledge-rich industries. Evidence of co-location with knowledge-rich industries is weak, but stronger for larger cities. No consistently significant relationship exists with employment growth. This holds true for all cities, irrespective of size. If a synergy exists between the arts and local development, the paper concludes, it is limited to specific industries and only operates in the context of large cities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates changes in the distribution of earnings across 87 metropolitan areas in Canada. It does so using micro data taken from the 20 per cent long-form sample of the census for the years 1996, 2001 and 2006. Results point to overall increases in urban inequality and to greater heterogeneity in inequality across the urban hierarchy, with larger cities growing particularly unequal over time. Cross-sectional and panel regression models suggest that city size, unemployment, deindustrialisation and the percentage of a city’s population composed of visible minorities contribute to increased inequality. In contrast, a city’s level of economic development has a mitigating effect on inequality, although this effect appears to fade away over time. The effects of changes in a city’s age, education and gender profiles on inequality are mixed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher-income neighbourhoods in Canada’s eight largest cities flourished economically during the past quarter-century, while lower-income communities stagnated. This paper identifies some of the underlying processes that led to this outcome. Increasing family income inequality drove much of the rise in neighbourhood inequality. Increased spatial economic segregation, the increasing tendency of ‘like to live nearby like’, also played a role. It is shown that these changes originated in the labour market. Changes in investment, pension income and government transfers played a very minor role. Yet it was not unemployment that differentiated the richer from poorer neighbourhoods. Rather, it was the type of job found, particularly the annual earnings generated. The end result has been little improvement in economic resources in poor neighbourhoods during a period of substantial economic growth, and a rise in neighbourhood income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, successive cohorts of immigrants to Canada have experienced a striking level of deterioration in their economic well-being. At the same time, more immigrants than ever before are choosing to live in Montréal, Toronto, or Vancouver, Canada’s three-first-tier or ‘gateway cities’. This paper uses instrumental variable regression techniques to determine the extent to which gateway city clustering is related to immigrant economic well-being. It identifies whether employment status, earnings, and employment suitability would significantly improve if more immigrants chose to live outside of Canada’s three gateway cities. The results suggest that, for the most part, although immigrants do worse than the native-born in gateway cities, they do experience marginally higher earnings than their non-gateway counterparts. Income and unemployment rates are higher for immigrants in gateway cities than they are for the native-born, but the gateway/non-gateway disparity is minimal. Levels of employment mismatch are substantially higher in gateway cities, compared to both the gateway city native-born population, and non-gateway immigrants. An analysis of the data shows that only marginal improvements to economic well-being would result from an increase in non-gateway immigration, and that there are other factors, like race or skin colour, that seem to be more closely linked to labour market success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensitive clay subjected to cyclic loading may experience gradual loss of its shear strength, which may lead to liquefaction. Foundations built on this clay would suffer extensive settlement and significant loss of bearing capacity or perhaps catastrophic failure. This paper presents an experimental investigation on sensitive (Champlain) clay obtained from the city of Rigaud, Quebec (Canada). Consolidation tests, static and cyclic undrained and drained triaxial tests were performed on representative samples of this clay. The objective of this investigation was to examine the influence of the physical and mechanical parameters, which govern the shear strength of sensitive clay subjected to cyclic loading. Based on the results of the present investigation and those available in the literature, it can be reported herein that the undrained response is the most critical for these foundations; furthermore, the preconsolidation pressure is considered as an important parameter in establishing the shear strength of sensitive clay. A design procedure is developed to determine the safe zone for the undrained and drained responses, within which a combination of the cyclic deviator stress and the number of cycles for a given soil/loading/site conditions can achieve a quasielastic resilient state without reaching failure. The proposed design procedure is applicable to all regions around the world, where sensitive clays can be found. Furthermore, this procedure can be adopted to examine the conditions of existing foundations built on sensitive clay at any time during its lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]