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Although souvenirs take on many forms, functions and representations, they are often formally associated with a specific geographical place. Niagara Falls, Canada is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world. International tourists often only visit Niagara Falls and one or two other major destinations such as Vancouver or Toronto while in Canada. Recognizing this, souvenir shops sell a range of souvenirs representing locations or attractions from across Canada. This raises the question as to what is an authentic geographical souvenir of Niagara Falls and what are tourists buying. This paper examines the concepts of geographical scale and geographically displaced authenticity associated with souvenirs in Niagara Falls, Canada. Inventories were completed in eight souvenir shops. One hundred unobtrusive observations of souvenir purchases by visitors in souvenir shops are presented according to a souvenir classification as to whether they represent souvenirs from Niagara, other areas of Canada or unrelated souvenirs. A Niagara Falls souvenirs typology is proposed which explores the image of the souvenir products purchased from local representations (Niagara Falls) to national representations of Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interest in the urban transport challenges posed by the demographic outlook of ageing societies has prompted a growing body of scholarship on the subject. The focus of this paper is on the topic of elderly trip generation and the development of models to help formalise some important relationships between trip-making behaviour and personal, household and contextual variables (such as location). The case study is the Hamilton Metropolitan Area—an important functional component of Greater Toronto, itself one of the regions in Canada where the impact of ageing is expected to be most strongly felt. Using data from Toronto's Transport Tomorrow Survey and mixed ordered probit models, the study investigates the question of spatial and demographic variability in trip-making behaviour. The results support the proposition that trip-making propensity decreases with age. However, it is also found that this behaviour is not spatially homogeneous and in fact exhibits a large degree of variability—a finding that highlights both the challenges of planning transport for the elderly and the potential of spatial analytical approaches to improve transport modelling practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses aims and scope of the periodical dedicated to research in Therapeutic Recreation (TR). Topics discussed include TR researchers, educators, and practitioners in Canada work together to critically reflect on practices and engage in research to transform the field of TR; and Kimberly and Carrie engaged in a name changing process to represent the journals purpose to discuss therapeutic recreation practice and research happening in the TR profession in Ontario.

Background: The reduction of health inequalities is a focus of many national and international health organisations. The need for pragmatic evidence-based approaches has led to the development of a number of evidence-based equity initiatives. This paper describes a new program that focuses upon evidencebased tools, which are useful for policy initiatives that reduce inequities. Methods: This paper is based on a presentation that was given at the "Regional Consultation on Policy Tools: Equity in Population Health Reports," held in Toronto, Canada in June 2002. Results: Five assessment tools were presented. 1. A database of systematic reviews on the effects of educational, legal, social, and health interventions to reduce unfair inequalities is being established through the Cochrane and Campbell Collaborations. 2 Decision aids and shared decision making can be facilitated in disadvantaged groups by 'health coaches' to help people become better decision makers, negotiators, and navigators of the health system; a pilot study in Chile has provided proof of this concept. 3. The CIET Cycle: Combining adapted cluster survey techniques with qualitative methods, CIET's population based applications support evidence-based decision making at local and national levels. The CIET map generates maps directly from survey or routine institutional data, to be used as evidence-based decisions aids. Complex data can be displayed attractively, providing an important tool for studying and comparing health indicators among and between different populations. 4. The Ottawa Equity Gauge is applying the Global Equity Gauge Alliance framework to an industrialised country setting. 5 The Needs-Based Health Assessment Toolkit, established to assemble information on which clinical and health policy decisions can be based, is being expanded to ensure a focus on distribution and average health indicators. Conclusion: Evidence-based planning tools have much to offer the goal of equitable health development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the election of a neo-liberal provincial government in 1995, Ontario was at the forefront of work-based welfare reform in Canada. Many of the sweeping reforms carried out under the banner of the“Common Sense Revolution” received widespread coverage: for example, reductions in welfare rates, the introduction of the Ontario Works programme, the adoption of a zero-tolerance policy for so-called welfare fraud, and changes to the rules relating to common-law spousal relationships. However, much less attention has focused upon significant changes to the ways welfare is delivered. This paper critically interrogates a number of key changes to the Service Delivery Model in Ontario. After the passage of federal legislation in 1995, national entitlements to welfare have been terminated, replaced with local responsibility; this decentralization is changing not only the hierarchy of the regulation of poor people, but also the form and function of provision. In particular, there is evidence of the reinvention of administration towards the micro-regulation of job search and personal behaviour and the deterrence of welfare receipt as applicants and recipients are bureaucratically disentitled. Although administrative practices have historically acted as a secondary barrier to welfare receipt, the paper suggests that the current incarnation of work-enforcing reforms could be especially significant as the worlds of welfare and work continue to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An invitational conference led by the World Organization of Family Doctors (Wonca) involving selected delegates from 34 countries was held in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, March 8 to 12, 2003. The conference theme was "Improving Health Globally: The Necessity of Family Medicine Research." Guiding conference discussions was the value that to improve health care worldwide, strong, evidence-based primary care is indispensable. Eight papers reviewed before the meeting formed the basic material from which the conference developed 9 recommendations. Wonca, as an international body of family medicine, was regarded as particularly suited to pursue these conference recommendations: 1. Research achievements in family medicine should be displayed to policy makers, health (insurance) authorities, and academic leaders in a systematic way. 2. In all countries, sentinel practice systems should be developed to provide surveillance reports on illness and diseases that have the greatest impact on the population's health and wellness in the community. 3. A clearinghouse should be organized to provide a central repository of knowledge about family medicine research expertise, training, and mentoring. 4. National research institutes and university departments of family medicine with a research mission should be developed. 5. Practice-based research networks should be developed around the world. 6. Family medicine research journals, conferences, and Web sites should be strengthened to disseminate research findings internationally, and their use coordinated. Improved representation of family medicine research journals in databases, such as Index Medicus, should be pursued. 7. Funding of international collaborative research in family medicine should be facilitated. 8. International ethical guidelines, with an international ethical review process, should be developed in particular for participatory (action) research, where researchers work in partnership with communities. 9. When implementing these recommendations, the specific needs and implications for developing countries should be addressed. The Wonca executive committee has reviewed these recommendations and the supporting rationale for each. They plan to follow the recommendations, but to do so will require the support and cooperation of many individuals, organizations, and national governments around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on youth capitalization as it relates to gender differences in the delinquency of siblings. The study of opposite-sex siblings Provides a unique opportunity to examine variation in how parental capitalization of sons and daughters is influenced by the same family unit. The structural form and function of the family changed enormously in relation to gender over the latter half of the last century, as indicated in the growing participation of mothers in the labour force of Western developed nations. We find this reflected in data that we look at from both contemporary German and Canadian school settings analyzed in this paper. We argue that the male subculture of delinquency is a residue of the former hegemony of an outmoded patriarchal power structure in both of these geopolitical settings, as well as across most family settings. In settings where mothers have unusually great power relative to fathers, there is substantial and significant evidence of daughters being less controlled than sons; however, even in settings where mothers have equal or greater occupational power than fathers, and where differences in parental control of daughters relative to sons are reduced, it is still the case that these gender differences in parental control are linked to gender differences in delinquency. Male subcultural delinquency may simply be a vestigial social trait, making male subcultural delinquents the social dinosaurs of a passing, more patriarchal era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I draw on interviews with professional visual artists in Toronto, Canada to reconstruct an occupation-specific reading of the urban landscape. I use a detailed examination of one specific occupational identity to reveal the intricate relationship between self, work, and context at different spatial scales. The underlying mechanism that supports the articulation and negotiation of artistic identities, I argue, is the sustained tension between absence and presence, visibility and invisibility within different spaces of the urban fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences is the property of Canadian Science Publishing 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.)

Governments are normally granted a privileged definitional role in news reporting of political issues and events. Although a number of empirical studies in a variety of policy areas support this premise, the ability of government sources to dominate and determine the tenor and tone of news coverage is particularly salient in the case of issues and events with contentious and uncertain causes and solutions. This paper offers an empirical analysis of mainstream press coverage of the 1997 Ontario teachers' strike, the largest collective action ever undertaken by teachers in North American history. Situated within the conceptual and empirical debates around the "primary definition" thesis, the study revisits the literature on strike news and draws some comparative and contrasting remarks on the role of media discourse in covering private and public sector strikes. While the study's empirical findings offer some support for the primary definer thesis, there appeared to be a disconnect between the media's critical framing and narrativization of the strike and public support for the government's position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the implications of recent Welfare State restructuring for psychiatric survivors' citizenship status. Using the Province of Ontario as a case study, the paper examines the extent to which recent change in mental health care and social assistance programs has worked to facilitate or constrain survivors' ability to exercise control over their lives. Despite recognition of the importance of survivors' participation in the mental health care system in the late 1980s, recent years have seen a return to a more traditional treatment paradigm characterized by professional control. Concurrently, restructuring of social assistance programs has led to a decline in the real value of income supports and growing pressure on informal support networks. As a result, psychiatric survivors are increasingly held responsible for their own material well-being and public conduct, but are less able to exercise control within everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a recent popularization of 'Smart Growth' planning in North American cities. Based upon the aim to decrease the impacts of sprawled regional development on the natural environment, a focus of Smart Growth planning is the intensification of both population and physical development in existing urban areas. Faced with the creation of a new Official Plan for the City of Toronto, municipal planners have chosen urban intensification as the vision for planning in Toronto over the next thirty years. This paper examines the nature of intensification planning in Toronto through an analysis of the language of urban intensification found in the Official Plan vision report. Within this report, emphasis is placed upon the role of intensified development and compact population growth as a solution to the environmental problems of urban sprawl. This paper argues that the environmental aspects of intensification provide a more acceptable public rationale for future intensification processes in Toronto; moreover, that the main rationale for intensification in Toronto is not to solve regional sprawl but to create compact urban districts in order to enhance the economic and physical revitalization of the city. The language of intensification in the Official Plan vision report suggests that urban intensification, particularly in Toronto's downtown core, is a strategy for the development of more 'livable' and vibrant residential and commercial areas. The emphasis on intensified development is geared towards the attraction and maintenance of private investment and skilled labour and is a central part of the City of Toronto's vision of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a method for forecasting energy prices using artificial intelligence methods, such as neural networks and fuzzy logic, and a combination of the two. The new approach is compared with some of the exiting methods. Various factors affecting the market clearing price are investigated. Results for the Ontario electricity market are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, much media attention has recently been focused on the formation of arbitration tribunals that would use Islamic law or Sharia to settle civil matters in Ontario. In fact, the idea of private parties voluntarily agreeing to arbitration using religious principles or a foreign legal system is not new. Ontario's Arbitration Act has allowed parties to resolve disputes outside the traditional court system for some time. This issue has been complicated by the fact that Canada has a commitment to upholding both a policy of multiculturalism and an international obligation towards women's rights. Although these values need not necessarily conflict, in this context, they have carried a tension that must be reconciled. This paper will examine the legal implications of faith-based arbitration tribunals in family law, with a particular emphasis on the impact that Sharia could have on Muslim women in Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of modernization, solid round steel bars are widely used in communication towers, which play a vital role in today’s world. Solid steel round bars are used as leg members, diagonal members, and horizontal members of a communication tower. Canadian Standard for Antenna towers and Antenna Supporting Structures, CAN/CSA-S37-01, specifies empirical expressions for the compressive strength of solid rounds based on the well-known Structural Stability Research Council column strength curves for nonsolid-round members as well as on the results from an experimental investigation on the compressive resistance of solid rounds carried out back to 1965. This paper provides a summary of the available literature on the compressive strength of solid rounds. Also, the results of the recently tested six large solid round bars at Ryerson University, Toronto, are presented. Correlation between the results from these tests and the current practice for the design of solid rounds is investigated. It is expected that the results from this paper direct the attention of code writers to more economical and safe empirical expressions for the ultimate compressive resistance of solid rounds. This would assist the practicing engineers in the evaluation of the load-carrying capacity of existing antenna towers since even a small increase in strength for live load can make the difference between demolishing a tower or leaving it in service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the chronically inadequate childcare infrastructure in Canada and across much of the world. Government responses have been many and varied within and between countries, provinces, municipalities, and local communities. Embracing a feminist ethics of care lens, this paper examines how the needs of mothers, children, and early childhood educators were recognized as interconnected (or not) in Ontario's childcare policy discourse and action throughout the pandemic. Findings indicate that children were rarely discussed beyond being a "burden" to their parents (and therefore the economy) while children's and early childhood educators' childcare experiences and needs were largely absent in any policy discussion or action. The only group to receive widespread media and political attention were mothers, whose ongoing struggle to "balance" paid and unpaid (care) work became heightened and visible en masse throughout the pandemic. We offer overarching observations and recommendations for childcare policy stakeholders and actors as we look to build new possibilities for Canadian childcare beyond the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key housing issue in Toronto is affordability, especially in the rental market. Since the mid-1990s rents in the private sector have increased at almost twice the rate of inflation with the result that it is extremely difficult for new immigrant households with limited resources to acquire adequate housing. In this paper the rental experiences of three recently arrived immigrant groups - Jamaicans, Poles and Somalis - are evaluated using a housing career strategy. The paper focuses on changes through the housing career and between the three groups for a variety of characteristics related to affordability. The results show that the Poles experienced the least affordability problems and the Somalis had the greatest difficulty affording adequate accommodation. Reasons are suggested for these differences and conclusions reached about the importance of adequate and affordable rental housing in the immigrant integration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An evolution in tactical mine management systems is underway, powered by IT and new management tools. This paper considers the specific data infrastructure needs for such systems that were identified in field studies in operating underground metal mines. These were formulated into a methodology to create a mine-focused information system through structured data modelling and process mapping. The importance of data items particular to mining systems became evident through this study, such as workplace, process descriptions, and details of production process outputs. Some of these new data items can be used to integrate data thereby enabling new management tools and techniques. The application of the data infrastructure design methodology at operating mines was seen to improve management's understanding of the production system and to enable the creation of tactical management tools. This paper discusses the need, principles, and specifics of designing a data infrastructure specifically for underground metal mining. It stems from a collaborative PhD study that developed a methodology to create a tactical mine management system that was applied in underground mines in the Sudbury basin, in Ontario Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The broad intent of this paper is to further contribute to the existing literature that addresses VFR tourism. It suggests that the return visit may ultimately be positioned as a form or type of travel within the larger category of VFR tourism, but a form or type that has built within it a more clear understanding of historic and social contexts and processes. The other broad intent of the paper is to highlight the importance of the relationship between the returning visitor, originating from diasporic communities abroad, and the host community as a stage for the negotiation of identities. The return visit is shown to reflect such underlying processes yet continue to incorporate aspects of individual motivation, which when taken together demonstrate the fluidity of diasporic spaces and transnational identity structures. Using data obtained from ethnographic fieldwork among social networks within the Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean community in Toronto, Canada, it is suggested that return visits are used to retain social histories and contextualise social and cultural backgrounds after migration. The implications for VFR tourism and the relationship between diasporas, transnationalism and tourism are discussed, as is a conceptual model of the return visit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under Canada's Young Offenders Act (YOA, 1984-2003), the concept of diversion became an important feature of the youth justice system. Consisting of the formally constituted Alternative Measures program and other more informally administered procedures, diversion was developed as a means of responding to youth aged 12-17 years who have committed minor offences while minimizing their risks of stigmatization and recidivism. Although the YOA was subjected to persistent criticism concerning its ambiguity and contradictions, and was recently replaced by the new Youth Justice Criminal Act, very little research has been devoted to the implementation of young offender diversion programs. In this paper we present the results of a phenomenological inquiry into the practice of diversion in one large southern Ontario community. By regarding the implementation of diversion as a form of social policy appropriation by various professional groups, we highlight the perspectives of 17 practitioners who have had extensive experience in administering particular aspects of diversion programs. These perspectives differ in some fundamental ways, and thus help to illuminate the broad latitude that exists for discretionary decision-making in sanctioning youth who have committed minor offences. Such differences also reflect the variation of diversion practices and corresponding tensions among those responsible for this form of young offender disposition. The paper concludes by surmising that a two-tiered system of diversion is emerging that inadvertently may be diminishing the rights of minor young offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During early 1997, after focus groups, interviews and a mail survey were administered to a random sample of Grand River watershed dairy farmer in the Grand River watershed of southwestern Ontario. This paper summarizes the main results of the study. We concluded that these farmers have achieved a very good average quality of life. Their farming systems display good productivity, excellent viability and stability and moderate average environmental protection-all important elements of sustainability. This is mainly because they have steady incomes as a result of their supply managed system, excellent cattle genetics, strong family relationships and spirituality. If they had to leave their dairy farms they would miss the open space and country living more than anything else. There is some concern that international free trade agreements may threaten supply management to which the majority attribute their stable and reasonably good incomes. Environmental protection may also be at risk for many dairy farmers. For instance, their present manure management system is a limiting factor preventing as many as a third of them from expanding their herds in addition to such other barriers as the high price that they must pay for the milk quota that they must purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I discuss the clash of values between the Old Order Amish community of Ontario and the dominant social paradigm in agriculture. Land-use and agricultural regulations, designed for an industrial style of agriculture, are experienced as a threat to the survival of the Old Order Amish agricultural social economy and community. The paper describes how I have worked with the Old Order Amish to respond to these challenges and to create public policies that will allow them to maintain their human and agricultural diversity and small-scale sustainable farm practices. Four case studies illuminating the oppressive land-use regulations along with the emancipatory responses to the oppression are examined. The social transformation themes include principles and processes for community psychologists, land-use planners, and community economic development practitioners to consider. The article has heuristic value for a practice-based approach to social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on material from 30 interviews with Toronto-area teenage girls and their grandmothers, the present paper reviews five discourses of adolescence: storm, becoming, at-risk, social problem, and pleasurable consumption. I explore how these discourses are invested, deployed and experienced in relation to each other and as they span academic texts, popular discourses, and interviews. I contend that these discourses make up a powerful discursive framework in which activity undertaken by adolescents can be swept up into these discourses, and consequently dismissed. At the same time, tensions or contradictions within and between these discourses, and within the entire category of adolescence as a stage, can in fact undermine the weight of these discourses as truth statements. I end the paper with some reflections on how each discourse constructs potential for agency, and/or resistance among teenagers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses whether or not local history can constitute total history. Insights from a symposium held at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, on February 25, 2002; Issues concerning historical sources and methodologies; Importance of the state and state-building from the early 19th century into the 20th.

This paper is an edited transcript of an invited panel discussion that was presented at the 28th annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis in Toronto, Ontario. The speakers in this discussion addressed how behavior managers might contribute to understanding the impact of terrorism on the economy, and business, behavioral drivers in the new business context, and how we might manage our efforts to renew communities, economies, organizations and businesses. Each presenter provided a unique vantage point from which to view current events, considered powerful drivers of behavior change post-September 11, and evaluated how those affect our personal and professional lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates and compares the housing careers of two recent immigrant groups, the Poles and Somalis, in Toronto's rental market. Both groups first arrived in Toronto in the late 1980s but under different circumstances and with different outcomes in the housing market. The study is situated in a general conceptual framework focusing on factors affecting the housing careers of households. The analysis is based on a questionnaire survey of 60 respondents from each group who arrived in Canada between 1987 and 1994. Information was collected about the search for three residences: the first permanent residence, the one immediately before the current one and the current residence. The analysis considers the individual and household characteristics that differentiate the Polish and Somali respondents, the characteristics of Toronto's rental market that potentially act as barriers in the search for housing, the housing search process and the outcomes of the search. The latter includes the nature of the dwelling and its surroundings as well as satisfaction with the dwelling and neighbourhood. The results confirm that the Poles have been more successful than the Somalis in establishing a progressive housing career. The reasons relate to differences in individual and household characteristics and the nature of the local housing market. Specific variables include socio-economic status, household size, community resources, the housing situation before coming to Canada, Toronto's tight rental market and perceived discriminatory barriers in that market. The paper concludes with a brief evaluation of the housing career concept as used in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to highlight government's constitutional obligation in Canada to disadvantaged children and street children with regards to this group's Charter right to a complete and quality compulsory basic education up to completion of secondary school and all services needed to support their enjoying the right. The first part of the paper addresses the need for revision of the Education statutes in Canada to require compulsory secondary school attendance until graduation or until 18 with only a few categories of reasonable exception to this requirement. The second part of the paper sets out the Charter basis for the right to education as a right to completion of secondary school. The right to a basic education as including completion of secondary school is here viewed as a fundamental human right. This paper suggests that Canada's disadvantaged youth and street children are entitled to have government at the federal and provincial level meet not simply its moral obligation in ensuring their right to education, but also its constitutional obligation in this respect. In Canada, as in poorer countries, educational attainment is a determinant of labor force prospects even when one considers very basic rather than tertiary education. It is of interest that the obvious strategy of compulsory secondary schooling is a strategy that only one Canadian province, New Brunswick, has adopted to address the problem of school drop-out with its attendant high costs to the individual and the community.

On a global scale, pathogenic contamination of drinking water poses the most significant health risk to humans, and there have been countless numbers of disease outbreaks and poisonings throughout history resulting from exposure to untreated or poorly treated drinking water. However, significant risks to human health may also result from exposure to nonpathogenic, toxic contaminants that are often globally ubiquitous in waters from which drinking water is derived. With this latter point in mind, the objective of this commission paper is to discuss the primary sources of toxic contaminants in surface waters and groundwater, the pathways through which they move in aquatic environments, factors that affect their concentration and structure along the many transport flow paths, and the relative risks that these contaminants pose to human and environmental health. In assessing the relative risk of toxic contaminants in drinking water to humans, we have organized our discussion to follow the classical risk assessment paradigm, with emphasis placed on risk characterization (see Figure 1). In doing so, we have focused predominantly on toxic contaminants that have had a demonstrated or potential effect on human health via exposure through drinking water. In the risk assessment process, understanding the sources and pathways for contaminants in the environment is a crucial step in addressing (and reducing) uncertainty associated with estimating the likelihood of exposure to contaminants in drinking water. More importantly, understanding the sources and pathways of contaminants strengthens our ability to quantify effects through accurate measurement and testing, or to predict the likelihood of effects based on empirical models. Understanding the sources, fate, and concentrations of chemicals in water, in conjunction with assessment of effects, not only forms the basis of risk characterization, but also provides critical information required to render decisions regarding regulatory initiatives, remediation, monitoring, and management. Our discussion is divided into two primary themes. First we discuss the major sources of contaminants from anthropogenic activities to aquatic surface and groundwater and the pathways along which these contaminants move to become incorporated into drinking water supplies. Second, we assess the health significance of the contaminants reported and identify uncertainties associated with exposures and potential effects. Loading of contaminants to surface waters, groundwater, sediments, and drinking water occurs via two primary routes: (1) point-source pollution and (2) non-point-source pollution. Point-source pollution originates from discrete sources whose inputs into aquatic systems can often be defined in a spatially explicit manner. Examples of point-source pollution include industrial effluents (pulp and paper mills, steel plants, food processing plants), municipal sewage treatment plants and combined sewage-storm-water overflows, resource extraction (mining), and land disposal sites (landfill sites, industrial impoundments). Non-point-source pollution, in contrast, originates from poorly defined, diffuse sources that typically occur over broad geographical scales. Examples of non-point-source pollution include agricultural runoff (pesticides, pathogens, and fertilizers), storm-water and urban runoff, and atmospheric deposition (wet and dry deposition of persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls "PCBs" and mercury). Within each source, we identify the most important contaminants that have either been demonstrated to pose significant risks to human health and/or aquatic ecosystem integrity, or which are suspected of posing such risks. Examples include nutrients, metals, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), chlorination by-products, and pharmaceuticals. Due to the significant number of toxic contaminants in the environment, we have necessarily restricted our discussion to those chemicals that pose risks to human health via exposure through drinking water. A comprehensive and judicious consideration of the full range of contaminants that occur in surface waters, sediments, and drinking water would be a large undertaking and clearly beyond the scope of this article. However, where available, we have provided references to relevant literature to assist the reader in undertaking a detailed investigation of their own. The information collected on specific chemicals within major contaminant classes was used to determine their relative risk using the hazard quotient (HQ) approach. Hazard quotients are the most widely used method of assessing risk in which the exposure concentration of a stressor, either measured or estimated, is compared to an effect concentration (e.g., no-observed-effect concentration or NOEC). A key goal of this assessment was to develop a perspective on the relative risks associated with toxic contaminants that occur in drinking water. Data used in this assessment were collected from literature sources and from the Drinking Water Surveillance Program (DWSP) of Ontario. For many common contaminants, there was insufficient environmental exposure (concentration) information in Ontario drinking water and groundwater. Hence, our assessment was limited to specific compounds within major contaminant classes including metals, disinfection byproducts, pesticides, and nitrates. For each contaminant, the HQ was estimated by expressing the maximum concentration recorded in drinking water as a function of the water quality guideline for that compound. There are limitations to using the hazard quotient approach of risk characterization. For example, HQs frequently make use of worst-case data and are thus designed to be protective of almost all possible situations that may occur. However, reduction of the probability of a type II error (false negative) through the use of very conservative application factors and assumptions can lead to the implementation of expensive measures of mitigation for stressors that may pose little threat to humans or the environment. It is important to realize that our goal was not to conduct a comprehensive, in-depth assessment of risk for each chemical; more comprehensive assessments of managing risks associated with drinking water are addressed in a separate issue paper by Krewski et al. (2001a). Rather, our goal was to provide the reader with an indication of the relative risk of major contaminant classes as a basis for understanding the risks associated with the myriad forms of toxic pollutants in aquatic systems and drinking water. For most compounds, the estimated HQs were <1. This indicates that there is little risk associated with exposure from drinking water to the compounds tested. There were some exceptions. For example, nitrates were found to commonly yield HQ values well above 1 in many rural areas. Further, lead, total trihalomethanes, and trichloroacetic acid yielded HQs >1 in some treated distribution waters (water distributed to households). These latter compounds were further assessed using a probabilistic approach; these assessments indicated that the maximum allowable concentrations (MAC) or interim MACs for the respective compounds were exceeded <5% of the time. In other words, the probability of finding these compounds in drinking water at levels that pose risk to humans through ingestion of drinking water is low. Our review has been carried out in accordance with the conventional principles of risk assessment. Application of the risk assessment paradigm requires rigorous data on both exposure and toxicity in order to adequately characterize potential risks of contaminants to human health and ecological integrity. Weakness rendered by poor data, or lack of data, in either the exposure or effects stages of the risk assessment process significantly reduces the confidence that can be placed in the overall risk assessment. Overall, while our review suggested selected instances of potential risks to human health from exposure to contaminants in drinking water, we also noted a distinct paucity of information on exposure levels for many contaminants in this matrix. We suggest that this represents a significant limitation to conducting sound risk assessments and introduces considerable uncertainty with respect to the management of water quality. In this context, future research must place greater emphasis on targeted monitoring and assessment of specific contaminants (e.g., pharmaceuticals) in drinking water for which there is currently little information. This could be conducted using a tiered risk approach, beginning with, for example, a hazard quotient assessment. Potentially problematic compounds identified in these preliminary assessments would then be subjected to more comprehensive risk assessments using probabilistic methods, if sufficient data exist to do so. On this latter point, adequate assessment of potential risks for many contaminants in drinking water is currently limited by a paucity of toxicological information. Generating this important information is a critical research need and would reduce the uncertainty associated with conducting risk assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of several papers presented at the 30th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science held at the University of Toronto in Ontario from May 30 to June 1, 2002. Social theory of time; Use of XML for electronic text collections in the humanities; Multilingual metadata for moving image databases; Theory of copyright policy.

Copyright of Local Environment is the property of Routledge 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 paper problematises the politics of inclusion in education by examining how minority groups in Toronto attempt to 'negotiate equity' in response to the school board's release of a draft policy on anti-racism and ethno-cultural equity in education. A competing policy document challenging the specific focus on race, ethnicity and faith communities as being 'too narrow' argued that the notion of equity should be broadly construed to accommodate the categories of other 'historically disadvantaged groups', such as women, the disabled and gays and lesbians, under a single comprehensive policy. A debate over the implications of broad-based equity has polarized communities along racial, ethnic and religious lines. Religious and ethnic communities objected to the displacement of race, ethnicity and religion and what they regarded as the centring of sexual orientation in a policy which would integrate gay and lesbian issues into the curriculum. Advocates for separate policies argued that all forms of difference could not be equated and should be dealt with separately in terms of policy and practice. This paper will explore the dynamics of community engagement with this issue and will examine the politics behind the shifting discourse of anti-racism toward the paradigm of broad-based equity through political and discursive practices at both the community and institutional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industrial Relations / Relations Industrielles is the property of Universite Laval, Department of Industrial Relations 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 paper briefly sketches the history of Palestinian immigration to both the Gulf region and Toronto, Canada, weaving in the life histories of five women who are part of the most recent wave of Palestinian arrivals in Canada as a result of the Gulf War. The paper then examines the nature of this newly established diaspora community in Toronto, focussing in particular on: (1) processes of personal adjustment; (2) the ways in which this group of Palestinians is forming a new community in Canada; and (3) the kinds of ties that members of the community maintain to Palestine. This examination augments the ethnographic record of Canadian immigration, complicates traditional notions of immigrants and refugees as poor and/or unsophisticated, and sheds light on the experiences and attitudes of those who have come of age in one area of the Palestinian diaspora. We also see that important differences exist within the Palestinian immigrant community, stemming from the widely varied backgrounds of this group. The process of community formation for this group of Palestinians in Toronto demonstrates how individuals' diasporic experiences are inflected with issues of gender, class, and religion. The material presented here thus suggests one way that social identities may be reconfigured in the context of a multicultural society and its politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summarizes some of the key findings of academic papers presented at the First World Congress on the Management of Electronic Commerce, which took place in January, 2000, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, sponsored by McMaster University. The conference was attended by 243 delegates from more than 25 countries. Outlines two meta-management issues including: the importance of taking a strategic approach to Internet ventures as well as considering infrastructure design during implementation. Several of the papers presented fell into three broad functional categories including operations, human resources and marketing. Finally, a summary of internationalization and education implications is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers some of the policy implications of issues raised during a conference about treatment decision-making in the clinical encounter held in Hamilton, Ontario in May 1999. Policies promoting patient participation in treatment decision-making need to be flexible enough to ensure that they are appropriate across the range of contexts in which health care decisions are made and acceptable to people with diverse preferences and abilities. They should also be formulated in consideration of other health policies and of available resources. Policies of informing people and involving them in decisions about their care are unlikely to be simple to implement. Various strategies might be needed to support them. These include the development of appropriate skills among health professionals and in the general population, the use of interventions to encourage people to play more active roles in decisions about their health care, the provision of decision aids for people facing specific decisions and the provision and accreditation of more general information resources and services. If information and other facilitators of patient participation in decision-making are seen as integral to good quality health care, then funding should be made available for them. This will, however, have opportunity costs. Policy makers’ decisions about how much health care funding should be invested in which strategies should be underpinned by good research evidence about the effects that different types of intervention have on a range of outcomes for individuals, health care systems and populations. The knowledge on which current policies are based is limited. The development of future policies will be enhanced if policy makers invest in critical conceptual thinking, reflective practice, imaginative development work and good quality evaluative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Education policies require inclusive practices across student learning environments internationally. In Canada, provinces and territories oversee their own curriculum development. This study presents a critical discourse analysis of how inclusive education is addressed within Ontario's 2015 Health and Physical Education Curriculum, Grades 9–12. Method: Fairclough and Chouliaraki's approach to critical discourse analysis, which encompasses structural, linguistic, and interdiscursive analysis, was used to show how language is interwoven within ideologies of physical education to represent inclusivity. Results: Three discourses were identified: (a) the discourse of equity and inclusion, (b) the discourse of opportunity, and (c) the discourse of positive outcomes. The curriculum reflects inclusivity through overt language and intention, holding the possibility for choice and opportunities beyond traditional notions of physical education. Discussion: Concerns included whether ideals presented in the curriculum reflect the realities of "discourse in action." Transformative discourses within physical education should emerge from the student voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the employment experiences of racialized social workers, many of whom were immigrants, in Ontario in recent years. This article has four central objectives. First, to provide an overview of the perceptions of racialized social workers regarding the ways they are perceived and treated by supervisors, co-workers, other professionals, as well as clients and the effect that such views and treatment has on them. Second, the perceptions of racialized workers regarding the ghettoization, marginalization and disempowerment they may experience in the workplace. Third, to explain three strategies they use in managing power relations within the workplace (i.e., conformity, collaboration, and conflict). Fourth, to provide some suggestions on what must be done to improve the perceptions and treatment of racialized social workers by supervisors, co-workers, other professionals and clients. The major findings are that negotiating power relations is a complex process and includes experiences of tensions and awkward silences due to the sensitivity of the topic of race. The paper concludes that in moving forward constructively it is imperative to engage in difficult but crucial conversations that can contribute to the identification of ways to address tensions and awkward silences on matters of race in the context of social work, as well as in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a study of women (n = 10) in game design and game development programs in Ontario, Canada. The study, described herein, is an investigation of the lived experiences of women in these programs, their own experiences with gaming culture, and the kinds of female video game characters they design. Here, we are interested in whether women in post-secondary game programs are producing more nuanced playable female game characters than those typically seen in commercial video games. Preliminary results of this study indicate that women are producing generally more nuanced depictions of women in their character designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Canada depends on Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs), also known as migrant workers, to fill labour shortage in agriculture, hospitality, construction, child/senior care, and other low-skilled occupations. Evidence shows that TFWs, especially women live-in caregivers (LC), constitute a vulnerable population. Their health is compromised by the precarious and harsh working and living conditions they encounter. There is a paucity of research on the mental health of LCs, their support systems and access to mental health services.Method: In this community-based exploratory study, we used mixed methods of survey and focus groups to explore the work related experiences and mental health of migrant live-in caregivers in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Convenience and snowball sampling were used to recruit participants. The inclusion criteria were: being 18 years or older, initially migrated to Canada as TFWs under LC program, resided in the Greater Toronto Area, and able to understand and converse in English based on self-report. This paper reports on the focus group results derived from inductive thematic analysis.Results: A total of 30 women LCs participated in the study. Most of them were from the Philippines. A number of key themes emerged from the participants' narratives: (1) precarious migration-employment status (re)produces exploitation; (2) deskilling and downward social mobility reinforce alienation; (3) endurance of hardship for family back home; (4) double lives of public cheerfulness and private anguish; and (4) unrecognized mental health needs. The study results reflected gross injustices experienced by these women.Conclusion: A multi-faceted approach is required to improve the working and living conditions of this vulnerable group and ultimately their health outcomes. We recommend the following: government inspection to ensure employer compliance with the labour standards and provision of safe working and living conditions; change immigration policy to allow migrant caregivers to apply for permanent residence upon arrival; the TFWs Program to establish fair wages and subsidized housing so that caregivers can truly access the live-out option; and local ethno-specific, settlement and faith organizations be leveraged to provide TFWs with social support as well as information about their rights and how to access health and social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics 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.)

Background: The Child and Youth Mental Health (ChYMH) assessment system was developed by interRAI (i.e., an international collective of researchers and clinicians from over thirty countries) in response to the unprecedented need for a coordinated approach to delivery of children's mental health care. Many interRAI instruments are used across Canada and internationally, but the ChYMH represents the first assessment specifically for children and youth. In the present paper, a short overview of the development process of the ChYMH is provided, and then the psychometric properties of several embedded scales on the ChYMH are examined.Methods: Participants included 1297 children and youth and their families who completed the ChYMH after being referred to mental health agencies within Ontario, Canada. In addition, smaller subsets of participants (N = 48-53) completed additional criterion measures, including the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS), the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI).Results: Results demonstrated that the ChYMH subscales had strong internal-consistency (Cronbach's higher than .70), and correlated well with the criterion measures.Conclusions: Findings support the clinical utility of the ChYMH for use among clinically referred children and youth. Implications for children's mental health assessment and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards found within the food processing sector. As a result of these hazards, the food processing sector in Ontario, Canada has higher lost time injury rates than other industry sectors traditionally believed to be "unsafe" such as pulp and paper and mining. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the level of compliance of the food processing sector with the relevant OHS legislation as well as produce a sectorspecific priority list of OHS concerns. Adapted from existing resources, an online legislative gap analysis questionnaire was developed for this study. An invitation to participate was sent to individuals in a database of alumni OHS students/registrants. The survey data was analyzed via frequency distributions. We had a response rate of 31% and almost all respondents were OHS managers or coordinators. A number of legislative gaps were identified with key issues related to inadequate training, lack of relevant OHS policies and insuf- ficient hazard identification activities. The top three concerns from this sector were: 1) manual material handling, 2) slip, trips and falls and 3) energized equipment. These findings can facilitate the development of an action plan to improve the OHS performance of this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1823, the Ontario House, a hotel and tavern, was built near Niagara Falls, Canada. In addition to providing a location for travelers and tourists to drink and lodge, Ontario House, like many other establishments, billeted soldiers when the need arose. The 2012 excavation of the midden and features of the Ontario House produced a large assemblage of artifacts including ceramics, buttons, numismatics, and military accoutrements. Of particular interest is an East Indian coin, found in the natural topsoil, which can be associated with the 67th Regiment of Foot's brief occupation of Ontario House in 1841. This paper addresses the significance of this coin and associated finds in regards to the global movement of the regiment and the socio-political context of Ontario House within regional history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how arborists negotiate their work environment, including the pressures of policies, the labour market, technologies, government regulations and lack thereof, and the non-human agencies with which they are confronted. The political climate surrounding urban forestry in Southern Ontario influences and governs operations and physical labour. There are many (f)actors and conditions (both external and internal) surrounding fieldwork in urban forestry and that these affect work and personal lives. The questions guiding this paper include: (a) How do various political and labour conditions impact arborists’ sense of pride, independence and skill? ; (b) What are the social and labour divisions within the culture of arboriculture? ; and (c) What is the lived experience of urban forest workers, their employment, and what is it like to be a frontline worker ? This paper provides a closer look at licensing, work conditions, subcultures and social dynamics in urban arboriculture. Using accounts from semi-structured interviews with arborists across Southern Ontario and by examining field arborists’ activities, relationships with co-workers and working conditions through participant observation and ethnographic field notes, I explore and reveal how arborists feel about their working environment and the labour processes and people who oversee and surround them. Findings reveal that despite dehumanizing (f)actors within the field, there are elements of resistance and negotiation, and potential for an alternative future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Review of Sociology 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.)

The probabilistic distribution of wind speed is critical information required in evaluating wind resources, designing wind farms, and mitigating the possible risks in wind power expansion. Various distributions have been used in the research literature to estimate wind speed distribution. In this paper, we propose a flexible family of mixture distributions, whose elements are convex linear combinations of the skew-t-normal Birnbaum-Saunders distributions and is suitable for modelling heavy-tailed data with a heterogeneous population. These distributions are then used to estimate the wind speed distribution. The performance of the proposed family has been compared with five mixture models of the already used distributions, using wind speed data collected at nine stations across Ontario, Canada. The results indicate that mixture models generally provide a better fit than unimodal distributions, according to the model selection criterion. Based on the obtained results, the proposed family provides highly flexible models at all selected stations. It functions better than the other considered distributions at seven of the stations, whereas it is ranked second in the remaining two stations. The proposed family can be utilized in a widespread manner to describe the wind speed in Canada, as well as other regions with similar features. • The Weibull distribution may be inadequate for wind speed data that have heavy-tailed distributions. • The mixture models of STNBS distributions can have one, two or more peak points. • The results indicate that FM-STNBS model provides a better fit than the considered distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]