Explanatory Analysis of Factors Influencing the Support for Sustainable Food Production and Distribution Systems: Results from a Rural Canadian Community

Investigating the viability of alternative food networks (AFNs) is more important than before because of the disruptions in global supply chains and evolving resident composition in different regions. In this regard, this paper reports on findings of a project aimed at identifying factors influencing support for local, sustainable food production, and distribution systems. In the first phase, local residents and international students in Cape Breton, Canada, were surveyed prior to the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to assess their attitudes and values relative to shopping at farmers markets and buying local. In the second phase, mid-pandemic, text mining of Twitter data was used to gauge sentiments related to these same activities. The results of our explanatory analysis suggest that the top two factors influencing decisions to buy local farm products were food attributes and supporting community economic development. In contrast to previous studies, we included an alternate sample group, namely, international students, and explored the relevance of the social aspect of buying local, e.g., meeting the farmer. Among our findings from the application of a logistics regression model to our survey data (N = 125) is the suggestion that the senior non-international student residents of the Cape Breton Island were more probable to be in the category of consumers whose perception of an authentic buy-local experience was limited to distribution channels that allowed for the social aspect of buying local, e.g., meeting the farmer.

Rural practitioner vignette

This chapter describes the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) as a beautiful region of approximately 2,400 square kilometres located on Cape Breton Island in the eastern part of Nova Scotia. It talks about the characterization of Cape Breton Island by both an aging and declining population hundreds as young adults have migrated out of the region for educational and work opportunities. It also analyzes the shift in the shape of the CBRM's age pyramid as there have been fewer young people and far more people in the older age cohorts. The chapter elaborates how the CBRM is increasingly challenged to identify initiatives and programs that will effectively accommodate and support an aging population, as it is among the poorest municipalities in Nova Scotia. It points out the CBRM's active transportation strategy, which has been supported by the municipal council and has resulted in far better infrastructure for walking and cycling in the region.

Liminal Spaces and the Ecomorphic Self in Alistair MacLeod’s Nova Scotian Narratives

"Liminal Spaces and the Ecomorphic Self in Alistair MacLeod’s Short Stories. Starting from the observation that Cape Breton Island, the distinctive setting of Alistair MacLeod’s fiction, is a “borderland” lying at the intersection of complementary elements (past – present, tradition – individuality, humans – environment), this paper proposes a general discussion of liminality in the author’s work as well as a close reading of two of his short stories, “The Road to Rankin’s Point” and “Island”, with the aim of highlighting how a relational, ecomorphic self-arises in the wake of symbolic encounters that lead to a reassessment of the subject’s position within their biological and cultural milieu. Keywords: Alistair MacLeod, Cape Breton, liminality, borderlands, ecomorphism. "

Formation of Anorthositic Rocks within the Blair River Inlier of Northern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (Canada)

Rocks from the Blair River inlier of Northern Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia, Canada) have been correlated with either the Grenville basement of eastern Laurentia or the accreted Avalon terrane. Additional zircon U-Pb dates of spatially associated anorthositic dykes (425.1±2.2 Ma) and a metagabbro (423.8±2.5 Ma) from the Fox Back Ridge intrusion of the Blair River inlier reveal Late Silurian emplacement ages. Their contemporaneity suggests that they may be members of a larger intrusive complex. The anorthositic rocks have high Eu/Eu∗ values (>2.5), and bulk compositions are similar to the mineral compositions of labradorite (An50-70) and andesine (An30-50). The metagabbro is compositionally similar to alkali basalt and does not seem to have been affected by crustal contamination (Nb/U>24; Th/NbPM≤1.1) although it was metamorphosed. The high Tb/YbN (1.8-1.9) ratios suggest that the parental magma of the metagabbro was derived from a garnet-bearing peridotite. Fractional crystallization and mass balance calculations indicate that the anorthositic rocks can be derived by mineral accumulation from a mafic parental magma similar in composition to the metagabbro of this study. The Late Silurian ages suggest that the rocks were emplaced into the Avalon terrane after the closure of the Iapetus Ocean but before Early Devonian (415-410 Ma) sinistral transpression.

Fostering Reconciliation through Collaborative Research in Unama’ki: Engaging Communities through Indigenous Methodologies and Research-Creation

This article documents relationships, strategies, and activities involved in developing and carrying out collaborative community-engaged research for reconciliation, based on Indigenous methodologies and research-creation. It documents an example of Indigenous/non-Indigenous collaboration in Unama’ki (also known as Cape Breton, Canada), providing data towards the refinement of models of research designed to foster reconciliation, and contributing to a literature on Indigenous/non-Indigenous collaborations in ethnomusicology and related fields. While revealing some challenges in the process with respect to addressing local needs, it also describes transformations that can be achieved through effective collaboration, including ways in which universities can be involved.