A North American Indigenous Narrative-based Inquiry of Culture and Land

This research uses a narrative cultural inquiry study to address the need to save the land our Mother Earth (Aki) and the relationship with Indigenous Spirituality through the topics/themes of Spirit Houses, Sa'be (Sasquatch) and Sacred landscape features such as Spiritual Sites, Ceremony and Pictographs within the geography of Turtle Island, North America in Northern Ontario, Canada. The rationale of this study was to address the larger inaadiziwin (philosophy) of Indigenous character and way of life with nature or “All My Relations” for the author.

An overview of experimental Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) poisoning programs in northern Ontario, 1956 to 1964

In the late 1950s, the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests commenced an experimental Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) poisoning program in northern Ontario, the results of which were documented in a series of unpublished reports. Most projects consisted of distributing baits poisoned with strychnine on frozen lakes in late winter; 12 were conducted by district staff and typically consisted of <10 bait stations monitored for two to four months. An intensive three-year program was completed in the Allanwater area, about 250 km north of Thunder Bay, where up to 56 bait stations were distributed on a grid covering >25 000 km2. Thirty eight wolf kills were reported in the district projects and 81 in the Allanwater study. In total, where sex was identified 56% were male and 44% female. Adults made up 51% of the kill in the Allanwater study, subadults (<2 years old) 44%, and 5% were of unknown age. Two hundred and sixty five kills of species other than wolves were documented from all studies, comprising 10 mammal and nine bird species. Common Raven (Corvus corax) and Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) made up 54% and 24% of the non-target mortality, respectively, and were recorded in most studies. Kills of wolves and non-target species were probably under-reported because animals left bait stations before dying, were buried by snow, were removed by bounty hunters, or monitoring for non-target species was poor. Although completed over 50 years ago, the studies summarized here provide context on the ecological impacts and ethics of poison use to control wolves.

Pandemic preparedness and response in service hub cities: lessons from Northwestern Ontario

Purpose Responding to the needs of homeless and marginally housed persons has been a major component of the Canadian federal and provincial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, smaller, less-resourced cities and rural regions have been left competing for limited resources (Schiff et al., 2020). The purpose of this paper is to use a case study to examine and highlight information about the capacities and needs of service hub cities during pandemics. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on the experience of Thunder Bay – a small city in Northern Ontario, Canada which experienced a serious outbreak of COVID-19 amongst homeless persons and shelter staff in the community. The authors catalogued the series of events leading to this outbreak through information tracked by two of the authors who hold key funding and planning positions within the Thunder Bay homeless sector. Findings Several lessons may be useful for other cities nationally and internationally of similar size, geography and socio-economic position. The authors suggest a need for increased supports to the homeless sector in small service–hub cities (and particularly those with large Indigenous populations) to aid in the creation of pandemic plans and more broadly to ending chronic homelessness in those regions. Originality/value Small hub cities such as Thunder Bay serve vast rural areas and may have high rates of homelessness. This case study points to some important factors for consideration related to pandemic planning in these contexts.

Generation of high-pH groundwaters and H2 gas by groundwater–kimberlite interaction, northeastern Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT We report new isotopic data for H2 and CH4 gases and Sr for groundwater collected from Jurassic Kirkland Lake kimberlites in northern Ontario, Canada. Groundwaters interacting with kimberlites have elevated pH (up to 12.4), are reducing (Eh as low as the H2-H2O couple), are dominated by OH− alkalinity, and have non-radiogenic (mantle) 87Sr/86Sr values (∼0.706–0.707). Most significantly, the highest pH groundwaters have low Mg, high K/Mg, and are associated with abundant reduced gases (H2 ± CH4). Open system conditions favor higher dissolved inorganic carbon and CH4 production, whereas under closed system conditions low DIC, elevated OH− alkalinity, and H2 production are enhanced. Hydrogen gas is isotopically depleted (δ2HH2 = −771 to −801‰), which, combined with δ2HH2O, yields geothermometry temperatures of serpentinization of 5–25 °C. Deviation of H2-rich groundwaters (by up to 10‰) from the meteoric water line is consistent with Rayleigh fractionation during reduction of water to H2. Methane is characterized by δ13CCH4 = −35.8 to −68‰ and δ2HCH4 = −434‰. The origin of CH4 is inconclusive and there is evidence to support both biogenic and abiogenic origins. The modeled groundwater–kimberlite reactions and production of elevated concentrations of H2 gas suggest uses for diamond-production tailings, as a source of H2 for fuel cells and as a carbon sink.

Evaluating the Performance of a Forest Succession Model to Predict the Long-Term Dynamics of Tree Species in Mixed Boreal Forests Using Historical Data in Northern Ontario, Canada

Environmental concerns and economic pressures on forest ecosystems have led to the development of sustainable forest management practices. As a consequence, forest managers must evaluate the long-term effects of their management decisions on potential forest successional pathways. As changes in forest ecosystems occur very slowly, simulation models are logical and efficient tools to predict the patterns of forest growth and succession. However, as models are an imperfect representation of reality, it is desirable to evaluate them with historical long-term forest data. Using remeasured tree and stand data from three data sets from two ecoregions in northern Ontario, the succession gap model ZELIG-CFS was evaluated for mixed boreal forests composed of black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.), balsam fir (Abies balsamea [L.] Mill.), jack pine (Pinus banksiana L.), white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), white birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.), American larch (Larix laricina [Du Roi] K. Koch), and balsam poplar (Populus balsamefera L.). The comparison of observed and predicted basal areas and stand densities indicated that ZELIG-CFS predicted the dynamics of most species consistently for periods varying between 5 and 57 simulation years. The patterns of forest succession observed in this study support gap phase dynamics at the plot scale and shade-tolerance complementarity hypotheses at the regional scale.

Trading One Risk for Another: Consequences of the Unauthenticated Treatment and Prevention of Silicosis in Ontario Miners in the McIntyre Powder Aluminum Inhalation Program

From 1943 to 1979, miners and factory workers in more than two hundred work sites globally were subjected to mandatory medical treatments by their employers as an unproven, and ultimately ineffective, treatment to prevent the lung disease silicosis. The treatments involved inhaling finely ground aluminum dust known as McIntyre Powder, blown into miners’ change rooms each shift using compressed air systems. Tens of thousands of industrial laborers were exposed to McIntyre Powder, yet their story is scarcely known, and the possible health impacts of their aluminum treatments were rarely studied. This paper integrates the history of the aluminum prophylaxis program and its control by the northern Ontario mining industry with the lived experience of one of the affected miners, whose daughter created a voluntary registry which documents health issues in exposed miners, and stimulated research that found a link to her father’s Parkinson disease.

FLEdGE (Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged) Partnership

The Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE) SSHRC-funded Partnership has deep roots in relationships developed over time among academics and community-based practitioners. FLEdGE emerged from community-driven research in Ontario on food hubs and community resilience dating from 2010. From there it expanded to include seven research nodes across Canada and three thematic international working groups, with over 90 researchers, students, and community partners involved in the project. As a multi-institutional project, FLEdGE has nodes in British Columbia (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)/Alberta (University of Alberta), Northwest Territories (Wilfrid Laurier University), northern Ontario (Lakehead University), eastern Ontario (Carleton University), southern Ontario (Wilfrid Laurier University; University of Guelph; University of Waterloo); Quebec (McGill University; Dawson College); and Atlantic Canada (Dalhousie University; Carleton University). There are two or more lead researchers in each node, typically from different disciplines and several community partners in each node. In this way, FLEdGE branched out to include more than 90 partners and collaborators.

Indigenous Environmental Justice and Sustainability: What Is Environmental Assimilation?

Canada has a long history of assimilative efforts with respect to Indigenous peoples. Legal assimilation efforts occurred on two fronts: the voluntary and involuntary enfranchisement of First Nations people, and the dissolution of First Nations reserve lands. Cultural assimilation occurred through the residential school system, and the removal of Indigenous children from their homes by Canadian child welfare agencies in the “sixties scoop”. Another form of assimilation is through environmental assimilation. I define environmental assimilation as changes to the environment through development, to the extent whereby the environment can no longer support Indigenous cultural activities. Herein, I examine environmental assimilation in northern Ontario, Canada. The “taken-up” clause in Treaty No. 9, the “Exemption Orders” in the Far North Act, the “Except” stipulation in the Mining Amendment Act, and the unilateral streamlining of projects in the Green Energy Act and the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act—these pieces of legislation pose threats to the environment and serve to facilitate the reality of contemporary environmental assimilation of First Nations.