Daniel D. McCarthy

A Critical Systems Approach to Social Learning: Building Adaptive Capacity in Social, Ecological, Epistemological (SEE) Systems

This paper presents a conceptual tool, or heuristic, for describing the epistemological context for social learning within complex social-ecological systems. The heuristic integrates several definitions of social learning that emphasize the importance of critical reflection and its collaborative nature and that it is rooted in and oriented toward practice through social interactions. The conceptual tool is useful in identifying and conceptually mapping different perspectives based on types of learning described along three dimensions: typology of knowledge; different levels of critical reflection; and scale. The heuristic was originally developed in the context of an environmental planning process in southern Ontario, Canada, and is applied to identifying barriers and bridges to social learning in the case of flood damage reduction in a remote First Nations community in northern Ontario, Canada.

The Victor Diamond Mine environmental assessment process: a critical First Nation perspective

Restrictive scoping has emerged as a contentious issue in environmental assessment (EA) with developments in northern Canada on Aboriginal territorial homelands. Restrictive scoping potentially leads to the exclusion of potentially affected stakeholders, constrained impact assessment, and inadequate collection of baseline information and traditional knowledge. The First Diamond Mine in Ontario, Canada, is located on the Attawapiskat River in the western James Bay region. We examined whether the scoping applied in the EA process that led to the approval of the mine addressed the needs of First Nations located southeast of the mine, specifically Fort Albany First Nation on the Albany River. Our findings indicate that the proponent, De Beers Canada Inc., with the approval of government authorities, primarily consulted and worked with Attawapiskat First Nation through the EA process and largely excluded other First Nations in the region. Limitations of EA in the context of northern Canada are identified. The potential of emerging community-based and regional land use planning in Ontarios far north is discussed.

Assessing the Impact of Pilot School Snack Programs on Milk and Alternatives Intake in 2 Remote First Nation Communities in Northern Ontario, Canada

BACKGROUND Canadian Aboriginal youth have poorer diet quality and higher rates of overweight and obesity than the general population. This research aimed to assess the impact of simple food provision programs on the intakes of milk and alternatives among youth in Kashechewan and Attawapiskat First Nations (FNs), Ontario, Canada. METHODS A pilot school snack program was initiated in Kashechewan in May 2009 including coordinator training and grant writing support. A supplementary milk and alternatives program was initiated in Attawapiskat in February 2010. Changes in dietary intake were assessed using Web-based 24-hour dietary recalls in grade 6 to 8 students, pre- and 1-week post-program, with a 1-year follow-up in Kashechewan. Student impressions were collected after 1 week using open-ended questions in the Web survey. Teacher and administrator impressions were collected via focus groups after 1 year in Kashechewan. RESULTS After 1 week, calcium intake increased in Kashechewan (805.9 ± 552.0 to 1027.6 ± 603.7 mg, p = .044); however, improvements were not sustained at 1 year; milk and alternatives (1.7 ± 1.7 servings to 2.1 ± 1.4 servings, p = .034) and vitamin D (2.5 ± 2.6 to 3.5 ± 3.4 µg, p = .022) intakes increased in Attawapiskat. Impressions of the programs were positive, though limited resources, staff, facilities, and funding were barriers to sustaining the consistent snack provision of the 1-week pilot phase. CONCLUSION These illustrations show the potential of snack programs to address the low intakes of milk and alternatives among youth in remote FNs. Community-level constraints must be addressed for sustained program benefits.

Inadequate Nutrient Intakes in Youth of a Remote First Nation Community: Challenges and the Need for Sustainable Changes in Program and Policy

Background. The current study established baseline nutrient intakes of youth and examined the potential for sustainability of a pilot school snack program in the remote First Nation of Kashechewan, Ontario, Canada. Methods. Twenty-four-hour dietary recalls established baseline intakes in grade 6–8 students (𝑛=43). Subsequently, a pilot healthy school snack program was initiated. Dietary recalls were completed one week (𝑛=43) and one year after the program (𝑛=67). Paired Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests were used to detect changes in intakes. Impressions of the teachers (𝑛=16), principal, and students were collected qualitatively. Results. Most youth had dietary intakes below current standards. Although vitamin C (𝑃=0.024) and fibre (𝑃=0.015) intakes improved significantly after one week, these improvements were not sustained over the following year. Program impressions were positive. Conclusion. The need for a nutrition program is clear. While benefits were realized in the short term, improvements could not be maintained. Policy changes are needed to address barriers to sustainability.

The controversy of transferring the Class Environmental Assessment process to northern Ontario, Canada: the Victor Mine Power Supply Project

Since Canada employs a federated system of government, there are separate environmental assessment (EA) processes at the national and provincial levels. In the Province of Ontario there is a streamlined, pre-approved, self-assessed process for ‘classes’ of projects. It is assumed that Class EA protocol developed in the southern Ontarian context is directly transferable to northern Ontario. A case-based approach, using the Victor Mine transmission line project, was employed to critically examine whether the Class EA template developed in southern Ontario should be applied to the western James Bay region of northern Ontario. Specifically, the two assumptions of Class EAs of predictability and manageability were examined. Interview and document data were used to inform a themed analysis. Results indicate that the western James Bay region is significantly different to southern Ontario. Thus, the Class EA template developed in and for southern Ontario is not transferable to the northern Ontarian context and the application of ‘cookie cutter’ EAs to other sub-arctic and arctic regions must be questioned.

A POLICY WINDOW OPENS: STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN YORK REGION, ONTARIO, CANADA

Government agenda setting has been a focus of research in the field of policy sciences for over two decades. The concept of a policy window is explored as a driver of governmental agenda setting. The Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada was chosen as a case study for exploring the application of strategic environmental assessment at the municipal level through a policy window lens. Problem, policy and political streams converged to provide the necessary conditions for improved environmental assessment and infrastructure planning in York Region. A focusing event and the resulting crisis motivated stakeholders to identify and act on the problem. An SEA-type approach was initiated as one key response. A variety of activities were initiated by York Region including the development of a Sustainability Strategy, synchronisation of master planning, wider consideration of alternatives at the master plan level and improved public consultation. Conclusions are drawn and several recommendations are presented and discussed.

The concept of the Anthropocene as a game-changer: a new context for social innovation and transformations to sustainability

After tracing the antecedents of the concept and considering its intersection in social innovation research, we put forward the argument that the Anthropocene concept points to three areas of thought that are strategically imperative and must be accelerated if social innovation theory and practice is to prove transformative and respond to the challenges associated with the Anthropocene. First, we contend that the current debate on social innovation for sustainability lacks a deeper focus on human-environmental interactions and the related feedbacks, which will be necessary to understand and achieve large-scale change and transformations to global sustainability. Many innovations focus on only the social or the ecological, and we believe a more integrated approach will be needed moving forward. Second, social innovation research must confront the path-dependencies embedded within systems, and we propose that the act of “bricolage,” which recombines existing elements in novel ways, will be essential, rather than single variable solutions, which currently dominate social innovation discussions. Finally, we put forward the idea that confronting the cross-scalar nature of the Anthropocene requires revisiting both the scope and temporal nature of social innovations that are most typically focused upon by scholars and funders alike. We believe the concept of the Anthropocene creates new opportunities for social innovation scholars to imagine new possibilities.

Strategic environmental assessment and regional infrastructure planning: the case of York Region, Ontario, Canada

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is seen as an instrument that is essential to realizing sustainability goals that transcend project-level undertakings (e.g. policies, plans and programmes). The purpose of this case-based, collaborative research was to extend practical and theoretical understanding of SEA to the related, but in practice poorly coordinated, processes of project-level environmental assessment (EA), master planning and regional land use planning. Semi-structured key informant interviews and review of policy documents were used as the main sources of qualitative data to explore the key events that have led to an emerging strategic approach to planning and EA in York Region. This research contributes to the application of SEA at the municipal level, and highlights the importance of an SEA-type approach as a contribution to better informed, tiered and integrated planning and decision making that is underpinned by sustainability.

Getting back to basics: the Victor Diamond Mine environmental assessment scoping proce and the issue of family-based traditional land versus registered traplines

Proper scoping is essential for any environmental assessment (EA) process. This is particularly true with respect to resource development in the intercultural setting of First Nation homelands of northern Canada. Improper scoping leads to EAs that are flawed for a number of reasons. For example, potentially impacted stakeholders are excluded from the process; thus, the proper collection of baseline information is not possible resulting in inaccurate predictions of impacts and mitigation strategies. We examined whether the approved EA for the Victor Diamond Mine in northern Ontario was properly scoped using criteria identified by the Government of Canada, in their project-specific guidelines developed for the assessment. Our results from the published literature, which included oral history, clearly indicate that the Victor Diamond Mine EA scoping process was based on two erroneous assumptions: that the registered trapline system was the accepted system of land use/occupation in northern Ontario, and that land use/occupancy was based on the treaty-imposed reserve system (not the family-based traditional lands system). Implications for resource development involving indigenous people are discussed.

Dreamcatcher: IT to Support Indigenous People

The Dreamcatcher Web-based information system contains interactive mapping tools, mediated social networks, geospatial consultation services, and a security model to help indigenous people retain their traditional knowledge and negotiate with governments and development proponents about resources and infrastructure developments on their lands.