VIURRSpace (Royal Roads University and Vancouver Island University)
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Leadership Approaches to International Mindedness in CAIS IBDP Boarding Schools
No full text2025International mindedness (IM) is crucial in education, promoting global perspectives, intercultural understanding, and responsible citizenship. This thesis examines leadership strategies for fostering IM in students attending Canadian boarding schools offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and accredited by the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS). Despite existing research on IBDP, IM, and leadership, there is a gap in studies connecting these areas in the Canadian context. The study explores how school leaders promote IM, providing insights for policymakers, educators, and the community. It looks at strategies to integrate IM into school culture, curriculum, and community engagement, highlighting leadership's role in enhancing students' cultural competence, global engagement, and academic performance. Using a multiple-case study methodology, the research includes interviews with nine leaders from six of the eight CAIS IBDP boarding schools. Findings reveal themes of collaboration, inclusivity, empathy, and principled decision-making, while also identifying challenges like workload and social media influence. The thesis concludes that effective leadership in IM involves professional development, community engagement, and integrating IM into the school's mission and values. Keywords: international mindedness, leadership, boarding schools, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS)
Curating Connection: How Millennial Women Navigate Self-Presentation, Intimacy, and Rejection in Online Dating
No full text2025This thesis examines how millennial women navigate self-presentation, intimacy, and rejection in online dating. Grounded in social penetration theory and the hyperpersonal model, it explores the tension between authenticity and desirability in profile curation, the transition from superficial to deeper intimacy, and the cultivation of resilience in response to rejection. Through the thematic analysis of a sample of media (2023–2025), active interviews with seven Canadian millennial women, and reflexive journaling, findings reveal a dynamic negotiation: women strategically curate profiles that balance authenticity with appeal, cautiously disclose intimate details, and often prioritize in-person validation, particularly among elder millennials. While artificial intelligence (AI) tools enhance self-presentation, they may also foster superficiality and erode trust. Rejection, including ghosting, is common, yet participants exhibit resilience, sustained by self-confidence and community support, which enables continued openness to intimacy. This thesis emphasizes the importance of online dating platform designs that foster genuine responsiveness to mitigate fatigue and support meaningful connections. By integrating and updating the social penetration theory’s onion model through the lens of the hyperpersonal model and AI influence, this research offers new insights into how millennial women adapt to the evolving landscape of digital romance, informing both platform design and future scholarship on AI-mediated relationships
Green or Greenwashed? A case study of Urban Greenery in Sustainable Residential Development in Vancouver
No full text2025This thesis investigates the incorporation of urban greenery in the form of nature-based solutions (NbS) in high-rise residential developments in the City of Vancouver and critically examines how greenwashing practices may undermine their authenticity and effectiveness. Employing a qualitative case study approach, the research analyses urban greenery proposals and environmental claims across ten residential developments. This is achieved by validating development-related government documents, developers’ submissions, and marketing materials against real-life conditions observed through site surveys, visual inspections, and online aerial imagery and street-view platforms. The findings indicate that while the City of Vancouver has developed a robust policy framework promoting urban greenery , such as green roofs and urban agriculture, implementation varies across developments. A pattern of greenwashing practice was observed in residential developments built for sale, where green features were exaggerated, misrepresented, or presented as future commitments. In contrast, purpose-built rental residential developments demonstrated more genuine integration of sustainability features, likely due to their alignment with policy-driven, rather than market-driven, objectives. The thesis identifies three phases of greenwashing: direct consumer deception, stakeholder manipulation, and unverifiable future pledges, and explores their implications for stakeholders, governance, and public trust. The thesis concludes by recommending enhanced monitoring mechanisms, more straightforward guidelines for sustainability claims, and more stringent regulatory enforcement to safeguard the credibility of urban greenery
ADHD & The Algorithm: Diagnosis in the Age of TikTok
No full text2025This project examines how TikTok has influenced ADHD awareness and self-diagnosis, with a focus on adult women who have historically been underdiagnosed and often misunderstood. Through a participatory ethnographic documentary film, the research captures the real-life experiences of women who first identified their symptoms on TikTok, prompting them to seek formal assessments. The film features interviews with women recently diagnosed, healthcare professionals, content creators, and researchers, and explores how the platform’s algorithm promotes both accurate information and misinformation. It investigates TikTok’s dual role in validating long-neglected struggles while potentially oversimplifying complex disorders. By centring the research on women's stories, this study highlights how digital spaces are transforming narratives around ADHD, providing visibility, language, and a community, sometimes for the first time. It considers whether the advantages of increased awareness outweigh the risks of misinformation, and what this means for women navigating this journey in the era of algorithm-driven media
Preliminary seismic risk mapping of Nanaimo, British Columbia, for a modeled 9.3 Mw Cascadia megathrust earthquake
No full textVancouver Island, located at the seismically active convergence of the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, and North American tectonic plates, faces significant earthquake risk. As urban expansion accelerates in the city of Nanaimo, projected to grow by over 40,000 residents by 2046, there is an urgent need to assess the vulnerability of existing and future developments to seismic hazards. This research assessed the spatial distribution of seismic risk across Nanaimo using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) combined with scenario-based modeling in OpenQuake. A 9.34Mw Cascadia megathrust earthquake scenario was employed to estimate structural damage, economic losses, and human nighttime casualty rates. Results indicated that while majority of structures were expected to sustain slight to moderate damage, specific census tracts in the south-central portion of the city exhibited extensive vulnerability, including higher rates of structural collapse. Additionally, emergency response facilities were analyzed for accessibility and vulnerability post-disaster. The findings highlighted the potential isolation of critical services due to roadway disruptions and localized structural damage. This study demonstrated the value of integrating open-source seismic risk modeling with spatial analysis to provide insight into earthquake impacts at the community level
Integrating Indigenous voices: enhancing cultural competency through children's literature
No full textThis project-based thesis examines how Indigenous children's literature, primarily through my picture book Celebrating Potlatches, can enhance cultural understanding among students in grades 1 through 5, ages 6 to 11, in British Columbia. This project aligns closely with BC's English Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum. As outlined by the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care, students are expected to "explore stories and other texts to help us understand ourselves and make connections to others and the world" (BC Ministry of Education and Child Care, n.d., para. 16). This integration of storytelling and First Peoples' perspectives provides a framework for developing empathy and respect for Indigenous cultures. Celebrating Potlatches is crucial, as this picture book was created using authentic Indigenous voices and traditions to bridge cultural gaps through storytelling. My research highlights the historical discrimination faced by Indigenous students within the Canadian education system and underscores the urgent need for educators to develop greater cultural competency. By integrating Indigenous children's books like Celebrating Potlatches, educators can address these issues and provide a platform for sharing Indigenous history and values. The book emphasizes the significance of Potlatch traditional ceremonies practiced by Northwest Coast Nations as a form of cultural medicine that strengthens community bonds and preserves identity. This educational approach challenges stereotypes and deepens understanding of Indigenous traditions, fostering inclusive and respectful learning environments. Incorporating Indigenous stories into education is crucial for enhancing cultural competency and advancing Reconciliation efforts in Canadian schools
A Systems Approach to Ocean Plastics Governance in Ghana
No full text2026There is conclusive evidence that unmanaged and mismanaged plastic waste continues to accumulate in the environment throughout the world, including in the ocean. While it is often feasible to clean up plastic waste polluting the terrestrial environment, removing it from the ocean remains a technical, financial, and practical challenge, making it intractable for many developing countries, particularly in Africa. In the case of Ghana, the annual projection of between 92,000 Mt and 260,000 Mt of mismanaged plastic waste leaking into the ocean for 2020 is expected to rise to more than 350,000 Mt by 2025.This present study employed a qualitative methodology, underpinned by a systems thinking approach, to examine ocean plastics from a governance perspective in Ghana. The findings reveal that ocean plastic pollution is an emerging problem in Ghana with limited national attention. It also reveals low visibility for the problem of ocean plastics in national policies, legislation, and actions. This study recommends the establishment of a Centralized Interagency Council (CIC). CIC will oversee and elevate ocean plastics as a national priority through a governance framework rooted in systems thinking and aimed at supporting an integrated and sustainable ocean plastic interventions in Ghana.
Keywords:
Environmental sustainability, Ghana, Governance, Ocean plastics, Plastic waste management, Systems thinkin
Implementing and Evaluating a New Mental Health and Substance Use Service Model at Island Health: Insights into Organizational Learning and Developmental Evaluation
No full text2025This action research study followed the simultaneous implementation and evaluation of a new mental health and substance use (MHSU) service model at the Western Communities Service Hub (WC Hub), a Colwood, BC-based program and facility, established by Island Health. Open in 2023, the WC Hub brings the integrated, team-based service model to southern Vancouver Island in seeking to expedite access, improve continuity of care and offer comprehensive close-to-home MHSU services for its clients, based in the fast-growing west shore of Greater Victoria, BC. Components of the service model are closely aligned with BC’s provincial Specialty Community Service Programs (SCSP) framework (BC Ministry of Health, Primary and Community Care Policy Branch, 2018; BC Office of the Premier, 2018) and the national Framework for Mental Health Strategy (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2009, 2012), that emphasize improved access, flexible care delivery methods, single care plan, contact and responsible person, and patient-centered approaches.This research examined the program and its evaluation, both in developmental stages, happening alongside and in-response to each other, and tracked adaptive organizational learning (OL) (Bohmer & Edmondson, 2001) that a healthcare provider, such as Island Health, undergoes to implement and monitor a novel service model. It also queried whether developmental evaluation (DE) (Patton, 2016; Patton et al., 2015) provided a facilitating environment for that OL to occur throughout the inaugural year of the implementation.
The study used the evaluation data in a secondary capacity, reinterpreting stakeholder interviews, surveys, and document analysis, for findings highlighting OL across all stages during the development, launch and monitoring of the WC Hub. Through reflection, the study assessed the larger impacts of the OL to the strategic workings of a healthcare body; and complex intra-organizational evaluative processes and their contributions towards innovating. Additionally, early SCSP implementation impacts were examined in the context of the WC Hub.
The research contributes to literature on developmental evaluation in specialty health care and offers insights for organizations seeking to implement and evaluate complex service models
Understanding the impacts of tourism in British Columbian resort municipalities
No full textThis thesis examines the impacts of increasing tourism in British Columbia’s Resort Municipalities and approaches employed to address resulting impacts. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combines a resident perceptions survey (n = 1,088) and municipal staff interviews (n = 14) to assess economic, environmental, housing, infrastructure, services, amenities, sociocultural, financing, policy, and governance dimensions. Quantitative analysis identified significant relationships between tourism and perceived community impacts while qualitative thematic analysis provided deeper insight into local context, tensions, and policy responses. Findings highlight that while tourism offers substantial benefits, it has pronounced impacts on housing, infrastructure, environmental, and sociocultural dimensions within resort municipalities.Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Community Planning in the Department of Community Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vancouver Island University
You Are Not Alone: Understanding Representation in Popular Media and Viewer Meaning Through Degrassi and its Fan Communities
No full text2025This thesis argues that Degrassi was a television production with values of authentic representation and to make its viewers feel less alone. The program pushed cultural boundaries to create meaning for its audience that connects with viewers many years after the program has finished airing. Representations matter for both the represented and the viewer, and this work shows how media can shape audiences and culture. This work employed a mixed-methods approach, with data collected from social media sites, the show’s text, and interviews with key informants, including Degrassi’s co-creator and executive producer Linda Schuyler. This provided rich data about the history of Degrassi and its messaging with its viewers using emerging technology, elements that created meaning for viewers, and what the Degrassi community had to say about the show’s representations.
With this thesis, I found that Degrassi producers embraced emerging technology at significant times in the show’s production to engage with viewers to distribute the show’s message. I found that viewers saw meaning in the show’s vision and values, its actors, characters, and stories, and its Canadian essence. When considering the representations on Degrassi, there was a consistent pattern that showed that its portrayals made viewers feel less alone, provided opportunities for empathy towards unfamiliar groups, and created avenues for people to see others like them on screen. These representations were said to be ahead of their time and opened up opportunities for similar works within the cultural climate