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A Qualitative Study of Urban Mini-forest Initiation Within the Context of Canada’s Changing Climate
No full text2025This qualitative research, employing thematic analysis, provides insights into the factors that lead individuals to establish urban mini-forests using the Miyawaki method and whether they consider the impacts of climate change. Findings revealed that prior environmental experience, concerns about biodiversity loss, anticipation of outcomes, opportunities for community engagement, and community empowerment were common factors. For some, opportunities for reconciliation with Indigenous People were identified as a fundamental factor in initiating their project. The rapid increase in biodiversity, the transformative experience of forest stewardship, and the ability to develop forests throughout the community were compelling attributes of the mini-forest. The anticipated ecosystem services that mitigate various impacts of climate change, particularly concerning protection from extreme heat, were identified as factors, as was the opportunity to inspire future climate action. Additionally, participants had considered at least one climate impact affecting the long-term resilience of the mini-forests they planted, and for some, this was a motivating factor
Locating the Growth Paradigm through Canadian Politics
No full text2025This paper investigates the commitment to growth in Canada, using political platforms to answer two questions: how common is the growth paradigm – which presents economic growth as desirable, imperative, and limitless – across the political spectrum, and, where it appears, how does it work? To answer the first question, the study looked at the political platforms released by four of Canada’s national political parties for the 2025 general federal election to identify policy items that contain at least one element of the growth paradigm. To answer the second question, the research considered the growth paradigm to be a Foucauldian discourse and identified the components of a discursive strategy in each policy item containing an element of the growth paradigm. The study found that the growth paradigm, as it appears in political platforms, was forthright about where and how power would be applied, but comparatively silent about who defines the knowledge about growth. This silence suggests how deeply embedded the growth paradigm is in Canadian politics, but additional research into other election materials might fill that silence for a fuller picture of the growth paradigm’s discursive strategies. Even this partial understanding of how economic growth is normalized and legitimized in policy discussions should give readers the ability to better engage with growth-oriented narratives, fostering more effective dialogue about alternative, non-growth options
Conflict Transformation Through Integrative Mediation in Mitrovica, Kosovo
No full text2025This paper explores the effect of applying Integrative Mediation in Mitrovice/Mitrovica—a city divided along ethnic lines in Kosovo—through the work of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre - Mediation Centre Mitrovica (ADRC-MCM). Following Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, the region has faced significant challenges in establishing the rule of law and providing access to justice to all communities. From 2013 to 2020, ADRC-MCM, guided by the CSSP Berlin Centre for Integrative Mediation, implemented a mediation model aimed at resolving disputes and promoting interethnic cooperation. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, this research is based on interviews with mediators, beneficiaries, and supporters to describe the effectiveness of the Integrative Mediation approach. Results of the research reveal that mediation has significantly contributed to conflict resolution, reduced judicial backlog, and improved inter-community relations. However, challenges remain, including limited public awareness, institutional constraints, and socioeconomic disparities. The research concludes that Integrative Mediation offers a viable model for peacebuilding in divided communities and provides recommendations for advancing its implementation. This research contributes to the greater discussion on conflict transformation and emphasizes the importance of local, inclusive mediation practice in post-conflict societies
Exploring the Noble Eightfold Path as a Catalyst for Awakened Leadership Development
No full text2025This study explored the experiences of 20 Canadian leaders who participated in a 6-month virtual learning journey focused on the noble eightfold path, a pillar of Buddhist thought and practice, tentatively positioned as a secular social science. This research aimed to ascertain the suitability of the noble eightfold path as a framework for awakened leadership development and plausible strategies for integration in the corporate world. Over the past two decades, mindfulness, a subset of Buddhist meditative practice, has gradually blended into the corporate landscape, propelled by its secularization and scientific validation. However, mindfulness is only one of the eight interdependent components of the eightfold path, raising the question of the feasible integration of the remaining seven elements. Through a qualitative methodology, integrating phenomenology and grounded theory as two distinct phases of research, the results revealed the eightfold path as a valuable conduit for leadership development due to its transformative impact on participants. Findings exposed the expansion of intra- and interpersonal skills, reconnecting to values, and enhancing leadership presence. Results from this research expanded the existing awakened leadership conceptual framework and introduced a practical pathway for its development by adopting the eightfold path as its guiding catalyst. However, the findings also suggested limitations for its corporate integration and recommended modernizing the eightfold path to appeal to a contemporary leadership audience. This research contributes to a broader discourse blending ancient wisdom with contemporary organizational needs. By blending spiritual wisdom with secular practices, this research advances a broader discourse blending traditional wisdom with contemporary organizational needs
AI, Team Coaching and The Human Element®: Exploring Team Leaders’ Preferences for an AI Team Coaching Tool Informed by Human-Centered Principles
No full text2025As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into organizational life, its potential applications in team development and coaching are emerging as a focus of interest and concern. This thesis explores the preferences and perspectives of Team Leaders regarding the use of an AI Team Coaching tool, investigating whether Team Leaders would consider using an AI Team Coaching tool, what functionality they would find most useful, and what concerns or hesitations they might have. Using a survey, responses were collected from a diverse sample of Team Leaders across multiple industries and cultural contexts. The survey consisted of both closed-ended and open-ended questions. It was designed to elicit participants’ views on the role of coaching in team development, their attitudes toward AI integration in relational and emotional domains, and their expectations or hesitations about an AI Team Coaching tool. The questions were informed by the principles of Will Schutz’s (1994) The Human Element® which were used as a conceptual foundation for some of the either/or questions. Survey invitations were sent to eighty (80) potential participants. Thirty-seven (37) individuals completed the survey. Respondents came from a wide range of organizational contexts, including corporate, nonprofit and educational institutions, and represented multiple cultures on four continents. While the survey was administered in English, not all respondents were native English speakers. All responses were anonymous to promote candid feedback and to reduce bias. The data gathered through the survey provides insight into the perceived readiness of Team Leaders for an AI Team Coaching tool and offers guidance for future tool development and implementation. The findings suggest a cautious openness to using an AI Team Coaching tool, especially if the tool can foster psychologically safe team environments and promote deeper interpersonal understanding. Key concerns included confidentiality, emotional sensitivity, trustworthiness, and the potential displacement of human coaches. Team Leaders emphasized the need for the tool to
be not only technically competent but also capable of facilitating honest, constructive dialogue and enhancing human connection. The study concludes by outlining implications for the ethical design of an AI Team Coaching tool and proposes a conceptual foundation for creating technology that augments rather than replaces human leadership and team coaching
Helping Coaches Engage in Learning: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of NCCP Participation and Certification Rates
No full text2025This explanatory mixed-methods case study research explores impacts of learning blends, consumer behaviour, and personality traits on coach education participation and certification rates in Canada’s National Coaches Certification Program. The research builds upon previous literature to further identify and quantify factors such that future revisions to coach education learning materials and program design can decrease participation barriers and increase certification rates. Using a mixed-methods approach, data was collected from 67 active coaches, coach developers, and instructional designers from eleven Canadian sports and analyzed using both regression and thematic methods. The findings reveal correlations between higher household incomes, incentives, certain personality traits, and learning preferences impact the likelihood of achieving NCCP-trained and certified status. These results contribute to the field of coach education by highlighting the importance of accessible, clear, and relevant content, flexible evaluation methods, and deliberate mentorship to better support diverse learning preferences and personality types. Implications for practice and future research include greater emphasis on learner-centred approaches, exploring sport-specific policies to better understand barriers and incentives, and expanding the sample size to further isolate the effect of predictive variables
The cheetah and the albatross: the impact of relationship, teacher attitudes, and trauma on the school experience of a gifted child
No full textThis autoethnographic study explores the experience of a gifted child who struggled in public elementary school, as well as the later impacts of that experience on teacher identity. Gifted children are widely misunderstood. More than ability and achievement, giftedness is a form of neurodivergence with associated social and emotional needs and a number of recognizable traits. Giftedness is also a risk factor for experiencing trauma, making these students particularly vulnerable when their social, emotional, and academic needs are not met. While the literature shows the importance of safe, trusting relationships with teachers for gifted students, teachers often have misunderstandings, biases, and sometimes even hostile attitudes towards these students that interfere with forming relationships with them. To shed light on the experience of being gifted, this autoethnography uses a combination of imaginative narratives and realist descriptive critical reflections on artifacts to create dialogues that both illustrate and explore the author’s experience as a gifted child in public school. An analysis of these narratives reveals themes related to relationships with teachers and administrators, the impact of teacher and administrator attitudes, the potential for school-based trauma for gifted students, and the impact of having been a gifted child on teacher identity. Readers will be provided with insight into the inner experience of being a gifted child. Suggestions for improving the experience of public school for gifted children, including the strengths neurodivergent educators may have for relating to these students, are also shared
The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth: Saving Canada’s Democracy and Building Trust With the Public Through Planning, Public Performance Reporting, and Citizen Engagement
No full text2025One of the defining characteristics of a representative democracy is a commitment to public accountability and transparency to the public it serves. The need for governments to demonstrate accountability and transparency to the public is increasing, particularly in times when financial resources are not abundant and public needs and expectations are increasing. This study explores public accountability and transparency within the planning and performance reporting realm in public sector organizations at all levels of government: Federal, provincial, and regional in Canada. The research question, “How might planning and performance reporting practices and processes be used by government organizations to facilitate learning, encourage higher levels of citizen engagement and participation, and promote accountability and transparency?” generated results that indicate the need for improvements in public accountability, transparency, citizen engagement, and public performance reporting, and further unveiled the need to evaluate and assess an overarching political culture that is currently not conducive to making positive change. An interdisciplinary, constructivist epistemological approach was adopted, using an appreciative-oriented inquiry to interview 26 individuals consisting of 15 senior government bureaucrats, seven auditors, and four politicians. Planning and public performance reporting is indeed an avenue to connect with the public, to begin a journey of building trust with the public, and to ensure democratic principles remain intact. This can only come with a commitment to shifting a political culture that has become increasingly adversarial and driven by the pursuit of power as a primary goal
The recycling of people from nowhere, from nothing, for justice: The paradox of policing truth and reconciliation in Western Canada through a clash of state-mandated systemic injustice and hegemony of Indigenous knowledge
No full text2025The researcher observed a city bus painted with Indigenous artwork. They then saw two Indigenous people experiencing social challenges get off the bus, and everyone backed away. It personified justice system approaches to Truth and Reconciliation (TAR) through paternalistic performative measures, such as the bus painting, which resembles TAR but does not provide meaningful change to the complex social issues and inequities experienced by the two Indigenous Peoples that TAR is meant to address. In contrast, calls for equality or colourblind approaches coupled with no legal mandates to include Indigenous knowledge that honours reciprocal relational approaches, Numbered Treaty Obligations, or numerous inquiries that have produced the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action (TRC), National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice (NIMMIWG), and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) stop the justice system, including police, from supporting the people getting off the bus
Ryan Smolar's Road to Resilience tour hits Nanaimo
No full textThis article was originally published as: Alexander, D. (2025, October 5). Ryan Smolar's Road to Resilience tour hits Nanaimo. Strong Towns Nanaimo. https://www.beautifulnanaimo.ca/posts/2025/10/05/road-to-resilience-tour-hits-nanaimoRyan Smolar of Placemaking US visited Nanaimo as part of his Pacific Northwest tour, sharing insights on resilient infrastructure, food security, and community building from his experiences around the world