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Delineate hydroecological riparian zones using LiDAR, satellite imagery, and GIS
No full textRiparian ecosystems perform essential ecological functions, including filtering pollutants, stabilizing shorelines, mitigating floods, and supporting biodiversity. However, these ecosystems are increasingly threatened by land-use changes, climate change, and habitat degradation, which disrupt their functionality. Traditional approaches to managing riparian zones and protecting aquatic habitats often rely on fixed-width buffers that overlook natural landscape variations and ecological complexity. This research advances riparian delineation by developing an innovative workflow that integrates environmental variables using LiDAR, satellite imagery, and GIS. Key environmental variables including terrain depressions, seasonal flooding, vegetation, surface moisture and hydric soils, were analyzed to capture topographical, hydrological, and ecological influences. Results indicate that terrain depressions, vegetation, and moisture contribute a greater influence on riparian boundaries than seasonal flooding, reinforcing the need for adaptive delineation methods. Riparian widths varied significantly, even within the same biogeoclimatic conditions, driven by localized environmental differences, emphasizing the need for integrating diverse local environmental variables into the delineation workflow. By leveraging the capabilities of LiDAR, satellite imagery, and GIS, this research presents a dynamic framework for mapping variable-width riparian ecosystems that align with current environmental conditions. These findings contribute to advancing riparian mapping methods, offering insights that extend beyond local ecosystems to support broader conservation strategies and global sustainability initiatives
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Management Strategies for Methane Reduction from Waste in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
No full text2025AbstractThis study evaluated greenhouse-gas mitigation and management strategies to reduce methane emissions from waste recycling activities in Victoria, British Columbia. Using a mixed-methods approach that included a literature review, material-flow modelling, and stakeholder policy analysis focused on municipal programs, the study identified the technical, behavioural, and policy interventions that are most effective in limiting methane generation across waste streams. Methane production, flaring, emissions, oxidation and the decay constant from biosolids placed into the Hartland Landfill was estimated. In order to maintain long-term methane mitigation, a helpful road map for local decision-makers is suggested including rapidly increasing organics diversion and anaerobic digestion with energy recovery where feasible, enhancing landfill gas capture at the remaining disposal sites and investing in public engagement, monitoring, and contamination control.
Keywords: Methane Emissions, Anaerobic Digestion, Methane Mitigation, Waste Recycling
A decade of learning by doing: The MCP program at Vancouver Island University
No full textCopyright (2025) Planning Institute of British Columbia. The following article originally appeared as: Shaw, P. (2025). A decade of learning by doing: The MCP program at Vancouver Island University. Planning West, 67.4, 18-19. Planning West is published by the Planning Institute of British Columbia. The PIBC website can be found at: https://www.pibc.bc.ca/Pamela Shaw reflects on the Master of Community Planning program at Vancouver Island University
Photovoice as knowledge mobilization
No full textThis article was originally published as: Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., & Novotna, G. (2025). Photovoice as knowledge mobilization. Journal of Critical Research Methodologies, 1(2), 10-27.This article was motivated by an awareness of the knowledge mobilization aspect of photovoice facilitating meaningful social change. Photovoice aims to platform excluded voices and alternative forms of knowledge through photographs. In this project, immigrants with a professional background articulated their experiences in finding work in their field in Canada, this leading to photo exhibitions and round table discussions with relevant stakeholders. To highlight knowledge activation and exchange and explore how knowledge mobilization might be bolstered, we use an example of a photovoice project involving skilled immigrants to Canada. Because photovoice is situated within Freirean and feminist approaches, we employ these lenses to understand opportunities in photovoice for knowledge mobilization. We establish that key mechanisms for deliberately extending photovoice into the realm of knowledge mobilization are deepening reflexion (conscious raising and conscientization); facilitating affirmation, legitimation, and validation through strengthening the processes of mutual exchange (relationality); building a common narrative that exposes structural forces impacting lived realities through critical dialogue (collective identification and collective action); and engaging those who hold power in further critical dialogue.SSHRC Partnership Engagement Grant 892-2020-203
Sounding the Floor: Advancing Inclusive Firefighter Culture
No full text2025This study examined work-related and personal factors contributing to disparities in career experiences within the Calgary Fire Department (CFD). Drawing on participants’ insights and a review of relevant literature, the research explored firefighting culture, experiences of inclusion and belonging, advocacy efforts, and perceptions of cultural evolution. The research provided evidence of psychological trauma and challenges faced by members of underrepresented demographics, firefighting culture reinforcing a strong drive to be accepted, and members sacrificing uniqueness and personal values. The study also identified key barriers, strategies, resources, and actions that could support more equitable and inclusive workplace practices. Findings highlight how the CFD may promote equity for historically outcasted employees. Recommendations call upon leaders to orchestrate systemic overhaul, embrace inclusive practices, and consider broader outcomes and potential impacts to the organization, the fire service industry, and academic discourse regarding inclusion efforts afforded visibly marginalized emergency responders.
Keywords: firefighter, inclusion, culture, belonging, fire departmen
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
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