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Persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are found to be at a greater risk for social isolation during COVID-19 pandemic. While existing literature has examined the challenges faced by persons with IDD, there is a dearth of research that addresses the access and usage of digital technologies by persons with IDD as a solution to stay socially connected during the pandemic. This study therefore investigated the access to and use of digital technologies such as the internet in relation to the risk of social isolation experienced by persons with mild intellectual disabilities ID (with or without developmental disabilities) during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Manitoba. Additionally, barriers to the usage of online technology were explored. Data for a sample of 39 adults were collected using an online survey questionnaire, and phone interviews. The key variables in this study are internet use, access to an electronic device, barriers to the internet usage, loneliness, and social isolation. Loneliness was measured using the Revised UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Loneliness Scale. To measure social isolation, the MSNA-ID (Maastricht Social Network Analysis – Intellectual Disabilities) tool was used. The study utilized both descriptive and inferential analyses to address the research objectives. We found that the majority of the study participants (89.5%), had access to the internet and possessed some form of electronic devices for online connection. The most commonly used devices were smartphones, desktop computers, and tablets. The majority of the study participants (67.6%) who had access to the internet and an electronic device used the internet for social connection during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the study participants (53.8%) perceived that their internet usage made them feel less isolated. The use of the internet was associated with a feeling of less isolation. The results further revealed the most prevalent barriers to th

In the late 19th century, Winnipeg’s white settler population was largely transient, male, young, and unmarried. A short-term alternative housing system catered to this population, underscoring their inability to establish themselves in family homes due to their transience and the lack of marriageable white settler women in the city. In response to this, state-sanctioned female emigration societies sponsored the passage of unmarried working-class women from Europe to correct Winnipeg’s gender imbalance and augment the white settler population. These female emigration societies created a short-term alternative housing system specific to unmarried women, which was employment-determined. The markers of employment-determined housing are proximity to the resident’s place of training or employment, subsidy to the cost of housing, and an austerity which reinforces a short-term tenancy. The influx of white settler women offered Winnipeg’s employers a lower-cost work force, allowing women to transition from employment-determined housing to independent housing (housing selected by and paid for at the discretion of the tenant). By examining unmarried women’s brief access to sanctioned home ownership through the establishment of Winnipeg’s short-lived red light district, as well as the on-set of prohibitive legislation to do with Winnipeg’s first (1904-1914) and second (1926-1929) apartment complex construction booms, I chart a rapid shift in attitudes regarding unmarried women’s socioeconomic freedom as measured through their access to housing.

The Weapons We Become speaks to the disconnect in expressions of identity in between digital space and the real. This series consists of coiled, burnished, and smoke-fired vessels and figures that include fiber aspects to weave an exploration of the identities or personas expressed in spaces that are often hostile to IBPoC and queer peoples. All too often we are subjected to bigotry, hate and exclusion, leading to the expectation that we embody a warrior persona who always is ready and emotionally available to defend our right to occupy space and face off against all antagonism. This unreasonable expectation that marginalized people have an infinite well of emotional fortitude is imposed, unwelcome and yet still somehow almost universally practiced. Many IBPoC, Queer people and allies are choosing to embody the digital warrior by carving out spaces in hopes of existing peacefully, refusing to allow shared spaces to ignore or omit them and thereby asserting their intention to thrive. Others can choose other options. It is here that the perceived anonymity of digital spaces acts as a double-edged blade; in digital space, everyone is the default until they state otherwise. “There are no girls on the internet” is a common meme from the early internet days that clearly reflects the erroneous assumption that everyone online is a cis white male from the US unless they specify otherwise. This defacto assumption simultaneously erases all other ethnicities, genders and sexualities, as well as contributing to an environment where internet users often choose to not disclose, or even invent whole identities, when interacting online for their own safety. Jose Muñoz’s disidentification theory describes this identity/non-identity as a subversionary survival strategy used by non-majority peoples in the real; I am exploring disidentification theory as it can be expressed in the digital world. This digital space was created with the noble intent of an existence beyond and without the

Table Manners discusses the reality of food production, gluttony and ignorant consumption within the Western world, through a grotesque and playful lens, using the medium of ceramics. By using horror, the abject and the grotesque, I pose questions that may not be asked directly under “normal” circumstances, as can be too difficult to digest. This paper explores a side of consumption and excess most of us would prefer to ignore and like to pretend it doesn't exist.

Rural immigration in Canada is increasing, but still underrepresented. While regionalization strategies designed to entice newcomers to settle in rural areas expand, it is necessary to have a deeper understanding of the implications in welcoming them to places that may not be able to offer necessary settlement services, language classes, or other supports. Using a case study approach, I ran focus groups and interviews with newcomers, leaders, educators, and community members in Brandon, Manitoba to explore the role of education and the community more broadly in providing an environment of welcome. Because of a large-scale meatpacking plant, Brandon hires large numbers of immigrant workers and has seen a dramatic demographic change in the last two decades. What does it mean to welcome well? What are the perceptions surrounding newcomer integration, and what experiences do newcomers have outside urban centres? How do the host society and educational institutions need to change to accommodate growing diversity? And finally, what are ways forward for equity, inclusion, and cohesive society? This study found that newcomers in Brandon experience both systemic and individualized racism.Through a Critical Race Theory analysis, I examined the ways racial inequity is upheld through conversational maneuvers that serve to assuage white guilt, hedge, shift blame, recentre white agency, or provide covering justification for racist practices. These maneuvers included upholding inaccurate stereotypes, expressing conflicting perceptions, and using coded language such as ‘clear communication’ or ‘our culture,’ to justify exclusionary stances. Using Intersectionality as a theoretical lens allowed me to explore the ways that multiple identities of newcomers can overlap and compound barriers and inequities, and the ways that multiple positions of privilege can overlap to solidify power. Participants in this study expressed ways to move forward to create positive social change, including

Sociality among the ground-dwelling squirrels has been well researched via studies exploring life history traits, the formation of groups and how cooperation contributes to the success of these social species. The evaluation of socio-spatial organization, and in particular, kin-differential associations among individuals, can provide insight into the adaptive basis of coloniality and altruism among conspecifics. Relatively asocial Franklin’s ground squirrels (Poliocitellus franklinii) discriminate kin from non-kin in the absence of any broader level of social discrimination, which, based on comparative analyses, may be ancestral to more advanced and inclusive expressions of sociality. In populations of Franklin’s ground squirrels near Delta Marsh, Manitoba, Canada, spatial data were gathered to monitor home range and core area size and overlap across the annual reproductive cycle (gestation, lactation and post-weaning) of adult and yearling males and females both with close-kin (defined as known mother-offspring pairs or sibling pairs) and non-close-kin. Nest locations of lactating females were documented as well to test for differences in dispersion and relocation patterns among close- versus non-close-kin. Sex, age and kinship did not affect home range and core area size, which varied extensively across the different stages of the annual reproductive cycle. The degree of home range and core area overlap throughout the overall active season was not significantly affected by sex, age or kinship. Further, lactating females did not cluster nests with close-kin during lactation, and tended to move nests away from close-kin as lactation progressed. Taken together, the absence of preferential association with kin in above-ground space use and nest dispersion suggest that space use of Franklin’s ground squirrels is not predicated on kinship. These findings also suggest that members of this Franklin’s ground squirrel population are relatively asocial based on limited overl

Many grandmothers are raising their grandchildren who are attending school. In particular, many Aboriginal grandmothers are raising their grandchildren which is a phenomenon that is prevalent in many First Nations communities in Canada. The implementation of tools of Canadian colonialism such as the residential school system, the Sixties Scoop, and the Indian Act, deprived many Aboriginal people of their identities, culture, and traditions, resulting in a legacy of abuse, alienation and dysfunction (Dempsey, 2014; Ginn & Kulig, 2015; Spencer, 2016; Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [TRC], 2015). As many Aboriginal survivors and adoptees did not have positive role models and did not acquire critical parenting skills, it is grandmothers who have taken on the responsibility of raising their grandchildren. Aboriginal caregiving grandmothers are taking a lead role in dealing with the intergenerational effects of the Canadian residential school system and the Sixties Scoop. It is likely that many would benefit from supports and services to aid them in this role. This research study gained knowledge about the work grandmothers have done to raise their grandchildren. The research method that was used for this study was autoethnography. As a school administrator I started a Grandmother Support Group for grandmothers who were raising their grandchildren. Most of these grandmothers were Aboriginal. The data for the study consisted of my diaries regarding the work that was done for the start and continuation of a Grandmother Support Group. This research study found that the work of caregiving grandmothers made them agents of positive change within their homes and communities, and led to the development of a formal registered charity that continues to support grandmothers across the world in their efforts to improve circumstances for themselves and their families. It also provided me with a greater understanding of my own role as an ally, in which I learned to use my

Many Canadian Indigenous communities are planning for their Traditional Territories and resource management areas by reclaiming the land-use planning process. This is being achieved through the application of cultural knowledge and governance traditions to the development of long-term visions for their communities and Traditional Territories. A key component of this reclamation process is use-and-occupancy mapping. While this process is successful at highlighting spatial data it does not highlight non-spatial data such as narratives and oral histories. This practicum uses qualitative analysis to analyze existing First Nations’ land-use plans in order develop a prototype coding framework in which non-spatial data could be drawn out of use-and-occupancy interview data to further inform land-use plans. Findings suggest that analysis completed with the prototype can be used as a direction for further exploring non-spatial data that could be used to further inform First Nations land-use plans and management practices.

The transnational border justice movement in Arizona, U.S. and Sonora, MX is responding to violence and death. The U.S.-Mexico borderlands have become burial grounds; the remains of 2,908 persons have been found in Arizona since 2000 (Derechos Humanos, 2015). The border justice movement engages in many different activities to prevent this loss of life. Activists on both sides of the border offer humanitarian aid, protest border and policing policies, and develop advocacy efforts on the militarized U.S.-Mexico border. This ethnographic research in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands is born from the peacebuilding experiences of the researcher and explores identities and peacebuilding in a transnational social movement and considers alternative narratives of the border justice movement from the perspectives of women, people of color, and members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community. Drawing from diverse voices, this analysis fills in current gaps in social movement literature on transnational social activism in the Sonoran-Arizona border context. Furthermore, this scholarly endeavor illustrates how agency is shared among movement actors to build a more sustainable peace. This study creates new connections in the fields of Peace and Conflict Studies and social movements and draws attention to what is currently under-theorized in peacebuilding—how racialized and gendered power imbalances manifest and operate on multiple levels in peacebuilding activities. This research illustrates the constraints of racialized and gendered peacebuilding in transnational social activism at the U.S.-Mexico border while also highlighting the potential of using ritual and cross-border actors to strengthen peacebuilding efforts.

The extent to which a species has declined within its historical range is commonly used as an important criterion in categorizing the conservation status of wild populations. The greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) has been extirpated from much of the area it once inhabited. However, within a large part of this area the species is not considered to be native, warranting no recovery effort or special protection. Demographic analysis based on provenance data from 238 specimens from museum collections in addition to genetic analyses of 100 mtDNA sequences suggest this species was native to the northern prairies, extending from central Minnesota to Alberta, Canada. Provenance data from 1879 to 1935 indicate that T. cupido would have required colonization and establishment of populations on an average 11,905??km 2 every year, with an estimated per capita growth rate of 8.9% per year. These rates seem unrealistic given the limited dispersal and high mortality rates reported for this species. A survey of mtDNA sequences from???original??? and???expanded??? ranges revealed no differences in levels of sequence diversity within ranges (??=0.018; SE=0.004) but significant levels of genetic differentiation (F ST =0.034; P =0.013), which suggest that these populations have been relatively isolated for significant evolutionary time periods. DNA mismatch distributions fit a sudden expansion model consistent with a post-Pleistocene expansion of the species, which coincides with the expansion of prairies into the Canadian plains about 9000??years before present. This study demonstrates the value of museum collections as stores of ecological and genetic information fundamental for the conservation of natural populations, and suggests that the current status of the greater prairie chicken should be re-evaluated within all areas where this species may occur, but is now considered non-native.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the names of the students who died while attending the Brandon Indian Residential School (BIRS) and determine the location of the school’s burial grounds along with the number of unmarked graves on the school property. My research project uses mixed methods including; archival research, qualitative interviews, Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), Electromagnetic Ground Conductivity (EM38), control burns, and aerial photography to systematically survey the school’s burial grounds. My investigation into the deaths and burials of BIRS students aligns closely with a larger project being conducted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Working Group on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials (n.d.). This Working Group attempts to locate the burial grounds for the Indian residential schools across Canada and identify the names of the students who died at the schools in the archives. This research was conducted in collaboration with Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, the University of Manitoba, Brandon University, the United Church of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and in consultation with the TRC, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch, and Brandon Research Centre. By using an applied anthropological approach my thesis works to contribute to the ongoing TRC’s Missing Children’s Project. It is my hope that this research can assist the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation with future restoration, protection and commemoration plans.

Male circumcision is one of the most common paediatric surgeries. Most research has concentrated on assessing medical risks versus benefits, yet the majority of infant circumcisions are performed for social reasons. A few studies have surveyed reasons for circumcising/not circumcising. However, they have not revealed the decision-making process. Drawing upon embodiment theories, this study explored expectant parents’ decision-making about circumcision. Interviews were conducted with six individuals. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilized to identify themes. Findings revealed eight major themes, including ‘gender jurisdiction’ (whether fathers should have more decision-making power than mothers). Another centred on deciding whose body was the focus – the baby’s or the father’s. All participants perceived bias, both pro- and anti-circumcision, in the information they received from health professionals. They expressed a strong need for objective information and support. The findings may be helpful to obstetricians, paediatricians, and midwives – as well as individuals and families facing this decision.

In early years classrooms in Canada, children are often assessed for specific discrete skills in reading and writing, using tools such as running records and word lists. Through research with children, other tools are emerging to more fully help a teacher understand a child’s literacy practices, but the use of these tools requires a shift in ideology regarding literacy and learning. This thesis documents this shift from a more modernist theory of education and autonomous philosophy of literacy to a postmodernist view of education and an ideological view of literacy. Alternative tools for assessment and teaching of children in the form of a pedagogy of listening and pedagogical documentation are presented. Also, pedagogical documentation is used as a methodology for this study. This research suggests a shift in the way educators view children and their literacy practices, and in how they engage in research in the classroom.

Exurban development, consisting of low density residential housing in a rural setting, is steadily increasing in North America. This increase may have negative impacts on the habitat for some species, through the introduction of non-native plants and new predators such as house cats. The northern prairie skink (Plestiodon septentrionalis) is listed as Endangered in Canada occurring only in southwestern Manitoba. The objectives of this study included: a) defining prairie skink microhabitat use on private land according to vegetation, temperature and cover availability, b) determining landowner awareness of prairie skinks on their property, and c) determining how landowner stewardship could be used in skink conservation. Mixed methods strategy of inquiry was utilized and data collection procedures included both quantitative habitat surveys and qualitative landowner interviews. I found that prairie skinks were most often found in prairie habitat, and were found most often in areas with a) high percent artificial cover, b) high leaf litter, and c) more pieces of cover per acre. Landowners most often saw skinks near buildings, in flower beds and in debris piles. Landowner attitudes towards skinks were positive,though willingness may not translate into action.

During the last 50 years, there has been a transfer of care for individuals living with mental disorders from predominately institutional settings to predominately community settings. The purpose of this research was to document the closure of Brandon Mental Health Centre (BMHC) and to look at long-term outcomes for discharged individuals. These objectives were met by interviewing key people involved in the closure and through analysis of administrative data. To support individuals after BMHC closed, new services were developed in four priority areas: adult inpatient and crisis response services, adult rehabilitation and consumer support services, psychogeriatric services, and child and adolescent services. Visits to a general practitioner for a mental disorder by individuals discharged from BMHC decreased significantly over the follow-up period while visits to a psychiatrist increased significantly. Mortality rates, physician visits, and hospital admissions were higher in former BMHC residents than in a matched cohort.

There is little known about mothers who are recovering from addictions who lose custody of their children. This hermeneutic thesis, using Canadian phenomenologist Max van Manen’s method and a combination of both scholarly elements and rich storytelling, explores the lived experience of four women recovering from addictions who have lost custody of their children. Using a dual approach of manual and computer-assisted coding, three themes (each with three sub-themes) emerged from semi-structured interviews. The first theme, betrayal, examines three sources of betrayal for the women. The second theme, soul-ache, describes the spaces that a mother finds herself in upon losing custody of her children. The third and final theme, reclamation, follows the mothers as they learn to live again. The findings of this thesis, situated within disciplinary knowledge, extend current knowledge regarding these mothers. The implications arising from this thesis are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided., 2011-03

The tundra ecosystem, with its frost-molded landscape and large peat reserves, is vulnerable to climate change. Thus, any increase in temperature due to global warming will cause changes in above-and belowground biota. Understanding the linkage between these biotas will help make prediction of the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning when global change phenomena occur, and consequently aid in making management strategies. The role of nematodes in nutrient cycling and decomposition, among many other attributes, make them useful organisms to study soil processes. Associations between plant and nematode communities, from six sites (Berm Face, Berm Crest, Tundra Heath, Polygon, Hummock and Forest) and from within a young, visually homogeneous tundra heath field site, were examined in the subarctic environment of Churchill, Manitoba. The study also provided nematofaunal information, which is very limited in this region. Multivariate analyses of nematode taxa abundance revealed four distinct groupings: Berm Face, Berm Crest, heaths (Tundra Heath, Polygon and Hummock) and Forest. The result showed a parallel relationship between nematode and vegetation assemblages, and thus, a seeming interdependency between above-ground and below-ground biota. Conversely, association between nematode and plant assemblages within a visually homogeneous tundra site was not as obvious. At this fine scale, the heterogeneous nature of edaphic factors and not plant assemblages is hypothesized to influence within-site nematode communities. The thesis also provided results to improve nematofaunal analysis to enhance their utility as bioindicators of soil food webs.

This thesis explores some possible approaches to better integration of archives with communities and engagement of archives with local community development initiatives. The study suggests that innovative usage of archival material can facilitate community engagement in the knowledge-based economy and support a broad range of community economic development initiatives. Archival public programming and the need for archivists to actively engage with existing and potential users is included in the discussion. Brandon, Manitoba is used as an example of a community that could benefit from the establishment of community archives.

With the aim of developing a housing needs assessment tool for rural Manitoba, the research investigates definitions of ‘rural’, the concept of housing need, and approaches to its assessment. The main question is: how can housing need be identified and quantified at the community or regional level? The response comes in the development of a community-based rural housing needs assessment guidebook (documented in Volume 2). Literature reviewed (Part 2) targets definitions of rural, and an examination of: methods of assessing housing need, the nature of housing need, trends in housing policy, housing services programming, and the determination of housing need at a local level. Throughout, there is a focus on application of relevant literature to informing the design and development of the guidebook. The key informant interview process and related ethical considerations are presented in Part 3. The precedents review, of prior housing needs assessments and guides, is also described. The results from these research methods interviews are presented in Part 4, again with a focus on identifying how each informed development of the guidebook. Part 4 concludes with a description of the design of the housing needs assessment guidebook, addressing the structure and scope of the assessment process, key considerations and components included in the guide, the two-phase process that constitutes the main information-generating component of the tool, and the discrepancy model used to guide the user through the assessment process. Design of a sample survey (an optional component of the guide) is also briefly discussed, as well as perceived limitations of the guide including the need for a complementary strategic planning process that picks up where the assessment leaves off, which might merit a second guide that details such further steps. Certain realities of housing needs assessment in rural Manitoba, and complicating aspects of the discrepancy model, are also discussed. Part 5 deta

BUSU strives to enhance student life and the quality of education through consultation, representation, and advocacy.

Brandon University Campus CLOSED — no access to public or students.

BUSU strives to enhance student life and the quality of education through consultation, representation, and advocacy.

Brandon University Campus CLOSED — no access to public or students.

Brandon University Campus CLOSED — no access to public or students.

BUSU strives to enhance student life and the quality of education through consultation, representation, and advocacy.

Brandon University Campus CLOSED — no access to public or students.

Brandon University Campus CLOSED — no access to public or students.

BUSU strives to enhance student life and the quality of education through consultation, representation, and advocacy.

BUSU strives to enhance student life and the quality of education through consultation, representation, and advocacy.