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Pressed specimen of Paeonia lactiflora. https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/25204/Kipot.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Impact assessment and resource management practices grapple with knowledge and research drawn across paradigms, disciplines, and cultures. In this lies the central challenge of managing developments, especially where Indigenous rights are concerned, and it is this aspect of impact assessment most widely regarded as a failure. The legitimacy of environmental impact assessment rests on the way in which research design and outcomes cope with disciplinary fault lines and different knowledge systems. This thesis explores community-based monitoring (CBM) as an emergent trans-disciplinary methodology for Indigenous knowledge inclusion in resource management. I ask: what are the key challenges of CBM as a pathway for meaningful inclusion of Indigenous knowledge into resource management decisions? I explore this question through a review of literature on the history of Indigenous knowledge and land use research methods and the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in resource management. Through semi-directed interviews with practitioners, I explore two case studies: the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Community Based Monitoring Network; and programs run by the Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation in the co-management setting of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Challenges to mobilizing knowledge from Indigenous research participants to co-management resource management decisions are fraught with issues of knowledge authority and epistemological differences, issues of reductionist representation of Indigenous knowledge, interdisciplinary tension, lack of clarity on information needs and research method design, and issues of information control and data autonomy. The CBM programs explored demonstrate active transformation of the legacies of extractive research through the use of technology and data sharing controls that adhere to the principles of Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP ®), and by creating information that is gathered by and made legible to Indigenous harvesters. I show that decision-making structures must adapt to new kinds of information flowing from CBM. To do this, practitioners must step outside dominant science-based modes of knowledge production and evaluation to recognize evidence produced by integrated or interdisciplinary approaches. CBM can be a forum to re-imagine how evidence is made, what constitutes expertise, and how research can and should serve communities. It holds great potential for making and moving knowledge to better understand complex socio-ecological issues, inform decisions, and track their effectiveness.

Digital media consumption of magazines is becoming increasingly ubiquitous, yet print remains significant in this genre. The purpose of this study is to determine a model of publishing in which an independent magazine’s printed form can be made more viable because of its digital components, not despite them. Using a strengths-based approach, the study is based in semi-structured interviews with the publishers of eight independent magazines that have used both print and digital media in their publishing practices, exploring themes like motivation, creative freedom, creative control, and career development. Then, the data was sorted through the lens of McLuhan’s “laws of media” tetrad model, allowing for analysis of what is enhanced, obsolesced, retrieved, and reversed in this hybrid publishing model, with the aim of showing what each component can effectively bring in order to support the print edition and to integrate the digital components. The results inform the design and framework of a magazine publishing model in which the print issue is the focus, with support from the digital components. Any independent magazine can apply the results to its current practices or use them to launch a new hybrid offering.

Front-line maintenance supervisors play a key role at BC Transit, as this role directly interacts with and oversees front-line staff. These front-line leaders are responsible for overseeing most of the organization’s communications and change initiatives. This research investigates the front-line leadership role that organizations rely on as their main conduit for communication of organizational goals and change management initiatives to front-line staff. Front-line leadership roles are the roles in an organization that deal directly with the front-line staff daily. This research investigated the challenges a front-line leader can face while working in this role. This research study engaged BC Transit’s front-line maintenance supervisors and the front-line staff from two different sites within the greater Victoria, British Columbia area. The main research question asked was, “how can BC Transit assist in the development of front-line maintenance supervisors so that they develop the capabilities and skills to lead front-line staff effectively?” Based on this overarching research question, data was collected from a focus group and an online survey that revealed five themes: define and document roles and responsibilities, strengthen hiring processes, develop formal training, focus on team-building and resolve communication barriers. Recommendations offer strategies for the development of front-line leaders, including enhancing overall support for front-line leaders and relationships between front-line leaders and the front-line staff. Keywords: front-line leadership, communication, development, relationships, roles and responsibilities.

Clayoquot Sound is a remarkable and rare coastal temperate rainforest ecosystem on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the Indigenous Ahousaht Nation and a place where chinook salmon and people are interdependent. The health and well-being of the Ahousaht community have been reliant on the Nation’s relationship to salmon for many generations. The Ahousaht stewarded the chinook salmon in the Megin River successfully and sustainably for generations through their complex traditional Indigenous legal system. Now, the genetically diverse population of chinook salmon in the Megin River is on the verge of extinction as the salmon face several human-caused ecological and socio-political threats. In this paper, I specifically explored the relationship between the decline of Megin River chinook salmon and the decline of Ahousaht traditional law as a wicked problem. I used a qualitative approach that combines Indigenous and Western methodologies, such as: systems thinking; describing the biophysical and socio-cultural attributes of the Megin River; ethnographic interviews with knowledge holders; developing a framework for articulating the traditional Ahousaht legal system; and, making recommendations to address the problem. I concluded that the timeline of replacing the traditional Ahousaht legal system (a legal system of spiritual and natural characteristics derived from the Ahousaht relationship to life-giving forces in the region) with that of Canadian law (a legal system of economic and social policy foreign to the natural cycles of the region) corresponds directly with the decline of the Megin River chinook and should be considered as one of the causes of decline. I recommend that additional research be conducted using a systems thinking approach to identify where systemic interventions are required to build new relationships, structures, and institutions that uphold Indigenous knowledge and legal frameworks to address conservation challenges.

The Grand Lodge of Alberta (GLA) supports and oversees all elements of Freemasonry in the Province of Alberta, Canada. The GLA’s membership has declined approximately 5.5% annually for the last decade, with similar challenges in retention seen across North America. Some grand lodges have developed retention strategies, and GLA is looking to follow suit. Taking an action-oriented approach through the use of a world café and two online surveys, this research identified retention and development opportunities within the organization. Communication, education, leadership, and outreach proved key. The inquiry focused on members’ satisfaction with the current system and views of what more idealized iterations of the organization might be. The recommendations are to integrate the mission, vision, and ethics statements, implement a standard of leadership training and mentorship across the organization, and develop tools members can use to achieve these newly clarified goals toward a shared future in Freemasonry.

This synthesis paper introduces a conceptual model which explains how boundary spanning practices use relational, cognitive and structural social capital to facilitate innovation in public-private partnerships (PPPs). Social capital is a multidimensional concept used by scholars from different disciplines to demonstrate the benefits of accessing resources through relationships in social networks. Past research has shown that social capital can accelerate positive innovation outcomes for organizations facing complex challenges, including PPPs that seek to share costs, resources and risks across sectors to develop and sustain competitive advantage. In practice, many PPPs fail to achieve anticipated innovation outcomes, due in part to a breakdown of social relations between partners. The conceptual model is described and illustrated across three components of the dissertation by portfolio: Journal article, online course/learning module and instructional video. Based on results of a qualitative research study that investigated critical incidents on innovation projects in PPPs from the perspectives of public and private sector innovators, the model identifies practices that help leaders across sectors find ways to collaborate more effectively to manage innovation. Three modes of inference were used to analyse interview data, which referenced different industries and types of innovation, producing a holistic understanding of the interaction of social capital and innovation in PPPs. A critical realist, interdisciplinary approach combined theory and empirical data to identify generative mechanisms of innovation outcomes on PPP projects. A knowledge dissemination section describes how the research findings are being made accessible to meet the needs of practitioners as well as academic researchers.

Preface -- Leisure education for youth with a lived experience of mental illness, development of the FRESH [Fun Recreation Exercise and Skills for Health] program for a youth cohort in Western Sydney, Australia / Manali Hiteshkumar Shah, Stewart Alford, & Dafna Merom -- Kink as a form of leisure: Kinky events and the people who love them / Craig Webster & Stanislav Ivanov -- Measuring community engagement: A case study of Livingston (Calgary, Alberta) / Dwayne P. Sheehan & Diala F. Ammar -- Raising the Curtain: At the intersection of education, art, health care and lived experience of dementia / Ania Landy & Colleen Reid -- Improving communities through innovative financing: A case study of the Baileys Trail System / Danny Twilley, Dawn McCarthy, & Seth Brown It is the honour of the World Leisure Centre of Excellence at Vancouver Island University to share the fourth volume of case studies that comprise the Innovative Leisure Practices series. As with previous volumes in the series, the intent is to share examples of unique and innovative practice in leisure, and to encourage discussion around these varied examples. The cases presented herein are eclectic in nature, and represent a very diverse set of important interests, communities, and practices. https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/23389/wlce-case-volume-4-2020.pdf?sequence=3

This research is focused at the sites of Tumbo Island North and Tumbo Cliff (both on Tumbo Island within the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve [GINPR]), with supplemental data from Rocky Point Department of National Defense (DND) and Garry oak Preserve on Vancouver Island, and Waldron Island in Washington State. Field data is overlaid with a literature review of First Nations’ land management practices and acknowledges First Nations’ use of wildfire on traditional landscapes. Results comparing 2010 to 2018 vegetation data indicate an overall increase in exotic and native species and a net negative effect of fire application. Fuel loading levels are higher than expected and have a direct relationship to fire behaviour outputs. Canopy cover has a positive net effect on native species in grass strata and exotic species in forest strata and a negative net effect if found on exotic species in grass strata and native species in forest strata. An additional product of this research is a restoration plan for Tumbo Island North, which includes a comprehensive burn plan for reintroducing fire to Garry oak (Quercus garryana or p’hwulhp ) ecosystems with an aim to restoration, and with specific prescriptions for reducing conifer encroachment, reducing forest fuel loading, increasing oak sapling regeneration and survival, and increasing plant diversity of native plant species. This restoration plan can serve as a model that can be adapted and used at other Garry oak ecosystem sites. p’hwulhp is the Hul’qumi’num word for Garry oak (Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, 2011,p.10).

Purpose – This study draws from ecological systems theory (EST) as the conceptual basis to answer the question: what affects the entrepreneurial resilience of rural women business owners in a time of crisis? Design/methodology/approach – Evidence was gathered from two in-depth interviews with each of 13 participants, three months apart, during the 2020-2021 pandemic. Thematic analysis was applied, along with measures to ensure trustworthiness. Findings – Immediate social contexts challenged entrepreneurial resilience with family care obligations, homeschooling, and unsupportive close relationships. Certain institutional contexts such as enterprises’ industry and business models also demanded more resilience – with healthcare and in-person-only retail operations being most affected. Beyond contexts, entrepreneurial resilience ebbed and flowed with recursive ecosystem interactions especially with close, personal relationships. Business owners demonstrated agency with coping strategies to bolster resilience including focusing on community and collaboration, employing clarity around roles to navigate business and personal commitments, appropriate distancing from ecosystem relationships at critical times, and strategic application of new ways of doing business to accommodate COVID restrictions. Originality/value – This study is unique in that it was conducted as a significant health and economic crisis was unfolding, offering insight into the development of entrepreneurial resilience, over time, and focusing on a relatively unexplored field of rural women entrepreneurship. Keywords – Resilience, Entrepreneurial resilience, Women entrepreneurs, Rural entrepreneurs, Ecological systems theory Paper Type – Research paper