Historical GIS Research in Canada
Fundamentally concerned with place, and our ability to understand human relationships with environment over time, Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) as a tool and a subject has direct bearing for the study of contemporary environmental issues and realities. To date, HGIS projects in Canada are few and publications that discuss these p …
The Reindeer Botanist
This well-researched book is the first biography of one of Canada's most remarkable botanists. Alf Erling Porsild (1901-1977) grew up on the Arctic Station in West Greenland and later served as curator of botany at the National Museum of Canada. He collected thousands of specimens, greatly enlarging the National Herbarium and making it a superb res …
Wilderness and Waterpower
This engaging book explores how the need for electricity at the turn of the century affected and shaped Banff National Park. Today’s conservationists and energy researchers will find much to think about in this tale of Alberta’s early need for electricity, entrepreneurial greed, debates over aboriginal ownership of the river, moving park bounda …
The Land Has Changed
A century ago, agriculture was the dominant economic sector in much of Africa. By the 1990s, however, African farmers had declining incomes and were worse off, on average, than those who did not farm. Colonial policies, subsequent 'top-down' statism, and globalization are usually cited as primary causes of this long-term decline. In this unpreceden …
Promoters, Planters, and Pioneers
In this comprehensive study of Belgian settlement in western Canada, Cornelius Jaenen shows that Belgian immigration was unique in its character and brought with it significant benefits out of proportion to its comparatively small numbers.
Canada's first Immigration Act (1869) included Belgium among the "preferred countries" from which immigrants sh …
New Directions in African Education
It has been said that education in post-colonial Africa is in a state of crisis. Policies and practices from Eurocentric colonial regimes have carried over, intertwining with challenges inherent in the new political and economic climate. Leaders have done little to remedy the malfunctioning education system, and even where attempts have been made, …
Filming Politics
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) was created in 1939 to produce, distribute, and promote Canadian cinema both domestically and abroad. During the early years of the NFB, its creative output was largely informed by the turbulent political and social climate the world was facing. World War II, Communism, unemployment, the role of labour unions …
The Clever Body
In Western civilization, we have come to regard the body as an instrument or a machine that responds to external challenges but does not have a life or creativity of its own. Thanks to some of its inherent capabilities, however, the living body can act in a highly intelligent and creative manner. All of us have noticed from time to time that our bo …