Halseth, Greg

Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation are a significant contributor to climate change. An effective method of reducing these transportation emissions is to electrify transportation. Local governments are creating electric vehicle policies to increase electric vehicle adoption in their communities. The City of Kamloops released their EV Strategy to encourage local electric vehicle uptake in 2020 but encountered barriers to local electric vehicle adoption such as a lack of charging infrastructure, a hesitancy to new technology, and the high prices of EVs. There is no significant research on EV adoption and barriers within a smaller city, regional hub, or Canadian context. To address this, I conducted a content analysis, literature review, and key informant interviews with six stakeholder groups in Kamloops to assess the perceived barriers to EV adoption. My research compares the perceived barriers within the context of Kamloops and provides policy solutions to the City of Kamloops to overcome these barriers and reduce transportation emissions. The City should continue to prioritize EV adoption through public education campaigns, encourage the building of charging stations, and focus on densification for an overall reduction of emissions and to provide convenient places for EV drivers to charge their vehicles.

This thesis examines how rural communities are at risk to wildfire hazards through a case study of the Robson Valley, British Columbia, Canada. The research is guided by a vulnerability approach, which conceptualizes risk as a function of how a community is exposed and sensitive to a hazard and its capacity to adapt. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with policymakers, forest professionals and emergency managers alongside community meetings in three rural areas, participant observation, and analysis of secondary sources. The findings show that while most communities in the Robson Valley are not directly at risk from extreme wildfire hazards, they are indirectly exposed and sensitive to secondary and tertiary impacts, due to a single power transmission and road transportation route, that are both highly exposed to wildfire hazards. The centralization of government services has led to a change in the ways that wildfires are suppressed, which can be incongruent with diverse land values and attitudes about responding to hazards held by longtime residents and local First Nations. This thesis concludes with recommendations for how to better engage rural communities in fire prevention and suppression including the creation of a community champion position and improved legislation allowing for the participation of rural residents in fire suppression operations.

Rural high schools are often the heart of rural towns, as they can have significant social, cultural, and environmental contributions to community life. The absence of a high school can impact students' mental, physical, and social health and the entire community's social and economic well-being. This research used Community-Based Participatory Research to examine rural education and community development processes using place-responsive approaches in the rural town of Wells, BC. Wells is a unique, dynamic, artsy community in the BC interior and does not currently have a high school. Results suggested that a lack of a high school in Wells had reverberating social and economic effects on individual and community life. Understanding these effects can allow community members to target unique opportunities that counter impacts. Community approaches to alternative education integrated place-responsive, community-, outdoor, and art-based education that reflected community values. These values can be incorporated into educational models and programs to respond to context-specific community desires and needs. Research results can be referred to when determining future directions for local education in Wells and inform more global applications of educational and rural place-based community development policy and practices.

Beyond the devastating effects on a community, deindustrialization can present an opportunity for change by highlighting the perilous effect of over-dependence on a single industry and motivating local stakeholders to enact change by building social capital and cohesion as well as engaging in local economic development. In small, historically resource-dependent communities, de-industrialization has shifted the focus from staples-based development to a more diverse economy rooted in place-based development. At the same time, the shift from FordistKeynesianism toward Post-Fordist Neoliberalism has limited companies’ obligations toward resource towns as they work through these transitions. Focusing on the case studies of Valemount and Tumbler Ridge, this thesis draws upon a comparative case study approach, key informant interviews, and analysis of documents for a deeper understanding of the processes, strategies, and outcomes regarding this transition. The thesis offers the following findings: First, the shift from a single industry to a diversified economy provides a clear case of a transition towards place-based development. Second, the emerging place-based development trajectory emphasizes the importance of local empowerment and management, strategic investments, social capital/cohesion, local capacity and planning, and government support in transitioning resource towns. Third, the shift from Fordist-Keynesianism to Post-Fordist Neoliberalism has resulted in retrenchment in corporate community development. Additionally, these findings support policy coordination to scale-up social and economic infrastructure, service support, and resources to help maintain place competitiveness and adaptability to future changes. Community transition must be restructured according to local context and needs. Integrating social impact mitigation into the existing BC Environmental Mitigation Policy and permitting process will help foster community sustainability and economic development.

‘Just transition’ is a burgeoning policy goal, as well as an academic and social justice concept. Governments are increasingly operationalizing just transition policy approaches as they realize the scale and scope of industrial transition needed to meet climate targets, recognizing the impact this transition will have on workers and communities. However, there is little consensus on what is considered ‘just’ and ‘fair’. Through interviews with over 40 participants in the Cariboo Regional District (during the COVID-19 pandemic), this thesis will provide insights into the concept of a just transition according to forestry-dependent workers and communities. This research examines the Government of British Columbia’s ‘Supports for Interior Forestry Workers’ programs in response to the 2019 forest sector downturn and describes lessons about how impacted workers and community members evaluate transition management based on their perceptions and values. This work also offers principles and practices for delivering just transition policy and program supports. This research suggests that the Government of British Columbia must adjust existing supports and proactively develop policy measures to manage and mitigate the negative consequences of future transitions in collaboration with other key actors.

Democracy serves as a governing philosophy where decisions are made by a vote of the population. Due to the large numbers of citizens who live in modern democracies, this is mainly done through elections to legislative assemblies as a form of representative democracy. But representative democracy does not always ensure policy alignment between citizens and elected representatives. Citizen initiatives serve as a means of promoting greater policy alignment by allowing citizens to propose their own legislation, to be voted on by the electorate. This thesis investigates why British Columbia chose to enact citizen initiative alone among Canadian provinces, and also why British Columbia’s policy was written with the provisions and constraints that elected representatives chose to include. The research shows that key individuals in power used their influence to advocate for citizen initiative in the province, and that British Columbia’s citizen initiative process was written to accommodate constitutional requirements and public opinion on what citizen initiative should look like.

Life histories of Pacific salmon are remarkable in that they return to specific freshwater sites to spawn after multiple years of ocean residence. In Chapter 1, I investigated site fidelity at a reach scale for Interior Fraser Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) (IFC). Coho Salmon eggs were incubated at known spawning locations in the Coldwater River, British Columbia, to obtain reference data for comparison to otolith signatures of returning adult salmon. The majority of adults (67%) returned to their natal spawning locations at the reach scale, while 33% strayed to other spawning sites within the Coldwater River, illustrating straying at small scales. Straying to novel incubation sites at the reach scale demonstrated plasticity in homing within a watershed. In Chapter 2, I investigated the characteristics of the hyporheic redd zone over two years where Coho Salmon were observed to spawn. Within a reach, physical variables were homogenous, but heterogeneity was found among reaches where Coho Salmon were observed to spawn – particularly for intragravel temperature and dissolved oxygen. The difference in temperature and dissolved oxygen among sites had a pronounced effect on survival, rate of development, and emergence time for Coho Salmon fry. Heterogeneity among spawning locations demonstrate trade-offs that exist between rate of development and survival. Chapter 3 investigated the effect of low and variable dissolved oxygen on developing salmon embryos. A family effect was found as smaller eggs produced smaller alevin, but the effect of low dissolved oxygen on growth was also greater for the families with small eggs. Treatment affected rate of development and initially had an effect on length and mass, but by button-up there was no longer an effect of low dissolved oxygen on size. My work demonstrates plasticity in Coho Salmon at different life stages. Plasticity is important for utilizing new habitats or adapting to existing habitats as they change.

An application for a new open-pit gold/copper mine in Tsilhqot’in territory raised concerns among the local Xeni Gwet’in people about potential impacts. This study examines statements about these concerns and potential impacts made by Xeni Gwet’in people during environmental assessment hearings. The research adopts a single case study approach, and the analysis uses a western social science method as well as a more holistic Indigenous approach to decolonizing research by placing Indigenous voices in the center of the research process. The results suggest that land and water are inseparable, as are their connections to the Xeni Gwet’in people, culture, and territory. Key findings include that land and water are central to Xeni Gwet’in identity and future, that they are used to demonstrate ‘control’ and ‘ownership’ of their traditional territory, and that they are crucial to Xeni Gwet’in intergenerational transfer of knowledge, culture, and sacred spiritual connections to their traditional territory.