Reviews/Comptes rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
Environmental Discourse and Practice edited by Lisa M. Benton and John Rennie Short
Environmental discourse and practice: A reader edited by Lisa M. Benton and John Rennie Short
Review essay
A particular condition in life: Self-employment and social mobility in mid-Victorian Brantford, Ontario
Assisting immigration to Upper Canada: The Petworth Project, 1832–1837
English immigrant voices: Labourer's letters from Upper Canada in the 1830s
A sense of their duty: Middle-class formation in Victorian Ontario towns
Making Ontario: Agricultural colonization and landscape re-creation before the railway     

Eating Barrelled Meat in Upper Canada: Cultural and Archaeological Implications

Much of the meat consumed in nineteenth-century southern Ontario (Upper Canada) came in the form of preserved barreled products. The specific ways of obtaining, preparing and consuming these products resulted in unique regional foodways. Through analyses of historical and archaeological evidence, this paper investigates how barreled meat was packed, shipped and purchased in Upper Canada and discusses the various ways its consumption impacted the lives of its residents and contributed to the formation of local identities. An investigation of butchery marks and body portion distributions lead to a possible method for archaeologically distinguishing between barreled and non-barreled meat assemblages.     

THE DISTRIBUTION OF ENGLISH IN UPPER CANADA 1851–1871

Studies of British peoples in Upper Canada have emphasized the Irish and Scots rather than the English despite the fact that in 1871 439,429 people - 27 per cent of Ontario residents - claimed English ancestry (Clarke and McLeod 1974; Houston and Smyth 1980; Akenson 1984). Those of English nativity constituted 28 per cent of foreign-born in the same year (Census of Canada 1871). Two decades earlier, in 1851, the English-born numbered 82,699, and they had increased to 124,062 by 1871. The overall proportion of those of English birth remained quite uniform, at approximately 8 per cent throughout the twenty-year period.     

Loyalists and lairds: The politics and society of Upper Canada reconsidered

The Lion, the Eagle, and Upper Canada: A Developing Colonial Ideology by Jane Errington. Kingston and Montreal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1987. Pp.272. $30.00.

The Idea of Loyalty in Upper Canada, 1784–1850 by David Mills. Kingston and Montreal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1988. Pp.x + 238. $27.95.

Becoming Prominent: Regional Leadership in Upper Canada, 1791–1841 by J.K. Johnson. Kingston and Montreal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1989. Pp.ix + 277. $29.95.

Attitudes to Social Structure and Mobility in Upper Canada 1815–1840: ‘Here We Are Laird Ourselves’ by Peter A. Russell. Lewiston/ Queenston/Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1990. Pp.213. US$59.95.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
The Geological Evolution of North America
Indian Life in the Upper Great Lakes
Allgemeine Geomorphologie
Lexicon of Paleozoic Names in South-western Ontario     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
The Economics of Cyprus: A Survey to 1914 , by D iamond J enness
American Cities in Perspective , by G errit A. W issink
Upper Canada: The Formative Years, 1784–1841 , by G. M. C raig
Land and Life: A Selection from the Writings of Carl Ortwin Sauer , edited, with an introduction, by J ohn L eighly
The Ancestral Roof: Domestic Architecture of Upper Canada , by M arion M acrae and A nthony A damson
The Construction and Drawing of Block Diagrams , by A xel S chou     

Geographical propinquity among pre-famine Catholic Irish settlers in Upper Canada

Recent studies of frontier settlement in North America have suggested the existence of a greater complexity of society and locality than once visualized. The settlement of propinquitous groups of people with similar origins was a common feature of nineteenth-century America. The territorial identity of these groups may have both reflected and reinforced their cultural distinctiveness. This study examines the geographical propinquity of the Catholic Irish in the Robinson emigration of 1825 to Upper Canada (early Ontario). The object is to demonstrate the varying pattern of propinquity spatially and to associate the pattern with characteristics of social propinquity. The existence of social institutions, particularly the nuclear family and the parish, or antecedent community, within the Irish group appears to have been an important influence on the local geographical pattern of initial settlement.     

The Heckscher-Ohlin Hypothesis and Structural Divergence in Quebec and Ontario, 1961–1969

The industrial structures of Quebec and Ontario differ, with labour-intensive industries prevalent in Quebec, capital-intensive in Ontario. Existing explanations of this structural divergence are complemented by a trade theory interpretation based on the Heckscher-Ohlin hypothesis. Analysis based on the twenty major industrial categories of the sic yields insignificant results, but when resource and market-oriented industries are excluded, significant results are obtained. Trade between Quebec and Ontario also conforms with the theory. The results suggest that it is to Quebec's advantage to continue trading freely with the rest of Canada.
Les structures industrielles au Quebec et en Ontario sont differentes: les industries de main d'truvre predominent au Quebec et celles capital eleve predominent en Ontario. Aux explications actuelles de cette divergence structurelle s'ajoute celle d'une theorie des echanges basee sur I'hypothese HeckscherOhlin. Une analyse basee sur les vingt premieres categories du recensement industriel rev& des resultats peu probants. On obtient cependant des resultats significatifs lorsque I'on exclue de cette analyse les industries dont la localisation est liee aux marches ou a la prksence de tessources naturelles. Le commerce entre le Quebec et I'Ontario est aussi en accord avec cette theorie. Ces resultats suggerent qu'il est avantageux pour le Quebec de poursuivre une politique de libre echange avec la reste du Canada.     

Environmentalism in One Country: Canadian Environmental Policy in an Era of Globalization

In sharp contrast with its international reputation and self-image as a leading national advocate of environmental protection initiatives, Canada has, in the 1990s, reduced its environmental expenditures and initiatives. The most dramatic and visible retreat has been in terms of expenditures, especially at the federal level and in Ontario, the largest and most industrialized province. In addition, again especially in Ontario, following the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the provincial election of 1995, environmental protection has been explicitly and openly curtailed. Possible explanations for the decline of environmental protection in Canada include: a) the effects of globalization on a trade-oriented middle power, b) counterwaves of environmental and economic concern among the public, and c) excessive decentralization of political authority with regard to environmental protection.     

Reviews Comptes rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
Animals and Maps
The Great Clay Belts in Ontario and Quebec, Struktur und Genese eines Pionierraumes an der nördlichen Siedlungsgrenze Ost-Kanadas (Structure and Genesis of a Pioneer Area on the Northern Limits of Settlement in Eastern Canada)
The Planning Challenge of the Ottawa Area
The Tarai Region of U.P.: A Study in Human Geography
Physiognomie, Struktur und Funktion Gross-Kampalas, Ein Beitrag zur Stadtgeographie Tropisch-Afrikas
Population Geography: A Reader
The Periglacial Environment, Past and Present
Temperature Variability and Synoptic Cold Fronts in the Winter Climate of Mexico
A 700 Mb Atlas for the Northern Hemisphere – Five-Day Mean Heights
Meteorological Service of Canada, Toronto]
Le Royaume du Saguenay en 1968, par Pierre-Yves Pepin, Imprimeur de la Reine pour le Canada, Ottawa     

Tracing the Distribution of Late 16th and Early 17th Century European Copper Artefacts in Southern Québec and Ontario,Canada

To understand the nature of trade/exchange of ‘Basque’ copper kettles and their fragments among Indigenous communities from Québec to Ontario, Canada, we examined 948 copper samples from 75 archaeological sites. We found that 936 samples were sortable into 11 coarse chemical groups: seven biased towards Ontario, three favouring Québec and only one balanced between the two provinces. This pattern may represent kettles and pieces ‘mostly traded’ or ‘mostly kept’ by Indigenous groups within Québec. Chemical group distribution within individual provinces is complex. A tentative chronology of copper chemical groups provides additional insight into the complex trading/exchange patterns among the Indigenous groups of southern Ontario.     

Control of Indigenous Archaeological Heritage in Ontario,Canada

Few Indigenous peoples have control over their heritage, despite international recognition of this right in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. In Ontario, Canada, the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990 regulates archaeology and grants licences to archaeologists to investigate archaeological heritage. Indigenous people want more control of their archaeological heritage in Ontario. To uphold Indigenous rights to archaeological heritage in Ontario, heritage legislation and policy needs to be revised and site protection increased. This paper recommends that Indigenous archaeological heritage in Ontario would be best protected by strengthening Ontario government land development policy and legislation to require the free, prior, and informed consent from affected Indigenous communities before removal of significant archaeological sites and remains from their ancestral territories.     

Reviews/Comptes rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
Principes de Géographie sociale , by P aul C laval , Editions M.Th. Génin
Urban Canada , by J ames and R obert S immons , 2nd edition
Urban Futures for Central Canada: Perspectives on Forecasting Urban Growth and Form , edited by L arry S. B ourne , R oss D. M ac K innon , J ay S iegel , and J ames W. S immons
Conservation by the People: The History of the Conservation Movement in Ontario to 1970 , by A.H. RICHARDSON
Physical Geography: The Canadian Context , by A llan F alconer , B arry D. F ahey , and R ussell D. T hompson
Modifying the Weather , by W. R. D. S ewell , et al.
Climate Canada , by F. K enneth H are and M orley K. T homas
The Geography of Puerto Rico by rafael P ico     

East Meets West: An East Indian Coin in the Western Colonies

In 1823, the Ontario House, a hotel and tavern, was built near Niagara Falls, Canada. In addition to providing a location for travelers and tourists to drink and lodge, Ontario House, like many other establishments, billeted soldiers when the need arose. The 2012 excavation of the midden and features of the Ontario House produced a large assemblage of artifacts including ceramics, buttons, numismatics, and military accoutrements. Of particular interest is an East Indian coin, found in the natural topsoil, which can be associated with the 67th Regiment of Foot’s brief occupation of Ontario House in 1841. This paper addresses the significance of this coin and associated finds in regards to the global movement of the regiment and the socio-political context of Ontario House within regional history.     

Truth and Decolonization: Filling the Educator Achievement Gap Darn It!

Public attention on the systemic oppression of Indigenous people in Canadian Residential Schools raised by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) marks a possible turning point for Canada to enter a respectful relationship with First Nations. Calls for widespread education initiatives that promote Indigenous perspectives indicate a path to reconciliation. However, access to this path is obstructed by two barriers: 1) recurring colonial approaches to enacting Indigenous education policies; and 2) teachers’ bewilderment upon facing such a steep learning curve. In an attempt to overcome these barriers, I designed a workshop to assist educators and I approached teachers to engage on a grassroots level. The workshop developed from a combination of critical policy analysis and autoethnography to provide an accessible overview of Canada’s legacy of colonialism. Delivery of the workshop revealed participants’ readiness to learn about colonization in Canada, while exposing the need for capacity building within the Ontario public education system for Indigenous leadership to direct TRC initiatives.     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Locational Analysis in Human Geography , by P. H aggett
Areas of Economic Stress in Canada: Proceedings of a Conference, Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario , edited by W. D. W ood and R. S. T homan
Scandinavian Lands , by R oy M illward
Introduction to the Atmosphere , by H erbert R iehl
Richards Atlas of New York State, edited by ROBERT J. RAYBACK and EDWARD L. TOWLE, Frank E. Richards, Phoenix
The American City: An Urban Geography, by RAYMOND E. MURPHY, McGraw-Hill
Plants, Animals and Man in the Outer Leeward Islands, West Indies, by D. R. HARRIS, University of California, Publications in Geography
The Compeiiiive Position of the Port of Durban, by N. MANFRED SHAFFER, North western University Studies in Geography
The Physiography of Southern Ontario, 2nd edition, by L. J. CHAPMAN and D. F. PUTNAM, Toronto
The Elevated System and the Growth of Northern Chicago, by JAMES LESLIE DAVIS, Studies in Geography
The Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor: A Geographic Study of Inter-metropolitan Coalescence, by IRVING CUTLER
The Spatial Pattern of Grocery Purchases by the Iowa Rural Population, by GERARD RUSHTON, Studies in Business and Economics     

Canada‐United States interregional trade: quasi‐points and spatial change

Interregional trade between Canada and the United States has undergone significant change since the inception of free trade. However, the magnitude of that change for the different regions in Canada and the United States has not been properly identified because of a lack of an appropriate measure. This paper introduces the concept of a quasi‐point and employs a spatial point pattern test to measure the degree of change in the interregional trade of Canadian provinces and US states, with an emphasis of that change on Ontario. It is found that the degree of change in the interregional trade flows is related to the degree of change in the provincial tariff rates.     

Stability amid Change: Ontario’s Religious Schools and Canada’s Regime of Secularism

Canada’s religious landscape has changed a great deal over the last forty years and, in most provinces, educational institutions have changed to accommodate this social shift. The articles reviews the divergent ways in which educational regimes have responded to this change and then turns to an examination of the one province in which little has changed regarding religious schools, Ontario. Ontario’s educational structure, which has continued to publicly support only a secular and Roman Catholic separate school systems in one of the most religiously diverse jurisdictions on the planet, is a surprising example of institutional rigidity in the face of societal change. This article highlights the peculiarity of this outcome, attempts to explain this surprising example of institutional continuity, and considers its implications for Canadian secularism more broadly.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
The Economic and Social Modernization of the Republic of Korea: 1945-1975 , by Edward S. Mason, Mahn Je Kim, Dwight H. Perkins, Kwang Suk Kim, and David Cole.
Government, Business, and Entrepreneurship in Economic Development: The Korean Case. Studies in the Modernization of the Republic of Korea: 1945-1975 , by Leroy P. Jones and II Sakong.
The Interregional Diffusion of Innovations in Canada , a Study Prepared for the Economic Council of Canada, by F. Martin, N. Swan, I. Banks, G. Barker, and R. Beaudry.
Housing and Residential Structure: Alternative Approaches , by Keith Bassett and John R. Short.
The Human Experience of Space and Place , by Anne Buttimer and David Seamon (eds).
Energy Development in the Southwest. Problems of Water, Fish, and Wildlife in the Upper Colorado River Basin , Volumes I and II, Resources for the Future Research Paper R-18, by Walter O. Spofford, Jr., Alfred L. Parker, and Allen V. Kneese (eds.).     

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY: A REVIEW OF RECENT WORK ON BLACKS IN CANADA

In 2010 the US declared the Lake Erie water snake a recovered species, but in Canada the snake is still considered to be an endangered species. After explaining the legal similarities between the Ontario Endangered Species Act and the American Endangered Species Act, this article examines a case study with landowner interviews from one US island and one Canadian island. It is concluded that landowner attitudes toward conservation and private property are very similar. Thus, it is argued that bureaucratic differences, particularly institutional capacity and implementation styles, enabled the US but not Canada to recover the snake. The article concludes with a discussion of the need for better communication between the two countries for the purposes of biodiversity conservation.