Canadian Mountain Research Articles

Snowboarding while Black: race, aesthetics, and Jamaican migrant workers

ABSTRACT How snowboarding intersects with race in a Canadian mountain resort is explored in this research note. Snowboarding is now globalised but emerged in the USA in the 1960s as an alternative lifestyle sport. Race was embedded in its birth as then, as now, snowboarding is dominated by privileged White participants who are mostly male. The White dominance is masked as whiteness is invisibilized by claims of being neutral or colour-blind. Yet, a Black presence surrounds snowboarding. The second theme examines snowboarding’s commodification of Black aesthetics. It uses Black music and urban fashion to enhance and market its supposedly radical or coolness credentials to its suburban White audience. The mining of Black aesthetics is unacknowledged and thus whitewashes the economic exploitation of Black culture. Migrant workers are the backbone of snow resorts, and the third theme examines this use of transnational labour. It probes why Australians are the visible workers on the snow-kissed slopes and front desks, while Jamaicans are the invisible labour in catering and housekeeping. The use of migrant labour is racialised and further reifies the whiteness of snowboarding. Black snowboarders, riding the snowy slopes for leisure, expose and disrupt the politics of race and place in snowboarding.

Podcasting protocols: Land acknowledgement in outlining a process for decolonial reflexivity and audio stewardship

As journalists and media-makers in Canada work towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, there is increased discussion on how to work respectfully with Indigenous communities, stories and knowledge. However, for podcasters and audio journalists, there are still limited resources on guidelines and best practices. This article considers several resources which foster decolonial frameworks for mediamaking, from media production guides to broader Indigenous methodological frameworks, and discusses how they can inform media production in these contexts. The authors then discuss their experience working on the Canadian Mountain Podcast – a series that shares mountain-related research from academic and Indigenous perspectives – and the steps the team took to decolonize their methods and work respectfully with different forms of knowledge. Finally, this article looks at the team’s use of developing land acknowledgements and how this practice provided a space to reflect on their journalistic practices and adjust their processes as audio stewards.

Legacy and current-use pesticides in Western Canadian mountain air: Influence of pesticide sales, source proximity, and altitude

Large amounts of pesticides are applied in agriculture in Canada and around the world. A considerable fraction can be dispersed in the atmosphere and deposited in non-target ecosystems. Our knowledge of the factors controlling the movement of pesticides in the atmosphere is still limited. In order to investigate the atmospheric distribution of pesticides under the influence of diverse environmental variables, we deployed XAD-2 resin-based passive air samplers (PAS) at multiple elevations of four mountains across Southern British Columbia and derived annually averaged concentrations of twelve current-use pesticides (CUPs) and five legacy organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in air. The four mountains have similar altitude and latitude but vary in their proximity to source regions. Hexachlorobenzene, endosulfan I, and simazine were most abundant with median concentrations exceeding 50 pg/m3. While concentrations were generally lower than elsewhere in Canada, especially in agricultural regions, they varied greatly across the four mountains. Remote Mount Anderson had lower CUP levels than the other three mountains. CUP concentrations correlated well with regional pesticide sales, with two distinct spatial patterns becoming apparent. The OCP concentrations in the air of the four mountains were relatively uniform. CUP concentrations in air usually decreased with increasing altitude, when under the strong influence of ground-level sources. Source proximity and altitude appear to play a much more important role than precipitation and vegetation cover in the distribution of pesticides in the atmosphere. This study also highlights the value of a good registration system for pesticide sales for explaining environmental concentration variability.

Gaining insight from the most challenging expedition: climate change from the perspective of Canadian mountain guides

ABSTRACT Nature based tourism (NBT) is becoming increasingly popular, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic as people began to sought outdoor activities. Accompanying the projected rise in NBT demand in a post COVID-19 era are increasing challenges associated with climate change, particularly in mountain regions. However, there is limited local knowledge documented to date from those who are intricately involved in mountain NBT activities and have experienced the impacts of climate change first hand. Using an online survey (n = 169), this research is the first to present the intimate knowledge of mountain guides in Canada, offering novel insight into climate change risks and opportunities for NBT in mountain regions, including strategies to contend with risk and adaptation. From this survey, 99% of guides indicated that they have experienced change in the mountain environment throughout the course of their career and due to the adaptive nature of guides, many have already implemented strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change. While findings presented in this paper offer practical knowledge to plan for a future threatened with rapid climatic change, further research is required to explore effectiveness of adaptation strategies, scope of adaptive capacity, changes in natural infrastructure, and guides’ roles as educators.

Land acknowledgements and knowledge rematriation: Considerations of place, and respecting Indigenous intellectual property in podcasts

Since its third season, the Canadian Mountain Podcast has strived to share perspectives of both Ancestral Indigenous Knowledge Holders and settler-science research conducted through the Canadian Mountain Network. This podcast episode stories the journey a team of undergraduate researchers undertook to prepare a land acknowledgement, and the reflexive steps they maintained throughout. Around the land acknowledgement discussion, both producers for the podcast discuss the roles of intellectual property and copyright as it applies to Indigenous intellectual property in audio production, and discuss their goals for the show’s fifth and final season.

Transferring Cryosphere Knowledge between Mountains Globally: A Case Study of Western Canadian Mountains, the European Alps and the Scandes

Permafrost is present in mountains globally, yet most research has been focussed in the small area covered by the European Alps. This paper presents a method for comparing regional climates at a coarse scale to highlight similarities and differences between the European Alps and the Scandes to western Canadian mountain regions with permafrost. Climate variables from the ERA5 reanalysis relevant to mountain permafrost are averaged over the 1986–2005 period and compared. This helps to understand where permafrost conditions can be compared and where new research is needed. In this application, we conclude that a direct transfer of knowledge about ground temperature regimes and spatial patterns from the Scandes and Alps to western Canada is inappropriate because (1) the areas in western Canada receive more radiation than those in the Scandes, and less than in the Alps, (2) the areas in western Canada are more continental than the Scandes and the Alps, (3) the areas in western Canada extend into much colder conditions that the Scandes and the Alps, and (4) overlap in climatic variables is concentrated in small areas. Further research is needed to understand permafrost in mountains of western Canada.Despite the imperfections of reanalysis products, they present a unique and homogeneous data source for the remote and sparsely measured cryosphere regions. As such, this method can better inform the transfer of cryosphere knowledge between mountains globally.

Braiding Knowledges: The Canadian Mountain Network Experience

The Canadian Mountain Network (CMN) is the country's first Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) focused on the resilience and health of mountain systems, peoples, and regions, and the first to recognize Indigenous governments and organizations as NCE-eligible partner organizations. CMN's Indigenous-led and -co-led research, training, knowledge mobilization, and networking programs represent a first-in-a-generation learning opportunity focused on how to support the weaving of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems towards respectful and impactful mountain systems research.

Leisure Constraints and Negotiation among Canadian and South Korean Mountain Hikers: An Extension of Motivations with the Constraints-Effect-Mitigation Model

This study examined mountain hikers’ negotiation of leisure constraints and the role that motivations played in this process. This investigation included a comparison between Canadian and South Korean hikers. Data were collected from a sample of 399 mountain hikers visiting the Canadian Rocky Mountains and mountains in South Korea. Results revealed that hiking constraints had a significant negative effect on constraints negotiation for both Canadians and South Koreans. Motivation had a strong positive effect on negotiation for both Canadians and South Koreans, but a non-significant effect on hiking participation. One main difference between the groups was observed: the South Korean sample displayed a significant negative relationship between constraints and hiking participation, and the Canadian sample revealed a significant positive relationship between constraint negotiation and hiking participation – suggesting Canadians negotiate their hiking constraints more readily than South Koreans.

A Nationally Coherent Characterization and Quantification of Mountain Systems in Canada

Much of Canada is covered by vast and diverse mountains, yet numerous fundamental aspects of Canadian mountain systems have yet to be systematically characterized and quantified in a nationally coherent manner. In response, we delineated mountain areas in Canada according to the Kapos et al definition of mountain areas (K1) and then developed a classification scheme that subdivides K1 into 10 major mountain regions within Canada. Using these boundaries, we conducted numerous geospatial analyses using ArcGIS Pro to advance understanding of the biogeography, people, and economic activities associated with mountains in Canada. By providing consistent and comparable information about mountain systems in the country, our results reveal the national and international importance of Canadian mountain systems across a range of environmental and social metrics. They also provide a foundation for the advancement of research, policy, and work on social issues related to mountains in Canada, all of which have been constrained to date by a lack of nationally coherent analytical frameworks and statistics. We conclude by acknowledging the provisional and culturally situated nature of our work and reflect on the need for more inclusive approaches to designing and interpreting analyses aimed at advancing understanding of mountain systems.

The Canadian Mountain Network: Advancing Innovative, Solutions-Based Research to Inform Decision-Making

The Canadian Mountain Network: Advancing Innovative, Solutions-Based Research to Inform Decision-Making

Multiple environmentalities and post-politicization in a Canadian Mountain Park

This research explores the centrality of multiple environmentalities at multiple scales in the post-politicization of conservation governance in Jasper National Park, Canada. Austerity politics in Canada contributed to the post-politicization of conservation as the interests of Parks Canada and private developers were brought into alignment in terms of increasing visitation and the revenue imperative. The Parks Canada Agency, under structural pressure, employed several post-political strategies to suture the space for dissensus and debate and orchestrate the appearance of consent for the private development and management of park services. Central to these strategies were multiple (sovereign, disciplinary, and neoliberal) environmentalities constructed at multiple scales by multiple actors (the federal government, the local parks department, and private sector interests) aimed at producing environmental subjects who understand and acquiesce to the idea that ‘there is no alternative’ to a privatized conservation practice. In response, opponents attempted to mobilize an alternative environmentality, combining a social democratic critique of neoliberalism with a Romantic vision of wilderness conservation. Although opponents enrolled a sizeable number of allies, they fell short of stabilizing a liberation environmentality as several underlying points of ‘agreement’ contributed to the stabilization of post-political discourse and practice, foreclosing alternative political economies of conservation.

Using Machine Learning Algorithms to Enhance the Management of Suicide Ideation.

Combat veterans; especially those with mental health conditions are an at risk group for suicidal ideation and behaviour. This study attempts to use machine learning algorithm to predict suicidal ideation (SI) in a treatment seeking veteran population. Questionnaire data from 738 patients consisting of veterans, still serving members of the Canadian Forces (CF) and Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) were examined to determine the likelihood of suicide ideation and to identify key variables for tracking the risk of suicide. Unlike conventional approaches we use pattern recognition methods, known collectively as machine learning (ML), to examine multivariate data and identify patterns associate with suicidal ideation. Our findings show that accurate prediction of SI of over 84.4% can be obtained with 25 variables, and 81% using as little as 10 variables primarily obtained from the patient health questionnaire (PHQ). Surprisingly the best identifiers for SI did not come from occupational experiences but rather the patient quality of health, signifying that these findings could be applied to the general population. Our results suggest that ML could assist clinicians to develop a better screening aid for suicidal ideation and behaviour.

Modelling hazardous surface hoar layers across western Canada with a coupled weather and snow cover model

Destructive snow avalanches in western Canada are often caused by failure in buried surface hoar layers. Numerical snow cover models can simulate the formation and evolution of these layers, which could help avalanche forecasters assess the location and timing of avalanches. To investigate this application, we compared modelled surface hoar layers with snow and avalanche observations from the Coast, Columbia, and Rocky Mountains of western Canada. Surface hoar formation and evolution was modelled by forcing the snow cover model SNOWPACK with data from a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model. Surface hoar formation was verified with daily snow surface observations at 88 observation sites over two winters, and the evolution of buried layers was verified with avalanche observations and persistent weak layer assessments from 67 avalanche forecast regions. The frequency of surface hoar formation was over-predicted by 40%, although since modelled crystal sizes were moderately correlated with observed sizes, the more hazardous layers were often distinguished. A structural stability index in SNOWPACK often identified surface hoar layers during storm slab avalanche activity, but identifying layers during persistent slab avalanche activity was more difficult. Model limitations included uncertain meteorological inputs, errors in SNOWPACK's snow surface energy balance, and representing the necessary spatial scales. Despite these limitations, the coupled model resolved differences between major Canadian mountain ranges and could improve avalanche forecasts in data-sparse regions.

Hydrological sensitivity of a northern mountain basin to climate change

AbstractThe hydrological sensitivity of a northern Canadian mountain basin to change in temperature and precipitation was examined. A physically based hydrological model was created and included important snow and frozen soil infiltration processes. The model was discretized into hydrological response units in order to simulate snow accumulation and melt regimes and basin discharge. Model parameters were drawn from scientific studies in the basin except for calibration of routing and drainage. The model was able to simulate snow surveys and discharge measurements with very good accuracy. The forcing inputs of the hourly air temperatures and daily precipitation were scaled linearly to examine the model sensitivity to conditions included in a range of climate change scenarios: warming of up to 5 °C and change in precipitation of +/− 20%. The results show that peak seasonal snow accumulation, snow season length, evapotranspiration, runoff, peak runoff, and the timing of peak runoff have a pronounced sensitivity to both warming and precipitation change, where the impact of warming is partly compensated for by increased precipitation and dramatically enhanced by decreased precipitation. The snow regime, including peak snow accumulation, snow‐free period, intercepted snow sublimation, and blowing snow transport, was most sensitive to temperature, and the impact of a warming of 5 °C could not be compensated for by a precipitation increase of 20%. However, basin discharge was more sensitive to precipitation, and the impact of warming could be compensated for by a slight increase in precipitation. The impacts of 5 °C warming with a +/−20% change in precipitation resulted in snow accumulation, runoff, and peak streamflow decreasing by from one half to one fifth and the snow‐free period lengthening by from 46 to 60 days; in both cases, the smaller change is associated with increased precipitation and the larger change with decreased precipitation. These results show that mountain hydrology in Northern Canada is extremely sensitive to warming, that snow regime is more sensitive to warming than streamflow and that changes in precipitation can partly modulate this response. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Canada’s Invisible Nationality Policy: Creating Ethnicity, Managing Populations, Imagining a Nation

This article explores the process of national identity construction at Canadian borders in the 1930s. Based on the examination of customs declaration forms (transatlantic ship manifests) of arriving passengers at the port of Quebec in the first half of the 1930s, as well as Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) files, I suggest that the Canadian bureaucracy, informed by social Darwinist views of race and ethnicity, and the Anglophone bourgeois concern over modernization brought upon by the forces of industrialization and urbanization, developed an elaborate system of categorization of Canada’s population according to prescribed criteria of ethnicity, nationality, and race. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, I argue that in efforts to “know” and control its growing population, the Canadian state developed a rigid, albeit an invisible nationality policy. Although there was never an official nationality policy in place in Canada in the 1930s, public officials, the media, and security agencies not only operated with an acute awareness of national and ethno-racial differences in the society, but also worked to reinforce such divisions in attempts to maintain the social order and the cultural, social, and economic status quo. In this work, I imply that border officials were directly responsible for constructing specific representations of Canada’s ethnic populations, all within the context of an impending need to control the population of a rapidly modernizing society, where the Canadian community had to be made “knowable,” familiar, and recognizable in the official discourse.

Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Canadian mountain air and soil are controlled by proximity to roads

Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in soil and XAD-based passive air samples taken from a total of 22 sites along three transects (Revelstoke, Yoho, and Observation, 6–8 sites for each transect) in the mountains of Western Canada in 2003–2004. Median concentrations in air (4-ring PAHs: 33 pg/m 3) were very low and comparable to those in global background regions such as the Arctic. Low median soil concentrations (16 EPA PAHs: 16 ng/g dry weight) and compositional profiles dominated by naphthalene and phenanthrene are similar to those of tropical soils, indicative of remote regions influenced mostly by PAHs from traffic and small settlements. Comparing levels and composition of PAHs in soils between and along transects indeed suggests a clear relationship with proximity to local sources. Sampling sites that are closer to major traffic arteries and local settlements have higher soil concentrations and a higher relative abundance of heavier PAHs than truly remote sites at higher elevations. This remains the case when the variability in soil organic carbon content between sites is taken into account. Both air/soil concentration ratios and fugacity fractions suggest atmospheric net deposition of four-ring PAHs to soils.

Pesticides in Western Canadian Mountain Air and Soil

The distribution of organochlorine pesticides (OCP; in past and current use) in the mountains of western Canada was determined by sampling air, soil, and lichen along three elevational transects in 2003-2004. Two transects west of the Continental Divide were located in Mount Revelstoke and Yoho National Park, while the Observation Peak transect in Banff National Park is east of the divide. XAD-based passive air samplers, yielding annually averaged air concentrations, were deployed, and soils were collected at all 22 sampling sites, whereas lichen were only sampled in Revelstoke. Back trajectory analysis showed limited air mass transport from the Prairies to the east, but a high frequency of air arriving from the southwest, which includes agricultural regions in British Columbia and Washington State. Endosulfan, dieldrin, and a-hexachlorocyclohexane were the most prevalent OCPs in air and soil; hexachlorobenzene was only abundant in air; chlorothalonil, dacthal, and pentachloronitrobenzene were also consistently present. OCP air concentrations were similar across the three transects, suggesting efficient atmospheric mixing on a local and regional scale. Soil concentrations and soil/air concentration ratios of many OCPs were significantly higher west of the Continental Divide. The soil and lichen concentrations of most OCPs increased with altitude in Revelstoke, and displayed maxima at intermediate elevations at Yoho and Observation Peak. These distribution patterns can be understood as being determined by the balance between atmospheric deposition to, and retention within, the soils. Higher deposition, due to more precipitation falling at lower temperatures, likely occurs west of the divide and at higher elevations. Higher retention, due to higher soil organic matter content, is believed to occur in soils below the tree line. Highest pesticide concentrations are thus found intemperate mountain soils that are rich in organic matter and receive large amounts of cold precipitation.

Corporate Social Responsibility at Tourism Destinations: Toward a Social License to Operate

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term increasingly employed to denote ethical behavior with respect to various shareholder, employee, consumer, supplier, and competitor stakeholder groups. It is often shaped and expressed through community engagement strategies in which firms reach out to these groups to address societal concerns as well as corporate objectives. Little research probes how CSR relationships are initiated and evolve in tourism destinations. This article outlines the key theoretical foundations of CSR and illustrates how these concepts may be translated into stakeholder engagement strategies in mountain resort destinations. It uses empirical research findings from case studies of CSR relationships between Intrawest, a large North American resort corporation, and stakeholders in two Canadian mountain tourism destinations. It is argued that the extent to which these CSR strategies are employed is a function of both in situ stakeholder saliency and the ability of community stakeholders to provide what has been referred to as a "social license to operate."

Phénomènes karstiques et tourisme dans les parcs nationaux de l'Ouest canadien : la mise en valeur progressive d'un patrimoine naturel

The karst phenomenon and tourism in western canadian national parks : the progressive promotion of a natural heritage Canadian national parks located in the Rockies and in the Selkirk range (Alberta and British Columbia) can be considered as places of major interest to focus research on the Canadian parks. Since the beginning of the National Park System in 1885, transcontinental railway companies have promoted tourism activities within national parks based on scenery and natural sites. With more than 10 millions visitors per year, these parks have become a favorite tourist destination for many Canadian and Americans. Nature and different natural processes, such as falls, lakes, canyons and caves, karst springs, glacial processes and postglacial landforms, are thus considered as tourist resources [Sanguin & Gill, 1990]. The present paper analyzes how karst landscapes have become a significant part of the tourist dynamics within the Canadian national parks. These landforms and processes seem to be involved in a tourism process based on the promotion of the entire environment, its dynamics and its mechanisms. The final point will be to interrogate the way in which karst processes and landforms have become «subjects» that offer opportunities for tourism development through the terms and conditions of their promotion as a support for parks attractivity. A century of tourism development has enlarged the scientific opportunities for visitors, introducing the latter to the geomorphologic as well as the human heritage. Since the end of the 1960s, coordinated regional programs have been developed (tourism management, interpretation, etc.) between the mountain parks and the tourism sector (railway companies, private interpreters, businesses, etc.). The use and the promotion of karst has been gradually developed, especially for endokarstic and hydrokarstic forms and processes, like mountain scenery, karst lansdcapes have become a foundation for nature tourism. As parts of national parks, the hydrokarst and the canyons... are geomorphosites [Reynard & Panizza, 2005] which are protected for their ecological value. Nowadays, they are also preserved for their scientific and esthetic values but also because they are considered as significant parts of the tourism industry. Since the 1960s, scientific studies have incited actors to develop a global approach in environment management that converges on «ecological integrity», a major concept for Parks Canada. In the end, the differing values (aesthetic, cultural, economic, ecological, scientific) identified by Reynard [2005] converge in the concept of «heritage value», understood as the synthesis of the identified values for geomorphosites, based either on a mathematic evaluation or on a synthetic analysis. Regarding the history of karst sites promotion within the Canadian mountain parks, and the recent proposal concerning a restrictive karst policy [Horne, 2004-b], it seems the karst phenomenon has obtained a genuine economic, touristic and heritage status.

The responsible marketing of tourism: the case of Canadian Mountain Holidays

Heli-tourism represents one of the great dilemmas and conflicts between recreational enjoyment of the wilderness and the conservation of the fragile alpine and mountain areas where the activity takes place. The question of responsibility towards the environment is one, which tourism operators generally seem reluctant to accept but one operator that appears to have taken a proactive approach to environmental issues in mountain regions is heli-operator Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH). This paper expands on the limited amount of research that exists on the complex relationship between tourism and the environment by applying a responsible marketing model to CMH. This model is grounded on previous literature in marketing, and strategic and environmental management. Interviews with key stakeholders, observational research, and content analysis of communication materials, were used to identify how near CMH is to finding a balance between responsible action and the communication of these activities.