Canada Project Research Articles

Fifteen Years Performance of a Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation Project in Canada

The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) undertook the rehabilitation of an exposed concrete pavement exhibiting various distress manifestations in the summer of 1989. Highway 126 in Southwestern Ontario is a four-lane divided arterial with 22,000 AADT and 9.6% commercial traffic in year 2000. The existing pavement, originally constructed in 1963, consisted of 230 mm mesh reinforced Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavement with dowelled joints at a spacing of 21.3 m. The rehabilitation strategy selected for southbound lanes was a 180 mm thick plain jointed unbonded PCC overlay to address the severe 'D' cracking and spalling at all the joints and cracks. The rehabilitation of the northbound lanes, which had experienced moderate deterioration, consisted of using the latest concrete pavement rehabilitation (CPR) techniques, material specifications and construction methods, which included full depth repair, partial depth repair, diamond grinding and joint sealant replacement. This paper will discuss the evaluation of this rehabilitated pavement in terms of roughness measurements, frictional resistance measured, and pavement condition ratings. Overall, the fifteen-year performance of the rehabilitated concrete pavements has been good with acceptable levels of ride quality, frictional resistance and distress propagation.

Access to Administrative Justice as an Administrative Law Value: Designing an Inclusive and Accessible Administrative Justice System

The constantly developing norm of access to justice is moving to occupy a central place in the administrative justice system, prompting a need to rethink the values that should serve to animate the system. This article offers a framework for the administrative justice system in Canada, one that firmly and explicitly entrenches the value of access to administrative justice within it. It reflects on the requirements to achieve access for a significant population of its users – namely, equality-deserving communities. The author looks at the historical reasons why access to justice has been a concern for equality-deserving communities, and introduces the concept of social equity from the discipline of public administration as a tool to assist in addressing some of the structural and systemic access-to-administrative-justice challenges experienced. The author rearticulates the foundational values of administrative law in Canada to incorporate access to administrative justice as a distinct value, one that engages with access-to-justice barriers relating to structural and systemic inequality. In doing so, she details five core principles that underpin the new value of access to administrative justice and cites examples of recent tribunal reform projects in Canada that illustrate promising innovations in that direction. Finally, the author describes briefly the ways in which institutional design and tribunal culture can contribute to enhancing the value of access to administrative justice within the broad, on-the-ground context of different administrative actors. Overall, this article presents an analysis of the dynamic interaction between marginalized populations and the administrative state in order to move forward judicial and other contemporary discussions about access to administrative justice and how it should be defined.

The Association Between Religiosity, Spirituality and Colorectal Cancer Screening: A Longitudinal Analysis of Alberta's Tomorrow Project in Canada.

We explored longitudinal associations between religion/spirituality (R/S) Salience and R/S Attendance, and colorectal cancer screening, among adults aged≥ 50 yearsin Alberta, Canada. R/S Salience was not statistically significantly associated with colorectal cancer screening (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.88-1.28). Conversely, R/S Attendance was statistically significantly associated with higher odds of colorectal cancer screening: the aOR was 1.28 (95% CI 1.02-1.59) for participants attending services at least once a month and 1.31 (95% CI 1.01-1.69) for participants attending between one and four times yearly, compared to participants who never attended. Researchers should explore the possibility of delivering colorectal cancer screening programs in R/S settings.

Perspectives on 40‐year careers—University of Calgary Chemical & Petroleum Engineering graduating class of 1983

AbstractOnly a few of the students who graduated from Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary found jobs in 1983 because of a severe recession and the National Energy Program artifically deflating the oil price. Despite the slow start to their careers, the graduates have made substantial contributions to industry, government agencies, and academia. They worked on over 60 projects in more than 40 countries, many of which were valued in the billions of dollars (excluding projects in Canada). Because of the volatility in the petroleum industry, the graduates often moved from one company to another: 6 individuals worked for 10 or more companies, while only 2 spent their entire career at a single company. In 1981, we were told that the half‐life of an engineering career was 5 years, but while many did take up senior management positions and business roles, most remained very close to the engineering profession throughout their careers. Here, we summarize the career paths in broad terms, like how frequently graduates changed jobs, how much time they averaged in each company, and mention the role of education in their work. Of the 60 students who graduated in 1983, this perspective article excludes seven engineers who passed away prematurely, and another seven who could not be reached.

The North American Gamble: An Examination of Nation-State Projects in Canada and the United States

The North American Gamble: An Examination of Nation-State Projects in Canada and the United States

A critical analysis of public private partnership model in energy from waste projects

The Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) have been significantly adopted over the last three decades as a mechanism for the delivery and financing of projects. Various infrastructure project types in the energy and the transport sectors have adopted this procurement system for their ‘anticipated’ effectiveness in risk distribution and value for money. Yet, their acclaimed benefits, particularly in ensuring value for money in the waste to energy – or energy-from-wastes (EfW) – sector are under significant scrutiny. Governments and investors are increasingly questioning their fiscal efficiency and overall benefit to taxpayers. Despite these concerns, studies investigating whether PFI provides value of money of PFI in EfW are lacking. This study addresses this gap by comparing the PFI models used in the UK and Canada in currently operative EfW projects using mixed risk epistemology approach combining methods that provide both a real and objective evaluation of issues and risks and a subjective (or opinion-based) evaluation. The former is achieved through a quantitative probabilistic model for simulating EfW feasibility at the operation phase. The quantitative probabilistic model is capable to model and capture how operational phase costs and profitability are affected by lifecycle risks (such as quality of service driven by contractual requirements that are usually passed on to the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contractor) and a range of technical, payment and incentive dynamic variables and their fluctuations. If the impact of these variables is not considered and modelled accurately, the O&M contractor could incur significant losses undermining the viability of the EfW project. The latter employs a psychometric methodology to delve into the primary concerns of professionals involved in EfW projects regarding associated risks. The results show that common O&M risks identified in EfW PPP projects in UK and Canada prevail around unplanned maintenance, infeed waste reduction, market price, unsustainable debts, and policy changes.

Cripping sex education: reflections on a public pedagogy project

ABSTRACT In response to recent calls for ‘cripping sex education’, we describe and reflect on an 11-week public pedagogy project in Canada that paired five community sexuality educators with 78 undergraduate students to make digital sexuality education tools for disabled, Deaf, and queer children and youth. From a perspective that argues for a genealogy of crip desire in childhood, we reflect on the possibilities and limitations of an intellectual partnership project, called Cripping Sex Education: Creating Digital Tools for Disabled, Deaf, and Queer Kids. This public pedagogy project centred crip theory, coalition building, and critical digital pedagogy in its aim to discover how cripping sex education might be feasible within the parameters of our institutions, vocations and lives. The work required all partners to consider new pedagogical formations of sexuality education, including through ethical engagements, relational rights, and expansive approaches to access. Interviews with three student participants reveal that cripping sex education involves thinking broadly about accessibility, challenging normalcy and, as disability justice principles attest, centring those who are most impacted. We close with recommendations for future cripping sex education pedagogical work that honours already existent crip desires, childhoods, and futures.

An Integrated Building Information Modeling and Life-Cycle Assessment Approach to Facilitate Design Decisions on Sustainable Building Projects in Canada

In the context of the digital and sustainable transformation of building projects, the integrated approach of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) has been widely studied. Recent advancements in such integrated modeling processes and techniques have not yet provided reliable and robust decision-making capabilities for designers to intuitively choose between material alternatives. This study develops a new design framework that integrates BIM, LCA, and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) algorithms to facilitate sustainable design processes in building projects. A case study using a single-family housing project in the British Columbia province of Canada was implemented to test the designs to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed integrated framework, including a three-way comparison of design scenarios—conventional hot-roll steel, recycled steel, and timber. The results indicate a significant performance improvement with the adoption of recycled structural steel materials, surpassing conventional steel designs and demonstrating a similar performance to that of timber designs. The study underscores the importance of informed decision-making in material selection, driven by the quantitative analysis of digital designs and multi-criteria evaluation (e.g., social carbon cost). This integrated framework offers a valuable tool for designers, engineers, and builders to achieve sustainability when designing building projects through the systematic and rapid comparison of environmental performance.

To Approve or not to Approve? A Comparative Analysis of State-Company-Indigenous Community Interactions in Mining in Canada and Sweden.

This Special Section explores the interplay between Indigenous peoples, industry, and the state in five proposed and active mining projects in Canada and Sweden. The overall aim is to identify factors shaping the quality of Indigenous community-industry-state interactions in mining and mine development. An ambition underlying the research is to develop knowledge to help manage mining related land-use conflicts in Sweden by drawing on Canadian comparisons and experience. This paper synthesizes the comparative research that has been conducted across jurisdictions in three Canadian provinces and Sweden. It focuses on the interplay between the properties of the governance system, the quality of interaction and governance outcomes. We combine institutional and interactive governance theory and use the concept of governability to assess how and why specific outcomes, such as mutually beneficial interaction, collaboration, or opposition, occurred. The analysis suggests there are measures that can be taken by the Swedish Government to improve the governability of mining related issues, by developing alternative, and more effective, avenues to recognize, and protect, Sámi rights and culture, to broaden the scope and increase the legitimacy and transparency of the EIAs, to raise the quality of interaction and consultation, and to develop tools to actively stimulate and support collaboration and partnerships on equal terms. Generally, we argue that Indigenous community responses to mining must be understood within a larger framework of Indigenous self-determination, in particular the communities' own assessments of their opportunities to achieve their long-term objectives using alternative governing modes and types of interactions.

Pushing the Boundaries: African LGBTQ+ Migrants Navigating Dislocation and Disparities in Canada.

There is an urgency to advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) racialized migrants and Canadian policy reform due to the rise in human rights violations globally for LGBTQ+ community members as they fight for constitutional change. Canada projects itself as a world leader in the protection of LGBTQ+ rights and is promoted as an ideal destination for those fleeing persecution. Contrary to this image, Canada has received harsh public criticism for its failure to live up to the expectations of a benevolent refugee-receiving country. The arrival of African LGBTQ+ migrants creates a lens for us to examine these cracks in our Canadian system and the resulting health disparities experienced by this group.

Canada’s Geothermal Energy Update in 2023

Geothermal energy exploration, development, and research have been ongoing in Canada for several decades. The country’s cold climate and the push to develop renewable energy sources have driven interest in geothermal energy. Despite this drive, regulatory complexities and competition with other relatively inexpensive energy sources with existing infrastructure have hindered development. As such, interest has grown and waned with changes in the energy economy over several decades, leaving many projects at a standstill. As of January 2023, there are currently no operational geothermal power projects in Canada. Many hot spring pool and spa complexes remain active, and Canada is a leading country in the installation of ground source heat pumps (GSHPs; also called geo-exchange systems). However, in the last decade, the interest in deep geothermal systems has renewed, with many new projects starting up across several provinces and territories. Moreover, projects that had shown limited progress for many years—such as Mount Meager in British Columbia—have begun to renew their development efforts. Research is also expanding within prominent research groups and universities. The areas of focus include both building upon previous studies (such as thermal gradients and the heat flow in sedimentary basins) and researching new methods and resources (such as GSHPs, closed-loop systems, integrated geothermal operations, and hybrid systems, including heat storage). The development is supported by federal, provincial, and territorial governments through grants and the development of regulatory frameworks. Although challenges still remain for Canada to develop its geothermal energy resources, several power, thermal, and co-production projects, ongoing research, funding, and regulatory acts are all moving forward to support geothermal development. This paper aims to study Canada’s geothermal energy update in 2023 regarding the aspects mentioned above.

Introduction to this special section: Gravity, electrical, and magnetic methods

Geophysics plays an important role in all aspects of geologic analysis, spanning from regional exploration and tectonic mapping to local prospect-level studies and energy transition projects. Out of a variety of geophysical techniques, seismic methods often play the most central role, while less expensive nonseismic methods are less frequently applied. One of the objectives of SEG's Gravity and Magnetics Committee is to promote nonseismic geophysical methods and showcase their value in various geologic applications. As members of that committee, we, the editors of this special section, assert that gravity, magnetic, and electrical methodologies are powerful yet often undervalued tools. We present this special section focused on nonseismic geophysical methods and the impact they can make on various geoscience projects. Included here are a regional tectonic study in Antarctica, a local mining exploration mapping project in Canada, and an analytical methodology capable of providing critical information about subsurface geology and helping to determine the depths of important geologic structures. Although our scope is to provide a broader discussion of different types of nonseismic techniques, all of the papers presented in this special section focus on magnetic surveying.

Feed efficiency of dairy cattle as genetic trait

This review article is devoted to the use of feed efficiency traits in dairy cattle breeding. An efficient cow is defined as the one that produces the same amount of milk and milk solids while consuming less feed and remaining healthy and fertile; thus, allowing to reduce costs without decrease in production. Improving feed efficiency is economically important due to the increasing price of fodder. Feed efficiency is a genetically complex trait that can be described as units of product output (e.g., milk yield) per unit of feed input. Nowadays genetic evaluation of dairy cattle for feed efficiency is routinely conducted in several countries, including Australia, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and United Kingdom. Different countries use different measures of feed efficiency of dairy cows. The main feed efficiency traits are dry matter intake, gross feed efficiency, residual feed intake, energy balance and feed saved. Genome-wide association studies demonstrated that feed efficiency in polygenic trait. Nevertheless, several genes with large effects on feed efficiency were identified. Estimates of heritability of these traits vary from 0.07 to 0.49 and show the presence of considerable genetic variation of these traits and therefore, the possibility of their genetic improvement under the conditions of inclusion in breeding programs. Changes in diet and rumen microbiome substantially impact feed efficiency of dairy cows. Feed efficiency is related to methane emissions and excess nitrogen excretion. Genetic improvement of feed efficiency requires recording of individual data on feed intake in cows. Such data are limited. Two options exist to solve this problem: use of indirect predictors and genomic prediction. Accuracy of genomic prediction varies from 0.21 to 0.61 across countries. International cooperative pro­jects such as Efficient Dairy Genome Project in Canada were launched to establish large databases and to increase accuracy of feed efficiency traits genomic prediction. Future directions of research are the use of novel technologies: mid-infrared spectroscopy, artificial intelligence, holo-omics.

Depression and suicidal ideation among Black individuals in Canada: mediating role of traumatic life events and moderating role of racial microaggressions and internalized racism.

Although suicidal ideation (SI) is a serious concern in Canada, its prevalence and related factors among Black individuals are poorly documented. Using data from the Mental Health of Black Communities in Canada project (BeCoMHeal), this study aimed to assess the prevalence of SI in Black individuals aged 15-40 years old in Canada, the mediating role of traumatic life events in the association between depression and SI, and the moderating role of racial microaggressions and internalized racism. Eight hundred and sixty participants aged between 15 and 40 years (Mage =24.96, SD = 6.29) completed the online questionnaire assessing sociodemographic data, depression symptoms, traumatic life events, racial microaggressions, internalized racism, and SI. Findings showed that 25.7% of the participants reported having experienced SI (26.5% women, 22.7% men, 𝛘2 = 1.08, p = .299). The moderated-mediation model revealed that traumatic life events fully mediated the association between depression and SI (B = 0.12, p = .004; 95% CI, [0.04, 0.20]) and that racial microaggressions (B = - 0.03, p = .042; 95% CI [-0.07, - 0.00]) and internalized racism (B = 0.06, p = .006; 95% CI [0.02, 0.10]) moderated this relationship. These findings underscore the importance of addressing racial microaggressions and internalized racism in therapy contexts among Black individuals to mitigate the potential negative impacts on their mental health. They also emphasize the need to develop effective, culturally sensitive, and racially adapted suicide prevention and intervention programs for Black communities in Canada.

Factors associated with the use of psychedelics, ketamine and MDMA among sexual and gender minority youths in Canada: a machine learning analysis

BackgroundSubstance use is increasing among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). This increase may be due to changes in social norms and socialisation, or due to SGMY exploring the potential...

Pan-Canadian review of community-based monitoring projects and their capacity to enhance environmental monitoring programs for cumulative effects assessments

While community-based monitoring (CBM) can support meaningful participation of the public in environmental decision-making, it remains unclear if and how CBM can support western science approaches to biophysical studies within cumulative effects assessment (CEA). We scored 40 Canadian CBM projects on their ability to enhance CEA's western science approaches to environmental monitoring. We used multivariate analyses to determine if the highest-scoring projects shared characteristics that could inform the design of CBMs to support CEA. Cluster analysis and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination revealed that highest-scoring projects were distinct from lower scoring projects, and the Similarity Percentages Routine identified characteristics that differentiated these projects. The highest-scoring projects involved non-profit organizations as bridging organizations that coordinated community participation and received funding and in-kind support from provincial/territorial government agencies. Participants in these projects collected measurements and samples using standardized protocols described in training manuals. Their data were publicly accessible in georeferenced databases and were used for baseline studies and resource management. There are existing CBM projects in Canada that thus appear well positioned to enhance western science approaches to CEA. Further study is required to identify how CBM projects can be designed to braid Indigenous and western science approaches to mutually enhance CEA methods.

What is next for SAGD? Evaluation of low GHG and high-efficiency tertiary recovery

Steam injection has been widely applied in different forms to recover heavy-oil and bitumen for decades. Even though this method is a proven and effective technology, the steam generation process itself may lead to environmental issues and low economic viability. Also, many worldwide steam projects, including SAGD projects in Canada, have already reached their maturity with a severe decline in production despite continuous steam injection. Escalating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is another crucial downside of steam injection application, contributing to an emission growth rate of about 1.1% worldwide and 0.8% annually in Canada. This requires us to search for different techniques to deplete the remaining (conditioned) oil efficiently and in an eco-friendly manner. This paper focuses on the testing of a new technique to minimize GHG emissions resulting from steam generation while enhancing the ultimate recovery post-SAGD.∼50,000 cP heavy crude and processed oil (for visual models) samples were used as an oleic phase in this experimental research. Condensable gases as single and multiple (mixed with methane) components were included as potential solvents to be applied to the already steamed models. Visual Hele-Shaw and glass-bead-pack models were employed to investigate the displacement mechanism, displacement efficiency, and phase distribution in porous media. All experiments were performed at currently existing temperatures in matured SAGD reservoirs to further evaluate the sensitivity of phase behavior of condensable solvents in a heavy-oil/steam system, as well as existing condensed water which is not compatible with hydrocarbon solvents.We observed that condensable solvents could improve the displacement efficiency/incremental heavy-oil recovery by over 30% by mobilizing residual oil and providing favorable conformance to the steam chamber. More importantly, the steam usage was able to be entirely cut off, and the energy efficiency could be ramped up to almost 100%. Additionally, the type (and composition) for applying condensable solvents were determined at a given post-SAGD temperature. Also, the retrieval potential of the condensable solvent with oil was investigated for an efficient process.Condensable gases with different compositions were introduced as potential solvents to recuperate heavy-oil and bitumen recovery and reduce or even completely cut off the steam injection at late-stage SAGD, diminishing its GHG emission and improving energy efficiency. Valuable findings present beneficial recommendations for low-emission and high-efficiency late-stage heavy-oil recovery as post-SAGD applications, as well as other types of steam injection processes.

Risk assessment for onshore wind projects in Canada

The construction phase of onshore wind farm projects involves different types of risks that hinder their development. This study aims to identify and assess risk factors that affect the construction of onshore wind farm projects and rank them based on their severity as assessed from the Canadian perspective. Thirty risk factors were collected through an extensive literature review. Then, experts were asked to subjectively evaluate the probability and impact of each factor on project cost, time, quality, and safety. The fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) were used to rank these risk factors based on their severity. The closeness coefficient (CC) indicated that a lack of management expertise, a shortage of resources required for project delivery, adverse weather, material damage during construction, and failure to keep up with recent innovative technology are the most severe risks affecting onshore wind farm projects in Canada with CC values of 0.9710, 0.9642, 0.9635, 0.9575, and 0.9450, respectively. The findings of this study support the decision making of investors and contractors who work in the Canadian wind energy industry by highlighting the critical risk factors. Moreover, this study is beneficial for decision makers in other jurisdictions since a review and a list of risk factors that affect the construction of onshore wind projects are provided herein.

Induced seismicity traffic light protocol at the Alberta No. 1 geothermal project site

The Alberta No. 1 Geothermal Project (ABNo1) is a renewable energy project in Canada; it will use deep geothermal energy for electrical power generation and direct-use thermal power. However, concerns regarding induced seismicity must be addressed. This study proposes implementing the Traffic Light Protocol (TLP) as a risk management tool for conventional geothermal projects in Alberta. We focus on determining an appropriate TLP red-light threshold, employing a risk-informed approach for the Leduc Formation - one of the geothermal reservoirs proposed for development by ABNo.1. The recommended red-light threshold of ML 3.5 signifies the level at which operations must be halted (i.e., the red light) to mitigate nuisance impact, damage, and personal risk. The recommended yellow light threshold of ML 1.5 signifies the level at which assessment of injection operations must be re-assessed, the regulator must be informed, and a risk mitigation analysis must be undertaken to re-evaluate operations to keep induced seismicity at a low magnitude. Comparison to induced seismicity near the project site highlights key factors requiring consideration during the project's design phase: injection volume, chances of basement fault reactivation, and delayed seismic activity onset. Effective mitigation entails controlling injection rate, continuous fluid balance monitoring, allowing gradual and appropriate pressure dissipation rates, and potentially the use of tracer tests to deconvolve pathways. This study provides insights for stakeholders involved in injection projects, aiding risk mitigation and ensuring safe, sustainable energy extraction while also prioritizing the local community's well-being.

What did we learn from steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) applications in three decades, and what is next?

This paper evaluates and analyzes three decades of ongoing SAGD projects in Canada, examining their successes, failures, lessons learned, and limitations from multiple perspectives, including geological, technical, environmental, and operational aspects. The reasons for successful SAGD practices are also identified, and recommendations for designing new SAGD projects and future post-SAGD practices in matured fields are provided. The potential of mature SAGD projects was also explored, and new insights for the future of SAGD (new and matured fields), including “zero emission” applications using solvents and reduced emission using steam additives, are also presented. The conclusive analyses done and the recommendations made will lead to more efficient SAGD applications (new and matured) in Canada, also providing a useful road map for the other parts of the world.