This paper explores theoretical and practical distinctions between individual citizens ('citizens') and organized groups ('stakeholder representatives' or 'stakeholders' for short) in public participation processes convened by government as part of policy development. Distinctions between 'citizen' and 'stakeholder' involvement are commonplace in government discourse and practice; public involvement practitioners also sometimes rely on this distinction in designing processes and recruiting for them. Recognizing the complexity of the distinction, we examine both normative and practical reasons why practitioners may lean toward-or away from-recruiting citizens, stakeholders, or both to take part in deliberations, and how citizen and stakeholder roles can be separated or combined within a process. The article draws on a 2012 Canadian-Australian workshop of deliberation researchers and practitioners to identify key challenges and understandings associated with the categories of stakeholder and citizen and their application, and hopes to continue this conversation with the researcher-practitioner community.

In the last three decades, various concepts and strategies have been developed to address social determinants of health. This paper brings together the different focuses of health promotion, and demonstrates that effective health intervention programs need to be conducted at multiple levels and fronts. Specifically, based on the evaluation of KidsFirst, an early childhood intervention program in Saskatchewan, Canada, this paper presents the program practices effective in enhancing the social capital and social cohesion at the community and institutional levels. The findings fall into three interconnected areas: strengthening community fabric; building institutional social capital and bonding, linking and bridging. KidsFirst has brought the community together through conducting broad and targeted community consultations, and developing partnerships and collaborative relationships in an open and transparent manner. It has also developed institutional social capital through hiring locally and encouraging staff to deepen connections with the communities. Additionally, it has endeavoured to create conditions that enable vulnerable families to enhance connectedness among themselves, link them to services and integrate them to the larger community. The program's success, however, depends not only on the program's local practices, but also on the government's central policy framework and commitment. In particular, the program's focus on children's healthy development easily resonated with local communities. Its endorsement of local and intersectoral leadership has facilitated mobilizing community resources and knowledge. Further, its commitment to local ownership of the program and structural flexibility has also determined the extent to which the program could fit into the histories of local communities.

W alkability-the extent to which an area is supportive of walking-is a concept that emerged from the transportation literature and has been widely adopted in health research examining the impact of the built environment on physical activity and health outcomes. 1 Factors that make neighbourhoods more walkable include pedestrian amenities such as sidewalks, crosswalks, curb cuts and traffic lights; street connectivity; mixed-land use; and the presence of a variety of destinations within walking distance, features typically found in urban more than suburban neighbourhoods. 2-4 From a public health perspective, creating more walkable neighbourhoods might be expected to lead to a healthier environment by encouraging reduced car usage and therefore lower car emissions and air pollution, and also by increasing opportunities for active transportation (physically active modes of transportation, such as walking, biking, rollerblading, skateboarding), which could increase overall levels of physical activity and decrease obesity. 5-7 Although a significant amount of research has shown that adults living in urban neighbourhoods walk more and have a lower bodymass index (BMI) than their suburban counterparts, other studies have found that this association is not consistent in all urban neighbourhoods or with all demographic groups. 4,8,9 Very little research has examined the impact of neighbourhood design on activity levels in children and youth, and the few studies that have looked specifically at youth activity have also produced mixed findings. 10-13 A study of Belgian adolescents found that they were more likely to walk and bike in less walkable neighbourhoods than more walkable neighbourhoods. 14 Other studies have found that while boys are more active in neighbourhoods that are close to commercial areas and have connected streets, girls are more active in neighbourhoods with unconnected, curvilinear, low-traffic streets. 15,16 No consistent association has been established between children's BMI and neighbourhood design, but some research suggests that certain neighbourhood characteristics may be influential. For example, neighbourhood safety and access to parks, playgrounds, recreation centres and sidewalks were significantly associated with lower BMI in girls aged 10-11 years in a US study based on a survey conducted by the National Centre for Health Statistics. 17 Higher rates of overweight and obesity were found in both boys and girls

Citizen panels offer an alternative venue for gathering input into the policy-making process. These deliberative exercises are intended to produce more thoughtful and informed inputs into the policymaking process, compared to public opinion polls. This paper highlights a six day deliberative event about energy and climate issues, tracking opinion changes before and after the deliberation, as well as six months after the deliberation. In two of the five policy domains, opinions change as a result of the deliberation and these changes endure six months after the deliberation. The tracking of opinions across the three points in time reveals a pattern of convergence between panelists' views and poll results for three of the five policy domains. Panelists were overly optimistic about many of the policy options prior to deliberation, but became more critical of these policies post-deliberation, moving their opinions closer to those of poll respondents.

The findings of this research suggest that until baseline material security is established for high-needs families, early childhood development (ECD) interventions will be limited in meeting their objectives. In order to have the most effect for those living in poverty, helping families to achieve basic material security, including secure housing, should precede the targeted provision of psychosocial ECD supports. This finding has implications for how ECD intervention programmes could more effectively be designed and whom they should target.

No abstract

No abstract

The author has granted a nonexclusive license allowing Library and Archives Canada to reproduce, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, communicate to the public by telecommunication or on the Internet, loan, distribute and sell theses worldwide, for commercial or noncommercial purposes, in microform, paper, electronic and/or any other formats. L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou autres formats. The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. In compliance with the Canadian Privacy Act some supporting forms may have been removed from this thesis. While these forms may be included in the document page count, their removal does not represent any loss of content from the thesis. Conformement d la loi canadienne sur la protection de la vie privee, quelques formulaires secondares ont ete enleves de cette th&se. Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. M CanadaThis thesis will explore the relationship between discourse and democracy by examining the evolution of nuclear energy politics in Canada. It will document the rise and fall of a Canadian anti-nuclear movement and make a case for why this movement has not been revived to correspond to what have been the beginnings of a marked expansion of nuclear power in recent years. It will argue that the central reason for this relative lack of opposition is the current framing of nuclear power is highly compelling because it presents atomic energy as the panacea for the dual problems of energy scarcity and climate change. The broad public appeal and acceptance of this framing has created a new and dominant discourse around nuclear power.The dominance of this discourse has reduced the space for the counter-arguments that, in the past, accompanied the claims made in favour of nuclear energy. In effect, this has worked to de-politicize a once controversial topic, and consequently, has reduced the scope for investigation into the relative merits and shortcomings of the nuclear sector. The evolution of nuclear discourse, from a complicated and multi-faceted discussion into a single dominant rationale, and the consequent limiting of debate are problematic because they hinder critical examination and active public involvement in the issue. This demonstrates the profound impact that discourse can have on the processes of public policy and the gaining...