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Ontario Ministry (ontario + ministry)
Selected AbstractsA cautionary note on the use of species presence and absence data in deriving sediment criteriaENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 2 2002Katherine Von Stackelberg Abstract In recent years, a variety of approaches to deriving sediment quality guidelines have been developed. One approach relies on establishing an empirical relationship between the concentration of a contaminant in sediment and the condition of some biological indicator, for example, combining measured sediment concentrations of contaminants combined with data on colocated benthic species to measure in situ community effects of contamination. Biological threshold concentrations derived in this manner are being considered or have already been adopted by some regulatory agencies as a means for deriving sediment guidelines (e.g., Canada's Provincial Sediment Quality Guidelines). In order to test the validity of this method, we constructed several Monte Carlo simulations to illustrate that the methodology used to develop these guidelines is flawed by the effects of sampling and statistical artifacts that emerge from undersampling a lognormal density function. As a case study, this paper will present the screening level concentration method used by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (Toronto, ON, Canada) and provide the results of several probabilistic exercises highlighting these issues. We present a word of caution on the applicability of methods that rely exclusively on statistical and mathematical relationships between invertebrate data and sediment concentrations to derive sediment quality guidelines. [source] A compound Poisson model for the annual area burned by forest fires in the province of OntarioENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 5 2010Justin J. Podur Abstract We use the compound Poisson probability distribution to model the annual area burned by forest fires in the Canadian province of Ontario. Models for sums-of-random variables, relevant for modeling aggregate insurance claims and assessing insurance risk are also relevant in modeling aggregate area burned based on sums of sizes of individual fires. Researchers have fit the distribution of fire sizes to the truncated power-law (or Pareto) distribution (Ward et al., 2001) and a four-parameter Weibull distribution (Reed and McKelvey, 2002). Armstrong (1999) fitted a lognormal distribution to annual proportion of area burned by forest fires in a region of Alberta. We derive expressions and moments for aggregate area burned in Ontario using fire data from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR). We derive expressions for the distribution of area burned for "severe" and "mild" fire weather scenarios and for "intensive suppression" and "no suppression" scenarios (represented by the intensive and extensive fire protection zones of the province). These distributions can be used to perform risk analysis of annual area burned. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] ALGONQUIN NOTIONS OF JURISDICTION: INSERTING INDIGENOUS VOICES INTO LEGAL SPACESGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2006Bettina Koschade ABSTRACT. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal notions of geography, nature and space sometimes compete, and these differences can create barriers to joint environmental problem-solving. This paper examines the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Allies (AAFNA) and the strategies they used in juridical and legislative settings to make their voices heard. In the Tay River Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal (2000,2002), AAFNA attempted to introduced their knowledge of the environmental deterioration which would be caused by a Permit To Take Water issued to a multinational corporation by the Ontario Ministry of Environment. The paper is divided into two parts: first, it describes the concepts of Algonquin knowledge, jurisdiction and responsibility; second, it explores the strategies used to integrate their perspective into legal proceedings constructed by the Canadian government. This case reveals how some Algonquin people conceive of space and responsibility in deeply ecological, rather than narrowly juridical, terms. It establishes that their broad concepts of knowledge, land and jurisdiction are incompatible with existing Euro-Canadian divisions of legal responsibility and ecological knowledge, but at the same time can serve as the means by which they challenge the current structure of Aboriginal and Canadian relations. [source] Prospective study of the patient-level cost of asthma care in children,PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 2 2001Wendy J. Ungar PhD Abstract Our objective was to assess the cost of asthma care at the patient level in children from the perspectives of society, the Ontario Ministry of Health, and the patient. In this longitudinal evaluation, health service use data and costs were collected during telephone interviews at 1, 3, and 6 months with parents of 339 Ontario children with asthma. Direct costs were respiratory-related visits to healthcare providers, emergency rooms, hospital admissions, pulmonary function tests, prescription medications, devices, and out-of-pocket expenses. Indirect costs were parents' absences from work/usual activities and travel and waiting time. Hospital admissions accounted for 43%, medications for 31%, and parent productivity losses for 12% of total costs from a societal perspective. Statistically significant predictors of higher total costs were worse symptoms, younger age group, and season of participation. Adjusted annual societal costs per patient in 1995 Canadian dollars varied from $1,122 in children aged 4,14 years to $1,386 in children under 4 years of age. From the Ministry of Health perspective, adjusted annual costs per patient were $663 in children over 4 years and $904 in younger children. Adjusted annual costs from the patient perspective were $132 in children over 4 years and $129 in children under 4 years. The rising incidence of pediatric asthma demands that greater attention be paid to the delivery of optimal care to this segment of the population. Appropriate methods must be used to analyze healthcare costs and the use of services in the midst of widespread healthcare reform. The quality of clinical and health policy decision-making may be enhanced by cost-of-illness estimates that are comprehensive, precise, and expressed from multiple perspectives. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2001; 32:101,108. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Assessing efforts to mitigate the impacts of drainage on wetlands in Ontario, CanadaTHE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 2 2005Dan Walters The protection of wetlands through the Ontario Drainage Act has been the subject of much debate. While seen as essential for increasing production and/or productivity of agricultural areas, drainage schemes have been usually approved at the expense of wetlands. Despite the presence of a referral process in Ontario's Drainage Act that is supposed to prevent the significant loss of wetland area, incremental losses continue to occur. The referral process allows landowners, drainage engineers, Drainage Superintendents, local conservation authorities and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resource officials to participate in the decision-making process. This research examines the recommended mitigation measures and wetland gains/losses in Zorra Township between 1978 and 1997. Data sources included drainage files, wetland evaluation files, aerial photography and interviews with government officials. The results indicate that while recommended mitigation measures of drainage schemes in the vicinity of wetlands have increased, incremental losses continue to occur. The negotiated settlements among drainage engineers and the referral agencies appear to be inadequate to maintain the spatial extent of wetlands. The regulatory approach fails to motivate changes in land-use management practices. This supports the need to include nonregulatory incentives in the effort to protect wetlands. La protection de wetlands par l'Acte de Drainage de Ontario a été le sujet de beaucoup de débat. Pendant que vu comme essentiel pour augmenter la productivité de et/ou de production de secteurs agricoles, les arrangements de drainage ont été d'habitude approuvés à la dépense de wetlands. Malgré la présence d'un procédé de référence dans l'Acte de Drainage de Ontario'le procédé de référence de s qui est supposé empêcher la perte significative de secteur de wetland, les pertes cumulatives continuent à arriver. Le procédé de référence permet inclut landowners, les ingénieurs de drainage, les Directeurs de Drainage, les autorités de conservation locales, et le Ministère de Ontario d'officiers de Ressource Naturels pour participer dans le procédé de prise de décision. Cette recherche examine les mesures de réduction recommandés et les gains/pertes de wetland dans la Commune de Zorra entre 1978 et 1997. Les sources de données ont inclu le drainage classe, les dossiers d'évaluation de wetland, la photographie aérienne, et les entretiens avec les fonctionnaires. Les résultats indiquent que pendant que les mesures de réduction recommandées d'arrangements de drainage à proximité de wetlands ont augmenté, les pertes cumulatives continuent à arriver. Les règlements négociés parmi les ingénieurs de drainage et les agences de référence ont l'air d'être inadéquats sur le plan de maintenir les secteurs de wetland. L'approche régulatrice ne motive pas des changements dans les pratiques de direction d'usage de terre. Ceci soutient le besoin d'inclure des encouragements nonrégulateurs dans l'effort pour protéger wetlands. [source] Outcomes Associated with Planned Home and Planned Hospital Births in Low-Risk Women Attended by Midwives in Ontario, Canada, 2003,2006: A Retrospective Cohort StudyBIRTH, Issue 3 2009Eileen K. Hutton PhD ABSTRACT: Background: Midwives in Ontario, Canada, provide care in the home and hospital and are required to submit data for all births to the Ontario Ministry of Health database. The purpose of this study was to compare maternal and perinatal/neonatal mortality and morbidity and intrapartum intervention rates for women attended by Ontario midwives who planned a home birth compared with similar low-risk women who planned a hospital birth between 2003 and 2006.Methods: The database provided outcomes for all women planning a home birth at the onset of labor (n = 6,692) and for a cohort, stratified by parity, of similar low-risk women planning a hospital birth.Results: The rate of perinatal and neonatal mortality was very low (1/1,000) for both groups, and no difference was shown between groups in perinatal and neonatal mortality or serious morbidity (2.4% vs 2.8%; relative risk [RR], 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.84 [0.68,1.03]). No maternal deaths were reported. All measures of serious maternal morbidity were lower in the planned home birth group as were rates for all interventions including cesarean section (5.2% vs 8.1%; RR [95% CI]: 0.64 [0.56, 0.73]). Nulliparas were less likely to deliver at home, and had higher rates of ambulance transport from home to hospital than multiparas planning home birth and had rates of intervention and outcomes similar to, or lower than, nulliparas planning hospital births.Conclusions: Midwives who were integrated into the health care system with good access to emergency services, consultation, and transfer of care provided care resulting in favorable outcomes for women planning both home or hospital births. [source] | |||||||||||||