The Geoffrey F. Bruce Fellowship in Canadian Freshwater Policy 2019 recipients

2019 recipients of $25K Geoffrey F. Bruce Fellowship in Canadian Freshwater Policy, Michelle Woodhouse, left, and Madeleine Martin, right, have been recognized for their research related to water governance and policy

Madeleine Martin is a PhD candidate in Ryerson’s Environmental Applied Science and Management program. Her interest and passion for Canadian freshwater policy began in 2011 with her master’s thesis project investigating the complex, multi-sector, multi-actor, inter-jurisdictional regime involved in policy implementation and action in one of the Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes. The results of her Masters and PhD research to date are being published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development. Madeleine has presented her research at national and international conferences, including the International Association for Great Lakes Region Conference, International Symposium on Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development, and Canadian Association on Water Quality Symposium. In the last year, she has also worked as a research assistant on two Ryerson Urban Water projects, offering water policy insights as part of an investigation of the feasibility of “blue roof” stormwater management technology, and compiling a sample of local leaders for a survey on water issues and priorities of municipalities and conservation authorities across the Ontario. 

Madeleine’s PhD research builds on her focus on the significance of multi-actor freshwater governance trends in Canada and emerging trends related to the increasing use of social media platforms by Canadian citizens and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to participate in water policy discourse and action. Her PhD research project focuses on how “traditional” governance actors (government, civil society, and private sector organizations and actors) increasingly use social media platforms related to water policy issues. Her research focuses on how NGOs and citizens are using social media to publicly denounce behaviours by multi-national and domestic corporations that adversely effects the country’s freshwater resources and criticize government regulation of those behaviours. Madeleine’s research analyzes the use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook for public indictment of irresponsible environmental behavior as new platforms of regulatory governance activity. Her research focuses on how social media has been used in several Canadian water cases to “name and shame” companies producing personal care products containing microplastics in the Great Lakes; mobilize public and government attention related to Ontario’s decision to grant water access and use to a transnational corporation (Nestle) over the township and citizens of Centre-Wellington; and hold industry and governments accountable for implementing existing policies and regulations related to water pollution.

Using a mixed methods approach, Madeleine’s PhD research investigates the use of social media platforms for public adjudication of industry behaviour and government regulation of that behavior. Her research explores how public sector, private sector, and civil society actors initiate, interact with, and respond to, water regulatory governance discussions occurring on social media and hopes to provide insights for policy makers and implementers related to these new spaces of regulatory governance. The Geoffrey F. Bruce Fellowship will provide support for Madeleine’s research to focus on the data collection, analysis, and dissemination stages of her research and to communicate her findings to scholarly and practitioners audiences across Canada and internationally.

Michelle Woodhouse completed her Honours Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto with a double major in Geography and Environmental Studies and a minor in Geographic Information Systems. She is in the second year of her Masters program in Environmental Applied Science and Management. During her Masters she has been working as a research assistant on a collaborative research project which focuses on a comparison of water governance using water governance indicators in two complex transboundary water governance systems in North America: the Great Lakes and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. In the past year she has also held two internships: one with the US Consulate General Toronto Water Harmonization Working Group working on an initiative titled, "First Steps Towards Better Management of Our Shared Resources: Harmful Algal Blooms in Lake Ontario"; and another with the International Joint Commission where she conducted research and wrote a comprehensive report examining public opinion and engagement in the Great Lakes basin over the last five years that included recommendations for strengthening and improving the IJC’s public engagement efforts. Currently Michelle is working as a research assistant on a Ryerson project in partnership with Environmental Defence Canada and the Canadian Environmental Law Association focused on analyzing best practices and improving public engagement in the Great Lakes basin.

Michelle's Master’s thesis research focuses on the implementation of green infrastructure in the City of Toronto to improve water management, stormwater management, and other multiple benefits such as improving air quality, biodiversity, landscape and watershed connectivity, and reducing urban heat island effects. Her research focuses on four strategies the City of Toronto has developed which incorporate important components of green infrastructure. Through a systematic analysis of the green infrastructure elements in the City’s Wet Weather Flow Master Plan (2017), the Toronto Ravine Strategy (2017), the Toronto Biodiversity Strategy (2018) and the Toronto Parklands Strategy (2017), her research hopes to produce an integrated strategy using the lens of green infrastructure and an evaluation of critical “hotspots” that have been geospatially identified by the City of Toronto Planning Department to demonstrate multifunctional benefits of green infrastructure. Her project uses three cases to examine and document water management and other benefits that flow from green infrastructure projects. Her research also examines the governance models for stakeholder collaboration that are required in order to successfully implement and maintain green infrastructure projects. Through her research she aims to contribute to a stronger policy framework and best practices for green infrastructure which will have direct impacts on water quantity, quality, stormwater management and other environmental and economic benefits in the City of Toronto and other municipalities across Canada. Being a Bruce Fellow allows Michelle to focus on her thesis project, meet her financial needs, and produce results that are valuable related to the role that green infrastructure can play related to Canadian freshwater policy.