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MSVU e-Commons

The MSVU e-Commons is the institutional repository for Mount Saint Vincent University. It allows MSVU faculty, students, and staff to store their scholarly output, including theses and dissertations. Works in the e-Commons have permanent URLs and trustworthy identifiers, and are discoverable via Google Scholar, giving your work a potential local and global audience.


In addition to free storage, the e-Commons provides Mount scholars with an open access platform for disseminating their research. Depositing your work in the e-Commons complies with the requirements for open access publication of work supported by Tri-Agency funding (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC).


If you would like to deposit your work in the e-Commons, or you have any questions about institutional repositories, copyright, or open scholarship, please contact the MSVU Library & Archives.

 

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Recent Submissions

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‘Playtime with Imena’: Exploring the Importance of Social Play for Children with Down Syndrome – Trisomy 21
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Umuhoza, Lea Danae
This thesis, Playtime with Imena: Exploring the Importance of Social Play for Children with Down Syndrome – Trisomy 21, delves into the transformative role of structured social play in promoting the holistic development and social inclusion of children with Down syndrome. Inspired by personal experiences growing up alongside Imena, a beloved sibling with Down syndrome, and later volunteering at Tubiteho—a center for children with cognitive disabilities—this study intertwines lived insights with a robust Constructivist research paradigm. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, it investigates how the microsystems of family and school, supported by community and societal structures, collectively nurture developmental outcomes through social play. Employing a scoping review, this research synthesizes findings from diverse studies, revealing how structured social play enhances communication, social competence, and emotional resilience among children with Down syndrome. The thesis identifies a pressing need for culturally diverse, longitudinal studies and demonstrates the critical role of educator-family collaboration in maximizing the benefits of play. By examining digital tools as bridges between home and school environments, this study shows how real-time parent-teacher engagement amplifies the continuity of developmental support. The findings offer actionable recommendations for educators, families, and policymakers, advocating for inclusive, culturally sensitive play-based interventions that champion the developmental rights of children with Down syndrome. This work underscores the profound potential of structured play as a vehicle for growth, resilience, and social belonging, aiming to shape practices and policies that empower every child to thrive.
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No Strings Attached: Public Debt and the Transformation of Educational Policy in Nova Scotia, 1993-1997
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Turner, Karl
This thesis will examine the history of Nova Scotia’s public debt and will attempt to argue that the money it borrowed (and continues to borrow) from the bond market comes with conditions that not only supersede our societal interests, but the democratic institutions citizens trust to protect them.
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Frameworks for Freedom: Abolition Work During COVID-19, in Mi’kma’ki
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Avery, Ash
This thesis examines abolitionist responses during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on decarceration efforts, responses to intersecting crises, and the development of community-based alternatives to incarceration. Grounded in abolition feminist theory and using autoethnography as methodology, I explore the intersections of abolitionist praxis, the non-profit sector, and the transformative possibilities of building care-based systems rooted in restorative justice, transformative justice, and liberatory harm reduction. Through creative methods, including zine- making and art, this project documents the challenges and potential of abolitionist work amidst unprecedented societal upheaval. The pandemic disrupted every facet of society, exposing deep systemic inequities while offering glimpses of transformative possibilities. In carceral systems, public health risks prompted some decarceration efforts but were paired with heightened punitive measures, highlighting contradictions in crisis-driven reform. These actions revealed that decarceration is both feasible and necessary but also exposed the limitations of temporary, reactionary responses rather than proactive, systemic transformation. My findings reveal significant tensions within abolitionist movements and organizations, including the challenges of cancel culture, moral injury from navigating multiple intersecting crises, and the structural flaws of the non-profit sector, which alone cannot achieve systemic change. This work underscores the importance of resolving internal conflicts within movements without replicating harm, fostering meaningful collaboration, and embracing the radical possibilities of abolitionist frameworks. This thesis situates the COVID-19 pandemic as a critical juncture—a moment that demonstrates both the urgent need for abolitionist advocacy and the limitations of crisis-driven change. Through personal narrative, reflexive analysis, and creative expression, this research contributes to abolitionist knowledge and calls for sustained activism and justice-building grounded in equity, care, and systemic transformation.
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From Online Anti-Gender Groups to Offline Protests: Analyzing Mobilization in the “1 Million March 4 Children” Movement in Canada
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-07) Guo, Yue
This study examines how supporters of the anti-gender movement “1 Million March for Children” use social media to articulate arguments, engage with opponents, build trust, and mobilize offline protests. Through thematic analysis of 503 tweets tagged with #handsoffourkids from September 20, 2023, to October 21, 2023, the study identifies four main themes: clarifying arguments and trust-building, mobilizing supporters and calls to action, counterstrategy, and trust-destroying and trust-building narratives. The findings indicate that supporters enhance group cohesion and public trust by emphasizing patriotism, diversity, and unity, and framing parental rights in moral and emotional terms. They articulate positions on LGBTQ+ issues, sex education, and broader political matters, fostering in-group solidarity. Notably, a significant portion of the data employs counterstrategies aimed at delegitimizing opponents through accusations of child sexualization, grooming, violence, hatred, pathologization, political extremism, censorship, and dishonesty. Though limited to tweets from the supporters of the movement, this research provides timely, valuable insights into Canada’s contemporary anti-gender mobilization. The real-time social media data analysis offers an essential primary-source perspective, laying groundwork for future studies and highlighting critical issues for scholars and policymakers.
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Experience of Food Insecurity and Cultural Foodways: A Case Study with Newcomer Mothers from Nigeria Living in Urban Nova Scotia
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Oyagbohun, Adeola Victoria
Background: Household food insecurity (HFI) disproportionately affects recent newcomers to Canada. Rates are even higher among households with children and those of African descent, with race and migration status amplify vulnerability. Monitoring of HFI at the population level, however, does not capture access to culturally appropriate food. Understanding how disruptions in cultural foodways affects the experience of HFI among racialized newcomers is of particular concern for urban communities such as the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), Nova Scotia, where newcomers exceed a third of the population. Research Question: This study explored how and why changes in cultural foodways impact the food security of newcomer Nigerian mothers with young children living in urban Nova Scotia. It specifically aimed to examine how changes in food practices affect mothers’ immediate food security situation and their long-term ability to maintain their cultural food identity. Methods: An exploratory qualitative multi-case study design was used for this study. Six Nigerian mothers who had lived in HRM for five years or less, had young children, and had experienced food insecurity were purposively recruited as the “cases”. Data were collected using a participatory approach that included semi-structured individual interviews with two of the six participants as lead participant researchers, and subsequently two small group (n=3) workshops where participants prepared and shared a traditional Nigerian meal together and participated in facilitated group discussions. Data organization and thematic analysis were supported by MAXQDA 24 software and informed by the Dietary Transition Trajectories Framework and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory. Findings: Participants' experiences of food insecurity were shaped by precarious employment, the rising cost of living, high prices of cultural foods, and limited access to culturally appropriate food sources. Mothers adopted coping strategies such as bulk purchasing, ingredient substitutions, travelling long distances for food, and collaborative buying networks. Although some used food banks, the lack of culturally appropriate options often reinforced feelings of exclusion, stigma, shame, and helplessness. Emotional impacts included anxiety, guilt, and concerns about children being disconnected from their cultural roots and developing unhealthy eating habits. While some mothers gradually integrated Canadian foods into their diets, others remained strongly attached to traditional foodways, highlighting the deep link between food, cultural identity, and emotional well-being. Implications: This study advances understanding of how changes in cultural foodways intersect with food insecurity for racialized newcomer mothers with young children, and their families. It highlights the need for theoretical models of food insecurity to better account for cultural food access and identity preservation. Future research should explore the experiences of children and other racialized newcomer groups in culturally disrupted food environments and examine the role of immigration, settlement and employment status on the experience of food security. Supporting culturally meaningful food access is crucial for fostering inclusive food systems and communities, and to promote successful newcomer settlement and well-being.