The Niagara Community Observatory is a public-policy think-tank working in partnership with the Niagara community to foster, produce and disseminate research on current and emerging issues.
You can find all NCO research on our Policy Briefs page.
Wilson Foundation Partnership
Exploring Niagara’s Economic Past and Potential Future
How did we get here? And where are we going?
The Niagara Community Observatory and Brock University have wrapped up their recent research partnership with the Wilson Foundation, telling the story of Niagara’s economic development from pre-1900 to the present day.
Our symposium on September 17 attracted a full house of policy-makers and interested stakeholders to discuss the future of Niagara’s economy. You can read about the event in The Brock News piece: “Research offers recommendations to support growth in key Niagara Sectors.”
Over the past two years, our interdisciplinary research team has focused on six key economic sectors: hydroelectric power generation; manufacturing and industry; marine transportation; tourism; agriculture and agri-business; and the emerging sector of information and communications technology. The information and knowledge gathered is now presented through three final reports, 16 working papers, five historical papers with 18 vignettes, and 10 videos. They can all be found here, on our project website hosted by the Brock Library.
The project has also provided experiential learning and research opportunities for Brock’s student body.
NCO Director, Dr. Charles Conteh, led the two-year project along with a research team gathered from the university’s Faculties of Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, and Goodman School of Business, as well as Library Archives and Special Collections.
For more information, see our Wilson Foundation page.
The Brock News funding announcement from Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022.
Latest Research
Age-Friendly Communities & Volunteerism
We are pleased to release our latest, Policy Brief #59, Change in an Evolving Niagara: Navigating the Age-Friendly Communities Movement and Volunteerism, by Aliya Aragon, a third-year public health student, and Dr. Miya Narushima, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences.
We are in the middle of the United Nations (UN) “Decade of Healthy Ageing” (2021-2030), which is a global initiative to promote healthy aging and well-being for older adults, their families, and their communities. The key principle of the Decade is to foster older adults’ participation as the “drivers of change” in creating age-friendly environments, combating ageism, improving person-centred integrated care, and increasing access to good-quality long-term care. The region-wide community in Niagara has a head start toward achieving these goals, thanks to the Age-Friendly Niagara (AFN) movement that has created a structure of local advisory committees across its 12 municipalities, fostering civic engagement and intergenerational connections in Niagara’s urban-rural-mixed community.
Aragon and Dr. Narushima’s policy brief chronicles the age-friendly movement in Niagara while examining the changing demographic of the region. The authors propose that while the demographic is aging and diversifying, and many challenges have been exacerbated by COVID-19, this should be seen as an opportunity — especially through volunteerism — to engage older and younger generations alike, encouraging their civic engagement as community resources.
Food Insecurity in Niagara
UPDATE: Dr. Heritz recently presented a webinar on this topic as part of the 60 Research Talks at Brock series. You can find that webinar here – Addressing Food Insecurity: Challenges and Niagara’s Experience.
Policy Brief #58, Sustaining Food Security in Niagara, by Joanne Heritz, is a follow-up to her NCO research into affordable housing (briefs #48 and #54).
Dr. Heritz, assistant professor (LTA) in the Dept. of Political Science, looks at the food insecurity situation in Niagara, defined as the inability to afford adequate food to meet a household’s basic needs. A United Way report states just over 15 per cent of Niagara residents are experiencing food insecurity and that number is growing. Dr. Heritz conducted in-depth interviews with those working in the organizations that are on the front line supporting Niagara’s residents in need, in order to investigate the magnitude of the problem at the local level and the initiatives that have been implemented thus far to combat the problem.
Unaffordable housing, precarious employment, and inadequate social assistance are the primary reasons given for Ontario residents who are using food banks.
The policy brief makes recommendations for all three levels of government. Food banks are not the solution. They are a symptom of a larger problem. The hope is that this research will spark a conversation at all levels about what policy changes will help to solve those underlying problems and, as a result, stem the growth of food insecurity.
You can read more about this research in The Brock News (April 2, 2024) : “Brock research paints stark picture of food insecurity in Niagara”
Water governance in Lyons Creek East
Rebecca Van Massenhoven is a recent master’s graduate in the Dept. of Political Science. Her major research paper, supervised by Dr. Charles Conteh, looked at multi-level governance in the remediation of Lyons Creek East and was recently given the Faculty of Social Science Writing Award for Best Graduate Major Research Paper. She has turned this project into NCO Policy Brief #57: Managing Complex Relationships and Shared Responsibilities: The case of Lyons Creek East water governance
Specifically, this policy brief examines how the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has worked with other governmental agencies and actors at various levels to create and implement policy in Lyons Creek East.
Van Massenhoven was also awarded the 2023 Gold Medal at the National Student and Thought Leadership Awards, by the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration (CAPPA) and the Institute of Public Administration in Canada (IPAC), for her research into participatory environmental governance.
Canada Summer Games research looks at municipal collaboration
The NCO’s collaborative project for the Canada Summer Games was released in September 2023. Policy brief #56, Municipal Collaboration in Regional Event-Hosting Processes: The case of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, is written by Kyle Rich, Erin Sharpe, Martha Barnes, Carol Phillips, and Emily Romano as part of the Vice President-Research Canada Games Research Grants program.
This research examines how local area municipalities collaborated once the Niagara Region was awarded the hosting rights to the Canada Summer Games, held in 2022. The research team presents a case study of the event using social network analysis and interviews to understand the structure of the hosting network, as well as the relationships and collaborations that developed. These relationships and collaborations can have implications for creating sustainable legacy and building knowledge and expertise within our municipalities.
The hope is that these findings can inform future decision-making related to how event bids are pursued and assessed within a regional hosting model, and how hosting structures can be strategically engaged to be beneficial for all participating municipalities.
Agri-Innovation Research Day, January 25, 2023
Our Agri-Innovation Research Day showcased the projects we have been working on over the past two years, funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership), a five-year, $3-billion investment by federal, provincial, and territorial governments to strengthen and grow Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector.
The online event on Wednesday, Jan. 25 featured three sessions.
Morning Session (10 am to 11:30 am) – Automation & Robotics Adoption in Ontario’s Agri-food Sector (presented by Dr. Charles Conteh, Dr. Amy Lemay, and Dr. Jeff Boggs)
Thank you to our panelists: Steve Boese (Innovate Niagara), Kristen Obeid (OMAFRA), and Bill VandenOever (Bold Robotic Solutions, Inc.)
Lunchtime Session (12 noon to 1 pm) – Niagara Agriculture Municipal Learning Network (presented by Bunmi Okuwa and Dr. Amy Lemay)
Afternoon Session (2 pm to 3:30 pm) – Mobilizing Knowledge for the Adoption of BMPs in Ontario’s Horticulture Sector (presented by Shannon Ruzgys, Paige Fournier, Kaitlyn Carr, and Dr. Amy Lemay)
A recording of these presentations can be found at the following links:
Automation & Robotics Adoption
Niagara Agriculture Municipal Learning Network
Mobilizing Knowledge for the Adoption of BMPs
2022 RESEARCH
Growing agri-innovation series phase 3 
Our latest policy brief — #55 — has just been released!
Systemic Barriers and Drivers to Technology Adoption in Canada: Lessons for Agri-Innovation in Ontario from Stakeholders of Canada’s Global Innovation Clusters was written by Dr. Amy Lemay, Allison Clark, Dr. Jeff Boggs, and Dr. Charles Conteh as part of our ongoing research project funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
In this policy brief, which follows a working paper released in May 2021 and policy brief #53 released in November 2021, our attention turns to one-on-one interviews conducted with stakeholders of Canada’s Global Innovation Clusters (formerly known as Innovation Superclusters). This is the third phase of a more extensive four-pronged study to investigate opportunities and challenges associated with building competitive production systems in Ontario’s agri-food sector, focusing on the barriers and drivers associated particularly in the development and adoption of automation and robotics technology.
The interviews provide insights into the challenges faced by researchers, technology developers and intermediaries in developing, scaling and commercializing automation and robotics technologies and their perceptions of barriers and drivers of adoption faced by their end-users, such as farmers.
You can find a recording of the research presentation on our Podcasts & Presentations page.
This is an Ontario Agri-food Research Initiative (OAFRI) project. OAFRI projects are funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year, $3-billion investment by Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial governments to strengthen and grow Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector.
SPECIAL REPORT CELEBRATING THE VPR CANADA GAMES RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAM
The NCO kicked off a great day of celebrating Brock research on October 6 at the Brock-Canada Games Academic Showcase with its special report LEVERAGING RESEARCH FOR LEGACY How a stakeholder can leverage a major sport event to create lasting legacy for its own community and beyond: The case study of Brock University’s Canada Games Research Grants program. The report, written by Dr. Carol Phillips, Jake Quinton, and Dr. Julie Stevens frames the $200,000 grants program as a legacy-builder for both the university and Niagara. Some 34 faculty, six staff and 82 students across all Faculties participated on 30 projects, and 32 community partners also got involved.
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IMPROVING SAFE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR WOMEN IN NIAGARA, BEFORE AND AFTER COVID-19
The NCO has just released its full policy brief, Improving Safe and Affordable Housing for Women in Niagara, Before and After COVID-19, written by Dr. Joanne Heritz, Dr. Kathy Moscou, and Dr. Charles Conteh. This policy brief is the culmination of a year’s work, funded through SSHRC and in partnership with the YWCA Niagara Region, in which the research team listened to women’s stories of homelessness in order to inform policy change.
The full brief follows our public event, held at Pond Inlet on Wednesday, June 22 where we released a fact sheet, Unhoused in Niagara, giving a snapshot of our findings. More than 50 politicians, community service workers, and academics gathered to hear that presentation by Dr. Heritz, Dr. Moscou, and research assistants Tara Dekker and Katie Keays. Special thanks goes to our amazing panel: Jenny Shickluna (Mgr. Housing Programs, Niagara Region), Wendy Sturgeon (Exec. Dir. Niagara Chapter- Native Women Inc.), and Christina Thomas (community support worker and a member of the project’s Housing Advisory Council).
You can find a recording of the June 22 presentation on our Podcasts & Presentations page.
Student Research
The NCO welcomes graduate students who may wish to be affiliated with the institute, participate in its community outreach activities, and contribute to producing and disseminating evidence-based research on current and emerging issues in Niagara and beyond. Visit our Opportunities to Participate page for more information. If interested, contact the NCO Director, Dr. Charles Conteh, by email: cconteh@brocku.ca.
IMPROVING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The NCO is extremely excited to present you with some great student research from Dr. Pascal Lupien’s fourth-year class: POLI 4P36/5P36: Comparative Democratization in a Global Age.
This applied research project matched fourth-year Political Science students studying democracy, with community organizations dedicated to supporting citizen participation and inclusion. The purpose of this experiential education project was to support and inform the organizations’ advocacy efforts and research needs. At the same time, the project provided students with experience in developing the kind of professional research project that will help them find employment in sectors such as non-profits, government, consultancy, think tanks, and international organizations.
A Case Study on Asset-Based Community Development Organization: Creating Stronger Neighbourhood Relationships is written by Cody Lee, Korrah Sawyer-Dimech, Hailey Bayne-Foster, and Sam Van Clief. This policy brief is based on research conducted with Fitzgerald Neighbours, a neighbourhood association in St. Catharines. It explores ways to enhance the engagement of neighbourhood associations in municipal governance, in an effort to better democratize local politics, and examines how neighbourhood associations can help municipalities by, for example, improving public consultation processes.
Increasing Civic Engagement Among Non-Citizens in Hamilton, ON is written by Mattheus Roest, Rima Channan, Carlie Pagliacci, and Sulemana Saaka. The policy brief identifies tangible and practical mechanisms, channels and procedures for providing non-citizen newcomers with opportunities for local civic/political engagement and considers the best means of developing or applying these practices in Hamilton.
Our Director
Dr. Charles Conteh, director of the NCO, is a professor in the Dept. of Political Science who specializes in public policy & management, political economy, and governance.
You can reach him at cconteh@brocku.ca