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OXFORD Fourth Edition

Cana©feo Famofes wdlif

New Perspectives
,——

Edited by
Patrizia Albanese
 Fourth Edition

Canadian Families Today

New Perspectives

Edited by
Patrizia Albanese

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
 OXFORD
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Canadian families today : new perspectives / edited by Patrizia Albanese
—Fourth edition.

Third edition edited by David Cheal and Patnzia Albanese

Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-19-902576-3 (softcover)

1. Families—Canada—Textbooks. 2. Family policy—Canada—Textbooks.

3. Families—Economic aspects—Canada—lextbooks. 4. Textbooks. 1. Albanese,
Patrizia, editor

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Contents
Contributors V
Preface ix

I © Conceptualizing Families, Past and Present 1

1 introduction to Diversity in Canada's Families: Variation in Forms, Definitions,
and Theories 2
Patrizia Albanese
2 Canada's Families: Historical and Contemporary Variations 25
Cynthia Comacchio

3 Same-sex Marriage in Canada 51

Doreen M. Fumia

ll • The Life Course 71

4 intimacy, Commitment, and Family Formation 73
Melanie Heath
5 Parenting Young Children: Decisions and Realities 95
Amber Gazso

6 Separation and Divorce: Fragmentation and Renewal of Families 115

Craig McKie
7 Families in Middle and Later Life: Patterns and Dynamics of Living Longer,
Aging Together 139
Karen M. Kobayashi and Anne Martin-Matthews

III o Family Issues 161

8 Marriage and Death Rituals 163
Deborah K. van den Hoonaard
9 Paid and unpaid Work: Connecting Households, Workplaces, State Polices,
and Communities 183
Andrea Doucet
10 Family Poverty in Canada: Correlates, coping Strategies, and
Consequences 201
Don Kerr and Joseph H. Michalski

11 The Settlement of Refugee Families in Canada: Pre-migration and

Post-migration Trajectories and Location in Canadian Society 225
Amal Madibbo and James S. Frideres
Iv Contents

12 indigenous Families 245

Vanessa Watts

13 Lack of Support: Canadian Families and Disability 267

Michelle Owen

IV • Problems, Policies, and Predictions 291

14 violence in Families 293
Catherine Holtmann

15 investing in Families and Children: Family Policies in Canada 313

Catherine Krull and Mushira Mohsin Khan

16 The Past of the Future and the Future of the Family 341
Margrit Eichler

References 363
index 411
Contributors
Patrizia Albanese is Professor of Sociology, Chair of the Ryerson University Research
Ethics Board, Chair of the Local Organizing Committee for the 2018 International
Sociological Association World Congress of Sociology in Toronto, and a past president
o( the Canadian Sociological Association. She is a book series co-editor with Lome
Tepperman (Oxford University Press); co-editor of Sociology: A Canadian Perspective
(Oxford, 2016); and co-author of Making Sense: A Student's Guide to Research and
Writing—Social Sciences (Oxford, 2017), Growing Up in Armyville (with D. Harrison;
Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2016), and Caring for Children: Social Movements and
Public Policy in Canada (with R. Langford and S. Prentice, UBC Press, 2017). She is the
author of Child Poverty in Canada (Oxford. 2010), Children in Canada Today (Oxford,
2016), and Mothers of the Nation (UoFf Press, 2006). She has been working on a number
of research projects that share a focus on understanding family policies in Canada.

Cynthia Coinacchio, Professor, Department of History, Wilfrid Laurier University,

has a PhD in Canadian history from the University of Guelph. Her research focuses
on Canadian social and cultural history, especially the history of childhood, youth, and
family. She has published three books on those subjects, most recently The Dominion
of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of Modern Canada. 1920—1950 (Wilfrid Laurier
University Press, 2006), which received the Canadian History of Education Association’s
Founders Award for best English-language monograph. She is currently collaborating
with Neil Sutherland on Ring Around the Maple: A Sociocultural History of Children and
Childhood in Canada, 19th and 20th Centuries, for WLU Press.

Andrea Doucet is the Canada Research Chair in Gender, Work, and Care and
Professor of Sociology and Women’s 8c Gender Studies at Brock University. She has
published widely on themes of gender and care work, fatherhood, masculinities, parental
leave policies, embodiment, reflexivity, and feminist approaches to methodologies and
epistemologies. Her book Do Men Mother? (UofT Press, 2006) was awarded the John
Porter Tradition of Excellence Book Award from the Canadian Sociology Association.
She is also co-author of Gender Relations: Intersectionality and Beyond (with J. Siltanen,
Oxford, 2008). She is currently completing two long-standing book projects—one
on breadwinning mothers and caregiving fathers and a second book on reflexive and
relational knowing (with N. Mauthner).

Margrit Eichler is Professor Emerita of the University of Toronto/Ontario Institute

for Studies in Education. She has published widely in the areas of family policy, biases
in research that derive from social hierarchies (e.g. sexism, racism, ableism), women’s
studies, and sustainability and social justice. She is a member of the Royal Society of
Canada and the European Academy of Sciences.

James S. Frideres is Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary. He was the director
of the International Indigenous Studies program and held the Chair of Ethnic Studies.
His recent publications include International Perspectives: Integration and Inclusion with
vl Contributors

]. Biles (McGill Queens) (which is on the Hill Times List of lop 100 books for 2012) and
the ninth edition of Aboriginal People in Canada with R. Gadacz (Pearson, 2012).

Doreen M. Fumia is Associate Professor of Sociology and the Jack Layton Chair al Ryerson
University. Her work examines lesbians and aging, identities, anti-poverty activism, and
neighbourhood belonging in Toronto. She has published in the areas of lesbian motherhood,
non-traditional families, informal learning, and same-sex marriage debates.

Amber Gazso is Associate Professor of Sociology at York University. She completed her
PhD in Sociology at the University of Alberta in 2006. Her current research interests
include citizenship, family and gender relations, poverty, research methods, and social
policy and the welfare state. Her recent journal publications focus on low-income mothers
on social assistance. She is currently working on two major research projects funded by
SSHRC. In one project she is exploring how diverse families make ends meet by piecing
together networks of social support that include both government programs (e.g., social
assistance) and community supports, and informal relations within families and with
friends and neighbours. Another comparative project explores the relationship between
health and income inequality among Canadians and Americans in mid-life.

Melanie Heath is Assistant Professor of Sociology at McMaster University. She is the

author of One Marriage Under God: The Campaign to Promote Marriage in America (NYU
Press, 2012). She has published articles in Gender & Society and Qualitatwe Sociology.
Her current project on “Harm or Right? Polygamy's Contested Terrain Within and Across
Borders” is funded by a five-year SSHRC Insight Grant.

Catherine Holtmann is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New

Brunswick and Director of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence
Research. Her research focuses on gender and religion, domestic violence, immigrant
women, and social action. She is the lead investigator for the SSHRC-funded AfterGrad
NB project team, which explores barriers to post-secondary education for high school
graduates.

Don Kerr is Professor of Sociology at King’s University College at Western University.

His areas of interest are population studies and Canadian demography. His research
has focused on social demography, population estimates and projections, environmental
demography, the Indigenous population, and family demography.

Mushira Mohsin Khan is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and a

Student Affiliate with the Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health at the University of
Victoria. Her research focuses on transnational ties and intergenerational relationships
within mid- to later-life diasporic South Asian families, ethnicity and immigration,
aging, and health and social care. Her work has been published in a collection on health
care equity for ethnic minority older adults (SFU, 2015), the Population Change and
Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series (2015), and in Current
Sociology (2016), and the International Journal of Migration, Health, and Social Care
 Contributors vil

(forthcoming). She is the recipient of the SSI-1RC-Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian

Doctoral Scholarship (2015-18).

Karen M. Kobayashi is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the

Centre on Aging at the University of Victoria. Fler research interests include the economic
and health dimensions of ethnic inequality in Canada, intergenerational relationships and
social support in mid-to-later life families, and the socio-cultural dimensions of dementia
and personhood. I ler current research programs focus on the relationship between social
isolation and health care utilization among older adults, access to health and social care
among older visible minority immigrants, living-apart-together (LAI’) relationships in
adulthood, and an evaluation of quality of care in residential long-term care facilities.
Recent work has been published in the Journal of Aging Studies, Ethnicity and Health,
Canadian Review of Sociology, and the Journal of Aging and Health.

Catherine Krull is Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Professor in the
Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria. Prior to her arrival at UVic, she
was a professor at Queen’s University. She has served as editor of Cuban Studies as well as
editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Book
publications include Cuba in Global Context: International Relations, Internationalism
and Transnationalism (2014); Rereading Women and the Cuban Revolution (with
J. Stubbs, 2011); A Measure of a Revolution: Cuba, 1959—2009 (with S. Castro, 2010)
and New World Coming: The 1960s and the Shaping of Global Consciousness (with
Dubinsky et al., 2009). She has held research fellowships at the Institute for Advanced
Studies (University of London), the Institute of Latin American Studies (University of
Florida), the Institute of Latin American Studies (David Rockefeller Center, Harvard
University), the Department of Sociology (Boston University), and the Centre for
International Studies (London School of Economics). Currently, she is working on
two monographs, one on the Cuban Diaspora in Canada and Europe (with J. Stubbs,
University of London), and Entangled US/Cuban Terrains: Memories of Guantanamo
(with A. McKercher, McMaster University).

Amal Madibbo is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Calgary. Her

research focuses on immigration, ethnic relations, globalization, and international
development. She has special interest in race and anti-racism, Black francophone
immigration to Canada, and race and ethnicity in sub-Saharan Africa.

Anne Martin-Matthews is Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia.

Her current research focuses on two areas of inquiry in the sociology of aging. The first
examines the provision of health and social care to elderly people, examined from the
perspectives of agency providers, home care workers, elderly clients, and family carers.
Her second area is on widowhood in later life. She is working on CI HR-funded research
on home care in Canada.

Craig McKie is a retired professor of Sociology. He taught at the University of Western

Ontario for several years, spent more than a decade working for Statistics Canada in
vlll Contributors

Ottawa. latterly as editor-in-chief of Canadian Social Trends, and most recently, from
1990 until retirement, he taught in the Department of Sociology al Carleton University.

Joseph H. Michalski is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology.

Kings University College at Western University. His current theoretical work and research
focus is on the geometry ot social space in relation to behaviours as diverse as intimate
partner violence, welfare, and knowledge production.

Michelle Owen is Associate Professor of Sociology and the Disability Studies Advisory
Committee Chair at the University of Winnipeg. She is the director of the Global College
Institute for Health and Human Potential and was given the 2011 Marsha Hanen Award
for Excellence in Creating Community Awareness. She is working on two disability-
related research projects: on how Canadian academics with multiple sclerosis negotiate
the workplace, and the experience of intimate partner violence in the lives of women
with disabilities.

Deborah K. van den Hoonaard is Professor ol Gerontology and Canada Research

Chair in Qualitative Research and Analysis at St Thomas University in Fredericton. New
Brunswick. She is the author of Qualitative Research in Action: A Canadian Primer (OL I’.
2015), B) Himself: The Older Man's Experience of Widowhood (U IP, 2010), The Widowed
Self The Older Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood (WLU Press, 2001), and co-author
(with W.C. van den Hoonaard) of Essentials of Thinking Ethically in Qualitative Research
(Left Coast Press, 2013).

Vanessa Watts is Academic Director, Indigenous Studies at McMaster University. She

is Mohawk and Anishinaabe and is of the Bear Clan. She is currently in the process of
completing her PhD in Sociology at Queen’s University. Her undergraduate degree is
from Trent University in Native Studies and her Master’s Degree was in the Indigenous
Governance Program at the University of Victoria.
Preface
The fourth edition of Canadian Families Today is an introduction to the sociology of
family life that draws on a wide range of materials. In 16 chapters, 20 experts in the field
cover a wide range of topics that introduce you to families in a Canadian context. Several
important updates for this edition reflect the real-word changes experienced by Canadian
families, and the way that focuses of study within the sociology of family life have adapted
and shifted in turn. Chapters throughout the text have been updated wherever possible
with the latest Statistics Canada data—the results of the 2016 Census. Several new au­
thors have been added, including Vanessa Watts, who authors an entirely new chapter on
Indigenous families, reviewing the topic in a broad way through the lens of assimilationist
stale objectives towards the absorption of Indigenous families in Canada.
1'he book is organized into four parts, reflecting its main themes. Part 1 contains the
introductory chapter by Patrizia Albanese, which discusses the diversity of family forms
existing in Canada today, reviews dilferent definitions of the family, and considers how
the changing definition of this concept has had policy implications for access to programs
and privileges or status within society. In Chapter 2, Cynthia Comacchio reviews the
major changes and continuities in the history of Canadian families over the past two cen­
turies. In Chapter 3, Doreen Fumia discusses same-sex marriage in Canada and changes
in marriage law in the form of Bill C-38—the Civil Marriages Act. She explores how
concepts of ‘‘normal" and “abnormal" sexuality continue to demarcate relationships and
thus persist in relegating many Canadians to a position as “other.”
Part 2 provides information about various stages and events in the life course. In
Chapter 4, Melanie Heath focuses on how people form relationships. Heath discusses
technological innovations that have been affecting dating and sexual relationships in
recent years. Amber Gazso, in Chapter 5, focuses on becoming and being a parent of
young children. She outlines some of the activities of parenting, with emphasis on how
everyday practices of parenting are textured by ideological discourses in our society.
In Chapter 6, Craig McKie focuses on how families fragment through separation
or divorce, but often reformulate within the context of a new union. McKie discusses
post-separation hardships, but also concludes that these must be weighed against the real
risks of physical and emotional trauma in relationships that are full of conflict, risks that
are greatly diminished by separation.
Middle age and “old age,” two other stages of the life course, are considered in Chap­
ter 7. Karen Kobayashi and Anne Martin-Matthews focus on the transitions that mark
middle age (e.g., the “empty nest,” caregiving) that are triggered by life events in families
including adult children leaving home or care for aging parents. Chapter 7 also highlights
the central role that families play in the lives of older adults.
Part 3 of Canadian Families Today focuses on some of the many challenges, deci­
sions, and strategies that families face in light of the shifting social, economic, and polit­
ical contexts. In Chapter 8 Deborah K. van den Hoonaard focuses special attention on the
rituals associated with marriage and death. She considers how rituals have evolved over
time, and notes that individuals now exercise greater scope in their choices about how
to conduct rituals. In Chapter 9, Andrea Doucet describes patterns of paid and unpaid
x Preface

work in families by looking at the relationship between gender and paid work. Doucet also
examines the relationship between state policies and paid and unpaid work.
Don Kerr and Joseph H. Michalski, in Chapter 10. focus on recent poverty trends af­
fecting families today, while also considering some of the broader structural shifts in the
Canadian economy and in government policies. They examine the high rates of poverty
among female-headed lone-parent families and among recent immigrants, and discuss
the coping strategies that these families use to survive. In Chapter 11. Amal Madibbo
and James Frideres discuss the pre- and post-migration experiences of refugee families.
Among other things, they explore the social and economic position of visible minority
refugee families in Canadian society and its impact on family structure and family ex­
periences. Michelle Watts, in Chapter 12, presents past and recent trends in family life
among Indigenous people in Canada. She traces the impact of devastating colonial poli­
cies on family life and the resilience that has come to characterize many Indigenous
families. In Chapter 13, Michelle Owen writes about the impact that disability has on
families. She begins by discussing the problem of defining disability, and then aims to
show that disabled Canadians and their families, like racialized families discussed in
Chapter 11, continue to be marginalized in our society.
Finally, Part 4 of the book looks at issues that, if not unique to families, are often
central and those with which many contemporary families must grapple violence, shifts
in public policy, and questions regarding the future. Chapter 14, by Catherine 1 loltmann,
analyzes how power differences in the family can lead to mental, physical, or sexual abuse.
At the same time, she argues that the powerlessness and dependency cycles in families
that make children, women, and aged persons vulnerable can be broken. Catherine Krull
and Mushira Mohsin Khan, in Chapter 15, discuss government policies affecting families
in Canada, which they believe have a great impact on family life. The authors point out
that Canada lacks a comprehensive national family policy, unlike some other countries
around the world. In the concluding chapter, Margrit Eichler discusses the extensive
history of predictions for and about the future of the family, pointing out that in the past
there have been a number of spectacular misprognoses about the future of families. She
concludes with predictions of her own.

Acknowledgments
Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users
are forbidden to copy the data and disseminate them, in original or modified form, for
commercial purposes, without permission from Statistics Canada. Information on the
availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from www
.statcan.gc.ca.
Patrizia Albanese
January, 2017
PART I
QJ
Conceptualizing Families,
Past and Present
“["he first three chapters of this book provide an introduction to the study of family life in
I Canada. They present some of the changes in the study of families, with a special focus on
Canada, while presenting an overview of historical diversity in family life. Multiple perspectives
on understanding families are presented, and the complexity of family life is stressed.
In Chapter 1, Patrizia Albanese discusses the diversity of family forms existing in Canada
today, reviews different definitions of the family, and considers how the changing definition
of this concept has had policy implications for access to programs and privileges or status
within society. Albanese also introduces some of the different theories of family life and
discusses the influence that theoretical assumptions have on ways of seeing the world. She
examines recent changes in family life in Canada and concludes the chapter by noting that
today, as in the past, Canadian families take on a number of diverse forms. The changing
definition of family simply reflects a reality that change has been, and continues to be, a
normal part of family life.
In Chapter 2, Cynthia Comacchio reviews the major changes and continuities in the history
of Canadian families over the past two centuries. She discusses how in the past, as is the case
today, "the family" as a social construct is an idealization that reinforces hierarchies of class,
"race," gender, and age. Throughout the chapter, she underscores the fact that, despite pre­
vailing ideas about what properly constitutes "the family" at various points in time, Canadian
families are and have been in constant flux. Comacchio makes it clear that the importance of
families to both individuals and to society is a constant, both in ideal and in practice; at the
same time, the form and experience of actual families have always been diverse.
Chapter 3, by Doreen M. Fumia, examines same-sex marriage in Canada. She walks us
through changes in marriage law in Canada in the form of Bill C-38—the Civil Marriages
Act—which shifted the definitions about which couples could legally marry. She argues that
while social acceptance of this change is ongoing, social stigmas remain. She goes on to
present two arguments: one that advocates for the inclusion of same-sex couples into the
institution of marriage, as an avenue towards equal rights and full citizenship participation.
The other argument insists that the institution of marriage is still exclusionary and calls for its
total dismantling. Through this debate, she challenges readers to decide for themselves who
marriage is for.
Introduction to Diversity
in Canada's Families
Variations in Forms, Definitions, and Theories
PATRIZIA ALBANESE

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• To gain an overview of some changing Canadian demographic trends
• To discover that Canadian families have taken, and continue to take, diverse forms
• To see that definitions of family have changed over time, and continue to evolve
• To recognize the implications of defining family in certain ways—restricting who has
access to programs, policies, and privileges and who does not
• To learn about some of the theories that guide our understanding of families
• To understand that theoretical orientations guide what we study and how we study it
\________________________________

introduction
On August 23, 2016, about 200 Indigenous people gathered in Toronto to protest the
Sixties Scoop, a period in the 1960s and 1970s during which Indigenous children were
removed from their families as part of the work of “child protection services” and placed
“in care” with non-Indigenous families. The demonstration by surviving family members
took place outside of a courthouse in Toronto where a judge was hearing a class action
lawsuit against the federal government over the practice. Among the 200 were Thomas
Norton and his sister Karen Rae, who he had just met for the first time. They explained
that Karen had been taken from their parents’ home on the Sagueen First Nation before
Thomas was born. Decades later, as adults, this family was reunited. Thomas Norton
shared with the media that he “had no idea what she was doing in her life and she had no
idea what I was doing.” He added, “you need to build the relationship and gather strength
from that as a family” (CBC News 2016: online).
This case reminds us of the meaning, vulnerability, tenacity, and importance of family
ties that many in Canada experience, and that some of us, at times, take for granted. It
hints at just how diverse in form and experience Canadian families are, and at some of the
 1 I Albanese: introduction to Diversity in Canada's Families 3

government policies and practices that shape and constrain who and what a family has
been allowed to include or involve. Above all, it reminds us of how powerful and deeply
rooted our family ties are to our sense of self and our sense of belonging.
We begin this chapter with an overview of some recent trends in family life as they
are captured by broad-sweeping national statistics. We will see that Statistics Canada
data capture a considerable amount of change and diversity in family forms, though we
must keep in mind that the data may actually mask variations, fluctuations, and “oddities”
that encompass everyday life for the millions of people who make up families in Canada
today.
Following a review of recent trends in family forms, we assess various definitions of
family, to determine which ones, if any, reflect the diversity that we see and experience
around us. Following that, we review theories used to help us understand and explain
what is happening to, with, and in family life. We see, through the trends, definitions, and
theories covered in this chapter, that change and diversity are the norm when it comes to
understanding families. We will—throughout this chapter and the rest of the book—see
that Statistics Canada data, while they offer evidence of change to family structures over
time, fail to accurately depict the full breadth of complex, lived experiences of Canadians.

Changing Trends in the Diversity of Family Forms

In 2016 there were 9,519,945 families in Canada, up from 9,389,700 only five years before
(Statistics Canada 2012a; Statistics Canada 2017a). According to Canadian Census data,
today, there are proportionally fewer households than in the past composed of a “mother,
father and children”; with more people living alone, as couples without children, or as
multi-generational families. The 2016 Census revealed that married couples remained
the dominant family form, but as in past Census years, this number is declining over
time in relation to other family forms. For example, since the 2006 Census, the number
of common-law couples has risen, as has the number of lone-parent families and indi­
viduals living alone (Statistics Canada 2017b). The growth in the number of individuals
living alone—28.2 percent of households in Canada—was especially striking (Statistics
Canada 2017b).
In 2016, there were 72,880 same-sex couples in Canada, representing 0.9 per cent
of all couples. One-third, or 33.4 per cent of these same-sex couples were married, with
the rest living common-law. About 12 percent of all same-sex couples that were counted
had children living with them at the time of the 2016 Census, (Statistics Canada 2017c).
Those numbers reflect a long journey—after decades of political mobilizing and many
legal battles, same-sex families in Canada have gone from a time when homosexuality
was illegal, to being invisible, to fully recognized marriages and families for the first
time in the 2006 Canadian census (see Chapter 3).1 Increasingly, we
also have come to acknowledge the existence, reality, and complexity of For more on legal changes
to same-sex marriage in
trans families and families with transgender members of all ages (see Canada, see "Passing Bill
Box 1.1). Clearly, as a result of social change, including changes in the C-38: The Civil Marriage
way we define and count families, Canadian families today come in a Act" in Chapter 3,
plurality of forms, with no one family portrait capturing the incredibly pp. 58-9.
rich diversity.
PART I conceptualizing Families, Past and Present

Dally Life for a 12-year-old Transgender Girl

Alexis Knox was assigned male at birth, but at 12 years old, identifies as a transgender girl.
She came out to her parents, Amanda and Mark Knox, and her two brothers, in 2014, start­
ing with an email to her father.
Alexis told CBC journalist, Hallie Cotnam, on the Ottawa Morning show:
"I was pretty scared. I didn't know what to say, or what to do."
"With email, you can type out and erase, and you can type it out in a new way. You can
just kind of get it all out in the perfect way. I just didn't know what else to do. I knew I didn't
want to live my life that way."
Her father, Mark Knox, said that when he received the email he was shocked, but not
surprised, recalling:
"She says, 'More than anything, I feel like a girl. I want to be a girl.'"
"After I got over the initial reaction to it, it was a special day. We gained a daughter."
Since the email, the family has made some adjustments. Alexis is on puberty blocking
medication and is being home-schooled while she adjusts to her new life.
Alexis described the year since coming out to her family as "definitely more challen­
ging," but she notes that it is better than it used to be:
"I’m happier. I'm not just sitting in my room playing Minecraft eight hours a day, every
day.”
The family's next challenge has been to prepare for the reactions of others as people
outside their close circle begin to see and understand the transition Alexis has been going
through. As part of this, in a post on her blog, Amanda Knox introduced her readers to her
daughter Alexis.
Alexis wants to be more public and to advocate for herself.
Source: CBC News. "Family of transgender girl, 12, opens up about first year." Apr 14, 2015. cbc Licensing.

Questions for Critical Thought

Imagine that a beloved member of your family is transgender. What kinds of chal­
lenges do you expect they would encounter? What could you do to support your loved
one through some of the challenges?

With time, official measures like the Canadian Census have evolved to capture more
of the diversity that makes up everyday life. Blended families, often called “stepfamilies,”
are those consisting of parents and their children from this and any previous relationships,
and are increasingly common. Its only recently, since the 2011 Census, that they have
been officially counted. But even before official counting, we have known that following
divorces and other break-ups, many second and subsequent unions take place, in the form
of remarriages and common-law unions. Not surprising then, to capture changing reality,
 I
1 I Albanese: introduction to Diversity in Canada's Families 5

for the first time in 2011 the Census was changed to include and count stepfamilies. The
2016 Census found that among the 5.8 million children under the age of 14, 69.7 per
cent were living with both of their biological or adoptive parents, and no step-siblings or
half-siblings; while 30 per cent were living in a lone-parent family, in a stepfamily; or in a
family without their parents but with grandparents, with other relatives or as foster chil­
dren (Statistics Canada, 2017 d). This is increased from the 12.6 per cent of all families in
Canada that were stepfamilies in 2011 (Statistics Canada 2012a). In 2016, 62.8 per cent of
children in stepfamilies were living with one of their biological or adoptive parents and a
step-parent. Just over half of these children had no half-siblings or step-siblings (were in a
simple stepfamily). Just under half were in complex stepfamilies where they lived with at
least one half-sibling or step-sibling (Statistics Canada 2017d). In 2016, 62.8 per cent of
children in stepfamilies were living with one of their biological or adoptive parents and a
step-parent. Just over half of these children had no half-siblings or step-siblings (were in
a simple stepfamily). Just under half were in complex stepfamilies where they lived with
at least one half-sibling or step-sibling (Statistics Canada 2017d). The other 37.2 per cent
of children in stepfamilies (3.6 per cent of all children aged 0 to 14) had both of their
biological or adoptive parents present. Children in this situation had at least one brother
or sister with whom they had only one parent in common: a half-sibling.
Many step-parents face a number of unique challenges and experiences. At the same
time, they have much in common with some other families today.
Other types of families we recognize today include transnational families, which have
been around a long time, certainly, but have been invisible to most. Recent years have
seen an increase in interest, research, and information on transnational, multi-local
families (Beiser et al. 2014, Bernhard et al. 2006; Burholt 2004; Dhar 2011; Waters
2001). Interest in transnational families has been sparked by the growing awareness of
some of the challenges faced by immigrant families, refugee claimants, foreign domestic

Table 1.1 Distribution (Number and Percentage) and Percentage Change of

Census Families by Family Structure, Canada, 2001-2011
Census family 2001 2006 2011 Percentage change

Total census families 8,371,020 8,896,840 9,389,700 5.5

Couple families 7,059,830 7,482,775 7,861,860 5.1

(84.3%) (84.1%) (83.7%)
Married 5,901,420 6,105,910 6,293,950 3.1
(70.5%) (68.6%) (67.0%)
Common-law 1,158,410 1,376,865 1,567,910 13.9
(13.8%) (15.5%) (16.7%)
Lone-parent families 1,311,190 1,414,060 1,527,840 8.0
(15.7%) (15.9%) (16.3%)
Female parents 1,065,360 1,132,290 1,200,295 6.0
(12.7%) (12.7%) (12.8%)
Male parents 245,825 281,775 327,545 16.2
(2.9%) (3.2%) (3.5%)
Source: Statistics Canada, 2017 and 2012a, p. 5 (Table 1), available at (www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2O11/
as-sa/98-312-x/98-312-x2011001-eng.pdf).
6 PART I Conceptualizing Families, Past and Present

Total private households

14,072,080 (100.0%)

I 1
Non-census-family Census family
households households
4,552,135 (32.3%) 9,519,945 (67.7%)

1
One-person
households
1 Non-census-family
households of two
Couples without
children
Couples with
children
Lone-parent
families
or more persons
3.969,795 (28.2%) 3,627,185 (25.8%) 3,728,375 (26.5%) 1,250,190 (8.9%)
582,345(4.1%)

Multigenerational Other family

households households
403,810 (2.9%) 510,380 (3.6%)

Figure 1.1 Overview of Household Types, Canada, 2016

Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2016.

workers from the Caribbean and Philippines, migrant workers, visa students, and individ­
uals and families with “less-than-full” legal status.
Thousands of people living in Canada currently find themselves tem­
For more on the challenges
porarily separated from their children and spouses as part of a strategy to
refugee families face,
see “Family issues" in secure a better economic future and opportunities for their family. Some
Chapter 11, pp. 231-3. have been called satellite families or satellite children, a term first used
in the 1980s to describe Chinese children whose parents immigrated to
North America, usually from Hong Kong or Taiwan, but returned to their country of
origin leaving children, and sometimes spouses, in Canada (Newendorp 2008; Tsang
et al. 2003). Researchers studying transnational families have been documenting the
changes and challenges that arise from parent-child separations (for more on parenting,
see Chapter 5), long-distance relationships, extended family networks providing child
care, and the often emotionally charged reunifications that follow from multi-local family
arrangements (Beiser et al. 2014; Bernhard et al. 2006a; Burholt 2004; Dhar 2011; Tsang
et al. 2003; Waters 2001).
In 2011, just over 7.2 million people living in Canada (22.0 per cent of the popula­
tion) were first generation, born in one of over 200 countries around the globe (Dobson,
Maheux, and Chui 2013). Nearly half of them arrived in Canada after 1985. In 2014
alone, 260,404 people arrived as permanent residents (C1C 2015).
 1 I Albanese: introduction to Diversity in Canada's Families 7

Most newcomers, like other Canadians, lived in nuclear families; however, family sizes
tended to be larger tor immigrant families (Belanger 2006). Partners in recent-immigrant
households were more likely to be legally married, rather than living common-law.
Recent-immigrant families were also less likely to be headed by single-parents compared
to other Canadian families, and were more likely than others to live in overcrowded hous­
ing (CIC 2007).
Newcomers today are much more likely than earlier immigrants or those who are
Canadian-born to live in families with incomes below the median family income in
Canada (income that falls in the middle of the income range or spectrum in a society).
Recent reports reveal that racialized immigrants make up 54 per cent
of all immigrants in Canada. However, they make up 71 percent of all im­ For more on family poverty,
migrants living in poverty (National Council of Welfare 2013). Further­ see "Economic well-being
more, 90 per cent of racialized persons living in poverty are first-generation Among indigenous and
immigrants (National Council of Welfare 2013). The factors behind these Racialized Communities"
rates include an over-representation of racialized groups in low-paying in Chapter 10, p 214.
jobs, labour market failure to recognize international work experience/
credentials, and ‘‘racial" discrimination in employment (Campaign 2000 2007). In con­
trast, children of immigrants who came to Canada before 1981 and had below-average
earnings in the first generation were found to have surpassed their parents in the second
generation, and were more educated and earned more on average than Canadians of
similar age whose parents were born in Canada (Statistics Canada 2005). A great many
factors have changed the social and economic landscape affecting immigrant families
more recently, as they have affected all Canadian families (see Duffy, Corman, and Pupo
2015) . For example, because of economic shifts, many younger Canadians today find
themselves increasingly unable to leave their parental homes and establish independent
households.
In 1981, about 28 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 20 to 29 lived with their
parents. By 2011, this increased to 41 per cent (Beaujot 2004; Milan 2016). In 2011, four
in 10 young people either remained in or returned to live in their parental home (Milan
2016) . Because of changing economic circumstances and difficulty finding stable, long­
term, decent-paying work, coupled with an increasing demand for post-secondary edu­
cation and large debt loads, researchers have seen the postponement of home-leaving or
delayed child launch. Linked with this trend is an increase in the number of “boomerang
children” or “velcro kids" (Beaupre, Turcotte, and Milan 2006; Milan
For more on work and
2016; Mitchell 1998a; Mitchell 1998b; Tyyska 2001)—young adults who
families, see "The Rise of
leave their parental homes for work or school, only to return due to large Non-standard Employment"
debt loads, shifting employment prospects, or changing marital status (for in Chapter 9, pp. 185-6.
more on unions and breakups, see Chapter 4 and Chapter 6).
While many young people today don’t expect to live with their parents or in-laws into
their thirties and forties (though, as mentioned above, increasingly many will turn out
to be wrong about that), for many new immigrants to Canada (as noted
above), older Canadians, or Canadians with disabilities, the extended For more on aging families,
see Chapter 7; for more on
family model and the pooling of family resources in multi-generational living with disabilities, see
households is nothing new, unexpected, or alarming (Che-Alford and Chapter 13.
Flamm 1999; Milan, LaFlamme, and Wong 2015; Sun 2008).
8 PART I Conceptualizing Families, Past and Present

Table 1.2 Counting Census Families

Census Family type, number,
year and/or per cent Historical context; changes in census enumeration
1921 1.8 million Census families First World War; large number of war widows; first Census to distinguish
between households and families
1931 86.4% married; Great Depression; marriage and fertility rates decline; reference to food,
13.6% lone parent shared tables, and housekeeping are dropped from Census, eradicating
hints of women's domestic labour (Bradbury 2000), single-parent heads of
households counted for the first time
1941 87.8% married; Second World War; women at work in factories: 1942 Dominion-Provincial
12.2% lone parent Wartime Day Nurseries Agreement, funding daycare services in Ontario,
Quebec, and Alberta
1951 90.1% married; Baby Boom (1946-65); fertility rates increase; first Census to clearly allow
9.9% lone parent for single parents with children living with other families to be separately
counted
1956 91.4% married; High marriage rates; high fertility rates; low death rates; rates of single
8.6% lone parent parenthood at their lowest
1961 91.6% married; High marriage rates; high fertility rates; low death rates, rates of single
8.4% lone parent parenthood remain low
1966 91.8% married; Mass marketing of birth control pill; contraception is legalized in 1969,
8.2% lone parent changes in Divorce Act. 1968
1971 90.6% married; Last Census year in which fertility was at "replacement level" of 2:1; lone
9.4% lone parent parents due to divorce now outnumber those due to widowhood
1976 90.2% married; Mass (re)entry of women into labour force
9.8% lone parent
1981 83.1% married; Common-law unions first enumerated
5.6% common-law;
11.3% lone parent
1986 80.2% married; Changes to Divorce Act; divorce rates peak in 1987
7.2% common-law;
12.7% lone parent
1991 77.3% married; Married-couple families make up an increasingly smaller proportion of all
9.8% common-law; families in Canada
13% lone parent
1996 73.7% married; Number of stepfamilies sharply on the rise; number of hours spent doing
11.7% common-law; unpaid housework asked for the first time
14.5% lone parent
2001 70.5% married; Same-sex common-law unions enumerated for the first time; parental
13.8% common-law; leave extended
15.7% lone parent
2006 68.6% married; Same-sex marriages enumerated for the first time
15.5% common-law;
15.9% lone parent
2011 67.0% married; Stepfamilies and foster children enumerated for the first time
16.7% common-law,
16.3% lone parent
 1 I Albanese: Introduction to Diversity in Canada's Families 9

Table 1.2 (Continued)

Census Family type, number,
year and/or per cent IHistorical context; changes in census enumeration
2016 28.2% One-person households
25.8% Couples without children
26.5 % Couples with children
8.9% lone-parent families
2.9 % multigenerational
households
3.6% other family households
Outlining the recent historical evolution of the Canadian Census family (which masks more than it reveals) shows that what we
know better reflects how, what, and when we counted, as opposed to exactly who and what we were.
Source Bradbury 2000, 2011, Statistics Canada 2012b, Statistics Canada 2017a

A considerable amount of pooling of resources and care work happens across genera­
tions, households, even continents, especially by women, in a complex web of exchanges
and support (Connidis and Kemp 2008; Dhar 2011; Eichler and Albanese 2007; Lang­
ford, Prentice and Albanese 2017). And while how some of this care work happens (for
example, over the internet) may be different, what is done, by whom, and/or whom, may
not actually be new. In fact, many of Canada’s “new” family forms have always existed,
if in the margins, in the shadows, or during specific historical and economic contexts.
For example, lone-parent families and stepfamilies/remarriages are not new on the
Canadian landscape (see Figure 1.2). Nor are same-sex families or transnational families,

Never married Divorced or separated1 ■ Widowed

100

90

80

70

a> 60

5 50
w
o
40

30

20

10

0
Year

Figure 1.2 Distribution (in percentage) of the Legal Marital Status of Lone Parents,
Canada, 1961 to 2011
Note: 1. Divorced or separated category includes “married, spouse absent."
Source: Statistics Canada, 2012b, p. 3
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Fig. 42. A transsection through the posterior region of the œsophagus of the
hibernating animal, under low magnification; e, epithelium; cm, circular muscles;
lm, longitudinal muscles; mm, muscularis mucosa; sm, submucosa; s, serosa.

In the posterior region of the œsophagus, as may be seen by

comparison of figures 41 and 42, the wall as a whole is about one
third thicker than in the anterior region just described, though how
much of this difference is due to different degrees of distension or
contraction it is hard to say.
The epithelium, e, is in the tissue studied thrown into less
complicated folds than in the anterior region, and is not so thick.
The submucosa, sm, if the entire layer may be so called, has
about the same thickness and structure as in the more anterior
region; but instead of the small and widely scattered bundles of
longitudinal muscle fibers there is a distinct layer of muscle which
may be called the muscularis mucosa, mm, lying about midway
between the epithelium and the circular muscle layer.
The muscularis mucosa is somewhat variable in thickness and is
thrown into folds that correspond to the larger folds of the epithelium
and the submucosa; one of these folds is shown in Figure 42. The
fibers of the muscularis mucosa are apparently all longitudinal in
position.
Outside of the submucosa is a layer of circular muscle fibers, cm;
it is here somewhat wider and more dense than in the anterior
region.
The longitudinal muscle layer (Fig. 42, lm) is much wider and more
compact than in the anterior region. The fibers are indistinctly divided
into large irregular masses as shown in the figure.
The serosa (Fig. 42, s) is a varying but fairly thick layer that is
quite distinct from the longitudinal muscle layer. It consists of the
usual connective tissue groundwork with scattered blood-vessels.
The epithelium, as was said above, is thicker and somewhat more
folded in the anterior than in the posterior region, and in the former
region is partially ciliated while in the latter cilia are entirely wanting.
With these exceptions the epithelium is practically the same in the
two regions.
 Figure 43 represents the epithelium from the anterior region as
seen under high magnification. The outlines of all the cells could not
be determined but if each nucleus represents a cell there are twenty-
five or thirty layers of cells. The nuclei are arranged in two dense,
irregular groups, one along the base of the epithelium, the other
about two thirds of the distance from the base to the free border. The
basal nuclei are perhaps slightly larger and more rounded than those
of the distal group. Between these two groups are numerous more
scattered nuclei; while scattered through the epithelium, except near
the free border, are smaller, round nuclei that stain somewhat darker
than the rest; these, from their size and appearance, seem possibly
to belong to an invisible network of connective tissue that has
penetrated the epithelium from the surrounding mucosa.
 Fig. 43. The epithelium of the anterior region of the œsophagus of the
hibernating animal, under high magnification.

The free border of the epithelium consists of long, ciliated,

columnar cells in which the cell walls may be easily seen. The cilia
are of average length and even in this anterior region are not
everywhere present; possibly they are arranged in bands, but the
material at hand was not sufficient to determine this. As was noted
above, cilia are wanting in the posterior region.
The only differences noted in the anterior region of the
œsophagus between the feeding and the hibernating conditions are
in the muscularis mucosa and the epithelium. As was noted above,
the muscularis mucosa is practically absent in the hibernating stage,
being represented only by a few small, scattered bundles of
longitudinal muscle fibers; while in the feeding stage there is a
narrow but fairly distinct layer to represent the muscularis mucosa.
 Fig. 44. The epithelium of the anterior region of the œsophagus of
the feeding animal, under high magnification.

The difference in the appearance of the epithelium is not striking.

The nuclei are somewhat larger in the feeding stage and, instead of
being crowded into a basal and a median zone, as noted in the
hibernating conditions, they form a dense basal zone, but show no
indication of medial zone. From the dense basal zone the nuclei
become more scattered towards the free surface and are rarely
found closer to the surface than is shown in Figure 44. The smaller
nuclei scattered among the larger ones, noted in connection with the
hibernating stage, are not here seen.
As in the hibernating stage cilia are present on some but not all
cells of this region.
The only noticeable difference between the feeding and
hibernating conditions of the posterior region of the œsophagus is in
the epithelium, which, as in the feeding condition of the anterior
œsophagus, exhibits but one zone of closely set nuclei, that at the
base of the epithelium.
The Stomach. The stomach was sectioned in three regions, as
shown in Figure 35: (1) in the cardiac region very near the opening
of the œsophagus; (2) in the middle or fundic region; and (3) in the
region near the opening of the pylorus. The first two sections are in
the first or large region of the stomach; the third section is in the
second or small region of the stomach (Fig. 35).
The wall as a whole is thickest in the fundus, being there
practically twice as thick as in the pyloric and half again as thick as in
the cardiac region. This great thickening is due mainly to a
thickening of the middle or oblique layer of muscle, which is here
remarkably developed. The mucosa is of nearly uniform thickness in
the different regions and will be described later.
Since there is no striking difference beside that of thickness in the
general structure of the wall of the different regions, the pyloric
region, as seen under low magnification, will now be described (Fig.
45).
 The mucosa, m, consists of fairly long glands underlaid by a well-
marked muscularis mucosa, mm, the latter exhibiting a compact
circular layer over a wider but more scattered layer of longitudinal
fibers. A considerable amount of fibrous connective tissue lies
among the muscle fibers. The circular layer of the muscularis
mucosa sends towards the surface numerous strands or septa
between the glands; six or eight of these are seen in the figure.
These strands are not nearly so numerous in the large region of the
stomach. As was said, the outer or longitudinal layer of the
muscularis mucosa is wider but less compact than the circular and
its bundles of fibers are seen in the figure as a layer of large,
scattered dots just beneath the circular layer.
The submucosa, sm, is of average thickness and density. In the
fundic and cardiac regions it seems to extend between the circular
and oblique layers; at any rate, there is a considerable layer of
connective tissue between these two muscular layers.
The circular muscular layer, cm, is of only moderate thickness and
is of rather a loose character. In the pyloric region it is not very
distinct from the underlying oblique layer, but in the other regions, as
has just been said, it is separated from the oblique layer by a
considerable layer of connective tissue like that of the submucosa.
The oblique layer, om, even in this section of the pyloric region is
the thickest of the three muscle layers; while in the cardiac, and
especially in the fundic, regions it is of great thickness, as was noted
above, and is made up of larger bundles with less intervening
connective tissue.
 Fig. 45. A transsection through the wall of the
pyloric region of the stomach of the feeding animal,
under low magnification; m, mucosa; om, oblique
muscles; other letters as in Figure 42.
 The outer or longitudinal muscle layer, lm, is comparatively little
developed and consists of small rather scattered bundles of muscles
with a correspondingly large amount of connective tissue. This
connective tissue passes insensibly into that of the surrounding
serosa, s, a loose, vascular layer of varying thickness and density,
shown very thick in Figure 45, but often much thinner.
So far as could be determined, the mucous membrane has the
same structure in both anterior and middle regions of the stomach.
That of the pyloric or small region, although fixed, stained, et cetera,
just as carefully as the rest, did not show cell details sufficiently well
to draw; the ducts of the glands in this region are fairly distinct but
the deeper parts of the glands have the appearance of series of
alveoli or large adipose cells. What the significance of this condition
may be the writer is not able to say, but since the structure of this
region of the gastric mucous membrane is not clear no attempt will
be made to describe its appearance under higher magnification than
was employed in the figure above. However, as will be noted below,
there is probably no great difference between the pyloric mucosa
and that of the other regions of the stomach.
 Fig. 46. The glands of the middle or fundic region of the stomach of the
hibernating animal, under high magnification; A, through duct; B, through body of
gland; C, through fundus of gland.
 Figure 46 shows portions of typical glands from the mucosa of the
middle region of the stomach, the posterior border of the large
stomach cavity; A is a longitudinal section through two ducts where
they open to the surface; B is a similar section through the body of a
gland below the region of the duct; C is a transsection through the
bottom or fundus of a gland; all are drawn with a camera under the
same magnification.
As is seen in Figure 45, under low magnification, the duct is about
one third of the entire length of the gland. The lumen of the duct is
fairly wide, that of the body of the gland is reduced to a mere slit,
while that of the fundus is quite wide.
One, two, or possibly more, glands may open to the surface
through one duct, as is shown in Figure 46. There is nothing peculiar
about the epithelium of these glands. Near the opening of the duct
the cells are of a typical columnar character with finely granular
cytoplasm, each with a nucleus at its basal end.
In the deeper parts of the duct the cells become shorter until in the
body of the gland (Fig. 46, B) they are cuboidal in outline.
The bodies of the glands are so closely packed together that it is
difficult to pick out an individual tube that will show details clearly
enough to draw with a camera lucida. So far as could be observed
all of the cells of this region of the gland are alike.
The bottom or fundus of the gland, as seen in Figure 46, C, is
somewhat enlarged and has a wide lumen. The cells are of the same
general character as in the more distal parts of the gland except that
they are somewhat more columnar or pyramidal than in the body of
the gland. The nuclei of the body and fundus are usually somewhat
larger and more nearly spherical than in the columnar cells of the
duct.
The feeding animals from which tissues were taken were
considerably smaller than the hibernating specimen, so that the
stomach walls were proportionately thinner; but, so far as could be
discovered, there was no difference in structure.
The relative thickness of the entire wall in each of the three
regions sectioned was about the same as described above.
As has been said, the mucosa on the pyloric or small region of the
stomach from the hibernating animal was so poorly fixed that its
structure could not be made out. In the feeding stage the mucosa of
this region was as well fixed as any of the other tissues and showed
that its structure is essentially like that shown in Figure 46, except
that the glands are proportionately not quite so long as in the fundic
and cardiac regions, and are somewhat more open—that is, they
have wider lumina; their lining cells are all of one kind and are
unchanged from what was seen in the hibernating condition.
The Small Intestine. Three regions of the small intestine will be
described: (1) an anterior, just caudad to the stomach; (2) a middle;
and (3) a posterior, one half inch cephalad to the rectum or large
intestine (Fig. 35).
As might be expected, the general structure of the wall of the
intestine is essentially the same in all three regions, the slight
differences noticeable being due mainly to variations in the thickness
of the various layers.
The middle and posterior regions have about the same diameter,
while the diameter of the anterior region is considerably greater, due
partly to the greater diameter of the lumen but mainly to the greater
thickness of the constituent layers, especially the mucosa. The
mucosa is also thrown into more numerous and complicated folds in
the anterior than in the middle and posterior regions; the complexity
of the mucosa seems to diminish as the intestine is followed caudad.
In the anterior region the mucosa may form at least one half of the
entire thickness of the wall, while in the posterior region it may form
less than one third of the thickness of the intestinal wall. The minute
structure of the intestinal epithelium will be described below.
The chief peculiarity of the intestinal wall is the apparent total
absence of a submucosa (Fig. 47). As will be described later, the
mucosal epithelium is laid upon the usual bed of fibrous and
lymphatic tissue, the tunica propria (Fig. 47, tp).
At the outer border of the tunica propria, and with no tissue
corresponding to a submucosa between it and the circular muscular
layer, is a thin and indistinct layer that has the appearance of a
longitudinal layer of muscle fibers; this should correspond to the
muscularis mucosa (Figs. 47, 48, 49, and 51, mm).
 Fig. 47. A transsection of the wall of the anterior region of the small intestine of
the hibernating animal, under low magnification; ln, lymph node; tp, tunica propria;
other letters as in Figure 42.

The circular, cm, and longitudinal, lm, muscle layers are compact,
and are distinct from the other layers of the wall; the former is
approximately twice the thickness of the latter. The relative thickness
of all the layers in the three regions of the intestine may be seen by
comparing Figures 47, 48, and 49.
 Fig. 48. An outline of a transsection of the wall of the middle
region of the small intestine of the hibernating animal, under low
magnification; lettering as in Figure 42.

The serosa, s, which is of about the same character in the three

regions under discussion, is a distinct and fairly dense layer of
connective tissue with numerous blood-vessels.
The general appearance of the mucous membrane as a whole is
sufficiently clear in the low-power drawing described above, so that
all that need be shown under a higher magnification is the epithelium
(Fig. 50). The upper part of this figure represents the lower end of
one of the intestinal glands cut longitudinally, below which is the end
of another gland in transverse section. Between the two sections is
the compact tunica propria of lymphatic tissue.
The section from which this particular figure was drawn was in the
anterior region, but the corresponding part of a section in either of
the other regions would have practically the same appearance.
The epithelium is of the stratified columnar type. The superficial
cells are very tall and narrow, with the nuclei generally at or near the
bases, though an occasional nucleus may be seen near the free end
of a cell. Below the tall columnar cells are four or five rows of nuclei
which represent smaller, irregular cells, though the cell walls could
not always be determined between the closely packed nuclei. No
goblet cells are to be seen at any place.

Fig. 49. An outline of a transsection through the

wall of the posterior region of the small intestine of the
hibernating animal, under low magnification; lettering
as in Figure 42.
 The relative diameters of the three regions of the small intestine in
the feeding condition are about the same as noted for the
hibernating stage; that is, the anterior region has the greatest
diameter and the other regions are smaller and have about the same
average diameter.
The most marked difference between the intestine during
hibernation and feeding is in the relative thickness of the mucosa
and muscular layers. As described for the hibernating stage, so in
the feeding stage, the mucosa is relatively the thickest in the anterior
regions and diminishes in thickness caudad; but while, in the
hibernating stage, it forms, in the anterior region, as much as half of
the entire thickness of the wall, in the feeding condition it forms, in
the same region, at least two thirds of the entire wall and in the
middle and posterior regions more than half of the wall.
 Fig. 50. Part of the mucous membrane of the anterior region of
the small intestine of the hibernating animal, under high
magnification. The upper part of the figure shows a part of a gland
cut longitudinally, the lower part of the figure shows another gland
cut transversely; e, epithelium; tp, tunica propria.
 The feeding animals being the smaller, the diameter of the
intestine was considerably less than in the hibernating stage; but the
actual thickness of the mucosa was practically the same, so that the
difference in diameter was due to the difference in the thickness of
the muscular and fibrous layers. It is therefore probable that the
differences noted above are due rather to the differences in the size
of the animals from which the tissues were taken than to the different
conditions of hibernation and feeding. The point to be noticed is that
the increase in the diameter of the intestine is due almost if not
entirely to an increase in thickness of the connective tissue and
muscle layers.
No difference in the complexity of the folds of the mucosa of the
two stages can be noticed.
The thickness of the fibro-muscular part of the wall of the intestine
varies considerably on different sides of the same region, but it
consists of the same layers in about the same relative amounts.
 Fig. 51. An outline of a transsection of the wall of
the middle region of the small intestine of the feeding
animal, under low magnification; m, mucosa; other
letters as in Figure 42.
 Figure 51 represents in outline the wall of the middle region of the
small intestine during feeding.
The epithelium is of the same thickness in the two stages, and the
only difference in its character that can be seen under a high
magnification is that, in the middle region at least, the nuclei are not
crowded so close together at the basal ends of the cells as in the
hibernating stage but are scattered more towards their free ends.