Email: blipka@uoguelph.ca

Currently coordinating the SSHRC funded project: Collaborative Water Services Between First Nations and Municipalities in Ontario. This cross-institutional, interdisciplinary project aims to explore the potential scope for water sharing between First Nations and municipalities in the Province. The project website can be viewed at www.isnrg.com.

Has worked as a Research Associate and Assistant in the Department of FARE since 2014, on a number of research programs, in various capacities. Topics include: Ontario farmland values and rental rates, First Nation land management, municipal - First Nation collaboration, and food security. 

Research Interests:

Natural resource governance, institutional economics, land economics, rural development, First Nation economic development, inter-local cooperation, food security

Education: 

Bachelor of Arts, Honours – International Development, with an emphasis in rural and agricultural development (University of Guelph, 2012)

Master of Science – Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (University of Guelph, 2014)

• Using a data set describing 804 First Nation water systems across Canada, my thesis empirically explored First Nation and municipal characteristics influencing participation in inter-local partnerships to share water, and assessed whether these partnerships reduced drinking water risk on reserves

Publications:

Lipka, Bethany and B. James Deaton. 2015. Do Water Servicing Contracts with Neighbouring Communities Reduce Drinking Water Risk on Canadian Reserves? Water Resources and Economics, 11(2015): 22-32.

Deaton, B. James and Bethany Lipka. 2015. Political Instability and Food Security. Journal of Food Security, 3(1): 29-33.

Doidge, Mary, Deaton, B. James and Bethany Woods (maiden name). 2013. Institutional Change on First Nations: Examining Factors Influencing First Nations' Adoption of the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management. Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, 8(2): 70-78.

Woods (maiden name), Bethany. 2012. Links Between Food Price Behaviour and Nutrition in the Developing World. Studies by Undergraduate Researchers at the University of Guelph (SURG), 5(2): 51-62.

Presentations: 

Do Water Provision Contracts with Neighbouring Communities Reduce Drinking Water Risk on Canadian Reserves?

• Co-author and presenting author: American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting (Minneapolis, 2014) - recorded presentation available online here: https://youtu.be/cvyjJrafuLk
• Co-author and presenting author: 67th Annual Canadian Water Resources Association Meeting (Hamilton, 2014)

• Co-author: Canadian Economics Association and Canadian Agricultural Economics Association Joint Annual Meeting (Simon Fraser University, 2014)

Outreach:

Deaton and Lipka. 2016 (September 5th). Trudeau's water promise to First Nations is ours to own [op-ed]. Globe and Mail.