A shocking report details how Ontario’s most vulnerable youths are shuttled from child protection to the justice system
The researchers developed protocols and best practices for key players in the child protection and justice system, all designed to break the child-welfare-to-prison pipeline… [including] more reasonable bail conditions, trauma-informed training for group home caregivers, “anti-oppressive” practices, the use of restorative justice, and encouraging police to simply caution youths in care when called for an incident or send them to “diversion” programs… rather than lay charges
Child & Family
The researchers developed protocols and best practices for key players in the child protection and justice system, all designed to break the child-welfare-to-prison pipeline… [including] more reasonable bail conditions, trauma-informed training for group home caregivers, “anti-oppressive” practices, the use of restorative justice, and encouraging police to simply caution youths in care when called for an incident or send them to “diversion” programs… rather than lay charges
The Ford government should invest in Ontario’s outmoded courts
… the failure to modernize court proceedings actually costs taxpayers money by preventing the government from “realizing potential cost savings.” … A fair court system is a pillar of democracy. But right now, Ontario’s auditor general cannot make head nor tails of how it operates. How, then, can Downey expect Ontarians to trust it — or him?
Education
How can prisoners be rehabilitated without proper access to education?
CSC policy makes clear that prison staff are expected to facilitate access to postsecondary schooling. But that policy conflicts with another: the total ban on inmate access to the internet… As the federal Office of the Correctional Investigator put it in a 2016 report: “It’s hard to understand how an environment deprived of computers and Internet, and thereby deprived of information, can be rehabilitative.”
Doug Ford wants his Mike Harris moment. Teachers won’t give it to him. Taxpayers will pay for it
Under the pretext of an inflated deficit, Ford’s Tories pre-emptively imposed a legislated salary cap of one per cent on the public sector, just in time, coincidentally, for teacher negotiations. They did this knowing that the courts overruled such overreach when a Liberal government abrogated collective bargaining rights in 2012 (during a real fiscal emergency, unlike today’s imaginary crisis)
Employment
OCUFA stands in support of legal challenge to Ford government’s attack on workers’ rights
The Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act fundamentally undermines the constitutionally protected right to free and fair collective bargaining, threatens pay equity and benefits for marginalized workers, and will erode labour relations in the public sector… the Ford government has consistently rejected opportunities to lead constructive conversations about the future of education in Ontario.
Men living in Toronto haven’t seen their wages increase since 2000, according to new StatCan study
… especially in cities that bore the brunt of the decline in manufacturing jobs, such as Toronto, Oshawa and Windsor. Between 2000 and 2015, men’s wages were flat or in decline in those cities, even as wages for men across Canada rose by an average of 13 per cent. The study found minimal effect on women’s wages… because the manufacturing industry has traditionally been dominated by men.
Equality
Here’s why men still get paid more than women
… older men and women are almost equally engaged in caregiving of some kind, but when it comes to working-age caregivers, women are spending more time than men helping those close to them, and handling far more of the tasks that are not compatible with work… The easy government policy responses to confront the wage gap have already been implemented, says Schirle, and the impact for many women is barely perceptible.
Are Canadians ready to confront racism?
Relatively few deny that racism is a reality in Canada. Many Canadians are ready to reflect seriously on how factors such as unconscious bias shape the day-to-day experiences of racialized Canadians. Many may also be prepared to confront systemic racism in public institutions, notably (but not solely) the police. But Canadians can do this while also celebrating the communities, families and friendships they’ve built.
Health
Fear and division really are bad for our health
If you take fear and division and add a dose of cynicism about experts and government you produce an excellent culture medium for anxiety. Anxiety is bad for our health. A smoker loses on average 8.5 years of life. Anxiety can decrease your life expectancy by 7… When things seem more predictable, we feel more in control and we are less anxious.
Ontario hospitals ask for nearly $1 billion to ease hallway health-care problem
“Ontario hospitals are the most efficient in the entire country”… the additional $922 million sought for 141 publicly-funded hospitals represents an increase of 4.85 per cent. “You can’t expect to end hallway health care and keep asking hospitals to cut their expenditures and become more efficient given what the data shows. Our backs are against the wall here.”
Inclusion
Solving homelessness will require infringing on individual rights
We are stuck between two fundamental tenets of a fair and just society: a person’s right to freedom and personal agency, versus the duty authorities have to protect a person from self-harm and any attempts to harm others. If one of those was to trump the other, it would be the government’s responsibility to stop someone from harming oneself or harming others.
Embracing good will this Christmas
In some sense, our schools, libraries, hospitals, public parks, social housing, legal and social assistance programs all speak to a type of structured good will. These are all places that promote collective caring. These are some expressions of the social dimensions of good will toward all, not just those who can an afford the finer amenities of life.
Social Security
People live in fear’: What the auditor general’s report could mean for disability support in Ontario
Ordering tests and specialist reports, particularly for conditions that are not expected to improve, places a burden on the health-care system, as well as causing stress for recipients… People are constantly worried — it contributes to your mental health. We’ve had clients who were unsuccessful at a medical review, and it caused a relapse in their condition.”
System transformation in Ontario Works: Considerations for Ontario
… until better outcomes are precisely defined, funding mechanisms developed to facilitate a more integrated system, and policy goals and purposes outlined that put people at the centre of reform, a strong case has not yet been made for the government’s proposed reforms.
Governance
Do Canadian Conservatives even know what conservativism means any more?
Somewhere along the way, conservatives went off track. Tax cuts, deregulation and free trade became ends unto themselves without any consideration for their consequences for working-class citizens. Inevitably, the latter revolted. The result was Donald Trump’s election to the White House in 2016 and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union… Canadian conservatism needs to be more than a carbon copy of whatever becomes of its U.S. counterpart.
The government is slamming the brakes on spending, yet the fiscal situation is not quickly improving. That leads us to ask, “Where is the money going?” The answer is tax cuts… Lower tax revenue includes the approved $3.4 to $4.2 billion annually as well as “unannounced tax cuts” still to come… Low- and middle-income families benefit very little, if at all, from these measures. The “more money in your pocket” jingle is simply a rhetorical trick that preys on people’s economic vulnerability.
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