Archive for the ‘Child & Family Policy Context’ Category
Ending vaccine mandates is a cynical political play – and it threatens children’s lives
Wednesday, September 10th, 2025
Only two jurisdictions – Ontario and New Brunswick – have legislated mandatory vaccine requirements for attendance at schools and daycares, but they allow medical, religious and philosophical exemptions. We make vaccine recommendations (which, for no good reason vary by province and territory) and expect parents to do the right thing for their own child and others.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, rights
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Carney’s new nation-building plan lacks a vision for our social, educational and health needs
Wednesday, June 11th, 2025
We all need good work, housing, education, health care, child care, clean water, safe food and environmental protection. These must be central to our idea of a transformed Canada. All require immediate government attention. They can’t be relegated to the background, in deference to corporate demands for a wide-open economy where regulations and taxes don’t hold things back. Our economic rethinking must extend to developing new guardrails on business entry into the care economy.
Tags: economy, ideology, privatization, standard of living
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The rise and fall of co-op housing in Ontario
Tuesday, November 5th, 2024
Toward the end of the last century, the construction of co-operative housing — and social housing more broadly — garnered substantial federal and provincial investments: thousands of co-operative units were built every year for a span of nearly three decades. But a nexus of political, economic, and social factors in the late 1990s ground the breakneck pace of construction to a crawl. Today, units in co-operative buildings are coveted by those looking for affordable-housing options in an increasingly unaffordable market.
Tags: economy, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, rights, standard of living
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Paramedics treating patients’ palliative needs at home benefits everyone
Monday, August 12th, 2024
… paramedics, with some extra training, can provide patient-centred care in the homes of people living with cancer and other life-limiting conditions. It is intended to make patients as comfortable as possible as they spend their last days at home, which is where most Canadians say they’d prefer to die… evidence clearly shows that enabling paramedics to provide home-based palliative care when appropriate creates a substantial benefit for everyone involved — classic win-win-win for patients, health-care providers and health-care systems.
Tags: disabilities, Health, jurisdiction, Seniors
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Pierre Poilievre’s proposed mandatory minimum penalties will not reduce crime
Tuesday, March 5th, 2024
… with MMPs [mandatory minimum penalties], Parliament removes judicial discretion for any sentencing option other than imprisonment and imposes a minimum term of incarceration, regardless of the facts of the case… The evidence shows that MMPs are ineffective at reducing crime, may actually increase recidivism, are highly vulnerable to being struck down by the courts as unconstitutional, can increase delays in an overburdened system, and perpetuate systemic racism.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology
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Indigenous child welfare Act is constitutional, says Supreme Court of Canada
Monday, February 19th, 2024
Canada’s highest court has unanimously ruled that First Nations, Métis, and Inuit rights to self-government include jurisdiction over child and family services, throwing out the attorney general of Quebec’s 2022 appeal… Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution affirms and recognizes Indigenous peoples’ right to self-govern. Bill C-92 additionally affirmed that the right to self-govern included “jurisdiction in relation to child and family services,” meaning Indigenous communities have sole authority over the care of their children.
Tags: child care, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, rights
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From ‘tough on crime’ to a new transformative vision for Canada’s justice system
Friday, September 29th, 2023
… compassionate, evidence-based policies… make us safer at a fraction of the cost of ineffective “tough on crime” approaches. We don’t have to let fear win. We don’t have to tolerate an ineffective status quo. There’s a better way and it involves a new transformative justice vision: to transform the trauma in our society, rather than continue to transmit it.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, economy, ideology, standard of living
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Shortcomings in Seniors’ Care: How Canada Compares to its Peers and the Paths to Improvement
Thursday, September 28th, 2023
Overall, Canada ranks 8th out of 11 countries included in the survey… While Canada generally performs well in the care process category, it performs poorly in terms of access to care and equity, with no provinces reaching the international average in either category. Addressing access challenges for seniors through improved continuity of care, affordability and reducing wait times would improve Canada’s rank.
Tags: disabilities, Health, mental Health, Seniors, standard of living
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Ontario needs to remove barriers to child-care subsidies for low-income families
Saturday, September 16th, 2023
Ontario’s current implementation plan for child care and early learning agreements runs the risk of leaving disadvantaged families further behind… Inclusivity is explicitly stated as an important goal of the federal government’s Canada-wide early learning and child care initiative… The ultimate solution is publicly funded child care with enough spaces for everyone.
Tags: child care, ideology, participation, poverty
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What we can learn from 20 years of the Youth Criminal Justice Act
Wednesday, May 24th, 2023
The passage of the YCJA has resulted in a 95-per-cent decline in youth custodial sentences, while youth carceral facilities have closed across the country… This incredible transformation happened because the YCJA emphasizes restraint at all levels of the criminal justice system, from police intervention to charging, detaining and sentencing, and by using “extrajudicial measures” to divert young people away from the traditional court system.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology
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