Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Flaherty pledges to open tax court to disabled
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
Nov 23 2010
The court is prevented from hearing from those who owe no taxes, but want to appeal for the right to have a Registered Disability Savings Plan and qualify for government grants… “We created the RDSP, and it’s really important to me,” said Flaherty, who has a mentally challenged son and, like other politicians, had long heard parents of the disabled pleading for options to help prepare for their old age. “The fact that someone has taxable income or not should not stand in the way of establishing their right to the disability tax credit (and RDSP),” he said.
Tags: disabilities, poverty, rights
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Scores of native chiefs out-earn PM
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
Nov. 22, 2010
…at least 30 chiefs were making more than the after-tax income of Canada’s provincial premiers… 222 reserve politicians were making more than their respective premiers in 2008-09. And more than 700 received an income that was the equivalent of a off-reserve salary of more than $100,000… “a lot of reserve politicians are abusing their ability to set their own pay levels and to keep it hidden from the public.”
Tags: budget, Indigenous, standard of living
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Common sense on aboriginal law
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
Nov. 19, 2010
By a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has set a new standard for interpreting First Nations’ land claims arising from so-called “modern treaties” — those signed after 1975. From now on, disputes between governments and First Nations will be handled by the courts much more like land-use disputes arising between governments and non-aboriginal Canadians… Governments that otherwise respect the provisions contained in modern treaties are under no obligation to engage in open-ended “consultations” with native bands that go beyond the administrative procedures…
Tags: Indigenous, participation, rights
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Unpaid work not feminist issue
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
Nov 16 2010
… unpaid work is not a feminist issue and needs to be brought out of that particular closet. On the home front, there’s value in empowering such work. If it releases an intelligent woman for work, allows a man to work from home as part of the solution to traffic woes, helps people reduce health costs by caring for needy family members at home, then it can pay back… Perhaps governments would be more willing to pursue these options if economic benefits were emphasized instead of pounding feminist drums. Liberals may like it but Conservatives march to the beat of economics, so change drums!
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, women
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Where are the champions of equality?
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
Nov 16 2010
There may be more appetite for wealth redistribution than we think. A fascinating new study… surveyed more than 5,000 Americans to determine the level of inequality they favour… fully 92 per cent of these randomly selected Americans chose the Swedish wealth distribution! Imagine if there was some inspired political leadership that didn’t just fold its tent when confronted by the army of privilege, but instead waged a fierce campaign championing the popular yearning for greater equality.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Ottawa wins praise for endorsing UN indigenous-rights declaration
Sunday, November 14th, 2010
November 12, 2010
The Harper government stepped up to the plate Friday, formally signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ending Canada’s isolation as one of two countries that refused to endorse the text. The non-binding declaration commits member states to protect the rights and resources of indigenous peoples within the state. The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand refused to sign when the accord was adopted in 2007, claiming that resource rights and other claims included in the text clashed with their constitutions… The government decided it was better to endorse the declaration and explain its concerns, rather than reject the whole document.
Tags: featured, participation, rights, standard of living
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Crisis? What crisis?
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Nov 07 2010
At the heart of the systemic flaws with the current system is the Indian Act itself, a piece of colonial legislation passed by Parliament in October 1876 as a means to protect, civilize and assimilate the Indian population. “I’m not a great defender of the Indian Act,” Duncan, who has been minister for three months, said. “No Indian Affairs minister could have a greater legacy than to be the one to say, ‘I got rid of the Indian Act.’ “There’s no consensus (on a) way to get there right now.”… “We have bought into the need for reconciliation,” Duncan said. “We know we can’t move forward without doing that.”
Tags: Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
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Law blocks disabled from people’s tax court
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Nov 05 2010
A gap in recent legislation appears to have turned the people’s court for unhappy taxpayers into a court without access to the poor and disabled… For a person to be eligible to make or receive contributions to an RDSP [Registered Disability Savings Plan], that person must be sufficiently disabled to qualify in the tax year for a disability tax credit. That requires the support of a doctor, and the agreement of the Canada Revenue Agency. Doctors and the CRA have turned away folks who qualify for Canada Pension Plan disability pensions…
Tags: disabilities, poverty, rights
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Taking ownership of their land
Monday, November 1st, 2010
Nov. 1, 2010
… our people have suffered from a credit crisis ever since the Indian Act was passed. That is a 140-year depression. This legislation will help to end that. It will allow members to earn equity and borrow against it. We will finally be able to take out mortgages and business loans on our own lands as easily as anyone else… If we choose, we can abandon the paternalistic practice of having lands held in trust and overcome the constraints of a 19th century Indian Act.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, participation, standard of living
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An Indian Industry has emerged amid the wreckage of many Canadian reserves
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
Oct 30 2010
Relying on census data, Indian Affairs researchers have developed a “Community Well-Being Index” — a spreadsheet that gives every community, native and non-native alike, scores on education, employment, housing and income. Among the bottom 100 communities on that list, 96 are First Nations. Yet senior executives within Indian Affairs are loath to acknowledge what their own statisticians have discovered: that the gap between well-being on reserves and in the rest of Canada has been growing since 1996… As the disparity between the First Nations and the rest of Canada grows, so does this Indian industry built to combat it.
Tags: featured, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
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