Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Children’s services on reserves and human rights
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Jun 02 2010
First Nations children on reserves are eight times more likely than other children to be put into foster care or government institutions. These children are being taken from their families and their communities for a wide range of reasons, but the most common is what’s called “neglect.” This includes conditions of poverty, poor housing and physical and mental illnesses suffered by their parents. In other words, their families have not been able to provide the care that these children need. Not without support.
Tags: Indigenous, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Gov’t of Canada Introduces Legislation to Improve Drinking Water Quality in First Nation Communities
Monday, May 31st, 2010
May 26, 2010
Today, Bill S-11, the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act was introduced in Parliament. At the same time, the Government of Canada announced the two year extension of the First Nations Water and Wastewater Action Plan… This legislation would make it possible for the Government of Canada, in collaboration with First Nations, to move forward on development of federal regulations that will provide a comparable level of protection for drinking water in First Nation communities as enjoyed by other Canadians.
Tags: Health, Indigenous, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Discrimination, disrespect a fact for people with disabilities, study finds
Saturday, May 29th, 2010
May 29, 2010
…women were more concerned about discrimination and exclusion in social participation while men focused on lack of autonomy. It also found women were more likely than men to report experiences of discrimination, exclusion and disrespect at work. Reports of denial and violation of human rights were prevalent in all areas examined by the study. These included education, work, income, family life, social participation, information and communication, health and access to justice.
Tags: disabilities, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
How poverty shapes the brain
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
May 23, 2010
Over the past four decades, researchers have established how poverty shapes lives, that low socioeconomic status is associated with poor academic performance, poor mental and physical health and other negative outcomes. Dr. Swain is part of a new generation of neuroscientists investigating how poverty shapes the brain. …it will eventually lead to new teaching methods or early childhood interventions that would help children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families succeed at school and in life. “That would be the dream, to inform social policy,” said Dr. Swain, who is from Toronto.
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This is ‘what women want’? Highly unlikely
Friday, May 14th, 2010
May 14 2010
• How could a government that is using every device at its disposal to abolish the gun control registry that women fought for, claim to be improving their safety?
• How could a government that ignores the disappearance of 580 aboriginal women claim to care about their safety?
• How could a government that stokes fears of violence when the crime rate is dropping, claim to be making women safer?
Tags: crime prevention, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Why diversity matters
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
May 12 2010
“Saying yes to diversity is saying yes to modernity, to opportunity, and to the very future of our country,” said (Governor General Michaëlle) Jean. “But saying no carries a huge price. For each time social exclusion closes a door, another door is opened to desolation, frustration, and despair.”
Tags: globalization, multiculturalism
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Fix aboriginal schools
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Apr 30 2010
It was five years ago that Martin’s government forged agreement between Ottawa, the provinces and native groups for the $5 billion Kelowna Accord, which would have addressed educational issues. When the Conservatives took power in 2006, one of their first acts was to kill Kelowna. All these years later, Canada’s aboriginal youth cannot wait much longer for a coherent federal focus on education, backed by serious funding.
Tags: Indigenous, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
On native reserves: big spending, fake democracy
Monday, April 26th, 2010
April 21, 2010
…the law currently does not require aboriginal bands to submit to the same standards of accountability and transparency as all other senior Canadian officials — an absolutely unconscionable loophole whose only conceivable function is to spare aboriginal leaders embarrassment… The problem is that “self-government” is a contradiction in terms when someone else is paying the bill: Without the political discipline that comes with being accountable to taxpaying voters, politicians operate in a world without constraints.
Tags: Indigenous, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Human-rights lawyer opposes honour for right-to-vote pioneer Nellie McClung
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
Apr. 25, 2010
In a match that pits a modern-day human-rights crusader against a historical women’s-rights pioneer, a prominent Winnipeg lawyer is questioning whether Nellie McClung should be venerated on the grounds where she first fought for her right to vote nearly a century ago… While Mr. Matas doesn’t deny Ms. McClung’s influential role in gaining the vote for Canadian women, he does take umbrage at her prominent support of the eugenics movement… By the mid-1930s, it had formed the intellectual basis for the forced sterilization of mental-health patients…
Tags: disabilities, participation, rights
Posted in Equality History | No Comments »
It’s time for us to work together with our aboriginal neighbours
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
April 23, 2010
Urban aboriginal people are aspiring, striving and achieving in cities across Canada. Ensuring they are met with fairness, opportunity and support is a job for government, but not only for government. After 400 years, is it not time we got started on a better path together? It is a job for all of us.
Tags: multiculturalism, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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