Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Do we care that Canada is an unequal society?
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
Jul. 20, 2011
Canada, it turns out, ranks 12 among 17 comparable countries in income inequality… The United States and Britain, two countries against which Canada measures itself, are the worst performers – that is, the most unequal societies of the 17… The Conference Board notes that government transfer programs flatten out some inequalities, but not as effectively as 20 years ago. Unemployment benefits go to fewer people; welfare rates haven’t always kept up with the cost of living. Many of the Harper government’s tax cuts… have disproportionately benefited those better off, since they’re not geared to income
Tags: ideology, poverty, standard of living
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The Great White tax haven
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
July 19, 2011
While Canada is reforming and lowering its taxes, politicians in other developed countries—those faced with crushing debt loads and economic stagnation—are turning a hungry eye to the bank accounts of their richest citizens. At the same time, instability in the Middle East and Asia means wealthy individuals are looking for a safe place to move their families. Where they might have flocked to the U.S. in the past, many now see Canada as the better option. Tax specialists even use terms like “the Great White tax haven” and “Switzerland of the North” when talking about Canada.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
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The national shame of aboriginal incarceration
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
Jul. 20, 2011
Federal correctional investigator Howard Sapers, in his 2009 report, says that the gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal offenders continues to grow and that the rate for aboriginal incarceration in 2008 was nine times the national average. This gap will widen and these numbers will increase with the Harper government’s proposed crime bill. The ugly reality is that aboriginals will be especially hard hit by this legislation… Among women offenders, the overrepresentation is even more dramatic – one in three federally sentenced women is aboriginal.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, Indigenous, participation, poverty, standard of living
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No justice for the intellectually disabled
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Jun 10 2011
… it is only the already disadvantaged category of witnesses … who must answer questions about their understanding of the duty to tell the truth,” added LEAF legal director Joanna Birenbaum. “No other category of witness is required to do so… “There is consensus that access to justice for persons with mental disabilities is a critical issue … While there are a number of reasons why women with mental disabilities are so highly targeted for sexual assault, the staggering rates of assault are in part because of these women’s lack of access to justice.”
Tags: crime prevention, disabilities, rights, women
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First Nations: Forge hope from the pain
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Jul 16 2011
In theory at least, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is… committed to holding a “Canada-First Nation Crown Gathering” to discuss a wide variety of issues: governance reforms, accountability, economic development and schooling, among others… Native leaders talk of negotiating a wide-ranging deal with the Canadian government that would affirm treaties, aboriginal title and rights, and chart a path forward… Ultimately, Atleo envisages breaking up the federal Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development department and giving First Nations the option at least of managing their affairs outside the restrictive 1876 Indian Act.
Tags: Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living
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Canada’s wealth gap widening
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
July 13, 2011
The gap between the rich and poor is widening as the rich get richer, according to a new report by the Conference Board of Canada. The richest Canadians increased their share of the national wealth between 1993 and 2009, while poor and middle-income individuals lost ground… “While the poor are minimally better off in an absolute sense, they are significantly worse off in a relative sense…
“High inequality can diminish economic growth if it means that the country is not fully using the skills and capabilities of all its citizens or if it undermines social cohesion…
Tags: ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Deal tries to hush up disgrace of Caledonia
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Jul 11, 2011
There was a double standard — two-tiered or race-based policing, with natives allowed to break the law with impunity — at work in that town, in 2006 and until the present day. Anyone who imagines Caledonia is peaceful now is correct. It is. And that’s because non-native residents know not to even attempt to set foot on the old DCE, and so do the OPP. It is de facto Six Nations territory, won through weakness on the government side and intimidation on the other… this story remains Ontario’s greatest modern disgrace.
Tags: crime prevention, Indigenous, rights
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Our Lefty Military
Sunday, July 10th, 2011
June 15, 2011
As we search for paths out of America’s economic crisis, many suggest business as a paradigm for cutting costs… top C.E.O.’s earn as much as $1 a second around the clock, partly by cutting medical benefits for employees. So they must be paragons of efficiency, right? …The business sector is dazzlingly productive, but it also periodically blows up our financial system. Yet if we seek another model, one that emphasizes universal health care and educational opportunity, one that seeks to curb income inequality, we don’t have to turn to Sweden. Rather, look to the United States military.
Tags: child care, Health, ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living
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Canada ready to spar with UN over ‘visible minorities’
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Jul 5, 2011
Canada faces a new grilling before a United Nations anti-racism watchdog — but will defy the Geneva-based body over the question the government’s use of the term “visible minorities.” A delegation to be led by Citizenship and Immigration Canada will tell the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that Canada considers the term to be appropriate. The committee signalled when it grilled Canada four years ago that the government was being racist by using the term.
Tags: disabilities, Indigenous, multiculturalism, rights, women
Posted in Equality Debates | 2 Comments »
Gender inequality isn’t a ‘women’s issue’
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
July 5, 2011
… Women’s World participants are seeking to address: problems such as poverty, food insecurity and homelessness, pornography, sex trafficking and war rape, to name just a few. Because at root, these are all challenges – or crimes – of equality. They are symptoms of the bigger issue: the ongoing disenfranchisement of a shocking percentage of the world’s women. And every government that’s not investing significant resources in righting that wrong is negligent, short-sighted and failing to nurture its nation’s true capacity.
Tags: participation, rights, standard of living, women
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