Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Defeatist attitude biggest obstacle to tackling native problems
Friday, June 10th, 2011
Jun. 09, 2011
Reserves are some of the only places where Ottawa is mandated to deliver social services, and its dismal record in doing so is reflected by a dropout rate of roughly 60 per cent… A meaningful, targeted contribution to first nations education in Ontario would probably only cost tens of millions of dollars annually, but would set a worrying precedent if that money came from the province. If education, then why not also health care and clean drinking water and everything else Ottawa falls short on?
Tags: budget, Indigenous, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Ottawa, native leaders commit to sweeping overhaul of reserve life
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Jun. 09, 2011
Ottawa and first nations leaders, who historically have been antagonists more often than partners, will create panels with three major mandates: to put sound education programs in place in native schools, to eliminate obstacles to creating jobs for on-reserve Indians, and to improve the governance of reserves. They will also continue negotiating land-claim and self-government agreements… The reforms will focus on status Indians living on reserve, as opposed to off-reserve and other aboriginal communities.
Tags: Indigenous, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Yes, we must pay attention to judges’ values
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
Jun. 08, 2011
Merit has often been interpreted to mean that judges should follow the law, not make it. Few today in the Charter age maintain such a stark and unrealistic stance… when we select judges, we should pay attention to their values, not try to ignore them. Pretending to do otherwise is not only a mistake but also a fraud on democracy and the Canadian people. If adjudication is about values and ideals, then we owe it to ourselves to inquire into the values and ideals of those who are or about to be judges.
Tags: ideology, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Wait lists for special education double for low-income students
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
June 1, 2011
“The average number of children on special education waiting lists in high poverty schools (10) is more than double the average number of children (4) per low poverty school,” says the study by People for Education, a research and advocacy group that for the first time compared special education services and school demographics. “And 28 per cent of high poverty schools report they have identified students who are not receiving the recommended support, again, double the percentage of low poverty schools.”
Tags: disabilities, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Auditor-General fires parting shots on climate change, native policy
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
May. 25, 2011
Ms. Fraser also noted that in the last decade her office has produced 31 audit reports on aboriginal issues, yet “too many first nations people still lack what most other Canadians take for granted.” She called the lack of improvement in living conditions “truly shocking.” “In a wealthy country like Canada, this is simply unacceptable.”
Tags: budget, economy, Health, Indigenous, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Saying goodbye to ‘Indian’ affairs
Friday, May 20th, 2011
May 20, 2011
The federal government’s move to change the name of the Department of Indian Affairs to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs is a good idea. The new name is more accurate, more modern and more inclusive… So the old name — Indian Affairs — overlooked 47% of aboriginal Canadians. It was also outdated to the point of being racist.
Tags: ideology, Indigenous, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Economic inequality
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
May 18, 2011
The Washington, D.C. thinktank Economic Policy Institute conducted an analysis of the ratios of average incomes of America’s rich and bottom 90 per cent of the population. The analysis covered the period 1980 to 2006. In that 26-year time span, the ECI found that the top one per cent of earners had incomes 10 times more than earnings for the remaining population in 1980. However, this had doubled to 20 times over the remaining population by 2006. And, the top 0.1 per cent rose from 20 times earnings in 1980 to almost 80 times earnings by 2006.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Justice tempered with compassion
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
May 17 2011
On April 29… the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that Ottawa cannot reject an immigration application from an individual who is too poor to pay its $550 processing fee. “The Minister is obliged to consider a request for an exemption from the requirement,” the court said in a unanimous judgment… To immigrant groups, it is a legal breakthrough. To critics of the court, it is a retrogressive judgment that will drive up costs and unleash a flood of applications from illegal immigrants… Federal bureaucrats will no longer be able to deport would-be immigrants because they can’t afford Ottawa’s steep application fees
Tags: ideology, immigration, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
The Unwisdom of Elites
Sunday, May 15th, 2011
May 8, 2011
The fact is that what we’re experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren’t responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people — in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Economic news flash: Inequality is complex
Saturday, May 14th, 2011
May 13, 2011
…in most places growth was more rapid at the top than at the bottom of the income distribution. Across the OECD, it averaged 1.4% per year at the bottom, 2% at the top. Canada’s numbers were 0.9 and 1.6, the United States’ 0.5 and 1.9… Almost everywhere there was growth at the bottom. But incomes at the top grew more quickly than incomes at the bottom. In effect, the rich were pulling away… The great bulk of income, and therefore the source of the great bulk of income inequality, is from wages and salaries.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
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