Archive for the ‘Inclusion Debates’ Category
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When it comes to voting, all young people are not the same
Improving youth engagement, therefore, depends on reaching less educated youth specifically…. Many young people with lower levels of education find it very hard to understand who stands for what when it comes time to vote — not just where to mark the proverbial X. The decision-making process is intimidating and platforms are blurry… youth with lower levels of education are largely ignored by war rooms that see catering to youth as risky. Instead, platforms are constructed to assiduously woo older, more educated voters who can be counted on to come out.
Tags: ideology, rights, youth
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We need a national housing strategy now
Many people… end up homeless due to difficult life situations — whether it be due to a mental illness, losing their job, or a breakdown in their relationships. But once in the shelter system, getting access to safe, affordable housing is a challenge… when it finally arrives, often people find it unsafe and in a state of disrepair. This situation continues even though we know the cost of one night in affordable housing costs us much less than one night in a shelter, a hospital bed or jail.
Tags: budget, Health, homelessness, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Politicians are ignoring poverty in chase after middle-class votes
Of particular concern is the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor… One of the reasons for the growing gap is the trend toward precarious and part-time employment… Youth unemployment rose to 21.65 per cent in 2014. The working poor now make up 10.7 per cent of the workforce… More disturbing still: a full 29 per cent of Toronto’s children live in poverty… there are 80,000 families in the GTA on the waiting list for affordable housing…
Tags: budget, child care, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
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How I became a second-class Canadian
… the final and most egregious act by Harper’s government against those Canadians born outside of this country is Bill C-24. Add it to Bill C-51 and if some judge somewhere agrees that by demonstrating, opposing government policies, protesting, we are a danger to this country and can be stripped of our citizenship and expelled. Can we “new” Canadians even be considered citizens at all under such a law?
Tags: featured, globalization
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Affordable housing: A crippling crisis with an obvious solution
Such a prolonged shortage translates into a workforce insufficiently skilled to make Canada thrive in a fiercely competitive global economy. It accounts for a population whose health falls short… And it imposes an expense on Canadian taxpayers in ever rising healthcare costs. It accounts in large degree for higher-than-average crime rates among selected population groups. It imposes a social tax, measured in both dollars and diminished peace of mind, the enormity of which is only hinted at by the expense of our criminal-justice system.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, Health, homelessness, housing, Indigenous, jurisdiction, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
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The Refugees: Canada’s Opportunity of the Century
… the new refugees have arrived with exquisite timing… We should have our own immigration officials on the platform of the Munich train station, elbowing the Germans out of the way while we pitch every trainload of refugees on the attractions of Canada… Canadians born in the 1950s will be around until the 2040s or even later… Who’s going to support them, if not a young generation of smart, hard-working young Canadians from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa?
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, youth
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Why isn’t Ottawa helping to get out the youth vote?
Until recently, Elections Canada was empowered by the Canada Elections Act to address the issue of lower turnout among young voters through advertising and other promotional campaigns. But last year’s Fair Elections Act bewilderingly stripped the body of that power… Those who view this issue as one of personal responsibility forget that low voter turnout among youth is rooted in a mix of political, cultural, technological, and economic influences. It should not be characterized as an individual shortcoming, but as a sociological problem – one the government is best placed to fix.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, youth
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Stop criminalizing mental illness
… the urgent message in Unlocking Change: Decriminalizing Mental Health Issues in Ontario, a powerful and forward-looking new report from the John Howard Society of Ontario. It calls on… government to invest far more heavily in community-based and clinical mental health care as the province rolls out the next phase of a 10-year strategy to help people with mental illness. “The justice system should not be seen as the first viable access point for treatment”
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
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Heed the Pope’s wise warnings
In its concern for the environment, it challenges our consumerist lifestyle and its capitalist underpinnings and it calls for alleviating poverty and misery in the world not just through charity but through radical social change… The Pope would have been applauded if he told us to be more generous to the poor, but we don’t seem to like to be called upon to alleviate poverty by adopting responsible policies.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, multiculturalism, poverty, standard of living
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Canada clashes with UN panel over resources
In their testimony, the delegation appeared to shock the sensibilities of the 18-member committee when it evoked the principle of “extra-territoriality” for the employees of the 800 Canadian companies operating in Latin America, Africa and Asia. That means that in the government’s view the treaty applies to Canadians in Canada, but not those working in foreign countries… The government also defended its policy of not providing health care to refugees, saying it believed it was complaint with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and stood by the new Citizenship Act.
Tags: globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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