Archive for the ‘Inclusion Policy Context’ Category

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Ontario abandons property ownership as source of jurors

Saturday, April 20th, 2019

Ontario is making a fundamental change to the province’s justice system by vastly expanding the pool of potential jurors to better reflect economic and racial diversity… “Serving on a jury effectively means giving up income in a large number of cases… That barrier still exists. Hopefully this (change) indicates the government is open to making other changes that will help our juries better reflect our communities that they sit in judgement of.”

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Toronto may finally have found a better way to build affordable housing

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019

The city’s “housing now” report outlines zoning the sites for more than 10,000 units of housing and requiring that at least two-thirds of them be purpose-built rentals. And at least half of those rentals (about 3,700) must meet a measure of affordability… Homeless shelters are bursting at the seams, the wait-list for social housing runs tens of thousands deep, and there are still more renters struggling to keep up with rents that rise faster than incomes…
But it does start to tackle part of the problem

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Advocates urge Senate to improve national accessibility law

Tuesday, December 4th, 2018

Currently, the legislation sets no timetable for Ottawa to meet its goal of a “barrier-free” Canada and nothing in the legislation compels the government to act… Federally regulated entities are required to develop accessibility plans, but the law does not require those plans to be good or even implemented… And the law wrongly splinters the power to make and enforce accessibility standards across numerous federal agencies, [which] will make it less effective and more confusing, complicated and costly.

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Non-profit workers offered chance to join Ontario public sector pension plan

Monday, September 24th, 2018

As many as one million Ontarians who work for registered charities and non-profit organizations will be eligible to join the provincial government pension plan under an agreement being announced Monday… Everything from non-profit arts and culture organizations, daycares, sports and recreation facilities to health and social service providers will be invited to participate. “Hardly anyone in the sector has benefits or pensions, and our research has found this has become a significant recruitment and retention issue,”

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How Canada is recruiting more top talent than the U.S.

Monday, August 27th, 2018

… university enrollment of foreign nationals jumped 20 per cent, year over year, in 2017 helping Canada surpass its 2022 goal for foreign national enrollment… Toronto added 28,900 tech jobs last year – more than the Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., combined.

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How Canada can actually fix the migration mess on its borders

Wednesday, August 1st, 2018

The core principle is that a genuine refugee can not be returned to a country that presents a threat to his life or freedom. This is the heart of the Convention and it does not demand much beyond that fundamental obligation. It does not require any state to accept refugees. It does not tell states how to adjudicate claims. It does not include in its definition people fleeing war or natural disasters. It does not condone illegal entry unless the individual enters the asylum country direct from the country of persecution. It does not include people who are internally displaced in their own country.

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Now is the time to clarify the rules governing ‘political activity’ by charities

Wednesday, August 1st, 2018

The current set of limits on political activities by charities guard against an ill-defined risk at great cost. They prevent charities from using a crucial tool to further their charitable purposes – working to develop and advance public policy solutions that could relieve poverty, advance education and serve our communities. They are out of keeping with the realities of policy decision-making, which often call for public-facing engagement as well as direct participation in parliamentary or other government processes.

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Charity laws must evolve with the times

Sunday, July 22nd, 2018

The just-released Ontario Superior Court decision squashes the notion that charities cannot fully engage in political activities. The charity Canada Without Poverty took the Canada Revenue Agency to court over its ruling that the group should lose its charitable status… In this case, the purpose of relieving poverty is with the sharing of ideas, not nutrition.

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The CRA makes life more difficult for people with disabilities

Wednesday, July 4th, 2018

… in a report titled Breaking Down Barriers. The senators make some sensible recommendations about fixing the DTC [Disability Tax Credit] and related programs, and even about the treatment of people with disabilities more generally. The two most important suggestions are that the DTC become a refundable (as opposed to a non-refundable) tax credit so it would benefit the most needy… [and] that everyone in a provincial program for people with disabilities be enrolled automatically in the registered disability savings program.

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It’s past time to improve our charity laws

Wednesday, April 11th, 2018

Government policy‑making is heavily influenced by for‑profit corporate interests. Companies are free to do anything, as long as their political activities are aimed at increasing profit, and they get to deduct their political advertising and lobbying expenses from their taxable income. Charities, on the other hand, are restricted to using less than 10 per cent of their resources on political activities. This constrains the ability of charities to advocate publicly for policy and legal reform that benefit the public interest.

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