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Ottawa develops workplace mental-health standards, but stops short of legislation
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
Jun. 16, 2011
The development of a national standard comes at a time when employers are under increasing legal pressure to provide healthy workplaces, even as the personal and financial cost of mental health rises in Canada. A report released in October found that over the past five years, damages awarded for workplace mental-health injuries have increased by 700 per cent… The standards are intended to lay out specific tools and guidelines for employers to assist workers struggling with illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
Tags: economy, mental Health, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
EQ over IQ: How play-based learning can lead to more successful kids
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Jun. 14, 2011
Self-regulation is a hot topic in education, something that’s hard to quantify but it can be better than even IQ at predicting academic success. It’s also a side effect of play-based learning, the centrepiece of new full-day kindergarten programs… But beyond childcare are volumes of research that… suggest that through these full-day programs Canada is building a generation of self-motivated learners who will be more successful, healthier and happier than any before them.
Tags: child care, participation, standard of living
Posted in Education Policy Context | No Comments »
Justice Court integrating domestic violence, family court cases opens in Toronto
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Jun. 10, 2011
In a first for the Canadian justice system, a new initiative in Ontario aimed at minimizing the hardships for families in crisis is merging some family court and domestic violence cases. The Integrated Domestic Violence Court will serve people who are dealing with family court issues as well as criminal charges related to domestic abuse… [in the] hope it will resolve such difficult issues faster, with less conflict and more affordably with a one-case, one-judge approach.
Tags: crime prevention, mental Health, rights, women, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
For more diversity in the legal profession
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Jun. 07, 2011
A more racially diverse legal profession and judiciary is a goal worth pursuing. It is important to have legal leaders who reflect Canada’s rapidly changing demographics. This would help law firms to compete successfully in the global economy and foster innovation, and help judges and Crown prosecutors overcome any subconscious biases, so that they can apply the law more equitably. So far, the record is mixed.
Tags: multiculturalism, participation, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Sponsors of ‘rogue’ immigrants must repay welfare, Supreme Court rules
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Jun. 10, 2011
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the right of federal and provincial governments to collect social-service payments from the sponsors of immigrants. The landmark ruling involves the cases of eight Ontario immigrant families that sponsored relatives from abroad, and who later went on social assistance. Under federal immigration law, the sponsors agreed to repay any welfare payments that their new arrivals may have incurred after they got to Canada.
Tags: budget, immigration, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Turning elitist proposals into populist ones
Monday, June 13th, 2011
Jun. 13, 2011
In five years as a minority government, the Conservatives introduced tax changes of broad benefit to the general public: two cuts to the GST, various tax credits, the tax-free savings account. Now, with a majority in hand, they have promised two major tax reforms that will turn them from populists to elitists… These are costly schemes, each running ultimately to billions a year.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Meet the average Tory, New Democrat and Liberal voter
Friday, June 10th, 2011
Jun. 06, 2011
If you live in a Conservative riding, you are probably richer than the average Canadian and an anglophone. If a New Democrat is your MP, you are probably a francophone in Quebec. And if your riding voted Liberal on May 2nd, there is a good chance that you are a visible minority and/or university educated. These are the results of an analysis of the average demographic profile of ridings held by the three main federal parties…
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
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 »
How a child’s breakfast can improve health in old age
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Jun. 08, 2011
It is difficult to overcome the health effects of deficits experienced earlier in life. These deficits can include everything from poor-quality housing and a poor diet, to stressful life events and social isolation.
Programs aimed at alleviating poverty among schoolchildren pay dividends to society; these should be continued and, where fiscally practicable, extended… And universal health insurance and generous old age pensions do not prevent the accelerated decline in the health of poorer and less educated Canadians.
Tags: Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Canada, look to America’s truce in the drug war
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Jun. 09, 2011
Canada’s possession laws are an expensive irrelevancy. In 2009, there were 48,981 incidents of cannabis possession reported by police. While there is no up-to-date estimate on the annual costs of enforcement, a reputable 2002 study put them at $300-million. All this for a “relatively harmless” drug, as the Ontario Court of Appeal has called it. Canada has not even been able to get its act together to make marijuana truly available for medicinal use, according to an Ontario judge who has ordered Ottawa to fix the medical-marijuana law.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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