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Act to mitigate on-reserve youth depression
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
July 21, 2011
Statistics Canada indicates there are five main predictors of depressed mood in Canada, with income being the largest predictor. According to the agency, the difference in prevalence between low and high income Canadians is 11.6 per cent to 3.6 per cent respectively, approximately a three-fold difference… Although poverty explains much of the high prevalence of depression among First Nations youth, it does not explain why some low income youth become depressed and others do not. The risk indicators found in the study explain the difference…
Tags: Health, Indigenous, mental Health, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Child poverty hurts health even in wealth
Monday, May 30th, 2011
May 26, 2011
… low-income youth in Saskatoon are much more likely to have depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and so on, as well as being more likely to engage in risk behaviours such as drug use and alcohol abuse… In general, the bad news is that the negative health impacts of youth growing up in poverty extend into their adult lives. The good news is that some of these adverse health outcomes can be attenuated through appropriate social policy.
Tags: Health, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Insite’s proven benefits ignored in political fray
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
April 25, 2011
Insite has been hamstrung by legal challenges… The Conservative government has insisted the people of Vancouver and British Columbia shouldn’t have a say in this aspect of their health care, because the use of contraband narcotics is a federal criminal matter. So far the courts have all favoured B.C., citing the medical evidence of prior studies… But the argument over the whether health-care dollars should be squandered to support a law-and-order agenda that is a proven failure, or be used to actually improve the health of citizens is one for the politicians, not the courts.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, Health, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Is prosperity possible without growth?
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
April 19, 2011
The planet can’t handle perpetual economic growth and the economy can’t work without it. It’s a major conundrum, but one that must be resolved if we hope to sustain an ever-advancing civilization. Tim Jackson, economics commissioner at the U.K.’s Sustainable Development Commission, has studied this problem in depth. He can’t say a fully formed alternative economic model is readily available, but he does provide an outline for it in his book Prosperity Without Growth, Economics for a Finite Planet. A sustainable economy would include these measures…
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
More equal societies prove superior
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
August 24, 2010
Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett is a great book. The gist of it is that more equal societies — those where the difference in average incomes is less — are better in almost every way. The authors look at almost every social measure, from mental and physical health to violence and educational attainment, from social relations and teen pregnancy to imprisonment and longevity. In all cases, where there is a smaller gap between the average incomes of poorer and richer strata of society, people are generally healthier, happier, better adjusted, better educated and more socially cohesive.
Tags: ideology, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
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