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Breaking the law: How the state weaponizes an unjust criminal justice system
Tuesday, June 16th, 2020
The overpolicing and overincarceration of racial communities is a critical point. It is the state that is “othering” a segment of the population. The criminal justice system provides an official government imprimatur that this group of people – “they,” the “accused” – are not like you. The message that is being sent is that they deserve less, are not to be trusted, must be corralled, segregated, stopped and removed from “civil” society. How else are we to be safe?
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, Indigenous, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
In the stay-at-home era, why have we so sorely neglected home care?
Tuesday, June 16th, 2020
The carnage in congregate care… obliges us to rethink elder care fundamentally. A good starting point is prioritizing home care. Ontario… has a $64-billion annual health care budget, of which $3-billion goes to home care and $4.3-billion to long-term care. (Individuals supplement those costs, often paying thousands of dollars out of pocket.) There are a little less than 100,000 residents in long-term care, and more than 700,000 who get home-care services.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Let’s face it, Canada: Even drinking in moderation can be dangerous
Tuesday, June 16th, 2020
Alcohol is a health disaster in Canada… In 2017, alcohol put as many people in hospital as heart attacks did, and 13 times as many people as opioids did. And we haven’t even touched on social ills such as drunk driving, domestic violence and absenteeism in the workplace… At the same time, Canadians are getting mixed signals on booze: from health experts, from their governments and from society.
Tags: Health
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
There have always been two Canadas. In this reckoning on racism, both must stand together for Indigenous people now
Monday, June 15th, 2020
Why has all of Canada not stood up with us? Canada’s unique brand of racism can be quiet and loud. It manifests as indifference and it has crept into all public institutions, government agencies, corporations and in the way you look away from the homeless Indigenous man you see sitting on the sidewalk… The will of the majority must stand up and commit to equity, to giving all of our children that same, fresh start.
Tags: ideology, Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
A strong child-care system is essential to our recovery from the pandemic
Monday, June 15th, 2020
Early learning and child care is a powerful equalizer, narrowing achievement gaps that emerge before children even start school. Educational child care is needed more than ever to help families address the trauma of the pandemic, to support parent employment and to ensure children aren’t left behind.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Racism makes life a constant struggle for Black Canadians
Sunday, June 14th, 2020
The current crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the glaring inequalities generated by exclusion. We now see clearly how the most vulnerable communities, Black communities in this instance, are more strongly affected by the pandemic and its collateral damage.
Tags: ideology, immigration, Indigenous, multiculturalism, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
‘Defund the police’ should be a conservative rallying cry, too
Sunday, June 14th, 2020
Police forces… are an expensive and wasteful way to make people feel secure. Crime rates in cities have been plummeting for decades, and in most big cities are at historic lows. Yet the number of cops, and the cost of policing, has not fallen, nor has anger at police discrimination… A smart policy would use a small professional force for things that police do well…
Tags: budget, crime prevention, featured, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada has a long, documented history of racism and racial discrimination. Don’t look away
Sunday, June 14th, 2020
“Canadians have inherited a contested past. Like their forebears, they face conflict, struggle and loss alongside success, accomplishment and hope. They steward an acclaimed but imperfect democracy, a beautiful but threatened environment, a revered but relative civility. Their vision and generosity, wisdom and compromise will be their own legacy – for Canada, and the world.”
Tags: corrections, ideology, immigration, Indigenous, multiculturalism, participation, rights
Posted in Equality History | No Comments »
My Black ancestors fled America for freedom. I left Canada to find a home. Now both countries must fight for a better world
Sunday, June 7th, 2020
… some might think that the kind of racism that exists in Canada – in my opinion, more insidious, harder to name and therefore challenge, and always operating under the cloud of plausible deniability – is somehow better than the in-your-face racism of the U.S. But I’ve experienced both, and I’d rather face the enemy that can at least be named than the one Canadians deny even exists.
Tags: featured, ideology, multiculturalism, participation, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
One year after a landmark report on violence against Indigenous women, we’re still waiting for action
Saturday, June 6th, 2020
The police remain a primary tool of enforcing colonial violence against Indigenous peoples, and government departments have been and continue to be agents for the colonization, assimilation and attempted erasure of Indigenous peoples… it is imperative that affected MMIWGT2S+ families and supportive grassroots organizations led by Indigenous women play a leading role in developing a plan to end that violence… They have the answers to what is required…
Tags: budget, crime prevention, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, women
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
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