Posts Tagged ‘rights’

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Food banks don’t reduce food insecurity, so why did the federal government give them $200 million in emergency aid?

Wednesday, January 27th, 2021

… the emergency food sector… “started quite innocently and very thoughtfully and from a very caring and compassionate place, but … it has zero impact on the overall problem.” … their respective annual reports repeatedly call for policy changesto reduce poverty, from raising social assistance rates to implementing universal child care… While food charities can play a meaningful role in building community… it’s more important than ever to be clear that they’re not the answer.

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Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »


The audacity of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream

Monday, January 18th, 2021

Ending poverty… will be much harder than ending segregation, he correctly predicted. After all, “it didn’t cost the nation anything to integrate lunch counters,” but “it will cost the nation billions of dollars to get rid of poverty.” … King appealed for a national policy of full employment, a guaranteed income and a massive investment in affordable housing… Indeed, America has never shown a commitment to “genuine equality,” he said.

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Posted in Inclusion History | No Comments »


Indigenous rights bill weak, but necessary

Monday, January 4th, 2021

Bill C-15 does not have any tools to help operationalize consent or create new ways for Indigenous title to be implemented. Its slow, incrementalist approach is frustrating. Nevertheless, it has merit. Despite shortcomings, the bill will provide new avenues and contestation sites for Indigenous rights movements to advance. Most importantly, it binds any future government, no matter its political stripe, to the high standard of consent and the inevitability of Indigenous self-determination.

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Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »


The telecom giants are not adequately serving ‘all Canadians’

Sunday, January 3rd, 2021

If there is a “digital divide” (and there surely is), this has been brought about and sustained by the telecom companies themselves… The privilege that they have been accorded to date in providing these highly lucrative services must come with greater responsibility to ensure all Canadians obtain reliable and sufficient Wi-Fi access.

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Posted in Debates | No Comments »


Twenty Indigenous stories that shaped 2020 — a year of racism and fear, of fighting and hope

Friday, January 1st, 2021

Indigenous Peoples across the country faced intensifying endangerment of our lands and rights and took a stand against systemic racism amidst a global Black Lives Matter revolution… Through it all, our people have continued to be resilient in the face of calamity and uncertainty… Where do we go now? Do we pull the plug on reconciliation? Or is there hope – and if so, will we see it come to pass in this generation?

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Posted in Equality History | No Comments »


Temp workers, the unsung pandemic heroes who make and deliver our goods, should not be losing sleep — or their lives — over $14 an hour

Tuesday, December 29th, 2020

To stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect worker health into a post-pandemic future, concrete actions must be taken to end the persistent exploitation of this workforce. Controlling COVID-19 and ultimately reopening the economy will depend on how well we are able to provide such workers with the same protections that we all enjoy.

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Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »


Supreme Court sends signal to appellate courts on sexual assault rulings

Monday, December 14th, 2020

… the Supreme Court has sent a message to appellate courts that they should listen to lower-court judges who believe the complainant… Assessments of credibility (honesty) and reliability (accuracy) are central to the trial judge’s job. Appeal courts generally defer to these assessments because it is the trial judge who sits in court and hears directly from the witnesses. Witnesses do not testify at appeal courts.

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Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »


Want to tackle COVID-19 in low-income neighbourhoods? Let’s start with paid sick leave

Saturday, December 12th, 2020

… taking a day here to get tested or a couple days there to self-isolate eats up half the two-week entitlement… Plus, the benefit does not always offer enough money to make up for lost wages… But tweaks won’t do much about the power relationship between boss and employee. That fix can only come through provincial governments enshrining stronger worker protections and employer-paid sick leave into law…

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Spare some pity for right-wing premiers in the time of COVI

Friday, December 11th, 2020

… a global pandemic isn’t the best circumstance for invoking libertarian individualism and the all-purpose value of the private sector, then standing aside. Active government has its problems, but someone has to do something right now, not just wait for the invisible hand to generate profitable solutions… Doug Ford… more a right-wing populist than an ideological conservative… is about “the little guy,” by which he means small business owners, never their employees.

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Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


What Canadians should understand about the federal UNDRIP bill 

Tuesday, December 8th, 2020

The first and second articles of the UNDRIP reiterate the basics of equality and non-discrimination: fundamental Canadian values, enshrined in our Constitution, that we should all rally behind. When people oppose implementing the declaration, they are opposing efforts to ensure Indigenous peoples enjoy the same fundamental rights to equality and non-discrimination that many Canadians take for granted. Achieving this equality may require the government to take specific measures to address current inequalities; non-discrimination requires us to celebrate and accommodate the uniqueness of Indigenous peoples, as well.

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Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »


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