Posts Tagged ‘rights’

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Censoring free speech breaks faith with Canadians. Don’t go there

Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

The argument against censorship, even when labelled a hate speech ban, is not that its targets are always noble sentiments that only upset idiots and the hypersensitive. It is that in the battle of ideas truth will prevail, and that preventing the airing of ideas undermines truth and decency… freely elected governments almost never try to silence popular opinions… It is a perilous thing to arrogate to yourself the power to silence ideas you find disagreeable.

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Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


Ottawa should act on report on murdered and missing women, with all its flaws

Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

Ensuring such basic things as safe housing, clean drinking water and affordable food for Indigenous people should be beyond debate; it’s shameful that we’re still falling so short. There are already stacks of recommendations in these areas, and the government would be well-advised to focus first and foremost on issues more closely connected with the issue at hand: the violence visited on Indigenous women and girls far out of proportion to their share in the population.

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Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »


Federal government to launch Equality Fund to entrench women’s rights and gender equality

Sunday, June 2nd, 2019

… the Equality Fund… will be used to raise even more money from philanthropists and community organizations, and then divvied up among underfunded organizations that advocate for women’s rights and gender equality… The government money is the stimulus, but the longevity of the fund and its ability to act quickly and with flexibility come from the power of the non-governmental organizations, philanthropists and foundations involved in the collaboration.

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Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »


PSLRTA Overhaul in the Health Services Sector

Friday, May 31st, 2019

Labour relations in the health care sector have been a clear focus of the new government…  Arguably, this could lead to less union participation in health care personnel movement between entities going forward. However, given the saturation of organized labour in the sector, organized labour’s reaction to personnel movement under the new regime is yet to be seen. We would expect affected unions to do all within their power to maintain membership in the face of transfers and amalgamations going forward.

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Ottawa can easily fix sex discrimination in the Indian Act – but we’re still waiting

Friday, May 24th, 2019

It only requires a cabinet decision to pass an order-in-council. Cabinet simply has to decide to bring into force the provisions that were included in the 2017 amendment at the insistence of the Senate. These provisions would finally entitle women and their descendants to full status on the same footing as their male counterparts, and at last remove the discrimination against the maternal line.

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Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »


Federal government will implement Senate proposals to strengthen accessibility law, Minister says

Thursday, May 23rd, 2019

the Senate committee on social affairs, science and technology adopted several amendments that nearly a hundred disability organizations said were necessary to make the law effective. Chief among them was a call to set a timeline requiring the act to be fully implemented in all areas under federal jurisdiction by 2040, as well as recognition of sign language as an official language among deaf Canadians.

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Is ‘Left Over’ Food for ‘Left Behind’ People the Best We Can Do?

Monday, May 20th, 2019

Food banks operate as secondary food markets propping up ailing welfare systems… government must ensure domestic compliance under international law with its obligations to “respect, protect and fulfill” these rights ensuring food security for all. That means understanding food insecurity as a problem of income poverty. It must change the public conversation and political discourse from charity to human rights and social justice.

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Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »


No, professors shouldn’t collect a six-figure pension – on top of a six-figure salary

Friday, May 17th, 2019

Nearly one in 10 Ontario university professors is over the age of 65. As of 2016, these professors were earning, on average, $184,947 a year. Moreover, because federal legislation requires all taxpayers to start drawing down their retirement savings at the age of 71, septuagenarian professors can collect a six-figure pension on top of a six-figure salary… No one is stopping senior scholars from writing academic papers, or teaching ECON 101. The debate is over how much they should be paid for doing so.

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Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »


CAUT condemns Heritage report on copyright

Friday, May 17th, 2019

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) is alarmed by recommendations released this week by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage regarding copyright law in Canada. The report, though produced by a committee mandated to take into consideration the broad range of stakeholder interests — including creators, the public, educators and students — focuses entirely on the interests of big publishers and their lobby groups.

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Posted in Education Policy Context | No Comments »


Ontario’s top court rules religious doctors must offer patients an ‘effective referral’ for assisted dying, abortion

Wednesday, May 15th, 2019

The Court of Appeal for Ontario is now the highest court in the country to have ruled on the thorny question of how the conscience rights of doctors should be balanced against the rights of patients to access publicly funded health services – a question that became more pressing after the legalization of assisted dying three years ago.

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Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


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