Canadian Social Research Newsletter
March 11, 2007

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter,
a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1774 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Canadian Content

1.  What's new from Statistics Canada:
--- Labour Force Survey, February 2007 - March 9
--- Legal aid, 2005/2006 - March 8
--- Seniors as victims of crime, 2004 and 2005 - March 6
--- Study: Employment trends in the federal public service, 1995 to 2006 - March 5
2.  Justice comes at too high a price: Chief Justice McLachlin - March 8
3.  Statement by the Prime Minister marking International Women’s Day - March 8
4. Nunavut Budget 2007-08 - March 7
5. War on Poverty - from The Toronto Star
6. 2006 Report Card on Child Poverty in Ontario (Campaign 2000) - March 6
7. What's New from The First Perspective ( National Aboriginal News)
--- Leaked Liberal report calls for changed Aboriginal system - March 5
--- A Call to Action on First Nations Poverty From AFN Chief Fontaine - March 2007
8. Ontario Alternative Budget (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) - March 5
9. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - March 9

International Content

10. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
11. The Bare Minimum (U.S. Minimum Wage) + links to over 600 related articles (New York Times) - March 8
12. What's New from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):
--- What Works Best in Reducing Child Poverty: A Benefit or Work Strategy? - March 5
--- OECD Work on Gender - March 8
13. Frank loves Tubby!

What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

March 9, 2007
Labour Force Survey, February 2007
Estimates from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey show little overall change in the labour market in February as employment edged up slightly (+14,000). The unemployment rate dipped 0.1 percentage points to 6.1%. Employment has been on an upward trend since August 2006 with average monthly gains of 42,000.

March 8, 2007
Legal aid, 2005/2006
Spending by Canada's legal aid plans during fiscal year 2005/2006 was up 9% from the previous year, once inflation was taken into account, according to a new report. These plans spent $673 million on delivering legal aid services in 2005/2006, or the equivalent of $21 for every Canadian. Prior to 2005/2006, spending had been relatively stable for three years. Each province and territory has developed its own individual legal aid scheme. Structures, operations and eligibility requirements consequently vary from one jurisdiction to the next. For 2005/2006, 11 of the 13 legal aid plans provided data for the report.

Complete report:

Legal Aid in Canada: Resource and Caseload Statistics, 2005/2006
By Sandra Besserer, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada
- incl. links to : About the Legal Aid Survey - More information - Complete report (PDF file - 339K, 83 pages) - Other annual releases of this report

Earlier editions of this report - back to 1997/1998
More reports in the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Profile Series - back to 2001

March 6, 2007
Seniors as victims of crime, 2004 and 2005
Canada's seniors (those aged 65 years and older) are less likely to be the victims of violent and property crimes than younger people, according to a new report. The report is based on results from the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) on victimization and police-reported data from the 2005 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey. It examines the nature and prevalence of violent and property crimes against seniors, as well as fear of crime among seniors.

Complete report:

Seniors as victims of crime, 2004 and 2005
By Lucie Ogrodnik, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada
HTML version [ Highlights only ]
PDF version (287K, 21 pages)

March 5, 2007
Study: Employment trends in the federal public service, 1995 to 2006
There are slightly fewer of them, but federal employees in general are more knowledge-based than they were in the mid-1990s, according to a new study. In addition, women have made important inroads into the public service, the average age of public servants is rising, and they are older on average than Canadian workers as a whole.In March 2006, just over 380,700 individuals were working for the federal government, down slightly from nearly 382,000 in March 1995.

Employment Trends in the Federal Public Service
by Katarzyna Naczk, Public Institutions Division
HTML version
PDF version (122K, 11 pages)
Earlier reports in this series

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm
- Go to the Seniors (Social Research) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/seniors.htm

Justice comes at too high a price: McLachlin
March 09, 2007
TORONTO - Middle-class Canadians are increasingly frozen out by the cost and complexity of Canada's judicial processes, Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, said yesterday. Many Canadians would have to consider remortgaging their home, gambling their retirement savings or forsaking their child's college fund to pursue justice, Chief Justice McLachlin told an audience of about 150 at the Royal York Hotel yesterday.
Source:
National Post

- Go to the Human Rights Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/rights.htm

Statement by the Prime Minister
marking International Women’s Day
8 March 2007
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement on the occasion of International Women’s Day: “Ending Violence Against Women: Action for Real Results, is Canada’s International Women’s Day theme for 2007, and reflects our government’s resolve to introduce effective measures that put an end to violent crimes and provide women the assistance they need. (...)

“Over the past year, Canada’s New Government has been delivering positive change for Canadian women and their families."

Source:
Office of the Prime Minister

Eh?

"positive change"= September 2006 federal cuts to Women's programs?
Makes me wonder how women in the Conservative Cabinet get to sleep at night...
NOTE : after you've examined the list of Sept/06 cuts, scroll back up to the top of that page for links to International Women's Day websites

- Go to the Canadian Government Sites about Women's Social Issues page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/women.htm

Nunavut Budget 2007-08
March 7, 2007
- incl. Budget Address - Budget Highlights - Budget Backgrounder : Accrual Base Budgeting - Fiscal and Economic Outlook - Strengthening Financial Management in the Government of Nunavut
Source:
Nunavut department of Finance

- Go to the Nunavut Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/nunavut.htm
- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm

War on Poverty - from The Toronto Star
- series of articles and editorials about the plight of Canada's needy and possible reforms to the social programs that assist them.

Contract job workers left without hope (Ontario)
March 10, 2007
By Rita Daly"
(...) Contractor. Subcontractor. Independent owner. Self-employer. Franchisee. Under these and other job arrangements, many low-pay Ontario workers in the service sector – mainly women, recent immigrants and visible minorities – are being denied minimum wages and other basic employment rights by employers evading labour-protection laws.

Liberals defend record on poverty fight - March 07, 2007
One in six Ontario children is poor and living in deeper poverty than in the early 199, a report from Campaign 2000 said yesterday.

Kids hit hardest by economic woes - March 06, 2007
One in six Ontario children is poor and living in deeper poverty than in the early 1990s, a provincial advocacy group says in its annual report card to be released today.

Guaranteed income, guaranteed dignity - March 5, 2007
Myriam Canas-Mendes loves her job as an outreach worker at the Stop Community Food Centre where she organizes public forums, connects recent immigrants to government services and helps out in the centre's breakfast and lunch programs. The pay is between $10 and $12 an hour depending on the task. That's considered fair by advocates who are pushing Queen's Park to raise the provincial minimum wage to $10 from $8.The problem is the single mom of two doesn't get enough hours to make ends meet. And so the 34-year-old Canas-Mendes has to rely on welfare to supplement her income. Except that doesn't provide enough money to live on either.

Bold steps needed on child poverty - February 19, 2007
Editorial
All children in low-income families deserve a fair and decent start in life, whether their parents struggle in low-wage jobs or are forced by circumstances to rely on welfare to make ends meet.

A richer way of measuring wealth:
New well-being index would complement traditional GDP - February 19, 2007
===> Canadian Index of Well-being (CIW)
[ Go to the Canadian Index of Well-being website ]

Layton sounds alarm on rich-poor divide - February 10, 2007
OTTAWA–Canada's federal government and major corporations are reaping huge surpluses while too many Canadians teeter on the brink of poverty, NDP Leader Jack Layton said yesterday.

Sorbara boosts 'poverty agenda' - February 10, 2007
In the wake of a by-election loss in a key working-class Toronto riding to the NDP, Finance Minister Greg Sorbara says the governing Liberals must embrace a "poverty agenda" to help the most needy people ...

TIP:
The Canadian Social Research Links Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page contains links to over two dozen articles from the War on Poverty series ---- see the War on Poverty box under What's New

Countdown for poverty activists
March 9, 2007
This should be a time of anticipation for the coalition of children's advocates, food bank organizers, church leaders and anti-poverty activists fighting to get help for Ontario's lowest-income families.Dalton McGuinty has finally pledged to tackle child poverty. "In the weeks ahead, our government will act," he told fellow Liberals last week. "It's no longer just a moral imperative to ensure that the poor find opportunity and grow strong. At the beginning of the 21st century in a global economy, it's become an economic necessity." But as the government finalizes its March 22 budget, there is as much apprehension as excitement in the air.
NOTE: this column by Carol Goar isn't "officially" part of the War on Poverty series, but it's definitely worth including in this reading list

Related Link from The Globe and Mail:

New budget will tackle child poverty, Premier says
McGuinty also wants to address climate change in a way that helps the economy
March 2, 2007
The provincial budget will include innovative measures that address child poverty, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says. "It's no longer just a moral imperative to ensure that the poor find opportunity and grow strong," he said last night at a Liberal Party fundraiser. "At the beginning of the 21st century in a global economy, it's become an economic necessity." Mr. McGuinty told reporters at the $800-a-plate annual Heritage Dinner that the more he travels the world, the more he realizes that hungry middle classes are growing amid emerging economic powerhouses.

- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk3.htm

What's new from Campaign 2000:
Quoi de neuf de Campagne 2000:

2006 Report card on child and family poverty in Ontario
Child Poverty in Ontario on the Increase: Campaign 2000 Calls for Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy
[ version française du communiqué ]
Media release
March 6, 2007
"A new report by Ontario Campaign 2000 finds that Ontario’s child poverty rate has been inching up since 2001 and is now at 17.4%. Based on the latest Statistics Canada data, the 2006 Report Card on Child Poverty in Ontario states that 478,480 children – one in every six children – in Ontario are living in poverty. The average low income family is living in deeper poverty now than they were twelve years ago."

Complete report card:

Child poverty in Ontario: Promises to keep …
2006 Report Card on Child Poverty in Ontario (PDF file - 297K, 6 pages)
March 2007

Version française:

Des promesses à tenir:
Rapport 2006 sur la pauvreté des enfants en Ontario (fichier PDF - 297Ko., 6 pages)
Le 6 mars 2007

- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk2.htm

Leaked Liberal report calls for changed Aboriginal system
March 5, 2007
A leaked report prepared by the Liberal Renewal Commission's aboriginal task force is calling for an increasingly urbanized Aboriginal population to circumvent the Ottawa bureaucracy and Aboriginal organizations in order to achieve progress. "Fixing the system seems to lie outside the imagination of the current bureaucratic regime," the report says. The main author, Mark Podlasly, is an ambitious Aboriginal leader with a business degree from Harvard University, and owns an international business. Communications staff with the Liberal Party conceded to the Drum the report had been leaked to the media by this individual.

Source:
The First Perspective (National Aboriginal News)

Related links:

Liberal Party Renewal Commission
(I couldn't find any Aboriginal Task Force under Liberal Party Renewal,
but I did find the Liberal Party of Canada Aboriginal Peoples' Commission)

-----------------------------------------------------

A Call to Action on First Nations Poverty
A Communiqué from National Chief Phil Fontaine
March 2007
The second phase of our campaign -- Make Poverty History: The First Nations Plan for Creating Opportunity – was launched Friday, February 23, on Parliament Hill. A Call to Action Against First Nations Poverty was attended by Members of Parliament, Senators, and representatives from national and international humanitarian organizations. Buzz Hargrove, President of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) was our special guest speaker and announced the support of the entire Canadian labour movement for the campaign. We gathered in solidarity to show Canadians, and the global community, that we will no longer tolerate the abject levels of poverty facing too many of our First Nations people. The AFN also launched a new report, The $9 Billion Myth Exposed: Why First Nations Poverty Endures.

The $9 Billion Myth Exposed:
Why First Nations Poverty Endures (PDF file - 561K, 4 pages)
February 2007

Speaking Notes for Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine
From Poverty to Prosperity: Creating Opportunity, Shared Responsibility
The Economic Club of Toronto
February 22, 2007
My address to you today consists of 4 points:
First, I will set out the facts…..what our poverty looks like compared to the rest of Canadian society.
Second, I will tell you why we are so poor: what causes and perpetuates our poverty.
Third, I will talk about how, working together, we can create conditions to alleviate that poverty; and
Fourth, I will describe how the Corporate Challenge will work and list some of the benefits that will flow to all Canadians as a result.

Source:
Assembly of First Nations (AFN)

- Go to the First Nations Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/1stbkmrk.htm

Ontario Alternative Budget gives Liberals a failing grade, sets out plan to rebuild public services
Ontario Alternative Budget
Press Release
March 5, 2007
TORONTO—Four years after the McGuinty Liberals have been in office, Ontario is still living under the shadow of the Mike Harris/Ernie Eves government, says the 2007 Ontario Alternative Budget (OAB).

* Ontario Alternative Budget 2007: No Time to Lose – An Action Blueprint for Ontario (PDF File, 2.1MB, 64 pages)
* Ontario Alternative Budget 2007: Budget in Brief (PDF file - 166K, 10 pages)

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm
- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk2.htm

What's New - from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

The Childcare Resource and Research Unit offers a free weekly "e-mail news notifier" service.
The content below consists of excerpts from this past Friday's issue of CRRU Recent Postings.

For information on the CRRU e-mail notifier, including instructions for (un)subscribing, see http://www.childcarecanada.org

9-Mar-07

---------------------------------------------------
What's new
---------------------------------------------------

MEASURING UP: FAMILY BENEFITS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALBERTA IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Report from the Institute for Research on Public Policy says investing in universally accessible child care services would bring Alberta and B.C. closer to other industrialized countries.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97622

CHILD POVERTY IN ONTARIO: PROMISES TO KEEP
Report Card from Campaign 2000 finds that child poverty in Ontario is on the increase. Report recommendations include ELCC; urges Ontario government to make up for federal funding shortfall.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97621

PARENTS AND CHILDREN: STILL WAITING FOR THE PROMISED CHILD CARE FUNDING
Press release from the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care calls for the Ontario government to "finally come through on its 2003 promise to fund child care."
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97619

QUALITY OF CHILDCARE AFFECTS LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Brief from FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill summarizes recent research that examines how the quality of childcare affects the development of specific language components.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97620

SUBMISSION OF THE CANADIAN FEMINIST ALLIANCE FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTION AND THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN AND THE LAW TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Report on the occasion of CESCR's review of Canada's 4th and 5th periodic reports.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97654

--------------------------------------------------
Child care in the news
--------------------------------------------------

Activists urge more bucks for child care [CA]
Calgary Sun, 9 Mar 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97656

Advocates push for spending on child care in Ontario [CA-ON]
Guelph Mercury, 8 Mar 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97617

Canada can't take equality as a given [CA]
Toronto Star, 8 Mar 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97615

Work killing the family, report says [AU]
Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Mar 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97618

Child care program will get funding restored [CA-BC]
Globe and Mail, 5 Mar 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97614

Kenya: Policy shot in the arm for early childhood education [KE]
AllAfrica.com, 5 Mar 07
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=97616

Related Links:

Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info

Source:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm

Poverty Dispatch - U.S.
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.
NOTE: this is a link to the current issue --- its content changes twice a week.

Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 1 (2006) when the Dispatch acquired its own web page and archive.

Poverty Dispatch Digest Archive - weekly digest of dispatches from August 2005 to May 2006
For a few years prior to the creation of this new web page for the Dispatch, I was compiling a weekly digest of the e-mails and redistributing the digest to my mailing list with IRP's permission.
This is my own archive of weekly issues of the digest back to August 2005, and most of them have 50+ links per issue. I'll be deleting this archive from my site gradually, as the links to older articles expire.

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

The Bare Minimum
Op-Ed by Sarah Hamersma
March 8, 2007
BOTH the House of Representatives and the Senate have recently passed bills raising the minimum wage. The Senate bill includes tax breaks for businesses, based on the following logic: While a minimum wage increase is popular, the resulting higher labor costs will translate into fewer jobs, more expensive products or both. The solution, the senators concluded, was to subsidize companies that hire disadvantaged workers, in order to reimburse them for these higher wage costs. Does this reasoning hold up? A look at one of the key pieces of this business tax package — the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which has been in place since 1996 and would be extended for five years under the proposal — suggests otherwise.
Source:
Minimum wage (U.S.)
HINT: includes links to over 600 news articles (including archived material) about minimum wage,
including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times

Related link:

Minimum wage (International)
This resource is worth viewing --- it contains information on minimum wages in 17 countries (including Canada), along with some objective information on the debate over consequences of minimum wage laws, costs and benefits of minimum wage legislation, recent trends in the U.S., policy alternatives to the minimum wage and much more.
TIP: See "References" and "External Links" (at the bottom of the table of contents) for links to dozens and dozens of free online resources!
Source:
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- Go to the Minimum Wage /Living Wage Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm

What Works Best in Reducing Child Poverty:
A Benefit or Work Strategy? (PDF file - 450K, 54 pages)
Working Paper No. 51
March 5, 2007
By Peter Whiteford and Willem Adema
Table of contents:
- Introduction
- Data and methods
Family and child poverty – trends, risks and composition
- Trends in household composition
- The income position of different types of households
- Child poverty trends
- Poverty risks by household composition
Tax and benefit policies and their effect on poverty and employment
- Assistance for families – levels and distribution
- Adequacy of benefits and other support for families
The effect of “benefit” and/or “work” strategies
- The strategy of redistribution
- Does a “work-strategy” work?
- How much work to get out of poverty and financial incentives to work more
Conclusions

Source:
OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers
[ Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs ]
[ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ]

Also from the OECD:

OECD work on gender
A new one-stop shop for OECD work on gender
08-Mar-2007
The new OECD website on gender presents recent and ongoing projects aimed at improving gender policy across a wide variety of areas in OECD countries and beyond. It also features "Women and Men in OECD Countries", a brochure presenting interesting facts and figures on gender issues.

- Go to the Links to International Sites about Women's Social Issues page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/womeninternat.htm
- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm

The Ad Hoc Committee for Conrad Black
This Web site is dedicated to the support of Conrad Moffat Black in his current battle with grandstanding U.S. prosecutors and a hostile left-wing press. More than that, it is our grateful and long overdue acknowledgement of His Lordship's life's struggle to confront, with unflagging courage, the Brobdingnagian forces of Canadian small-mindedness, parochialism, mediocrity and failure.

Frank puts its full support behind Black
March 8, 2007
By Patricia Best
Source:
Globe and Mail
The Canadian satirical magazine Frank fooled most of the people for most of the past month during which it had a hoax website up and running. Most notably the hoax took in Conrad Black himself, who after corresponding by e-mail with the site's creator Alastair Smith (in truth, Frank editor/publisher Michael Bate) concluded that it was genuine and invited Mr. Smith and his group of like-minded, Bay Street, thirtysomethings to his home for cocktails.

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I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

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You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

------------------------

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Privacy Policy:
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Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

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Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

---------------------------

Statistics Canada news releases occasionally have a similar effect on me.

For example:

"Two-Year, S40 Million Study Finds that it's Better to be Rich and Healthy than Poor and Sick"