Canadian Social Research Newsletter
July 11, 2010

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 2,292 subscribers.

Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes, a disclaimer
and other stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with social policy...

************************************************************************

IN THIS ISSUE OF THE
CANADIAN SOCIAL RESEARCH NEWSLETTER:

Canadian content

[ gilseg@rogers.com ]

From Jennefer Laidley:
July 8, 2010

You may have heard that the federal government is moving to eliminate the Canada census long form questionnaire and replace it with a voluntary survey.
Your immediate action is required to help save this important source of information. Take action below, and forward this email to your friends and colleagues.

The long form was sent to 20% of households and is a critical source of information about diversity, employment, income, education and other characteristics of Canadians. It is essential to business, research, planning and good public policies and programs. Stakeholders ranging from the business community, to university researchers to social justice advocates are raising their voices to oppose this move.

You may choose to sign the petition AND join the Facebook group on this.

1) Sign the Petition:
The Keep the Canada Census Long Form petition is at:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/37527.html
Next Monday (July 12), the petition will be sent to Tony Clement (Minister for Industry and Stats Can), the Prime Minister, the Chief Statistician and opposition leaders. Sign on, because a lot more signatures are needed.

See who's signed
the petition so far - 2400+ as at July 9/10

2) Join the Facebook Group:

Here is the weblink to the Facebook group on this issue:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-the-Canada-Census-Long-Form/141550925859979

And here are some media links that talk about the importance of the Long Form:

Liberals condemn Conservative move on Census long form:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/07/liberals-census.html

Why you should care:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/why-you-should-care-about-the-long-census-forms-demise/article1630413/

Because it’s “dumbing down” democracy:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/833169--travers-census-change-latest-move-in-pm-s-dumbing-down-of-canada

Need more proof? Listen to Armine Yalnizyan:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/listen-ccpas-yalnizyan-take-census-longform-debacle-cbc-radio

Armine Yalnizyan also comments on the decision:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/ccpa-senior-economist-calls-statistics-canadas-census-decision-senseless

CAUT calls for reinstatement of the long-form:
http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/July2010/02/c9863.html

Genealogy site calls decision “ludicrous”:
http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/June2010/30/c9458.html

The Star says the decision is the wrong move:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/831021--wrong-move-on-census

Letter to editor:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/831901--census-tells-us-who-we-are

Statistics Canada’s Senseless Census Decision
An Open letter to the Honourable Tony Clement, Ministry of Industry and Minister Responsible for Statistics Canada and
Munir Sheikh, Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada
by Armine Yalnizyan
July 2, 2010
(...) This latest decision [by the Harper government] scraps the Census long-form questionnaire in favour of a one-time survey which makes responses voluntary rather than mandatory. This move will weaken the quality and availability of data that tells us what is happening to employment, immigration, housing, incomes and education – the very issues that beg for the best policy decisions possible as we inch our way through recovery. The Census long-form questionnaire is a unique tool that affords decision-makers a rich set of facts about Canadians, facts that are as reliable at the census tract or neighbourhood level as the nation-wide level.
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

***************************************

Thanks to Jennefer Laidley of the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) for the above collection of links.

ISAC website:
www.incomesecurity.org

Social Assistance Review website:
www.sareview.ca

***************************************

Changes distort the census
By Dan Gardner
July 9, 2010
Admittedly, the census is not the sexiest topic, but it is important. The data generated by the census are the foundation of almost every public policy. Social science in this country would come to a shuddering halt without those numbers. So would a great deal of business. Anyone interested in reality -- and I hope that includes every politician and citizen -- is indebted to Statistics Canada and its bean counters. (...) Apparently, the long mandatory survey was scrapped because it offends the staunch libertarian principles of the Harper government. Yes, the staunch libertarian principles of the government. The Harper government. The government that thinks marijuana decriminalization is a Marxist plot, an adult who agrees to consensual sex in exchange for money should be imprisoned, the police did a fine job at the G20, and Omar Khadr can rot in a tropical gulag.
Source:
The Ottawa Citizen

---------

Don't cut long census form: Liberals
July 7, 2010
The Liberals are demanding the federal government reverse its decision to scrap the mandatory long census form, saying they will introduce legislation to protect a mandatory long-form census if necessary. The Conservative government announced last week that it is eliminating the mandatory long census form for the 2011 census, replacing it with a voluntary national household survey.
Source:
CBC

---------

- Go to the Social Statistics Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/stats.htm

The Real G8/G20 - A Civil Society Response
We are a group of Canadian cross-media activists concerned about the erosion of democracy in our Country. We volunteer our time to bring you this site. Our mainstream media has failed to report the real issues that have motivated thousands of people to protest the G8/G20 Summits. It has failed to critically address the intimidation, abuse and illegal actions of the police, which have resulted in the broad abuse of our civil rights.

The Real G8/G20: A Civil Society Response is a political and artistic response to this failure, and a showcase of diverse concerns about global economic, social and climate injustice. It is a content-rich forum for citizen media: video, film, photography and editorial works by artists, activists, social justice organizations and independent media.

www.therealg8g20.com refuses to let the mainstream media shape the story of the G8/G20 through a myopic lens. As a repository of the perspectives of those who filled the streets in protest, it provides a counter-reference through which history was made.

Join the conversation
Visit our “Submit Content” page:
Therealg8g20.com/submit

Related links:

The 2010 G20: The Day the Music Died?
By John Stapleton
July 6, 2010
(...)
I simply can't recall a 1960s protest march that did not end in a park with a concert. In Toronto, it was folksingers in Queen's Park. In Washington, it was Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Peter, Paul, and Mary at the Washington Monument. In Toronto, the crowds numbered in the hundreds, while in Washington, the passing of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the urgency of the Vietnam war brought crowds that numbered easily in the hundreds of thousands. (...) So perhaps Don McLean was right after all about the day the music died – he just had the timing wrong. At this year’s G20, there seemed to be neither performers nor a genre of music to draw people together, resulting in what seems to a totally different look and feel to today's protest venues – neither a strong narrative nor music to give it life. The fact that there was no open-air concert at the end was inevitable.
Source:
The Mark

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

July 7, 2010
G20 links from Jennefer Laidley of the
Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) :

Margaret Atwood’s take:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/a-second-chance-or-a-boot-in-the-face/article1629286/

Norman Perrin returns civilian citation in protest:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/832700--fiorito-a-brave-man-s-g20-protest

SIU investigating assaults by police:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/832542--civilian-body-siu-to-probe-g20-role-of-police

Police union chief says independent inquiry will have no teeth:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/07/07/mccormack-g20-police-review414.html

MPs to wade in:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/mps-wade-into-g20-security-swamp/article1631864/

Pressure grows for better review:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/police-watchdog-investigating-five-injuries-from-g20-weekend/article1631726/

Star says Board review not enough:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/832814--board-review-of-g20-not-enough

McGuinty says he doesn’t want another; more discussion of five-metre “rule”:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/07/07/g20-mcguinty.html

Also says Charter guy also invoked War Measures Act. So there:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/833319--mcguinty-invokes-trudeau-and-nixon-to-defend-g20-actions

More on the protester who had his prosthetic leg taken by police:
CBC:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/07/07/g20-summit-police-protester-pruyn.html

Globe:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/man-says-police-ripped-off-his-prosthetic-leg-during-g20-protest/article1631779/

Post:
http://www.nationalpost.com/police+yanked+prosthetic+amputee/3243287/story.html

Security cameras being removed from downtown Toronto :
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/07/06/g20-cameras.html

Why Tim Hudak is a knob:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/radwanski/tim-hudak-cops-out/article1631278/

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

- Go to the G8 / G20 / Globalization Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/global.htm

Province launches new
program for people with disabilities
News Release
May 13, 2009
Beginning this fall (2009), thousands of Saskatchewan people will no longer need to depend on social assistance for their basic living costs, following the announcement today of a new income support program for people with disabilities. (...) The new program will begin on October 1, 2009, when the first group of recipients - an estimated 3,000 Saskatchewan people with disabilities - will be enrolled and begin to receive benefits. The initial group will be individuals currently on social assistance with long-standing and well-documented disabilities. Over time, enrollment in the new program is expected to reach between 8,000 and 10,000 people.
(...)
Over the winter, the joint community/government Disability Income Task Team met with more than 400 stakeholders. They recently provided Minister Harpauer with recommendations based on these consultations. The new program, which will be separate from the existing Saskatchewan Assistance Program, will be based on the goals and principles recommended by the task team, including:
* To assure a socially acceptable income for people with disabilities - recognizing the range of additional costs associated with disability; and
* To encourage and empower people with disabilities to participate as fully as possible in community life.

Related links:

Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID)
The SAID program, designed in collaboration with members of the disability community, will provide an income for persons with significant and long-term disabilities separate from the Saskatchewan Assistance Program (SAP).

SAID Policy Manual (PDF - 59K, 19 pages)

SAID Questions and Answers (PDF - 262K, 4 pages)

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

Final Recommendations
of the Task Team on Income Support for People with Disabilities (PDF - 217K, 18 pages)
May 13, 2009

Appendices (PDF - 815K, 133 pages)
Appendix A: Task Team Terms of Reference
Appendix B: Task Team Membership
Appendix C: Materials Used in Community Discussions
Appendix D: Defining the Target Population and Eligibility Criteria
Appendix E: Estimates of the Size of Target Population
Appendix F: Recommended Benefit Structure and Employment Support
Appendix G – Summaries of the Community Discussions
Appendix H – Responses to Community Discussion Wrap-up Question
Appendix I – Responses to the question: “If you had five minutes with the Minister, what would you tell her?”

More information about the new income support program will be available as work continues.
Clients may contact their local Social Services office if they have any questions.

Source:
Saskatchewan Social Services

- Go to the Disability Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/disbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Saskatchewan Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/skbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Key Provincial/Territorial Welfare Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm

Recovering Together?
Fiscal Pressures, Federalism and Social Policy
Queen's International Institute on Social Policy 2010
August 16-18, 2010
Queen's University, Kingston (ON)
...
Canada went through a major fiscal crunch in the 1990s and intergovernmental relations were severely strained by the experience. Tensions were generated between the federal and provincial governments, and between provincial and municipal governments. We need to avoid a repeat of those experiences this time.
QIISP 2010 is designed to learn the lessons from our recent past and anticipate the challenges we will confront over the next five years. Hence our question: How do we recover together?

Click the link above to access links to register and to book accommodation in Kingston;
scroll down the conference page to see the program for this event.

Registration is $300 for participants from NGOs, $600 for all others.

Topics include:
* Multilevel Incidence of Fiscal Pressures in OECD countries
* Federalism and Income Support
* Federalism and Health Care
* Federalism and Investing in Human Capital
* Federalism, Immigrants and Immigrant Integration
* Federalism and Aboriginal Peoples
* The Politics of Recovering Together

Session chairs and speakers include Giles Gherson, Don Drummond, Pierre Fortin,
Michael Mendelson, André Juneau, Tom Courchene and Chantal Hebert, to name but a few.
For the complete list, click the Recovering Together link above and scroll down the page.

Source:
Queen's University School of Policy Studies

[ Earlier conferences in the
Queen's International Institute on Social Policy series - back to 1999, includes links to dozens of presentations, recommended reading!! ]

- Go to the Canadian Universities and Colleges Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/univbkmrk.htm

Homelessness in Canada:
Interview with Penny Goldsmith of PovNet
June 2010
Transcript of the interview (HTML)
Video of the interview
Penny Goldsmith is the Executive Coordinator of PovNET in Vancouver, BC. PovNet provides online tools that facilitate communication, community and access to information around poverty-related issues in British Columbia and Canada. They work to collect relevant news and resources of use to advocates, community workers, marginalized communities and the general public.
Source:
The Homeless Hub
Building on the success of the Canadian Conference on Homelessness (2005), the Homeless Hub was created to address the need for a single place to find homelessness information from across Canada. Launched in 2007, the Homeless Hub is a web-based research library and information center representing an innovative step forward in the use of technology to enhance knowledge mobilization and networking.

Related links:

PovNet
PovNet provides online tools that facilitate communication, community and access to information around poverty-related issues in British Columbia and Canada. We work to collect relevant news and resources of use to advocates, community workers, marginalized communities and the general public.

- Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk3.htm
- Go to the Homelessness and Housing Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/homeless.htm

Selected content from
The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

July 9, 2010
Labour Force Survey, June 2010
Employment rose by 93,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.9%. This is the first time the rate has been below the 8% mark since January 2009.
- incl. links to three tables:
* Labour force characteristics by age and sex
* Employment by class of worker and industry (based on NAICS)
* Labour force characteristics by province

Related report:
Labour Force Information, June 13 to 19, 2010
1. Highlights
2. Analysis — June 2010
3. Tables
4. Charts
5. Data quality, concepts and methodology
6. User information
7. Related products
8. PDF version (452K, 62 pages)

[ earlier reports in this series ]

Related subjects:
* Labour
* Employment and unemployment

---

July 7, 2010
Study: Recycling by Canadian households, 2007
In 2007, the vast majority (95%) of Canadian households had access to recycling, up from 74% in 1994. Nearly all those with access chose to recycle (98%), although the extent of this recycling varied.

Related report:

Recycling by Canadian Households, 2007
- incl. 18 charts and tables

Related subjects:
* Environment
* Pollution and waste

---

The Daily Archives
- select a month and click on a date for that day's Daily

Source:
The Daily
[Statistics Canada]

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

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

The Social Researcher's
Daily Media Scan
By Jennefer Laidley

Jennefer Laidley is with the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) in Toronto.
Jennefer scans the electronic media for links to items of interest for social researchers and advocates in Toronto, and she also covers (to a lesser extent) the provincial, national and international scenes. She shares her findings in a daily email to her mailing list, and she's given me permission to reproduce her links on my site and newsletter.

The links below represent just a sampling of the 250+ links that Jennefer shares with social researchers every week.
Click the link above to access her collection of links.

NOTE: Jennefer does her media scan each day she's in the office, and I plan to collate most of those links into a weekly digest of social research issues. I'll be including some of Jennefer's links in my weekly newsletter, as I've already started doing in recent months.

Selected links from Jennefer Laidley's
Latest Daily Media Scans:
[Click the link above for the complete collection of media links]

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

Thursday, July 8

Census long form cut not going over well in Harper’s constituency:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/census-change-doesnt-go-over-well-in-harpers-constituency/article1633298/

Doug Bell on why we should take G20 concerns seriously:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/douglas-bell/thugs-hooligans-and-other-citizenry/article1632841/

IMF says Canada will outperform in 2010:
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/07/08/imf-canada-forecast.html

Several videos from Steve Paikin you may wish to watch

On the G20:
http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779842&ts=2010-06-28%2020:00:00.0

Revisiting the New Deal:
http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779818&ts=2010-06-29%2020:00:00.0

Rethinking Keynes:
http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779819&ts=2010-06-30%2020:00:00.0

And…. Was Hillary Clinton talking about Canada ?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/steel-vise-is-crushing-social-advocacy-in-some-democracies-clinton-warns/article1627753/

Around the Country:

Great. New cop documentary set in Vancouver ’s Downtown Eastside:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/television/series-follows-police-squad-in-downtown-eastside/article1631966/

Great. BC cutting $25 million out of welfare benefits:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Province+from+income+assistance/2742328/story.html

Economy:

OECD says long-term unemployment in Canada has doubled – recommends “monitoring” unemployed for “dependency”:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/monitor-jobless-to-avoid-ei-dependency-oecd-says/article1632033/

Canada is No Poster Child, says CCPA:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/why-canadian-model-cannot-be-used-promote-financial-liberalization-wto

More reasons to keep our mouths shut:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/why-canada-shouldnt-strut-on-the-global-stage/article1630573/

Seven signs of a slowdown:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/seven-signs-of-a-slowdown-in-the-economy-15-in-us/article1630181/

“Shared sacrifice” will be the new economic order:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/features/experts-podium/shared-sacrifice-will-be-the-new-economic-order/article1629347/

TD says HST will mean permanent price increases:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/how-hst-will-permanently-boost-prices-in-bc-ontario/article1630354/

Federal:

Harper’s legacy could be sealed by austerity bid:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harpers-pro-austerity-position-could-seal-his-legacy---for-good-or-bad/article1632397/

The Jaffer situation just won’t go away:
http://www.nationalpost.com/Ethics+commissioner+investigates+Tory+minister+over+Jaffer+dealings/3241933/story.html

Support for the federal Liberals is down significantly:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/07/ekos-poll.html

International:

New study shows marriage not the panacea for poverty that Bush-era welfare policy thought it was:
http://www.womensenews.org/story/economyeconomic-policy/100706/marriage-loses-ground-anti-poverty-panacea

David Frum on child poverty in the USA . Seriously – it’s worth a read:
http://www.frumforum.com/losing-the-fight-against-child-poverty

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

July 6, 2010

John Richards gets his interpretation of strides made on lone-parent poverty in the Globe:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/lone-parent-poverty-canadian-social-policy-can-still-do-better/article1629287/

Here is Armine Yalnizyan’s response, from two weeks ago:
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2010/06/24/lone-parent-success-story-not-because-of-tough-love/

Fundraising drive over; demand for Salvation Army services grew by more than 25 percent in 2009:
http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/July2010/06/c2304.html

Around the Country:

The anti-HST movement in BC picks up even more steam:
CBC:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/05/bc-fight-hst-court-announcement.html

Globe:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/vander-zalm-launches-bc-court-action-to-quash-hst/article1629049/

So, Progressive Economics asks, what’s the real deal on the HST and job growth?:
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2010/07/06/will-the-hst-boost-job-growth-and-over-what-timeframe/

July 5, 2010

What about affordable housing?, asks Carol Goar:
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/831096--goar-housing-or-just-castles-in-the-air

The Star on the 0.7% rent guideline and the delayed affordable housing strategy:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/831520--where-s-housing-plan

Ed Schreyer says, build some damn houses! (Well, maybe not quite like that, but he says it):
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/831101--schreyer-build-houses-to-fight-poverty

Harper must pony up too:
http://www.straight.com/article-331966/vancouver/am-johal-stephen-harper-must-act-housing-or-face-political-price

Nick Falvo comments on the SARAC report:
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2010/07/01/social-assistance-in-ontario/

Radwanski on the timeline of the non-existent “five metre” law:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/adam-radwanski/a-timeline-on-the-g20-five-metre-rule-that-didnt-exist/article1626001/

Tom Walkom nails it, as usual:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/831443--walkom-the-g20-summit-s-grim-lessons-for-civil-liberties

The Globe on the HST:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-hst/article1624093/

How and why it happened:
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/hst/article/830336--why-ottawa-and-queen-s-park-embraced-the-hst

A new book says the solution to poverty is: just give people cash:
http://www.miller-mccune.com/business-economics/the-poverty-solution-cash-16977/

New Brunswick’s new Crown Corp on poverty reduction met last week:
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1117664

Minimum wage goes up to $10/hour in Newfoundland – fulfills poverty reduction commitment:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/07/01/nl-minimum-wage-rises-to-10-dollars.html

Comparisons to the Dirty Thirties:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/an-economist-muses-on-the-creepy-comparisons-to-1930s/article1616598/

Commercial property rights extended to First Nations:
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/06/30/first-nations-land-title-claim.html

Conservatives do well on fundraising:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-maintain-sizable-fundraising-edge/article1627295/

Pain for people in poverty in Britain :
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/welfare+reform+who+will+suffer+most/3696677

Proportional representation vote to be held:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/europe/uk-coalition-to-hold-electoral-reform-vote/article1626252/

By Jennefer Laidley
Interim Research and Policy Analyst
Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)

425 Adelaide Street West, 5th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5V 3C1
Phone: 416-597-5820 x 5155
Fax: 416-597-5821

ISAC website:
www.incomesecurity.org

Social Assistance Review website:
www.sareview.ca

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

- Go to The Social Researcher's Daily Media Scan -
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/jennefer_media_scan.htm

Social Rights Advocacy Centre (SRAC)
"Promoting and claiming social and economic rights through an inclusive human rights practice"
Incorporated in 2002, the Social Rights Advocacy Centre is a not for profit, non-governmental organization whose purpose is to relieve poverty and improve access to adequate food, clothing, housing, education, healthcare and other requirements of dignity, equality and security of low income persons and other disadvantaged groups through:
* research
* public education in social rights
* legal advocacy and representation.

- be sure to check the links to Canadian human rights caselaw, including the historic Charter Challenge to Homelessness and Violations of the Right to Adequate Housing in Canada.

Check out each of the following sections of the site for valuable resources:
* Judicial and Legal Education
* International Education and Advocacy
* Litigation Support
* Research
* Publications - links to over two dozen reports by Bruce Porter and Martha Jackman on a number of topics related to social and economic rights in Canada.
* Public Education

SRAC provides administrative support and co-ordinates the work of the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues which has intervened in more than a dozen cases at the Supreme Court of Canada.

- Go to the Case Law / Court Decisions / Inquests page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/caselaw.htm
- Go to the Human Rights Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/rights.htm

What's new from the
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU):

July 11, 2010

What's new online:
[This section archives documents that
have been featured on the CRRU homepage..]

Increased capacity for group child care (school age)
7 Jul 10 - In advance of starting full-day kindergarten, the BC government has amended child care licensing regulations to increase ratios and group size for before- and after-school care.

School age child care: Change in regulations will erode quality
7 Jul 10 - Press release from the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC critiques the provincial government's recent announcement on before- and after-school child care.

Transition: Family diversity
7 Jul 10 - Latest issue of Vanier Institute of the Family's Transition magazine features key findings from the soon-to-be-released fourth edition of Profiling Canada's Families.

Child care and parental leave in Sweden: Implications for women's employment and gender equality
7 Jul 10 - Conference paper explores Swedish family policy, current patterns of women's employment and gender equality in work and family life.

more WHAT'S NEW ONLINE »

child care in the news:
[This section features interesting and noteworthy news
about ECEC and related issues in Canada and internationally.]

· Child care centres will get support
7 Jul 10

· No before or after-school day care in Northumberland public schools
[CA-ON] 7 Jul 10

· Canada's leaders promote health care for children everywhere but at home
[CA] 6 Jul 10

· Funding children early in life is money well spent
[CA] 4 Jul 10

· Full-day kindergarten program disrupts child care funding
[CA-ON] 4 Jul 10

· Wrong move on census
[CA] 3 Jul 10

· Day care centre will close July 17th
[CA-ON] 30 Jun 10

· The needs of Canada's Aboriginal children
[CA-BC] 29 Jun 10

more CC IN THE NEWS »

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Subscribe to the CRRU email announcements list
Sign up to receive email notices of updates and new postings on the CRRU website which will inform you of policy developments in early childhood care and education, new research and resources for policy, newly released CRRU publications, and upcoming events of interest to the child care and broader community.

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)
The Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) is a policy and research oriented facility that focuses on early childhood education and child care (ECEC) and family policy in Canada and internationally.

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

Poverty Dispatch (U.S.)
- the content of this link changes several times a week
- scan of U.S. web-based news items dealing with topics such as poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.

Latest issues of Poverty Dispatch:

July 9:
US Economic Data and Poverty Measurement
High-Poverty Schools and Free Lunch Programs
Mobile Internet and the Digital Divide
Medicaid and Dental Coverage - Wisconsin
New York City Managed Care Consumer Assistance Program

July 8:
Poverty Measurement in the US
States and Medicaid Services
Food Stamp Enrollment - Idaho
Low-Income Workers and Savings

July 7:
Poverty Rates in Ohio and Kentucky
Exhaustion of Jobless Benefits
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program

July 6:
Application Process for Assistance Programs - Nebraska
SSI and Eligibility for Food Stamps - California
Uninsured Adults and Dental Care - Virginia

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Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to dispatches back to June 2006

Search Poverty Dispatches

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To subscribe to this email list, send an email to:
povdispatch-request@ssc.wisc.edu?subject=subscribe

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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

- Go to the Poverty Measures - International Resources page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty2.htm

OMG - David Frum's
Road to Damascus??

Losing the Fight Against Child Poverty
July 6, 2010
By David Frum
"(...) I agree with Lowry and Ponnuru – and Charles Murray too – that American freedom and individualism are important national values to be celebrated and defended. But let’s not flatter ourselves: Those values exact a social cost – and they would be easier to defend if the cost were less high. And the fact that this cost is not being paid by my children or (probably) yours does not make the cost less real to the one-third of America whose children do pay it."
Source:
David Frum - from Wikipedia
FrumForum:
FrumForum.com is a site edited by David Frum, dedicated to the modernization and renewal of the Republican party and the conservative movement.
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NOTE: this link is from Jennefer Laidley's Daily Media Scan elsewhere in this newsletter.
I chose to highlight it separately because its author is the son of the late Barbara Frum, beloved and respected icon and social conscience of CBC Radio. She was a social justice champion and he is a dyed-in-the-wool social and fiscal conservative Republican with a 'maverick' libertarian streak. For anyone who knows David Frum, this article is pure science fiction. What next - Christopher Sarlo suggesting a welfare rate increase??

Child poverty in the U.S. must be getting pretty bad when even social conservative David Frum is expresses his concern - albeit in a detached, rhetorical sense, without offering any solutions - about the one-third of America's children who pay the social cost for American freedom and individualism.

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David Frum was inspired to write his
article above after reading the study immediately below.

[United States]
Childhood poverty persistence : Facts and consequences, (PDF - 183K, 12 pages)
By C. Ratcliffe and S-M. McKernan
June 2010
(...) Over the past four decades the U.S. child poverty rate has fluctuated between 15 and 23 percent, but far more children—37 percent—live in poverty at some point during their childhoods.
Source:
The Urban Institute, Washington

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

- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Food Banks and Hunger Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/foodbkmrk.htm

From the Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris
Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale - CERC [version française]

Selected content from CERC Bulletin N°209 (July 12, 2010)
(Click this link to see the complete list of studies in that issue...)
TIP : for similar research, click the links below to the
Source organizations, then find the links to "Reports" or "Publications"]

* Credit and debt in low-income families (PDF - 441K, 53 pages) - United Kingdom
June 2010
By C. Dearden et al
Source:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation

* Older Americans in poverty : A snapshot (PDF - 2.9MB, 76 pages) - United States
April 2010
By E. O'Brien et al
Source:
AARP Public Policy Institute, Washington

* Fair and unfair income inequalities in Europe (PDF - 450K, 39 pages)
June 2010
By D. Checchi et al
Source:
Ecineq, Palma de Mallorca
This paper analyses the extent of income inequality and opportunity inequality in 25 European countries. The present work contributes to understanding the origin of standard income inequality, helping to identify potential institutional setups that are associated to opportunity inequality.

* The gender wage gaps, "sticky floors" and "glass ceilings" of the European Union (PDF - 473K, 36 pages)
July 2010
By A. N. Christofides et al
Source:
Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn
Examination of the gender wage gap across 24 EU member states, all of which share the objective of gender equality, using 2007 data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions.

* A minimum income standard for the UK in 2010, (PDF - 355K, 27 pages)
July 2010
By A. Davis et al
Source:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation

* Review of international pension reform, (PDF - 471K, 131 pages)
June 2010
By S. Collard and N. Moore
Source:
Department for Work and Pensions, London, Research report, n° 663, June, 131 p., (2010).
The eight case study countries selected for inclusion in this review were:
Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Uruguay
Excerpt (p.15):
The key implementation challenges faced by some of the case study countries were the protracted length of the legislative process, opposition from stakeholders and the logistics of setting up and running a new or reformed pension system. Three main conclusions seem to flow from the experience of case study countries with regard to pension reform implementation: First, pension arrangements are both complex and critical for individuals and society as a whole. Changes ideally need to be debated thoroughly with the stakeholders involved, such as employees, employers and the pension industry. This takes time, but the benefits of building a consensus around the proposed changes are considerable. Secondly, unless existing systems can be used, it takes time to establish appropriate and robust administrative systems. The more complex the system and the greater the volume of business, the longer is the time required. Finally, three quite different sets of stakeholders need to be managed: individuals, both potential contributors and those who will be excluded from the scheme; employers; and the providers of pensions.

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More studies like this (this link takes you to the table of contents for Bulletin #209)

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CERC Bulletin - links to all CERC semi-monthly bulletins <===links to 75+ bulletins!

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Online Information Service
Information and online resources organized under five themes:
* Poverty * Means-tested benefits * In-work benefits * Minimum wage * Unemployment and return to work .
- includes links and resources for Canada...
HINT: click on the links in the right-hand margin of each theme page for more content

CERC Bulletins/Reports/Studies/Working papers
- Click on the links in the left margin of the CERC website home page for access to a large collection of online resources

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- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm
- Go to the Pension Reforms Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/pensions.htm
- Go to the Guaranteed Annual Income Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/gai.htm

Australian Policy Online (APO)
APO is a news service and library specialising in Australian public policy reports and articles from academic research centres, think tanks, government and non-government organisations. The site features opinion and commentary pieces, video, audio and web resources focussed on the policy issues facing Australia.
[ About APO ]
NOTE : includes links to the latest APO research; the five most popular downloads of the week
appear in a dark box in the top right-hand corner of each page.

Found on the APO website:

Age matters, June 2010
9 July 2010
Age Matters highlights developments in statistics on the ageing population, and other information of likely interest to ageing researchers and policy makers.
Source:
Australian Bureau of Statistics

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Families then and now: 1980 - 2010
09 July 2010
Australian families have changed significantly over the last thirty years but they remain the basic unit in society for caring for each other and raising children, according to this report.
Source:
Australian Institute of Family Studies

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The state of Australian cities 2010 report – towards a national research agenda
08 July 2010 - In March this year the Australian Government launched the State of Australian Cities 2010 report. This related discussion paper invites response to the proposed research priorities.

Source:
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute

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Week ending July 11, 2010
Most viewed this week on APO:

1.Boats and votes
2. International profiles of health care systems
3. The cities we need
4. Effectiveness of individual funding approaches for disability support
5. National Research Coordinator

[You'll find these links on the APO home page.]

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New Research : Social Policy | Poverty
- topics include:
* Community * Cultural diversity * Families & households * Gender & sexuality * Immigration & refugees * Population * Poverty * Religion & faith * Social Inclusion * Social problems * Welfare * Youth

Week ending July 11, 2010
Most viewed this week:

1. Boats and votes
2. The cities we need
3. Effectiveness of individual funding approaches for disability support
4. Who will benefit from the 1 July 2010 tax cuts?
5. Housing and children's development and wellbeing

[You'll find these links on the APO Social Policy page.]

- Go to the Social Research Links in Other Countries (Non-Government) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internatngo.htm

From the
Child Rights Information Network (CRIN):

Latest issue of CRINMAIL (children's rights newsletter):

7 July 2010, CRINMAIL issue 1182
In this issue:
Editorial: The CRIN World Cup
Other News and Reports:
- Health: sexual and reproductive health / World AIDS conference.
- Child protection and the United Nations: UNICEF responds to Cambodian drug centres issue / Guide to ending sexual violence in conflict settings
- Justice at last? News from the UK and MEXICO
- Job postings
- Also includes:
* World news * Reports * Events * Laws * Issues * Advocacy * Challenging breaches * Take action * Campaigns * Toolkits

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

Links to Issues of CRINMAIL
- links to hundreds of weekly issues, many of which are special editions focusing on special themes, such as the 45th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the launch of the EURONET Website.
NOTE: see http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.htm for the table of contents for, and links to, several months' worth of issues of CRINMAIL.

Source:
CRINMAIL(incl. subscription info)
[ Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) ]

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.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news
...or send me an email message.
You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

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The e-mail version of this newsletter is available only in plain text (no graphics, no hyperlinks, no fancy bolding or italics, etc.) to avoid security problems with government departments, universities and other networks with firewalls. The text-only version is also friendlier for people using older or lower-end technology.

Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

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...

To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter, go to the Newsletter page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish, but please remember to mention Canadian Social Research Links when you do.

Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

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OOPSIE.

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And, in closing...

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