Canadian Social Research Newsletter
July 13, 2008

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 1899 subscribers.

Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

NOTE:
My wife and I just returned from a week-long trip to southern Ontario, which explains why there was no newsletter last Sunday (in case you didn't receive the alert that I sent out to that effect). During our absence, my main computer and monitor decided that they couldn't coexist peacefully. Even though they were both turned off for the whole week, they only worked briefly after my return before giving up the
ghost.

Initially, I was able to plod through my email backlog and update a few pages of the site, but the monitor quit cooperating earlier today. As a result of this technical glitch, I've had to prepare this newsletter on my old notebook with its inherent limitations, so there's no online version of this week's newsletter, and I'll have to wait a few more days before I can post website updates again. I apologize in advance if the newsletter looks a bit wonky or if the links appear twice or some other anomaly. You'll also note that the content below is somewhat leaner than the usual newsletter.
Please do not adjust your set - I'll be back.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Canadian content

* Government of Canada Moves to Protect, Strengthen Canadian Housing Market (Department of Finance Canada) - July 9
* Report on the consultation on human rights and rental housing in Ontario (Ontario Human Rights Commission) - May 2008
* Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Issues and Options (Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology) - June 2008
* Ontario: 'Poverty Reduction'? Reforming without Reforms in a Neoliberal World (John Clarke, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty) - June 30
* Who’s Hungry : 2008 Profile of Hunger in the Greater Toronto Area (Daily Bread Food Bank - Toronto) - June 24
* What's New from Statistics Canada
* What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto)

International content

* Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - University of Wisconsin-Madison)
* Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing
* CRINMAIL (June/July 2008) - (Child Rights Information Network - CRIN)

Have a great week!

Gilles Séguin
Canadian Social Research Links
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net

E-mail:
gilseg@rogers.com

Government of Canada Moves to Protect, Strengthen Canadian Housing Market
http://www.fin.gc.ca/news08/08-051e.html
News Release
July 9, 2008
The Government of Canada today announced adjustments to the rules for government guaranteed mortgages aimed at protecting and strengthening the Canadian housing market. The new measures include:
* Fixing the maximum amortization period for new government-backed mortgages to 35 years;
* Requiring a minimum down payment of five per cent for new government-backed mortgages;
* Establishing a consistent minimum credit score requirement; and
* Introducing new loan documentation standards.

Related document:

Backgrounder
http://www.fin.gc.ca/news08/data/08-051_1e.html

Source:
Department of Finance Canada
http://www.fin.gc.ca/fin-eng.asp

- Go to the Homelessness and Housing Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/homeless.htm

Commission launches report calling for collective housing strategy
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/resources/news/e_pr_housingconsultationreport
News Release
July 8, 2008
Toronto
- Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall and the Ontario Human Rights Commission today launched “Right at home: Report on the consultation on human rights and rental housing in Ontario.” This report, which follows a year of public sessions, meetings and submissions involving hundreds of individuals and organizations across the province, focuses on housing as a human right, and sets out a framework for collective action to identify, remove and prevent discrimination in rental housing.
* includes links to five backgrounders

RIGHT AT HOME : Report on the
consultation on human rights and rental housing in Ontario (PDF - 460K, 107 pages)
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/resources/discussion_consultation/housingconsultationreport/pdf
Approved by the Commission: May 28, 2008

Source:
Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC)
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/

More OHRC housing resources - incl. backgrounders, consultation paper, background paper and
more...
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/issues/housing

Related link:

Powerful historic report links housing rights to housing action
http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/powerful-historic-report-links-housing-rights-housing-action
July 8, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
The
Ontario Human Rights Commission, an independent agency that reports to the provincial Legislature, released a dynamic new report today called “Right at Home” that is both historic and ground-breaking. The report draws powerful links between international housing rights – which have been ratified by the Canadian government – and Ontario’s desperate crisis of housing insecurity and homelessness.

Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
http://wellesleyinstitute.com/blog/

[ The Wellesley Institute ]
http://wellesleyinstitute.com/ ]

- Go to the Homelessness and Housing Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/homeless.htm

Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Issues and Options (PDF - 696K, 96 pages)
First Report of the Subcommittee on Cities of the Standing Senate Committee on
Social Affairs, Science and Technology
http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/2/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/soci-e/rep-e/repfinaljun08-e.pdf
[ Chair : The Honourable Art Eggleton, P.C. ]
June 2008

Related Media Advisory:

Poverty in Canada: 38 Years On
http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/2/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/SOCI-E/press-e/27jun08-e.htm
June 26, 2008
Since the landmark 1970 Croll Report brought the issue of poverty out of the shadows, the Senate has frequently revisited the crushing effects of poverty on Canadians. Today the Senate Subcommittee on Cities has tabled its report Poverty, Housing, and Homelessness: Issues and Options touching on Canada's largest metropolitan areas, complementing the work done this Parliamentary session by the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry on rural poverty:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/Committee_SenRep.asp?Language=E&Parl=39&Ses=2&comm_id=2

Source:
Subcommittee on Cities
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/Committee_SenHome.asp?Language=E&Parl=39&Ses=2&comm_id=604

[ Standing Senate Committee on
Social Affairs, Science and Technology:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/committee_Senhome.asp?Language=E&parl=39&Ses=2&comm_id=47 ]

[ more reports by this Committee - 39th Parliament, 2nd Session:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/committee_Senhome.asp?Language=E&parl=39&Ses=2&comm_id=47 ]

[ All Senate Committee reports - 39th Parliament, 2nd Session:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/Committee_SenRecentReps.asp?Language=E&Parl=39&Ses=2 ]

Related link:

On the road to reduce poverty
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/455303
July 7, 2008
By Carol Goar
The experts and activists have spoken. Now the Senate committee examining urban poverty wants to hear from the people. This summer, Senator Art Eggleton and his five colleagues (three Liberals, two Conservatives) head out to ask Canadians what they want to see in a national poverty reduction plan, how it should be designed and who should pay for it. They'll visit eastern Canada in August, Toronto and Montreal in September and the four western provinces in October. The committee will provide witnesses with a 90-page report that distils the testimony it has heard over the past 18 months and sets out a list of options – 103 in fact – ranging from the complete replacement of the current
income support with a guaranteed annual income to a few low-cost adjustments.
Source:
The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/

- Go to the Anti-poverty Strategies and Campaigns page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm

Ontario: 'Poverty Reduction'? Reforming without Reforms in a Neoliberal World
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9482
by John Clarke
June 30, 2008
"(...)Clearly, the present round of Ontario Government consultations on poverty can't be wished away. It is dominating the political landscape in Ontario at the moment. In OCAP, we deplore this fact but have to recognize it. At present, we can only present our point of view and realize that we are not able to transfer community energy from talking with Liberals to mobilizing against them. However, there is one obvious limitation to the government's consultation strategy. At a certain point, the talking has to stop and the results of the process must be revealed. At that time, the striking lack of progress on poverty reduction is going to hit people in the face."
Source:
Centre for Global Research
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php
The Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG) is an independent research and media group of writers, scholars, journalists and activists. Based in Montreal, the CRG is a registered non profit organization in the province of Quebec.

[ more Canadian content from CRG:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=region&regionId=2 ]

Related link:

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
http://www.ocap.ca/
OCAP is a direct-action anti-poverty organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We mount campaigns against regressive government policies as they affect poor and working people.
[John Clarke, author of the above article, is with OCAP.]

- Go to the Anti-poverty Strategies and Campaigns page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm

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

Research shows food bank clients spend 77% of income on rent
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2008/24/c7219.html
TORONTO, June 24, 2008
People accessing food banks in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are unable to get ahead because of the high cost of housing, according to a report released today by Daily Bread Food Bank. Who's Hungry: 2008 Profile of Hunger in the GTA found that food bank clients pays an average of 77% of their income on housing alone, which crowds out money available for other basic necessities such as food.

Complete report:

Who’s Hungry:
2008 Profile of Hunger in the Greater Toronto Area (PDF - 672K, 32 pages)
http://www.dailybread.ca/get_informed/upload/DBFB_WH_Report_FINAL_lores.pdf
June 2008

Source:
Daily Bread Food Bank (Toronto)
http://www.dailybread.ca/

- Go to the Food Banks and Hunger Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/foodbkmrk.htm

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

What's New from The Daily:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dai-quo/index-eng.htm

Source:
Statistics Canada
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html

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

From the
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU):
http://www.childcarecanada.org/

WHAT'S NEW ONLINE:
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_whatsnew.shtml

CHILD CARE IN THE NEWS
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_inthenews.shtml

Related Links:

Subscribe to the CRRU email announcements list
http://www.childcarecanada.org/res/enews/index.html
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
http://www.childcarecanada.org/links/index.html

CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
http://www.childcarecanada.org/pubs/

ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info
http://www.childcarecanada.org/res/issues/

Source:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU)
http://www.childcarecanada.org/

- 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 twice a week
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/dispatch

IRP compiles and distributes Poverty Dispatches twice a week. Each issue of the dispatch provides links to U.S. web-based news items dealing with topics such as poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.
Each Dispatch lists links to current news in popular print media.

Past Poverty Dispatches
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/initiatives/outreach/pastdispatch.htm
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 2006

Search Poverty Dispatches
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/initiatives/outreach/dispatch/search.htm

If you wish to receive Poverty Dispatches by e-mail,
please send a request to rsnell@ssc.wisc.edu

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
http://www.irp.wisc.edu/
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://www.wisc.edu/ ]

- 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

G8 Summit meeting - July 7-9, 2008

Hokkaido Toyako Summit - Home page
http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/index.html
Hokkaido, Japan
July 7-9, 2008

Press Conference by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/news/press-conf_080710.html
July 9, 2008
"(...)We,
the G8, arrived at a common view which is to seek to adopt as a global target the goal of at least a 50% reduction of global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050. This, needless to say, is based on a premise that the G8 including the US agree on this goal..."

[ All Summit documents:
http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/doc/index.html ]

Related G8 Meetings in 2008
http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/link/index.html

Canada's G8 Website - Government of Canada
http://www.g8.gc.ca/menu-en.asp

G8 Information Centre - University of Toronto
http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/

* G8 Live - G8 news and analysis <=== Recommended!!
http://www.g8live.ca/

United States President George W. Bush’s last Group of Eight…
http://g8live.org/2008/07/11/united-states-president-george-w-bush%E2%80%99s-last-group-of-eight/
11 July 2008
United
States President George W Bush’s last Group of Eight (G8) summit only inched forward the fight against climate change but drew the battle lines more sharply than ever between rich and poor nations. The G8 major industrial powers agreed at a three-day summit in northern Japan to cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming by at least half by 2050, the strongest language yet signed by Mr Bush.

34th G8 summit (July 7-9, 2008)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/34th_G8_summit
- from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/

G8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-8
- from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/

"G8" is short for "Group of Eight," just as G7 is short for "Group of Seven."
http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/g.html
The eight members of the G8 are, in order of their rotating hosting responsibilities:
* France * United States * United Kingdom * Russia (as of 2006) * Germany * Japan * Italy * Canada
The G7 consists of the same members without Russia.
There is a ninth member of both the G7 and G8: the European Union.

What about the G20?
http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/g20/g20whatisit.html

Related links:

G8 Finance Ministers Meeting - Home page
http://www.g8finance.mof.go.jp/
Osaka Japan
June 13-14, 2008

>From the Department of Finance Canada:
http://www.fin.gc.ca/fin-eng.asp

Statement of the G-8 Finance Ministers Meeting
http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/g7/g8140608_1e.html
Osaka Japan
June 14, 2008
"(...)We will work to ensure that the conditions are in place for continued strong world economic
growth."
- incl. * World Economy * Commodity Prices * Climate Change * Development * Abuses of the
Financial System

G8 Action Plan for Climate Change to Enhance
the Engagement of Private and Public Financial Institutions
http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/g7/g8140608_3e.html
Osaka Japan
June 14, 2008

G8 summit marked by impotence and division
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jul2008/g8-j09.shtml
By Nick Beams
9 July 2008
Source:
World Socialist Website
http://www.wsws.org/

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

Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing - selected recent content
APO Weekly Briefing
http://www.apo.org.au/infocast/
The content of this page changes each week, and it includes links to a few book/report reviews, about two dozen new reports, a few job ads and 60 events (mostly conferences) of interest to social researchers...

Source:
Australian Policy Online (APO) - home page
http://www.apo.org.au/
With nearly 120 member centres and institutes, Australian Policy Online offers easy access to much of the best Australian social, economic, cultural and political research available online.
NOTE: the APO home page includes links to the five most popular reports on the APO website, and this list is updated each week.

APO Archive
http://www.apo.org.au/issues.shtml
The APO archive is grouped into 23 subject areas, with entries appearing in reverse chronological
order.
*
Ageing *Asia and the pacific * Citizenship and the law * Disability * Economics and trade * Education * Employment and workplace relations * The environment * Foreign policy and defence * Gender and sexuality * Health * Housing * Families and households * Immigration and refugees * Income, poverty and wealth * Indigenous * Media, communications and cultural policy * Politics and government * Population, multiculturalism and ethnicity * Religion and faith * Rural and regional * Science and technology * Social policy * Urban and regional planning * Youth

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
http://www.crin.org/index.asp

Online issues of CRINMAIL
http://www.crin.org/email/crinmail_archive.asp?productID=2&PageTitle=Crinmail%2BArchive%2B-%2BCRINMAIL%20English
- links to 300+ earlier 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 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Source:
CRINMAIL(incl. subscription info)
http://www.crin.org/email/

[ Child Rights Information Network (CRIN):
http://www.crin.org/index.asp ]

- Go to the Children's Rights Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.htm

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.

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

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

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

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.

Broken links:
If you find a broken link in this newsletter and you see that the link wraps to the next line but the second part of the link isn't active (i.e., blue), you'll have to cut and paste each section of the link in the correct order into a new browser window. If you still have a problem accessing a link, email me and we'll work something out...

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

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

Some stats to impress your American friends

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

-The average American worker receives 201 phone, paper, and e-mail messages each day.

-Americans go through 4.8 billion gallons of water flushing toilets each day.

-The average adult has 4 dreams each night and 1 nightmare per year.

-Each year 100,000 Americans are injured by their own clothing.

-The average American is exposed to 1,600 commercials and advertisements each day.

-Roughly half of the world's telephones are in the U.S.

-The average American makes 3.4 trips to the super market each week and the most popular day is Friday.

-The typical American child sees 80,000 TV commercials by the age of 16.

-Half of all crimes are committed by people under the age of 18.

-The average person speaks 450 words in a typical 3 minute phone call.

-The average American gives less than 1% of their total income to charity.

-The average American consumes 22 gallons of beer each year.

-Americans spend $1.1 billion on Valentines Day candy each year.

-Columbus traveled at an average speed of 2.8 mph on his first voyage across the sea.

Source;
http://www.strange-facts.com/percentsandstats.php

And, in closing...

Top 100 songs from the 50s to the 80s
http://www.tropicalglen.com/orry