Canadian Social Research Newsletter
November 19, 2006

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 1730 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

Canadian Content

1. National/Universal Child Day 2006 — November 20
2. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- International Mobility: Patterns of Exit and Return of Canadians, 1982 to 2003 - November 17
3. The Blueprint to End Homelessness - Toronto (The Wellesley Institute) - October 26
4. The Fiscal Monitor for September 2006 (Finance Canada) - November 15
5. Canadian Government Debt 2006 (Fraser Institute) + Six Step Plan for the Fraser Institute (Canadian Union of Public Employees) - November 14
6. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - November 17

International Content

7. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
8. What's New from the National Center for Children in Poverty (U.S.):
--- Struggling Despite Hard Work: Low-Income Families in Michigan and Detroit - November 2006
--- Family Resource Simulator
--- Making “Work Supports” Work
9. What's New from the Center for Law and Social Policy (U.S.):
--- Child Care and Early Education State-by-State Data - November 16
--- Child Care Assistance in 2005: State Cuts Continue - November 1
--- Analysis of Fiscal Year 2005 TANF and MOE Spending by States - October 10
--- CLASP Publications on Welfare Policy Released in 2006 - 2005 - 2004
10. International Forum on the Eradication of Poverty (United Nations) - November 15, 16
11. Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 (Reporters without Borders) - October 23
12. The latest in policy research from the United Kingdom and Australia

From the Public Health Agency of Canada:

National Child Day - November 20
- incl. links to : National Child Day Activities * More about National Child Day * Partners and Links * Fun Zone! * National Child Day 2006 - The Right to Be Heard! * UN Day of General Discussion
* What is National Child Day? * What Are Children's Rights?

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From the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF):

National Child Day 2006 — November 20
"I Have the Right to be Heard!"
The Canadian Child Care Federation has chosen "the right to be heard" as its theme for National Child Day 2006. As supporting documentation, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has also selected Article 12 as their "Day of General Discussion" in September ( Geneva). CCCF is preparing a research paper under this theme and will be submitting it to the United Nations for consideration.

Interaction
The Fall 2006 issue of Interaction (vol. 20, no. 3) examines Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the child’s right to be heard. Features include a paper submitted to the UN’s day of discussion, a column by child rights advocate Landon Pearson, and an interview with international children’s rights consultant Gerrison Lansdown.
Click here to read these feature articles online
or
Visit the E-Store to order a hard copy of the full issue.

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From the National Youth in Care Network:

Wards of the Crown (PDF file - 841K, 2 pages) airs again on CBC Newsworld: The Lens on November 21 and November 25.
Wards of the Crown is a new Canadian documentary following the lives of four youth as they leave government care.
About the Filmmaker - Andrée Cazabon

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Youth Leaving Care – How Do They Fare?
Briefing Paper (PDF file - 242K, 31 pages)
September 2005
By Anne Tweddle
"This discussion paper was prepared for the Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults (MISWAA) Project in order to support and inform short- and long-term recommendations respecting challenges facing youth leaving care."
Source:
Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults ("MISWAA") - they produced the report
Laidlaw Foundation - they funded the report

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Child Welfare League of Canada

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World Forum 2006 - Future Directions in Child Care
November 19 – 22, 2006 in Vancouver, BC
This international conference will explore and share knowledge, information, data and on promising practices and innovative approaches to prevention and response to child abuse and neglect.

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Convention on the Rights of the Child
Source:
Committee on the Rights of the Child
[ Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights ]

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Universal Children's Day
20 November
- links to dozens of resources
Source:
United Nations

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Google Web search Results : "child day, November 20"
Google News Search Results : "child day, November 20"
Source:
Google.ca

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

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

International Mobility: Patterns of
Exit and Return of Canadians, 1982 to 2003 (PDF file - 365K, 61 pages)
November 17, 2006
This paper exploits the unique strengths of the tax-based Longitudinal Administrative Database to measure the flows of Canadians to other countries and the patterns of return over the period from 1982 to 2003.
Executive Summary (HTML)

Source:
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
- links to 100+ research papers going back to 1994

- Go to the Work-Life Balance Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/work_life_balance.htm

The Blueprint to End Homelessness (Toronto)
October 26, 2006
"Homelessness has a devastating impact on Toronto. More than 30,000 women, men and children crowd into the city’s homeless shelters annually. Many thousands more sleep on the streets or join the ranks of the “hidden homeless”. There are about 70,000 households on Toronto’s social housing waiting list. And, on the brink of homelessness, are 150,000 households paying more than half their income on shelter."
- incl links to : Home - About Us - Research - Public Policy - Capacity Building - Why We Need A Blueprint - Toronto’s Housing History - Recommendations From Past Studies - The New York Blueprint - Tri-Partite Agreement in Saskatoon - Tri-Partite Agreement in Vancouver - Tri-Partite Agreements in Winnipeg - Scotland Vows to End Homelessness by 2012

Complete report:

The Blueprint To End Homelessness
In Toronto: a two-part action plan (PDF file - 521K, 12 pages)
October 2006

Framework for the
Blueprint to End Homelessness in Toronto (PDF file- 3.35MB, 106 pages)
"Plenty of current data, a review of 43 major housing studies going back to 1918, a ward-by-ward analysis of housing and poverty numbers and other information is included in the framework document, which is a companion to the Blueprint to End Homelessness."

Source:
Issue Pages: Housing and Homelessness
- incl. links to key online resources, presentations and blog entries on this issue
The Wellesley Institute
The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through
rigorous community-based research, reciprocal capacity building, and the informing of public policy.

Other Issue Pages from the Wellesley Institute:
"Issue Pages combine notes, backgrounders or policy papers written by Wellesley analysts and links to carefully selected sites, reports and other resources available on the Internet. They are designed to provide one-stop access to key information and analysis on the social determinants of health and specific policy issues such as homelessness or health care reform.
Here are the current Wellesley Institute issue pages in addition to housing and homelessness (the Source link above):
- Local Health Integration Networks
- Social Determinants of Health
- Health Care Reform
- Health Care Privatization
- Community Engagement

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

November 15, 2006
2006-067
Release of The Fiscal Monitor
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today released The Fiscal Monitor for September 2006.
Highlights
September 2006: budgetary deficit of $1.4 billion
April to September 2006: budgetary surplus of $5.3 billion

The Fiscal Monitor - September 2006
The Fiscal Monitor 2006 - all months

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Agriculture to Finance) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk.htm

Canadian Government Debt 2006:
A Guide to the Indebtedness of Canada and the Provinces
"Canadian government debt stands $2.7 billion with each taxpayer owing $171,000. (...) Largely due to increases in program obligations, in 2003/2004 federal, provincial, and local liabilities added up to $171,032 for each Canadian taxpayer or $85,525 for each Canadian citizen."
Source:
Fraser Institute

Related Link from the
Canadian Union of Public Employees:

A six step plan for the Fraser Institute
November 14, 2006
The Fraser Institute just released its report on Canadian Government Debt 2006, designed to create public alarm about rising levels of government debt and push for severe cuts to health and social spending. The report, which claims that each Canadian taxpayer owes $171,032 in federal, provincial and local liabilities, is a typical Fraser Institute cocktail of alarmist "facts", sober sounding language, misleading analysis, opaque calculations, quarter truths, significant omissions and wildly overreaching policy lessons.
Source:
Canadian Union of Public Employees

NOTE: With due respect for a great effort, CUPE's six steps for Fraser amount to wishful thinking --- they include a public disclosure by the think tank about the funding it receives from the drug and insurance industries, a recognition of its penchant for distorting the truth in its reports and a demonstration of "a modicum of integrity and honesty" in its reports, and - well, you see what I mean about wishful thinking. Click on the six-step plan link above to read the text of the entire plan...

- Go to the Social Research Organizations (II) in Canada page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/research2.htm

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

17-Nov-06

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What's New
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HOW CAN INTEGRATION OF SERVICES FOR KINDERGARTEN-AGED CHILDREN BE ACHIEVED?
Policy papers from the Integration Network Project "explore policy options needed to bring about integration of 'education' and 'child care' for children of kindergarten age."
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92997

EVALUATION REVIEW, VOL. 30, NO. 5
Special issue of Evaluation Review: A Journal of Applied Social Research looks at "rethinking" research on child care quality and child outcomes.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92942

EFA HIGH-LEVEL GROUP MEETING URGES HIGHER SPENDING AND STRONGER FOCUS ON
EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMMES AND DISADVANTAGED GROUPS
Press release from UNESCO reports on meeting of 20 education ministers from developing countries, top officials of multilateral and bilateral agencies, and community leaders.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92994

AN OVERVIEW OF THE SWEDISH EDUCATION SYSTEM
Interactive map from the Swedish National Education Agency explains the various parts of the Swedish education system, including pre-school, family day-care homes, and child care for school-aged children.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92996

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Child Care in the News
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Political parties must work together for better child care, says advocate [CA]
Fredericton Daily Gleaner, 17 Nov 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92999

Survey: Childcare issues paramount in run-up to election [IE]
Irish Examiner, 15 Nov 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92991

Parties promise better childcare [GB-WL]
BBC News, 13 Nov 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92992

Our government values child care [CA-BC]
Letter to the Editor re: Child care plan needed because kids are worth it!
Prince Rupert Daily News, 9 Nov 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92993

Child care plan needed because kids are worth it! [CA-BC]
Prince Rupert Daily News, 3 Nov 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=92990

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
- Go to the International Children, Families and Youth Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chn2.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

What's New from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP):

Struggling Despite Hard Work:
Low-Income Families in Michigan and Detroit
Fact Sheet
November 2006
HTML
PDF (189K, 4 pages)
More than a third of Michigan's children live in low-income families. This fact sheet looks at employment and the use of work support benefits among low-income families in Michigan as a whole and also in Detroit. It finds that most low-income children have employed parents, but many families do not receive the work supports that can close the gap between resources and expenses.

NOTE: use the NCCP's Family Resource Simulator (the next link below) to see how much parents in Michigan need to earn to cover basic expenses, taking work support policies into account. The Simulator shows that for a two-parent family of four living in Detroit, it takes earnings of nearly $40,000 a year--twice the poverty level--to afford basic necessities.

Family Resource Simulator (FRS)
The Family Resource Simulator is an interactive web-based tool that calculates family resources and expenses as earnings increase, taking public benefits into account. The user “creates” a hypothetical family by making choices about: city and state, family characteristics, income sources, assets, and debt. The user also selects which public benefits the family receives when eligible and decides what happens when the family loses benefits (e.g., does the family seek cheaper child care after losing a subsidy?). The result is a series of graphs that show the impact of public benefits on family resources and basic family expenses as earnings rise.
[As at November 17, the FRS is available for twelve states and 50 localities, with plans to keep expanding.]
The Family Resource Simulator is part of NCCP’s Making “Work Supports” Work initiative, which examines the current patchwork of federal and state programs that assist low-wage workers and their families and explores policy alternatives.
FRS User Guide Pop-up - explains how the FRS works in more detail

Making “Work Supports” Work - incl. links to Publications - Partners - Related Links

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

What's New from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP):

Child Care and Early Education State-by-State Data - U.S.
November 16, 2006
This set of state-by-state data includes new analysis of 2005 child care spending from Child Care Development Block Grant and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds and of 2005 Head Start Program Information Report data, along with data (published in March 2006) on states’ use of community-based child care to provide pre-kindergarten.

Child Care Assistance in 2005: State Cuts Continue (PDF file - 78K, 9 pages)
November 1, 2006
State spending on child care assistance declined in 2005 for the second consecutive year. Twenty-two states made cuts to their child care programs, as the number of children living in low-income families that received help from these programs continued to decline. Many families turn to child care assistance programs to get help paying for the child care they need in order to work and to succeed. This policy brief provides an overview of national expenditure data for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds directed towards child care. 9 pages.

Analysis of Fiscal Year 2005 TANF and MOE Spending by States
October 10, 2006

All CLASP Publications on
Welfare Policy Released in 2006 - [in 2005] - [in 2004]
NOTE: scroll to the bottom of the CLASP page for links to publications released in earlier years.
- incl. Reports - Policy Briefs - Fact Sheets - Legislative and Regulatory Analyses - Presentations - Testimony

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm

International Forum on the Eradication of Poverty
15-16 November 2006
New York
"To mark the end of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, the Division of Social Policy and Development, DESA, in collaboration with United Nations agencies and civil society, is organising the International Forum on the Eradication of Poverty. The Forum aims to achieve two major objectives. First, it is intended to send a strong message on the importance of a continued and enhanced commitment to poverty eradication in the run-up to 2015. Second, the Forum will provide a valuable opportunity for forward-looking dialogue among stakeholders on the next steps over the next decade towards the realization of the universal goal of poverty eradication."
- the main page includes links to 14 UN partner organizations
- Background Notes
- Papers and Presentations

Source:
Economic and Social Development
[ Department of Economic and Social Affairs ]
[ United Nations ]

- Go to the United Nations Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/un.htm

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006
North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea the worst violators of press freedom
France, the United States and Japan slip further Mauritania and Haiti gain much ground
- Canada is tied for 16th place and the U.S. is tied for 53rd (closest to zero is best)
"(...)the steady erosion of press freedom in the United States (53), France (35) and Japan (51) is extremely alarming."

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 (PDF file - 140K, 7 pages)
Press Release
23 October 2006
New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones.

Source:
Reporters without Borders
"Reporters Without Borders is an association officially recognised as serving the public interest. More than a third of the world’s people live in countries where there is no press freedom. Reporters Without Borders works constantly to restore their right to be informed. Fourty-two media professionals lost their lives in 2003 for doing what they were paid to do — keeping us informed. Today, more than 130 journalists around the world are in prison simply for doing their job..."

- Go to the Media Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/mediabkmrk.htm

The latest in policy research from
the United Kingdom and Australia:

From the United Kingdom:

Government Social Research Bulletin
- for the month up to 13 November, including the latest GSR news, updates on Continuing professional development, Forthcoming research, Research outputs, plus a Website of the month feature.
Source:
Research News
[ Government Social Research: Analysis for Policy (U.K.) ]

From Australia:

Australian Policy Online
- incl. links to : Reports from APO members * Government reports * Reports from other sources
- also includes calls for papers and a large list of conferences
- APO is maintained by the Institute for Social Research at Swinburne University of Technology

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. APO is maintained by a network of university centres and over 120 centres and institutes around Australia.

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 ]

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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