Canadian Social Research Newsletter
August 21, 2005

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 1421 subscribers.

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

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Toward a New Canadian Housing Framework - Final Report (PDF file - 215K, 19 pages)
July 15, 2005
"In January and February 2005, the National Secretariat on Homelessness of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) conducted a series of consultations to seek the contribution of stakeholders in the development of a new Canadian Housing Framework. (...) This report provides an overview of what was heard throughout the consultative process. It is not meant to be an exhaustive summary of the discussions, but rather is intended to provide a synthesis of the perspectives and ideas raised by participants."
Source:
National Homelessness Initiative

Related Links:

Towards a New Canadian Housing
Framework Consultations 2005

Aboriginal Housing Roundtable Event Report (PDF file - 256K, 18 pages)
Montréal – April 24-25, 2005

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

Facts and Figures 2004
Immigration Overview:
Permanent and Temporary Residents
August 4, 2005
"Facts and Figures 2004: Immigration Overview – Permanent and Temporary Residents presents the annual intake of permanent and temporary residents to Canada from 1980 to 2004, as well as the annual December 1 stock of temporary residents in Canada during this period. The main body of the publication consists of a series of statistical tables and charts covering the ten-year period from 1995 to 2004. The publication is divided into two separate sections, each depicting selected characteristics for the permanent resident population or the temporary resident population during this ten-year period."
Source:
Citizenship and Immigration Canada

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

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Government Response to the
Tenth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
August 18, 2005
Source:
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Related Links:

Governance in the Public service of Canada : Ministerial and Deputy Ministerial Accountability
(Tenth) Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
John Williams, M.P. (Chairman)
May 2005
HTML Version
- Cover page + Committee members (3 pages)
- Table of Contents - incl. links to all individual sections
PDF version (256K, 47 pages)

Source:
House of Commons Committees Reports and Responses
[HINT: Click the link above to see a list of, and links to, 200+ reports by House of Commons Committees]
[ House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts ]
[ Parliament of Canada Website ]

Senate Committee Reports
Substantive Reports of Committees (includes House of Commons, Senate and joint committees)

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

The Existence, Extent and Elimination of Canada's Fiscal Imbalance:
Report of the Subcommittee on Fiscal Imbalance
Yvan Loubier, M.P. (Chair of the Subcommittee)
Standing Committee on Finance
June 2005
PDF version (1.6MB, 92 pages)
NOTE: I recommend downloading the PDF version of this report --- otherwise you must keep clicking "Next Page" in the bottom right-hand corner of each page that appears to go to the next one - a real pain in the keester.
Source:
House of Commons Committees
Reports and Responses

- Go to the Medicare Debate Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/medicare.htm

Libs' Welfare-to-Jobs Program a Bust, Reveals Delayed Report
Loses $13 million, high failure rate and neediest not served.
By Andrew MacLeod
August 11, 2005
"One of the main arguments in favour of privately-run welfare-to-work programs like JobWave and Destinations has been that they don't really cost the taxpayer anything, since they are paid for out of what we save by moving people off of welfare. But an 11-month-old report prepared for the provincial government, quietly added to the province's website this week, shows that people in the programs do only marginally better in their job hunts than people who aren't in the programs. The government won't start saving money because of the programs for six or seven years, if ever."
Source:
TheTyee.ca

Related Links from the
Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance
(formerly the Ministry of Human Resources):

Evaluation of the Job Placement (JP) Program and Training for Jobs (TFJ) Program Pilot
Posted to the government website in August 2005
- includes a link to the summary of the evaluation, dated September 9, 2004 along with an evaluation update, dated July 6, 2005.
"These documents, along with other research on programming in other jurisdictions and feedback from staff, clients and service providers, are being used to determine which elements of JP and TFJ work well and what areas need improvement. Current employment programs will be refined in a way that best suits client needs and capabilities, and addresses changes in the nature and characteristics of the income assistance caseload."

Summary Report (PDF file - 141K, 35 pages)
September 2004
"It is unlikely that the Ministry’s savings in BCEA payments will exceed the cost of the program for some time. In this respect, actual performance falls well below some of the more optimistic expectations for the program. However, actual performance of JP reflects the inherent difficulty in designing an employment program that would pay for itself. The difficulty is one of designing a process for identifying, in advance, the individuals who would benefit from the program and, thereby, not investing resources in persons who are unlikely to benefit." [Excerpt, p.26]

Update to the Summary Report (PDF file - 91K, 19 pages)
July 2005

David Schreck of StrategicThoughts.com wrote two articles on August 17 and 19 entitled Pound Foolish and 31 Fridays in August dealing with the job placement program evaluation. If you don't find these articles on the home page, it's because they've been moved after a few days to the July-August 2005 archive page.

- Go to the BC Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk.htm

Minister of Finance Releases Draft Legislative Proposals Implementing Remaining Budget 2005 Income Tax Measures
August 15, 2005
"Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale today released a package of draft amendments to the Income Tax Act to implement measures originally proposed in Budget 2005.
These measures include:
* Introducing a new tax credit for adoption expenses such as adoption agency and legal fees.
* Improving the disability tax credit and making it more widely available.
* Further changes to improve the tax treatment of persons with disabilities and those who care for them, for example, by doubling the amount of disability-related and medical expenses that can be claimed by a caregiver, and expanding the list of expenses eligible for the medical expense tax credit and the disability supports deduction.
* Helping agricultural cooperative corporations through a new tax deferral in respect of certain patronage dividends."

Related Documents:
* Legislative Proposals Relating to Certain Income Tax Measures Announced in Budget 2005
* Explanatory Notes to Legislative Proposals Relating to Certain Income Tax Measures Announced in Budget 2005

Source:
Department of Finance Canada

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

Charter Equality Rights: Interpretation of Section 15
in Supreme Court of Canada Decisions
Prepared by Mary C. Hurley
Law and Government Division
August 1995 - Revised January 2005
"This paper contains a summary review of a number of principles relevant to section 15 and section 1 analysis, as determined by the Supreme Court of Canada, followed by a chart setting out basic elements of the Court’s decisions in which the equality rights provision has been raised.(...) Subsection 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in effect since April 1985, provides that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability."
Source:
Parliamentary Information and Research Service Publications
[ Parliament of Canada ]

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

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

Each week, the Childcare Resource and Research Unit disseminates its "e-mail news notifier", an e-mail message with a dozen or so links to new reports, studies and child care in the news (media articles) by the CRRU or another organization in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC). What you see below is content from the most recent issue of the notifier.

19-Aug-05

All postings available on CRRU’s homepage
http://www.childcarecanada.org/

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WHAT’S NEW
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>> Province seeking input on child care
by Government of Nova Scotia. Department of Community Services.
Press release from the government of Nova Scotia announces province-wide consultations on a new five-year plan for child care. Surveys available.

>> Policies for future generations: Aboriginal early childhood in Canada
by Margo Greenwood
PowerPoint presentation by Margo Greenwood of the University of Northern British Columbia features photographs of the history of Aboriginal early childhood and discussion of contemporary challenges.

>> In our own backyards: Local and state strategies to improve the quality of family child care
by Katie Hamm, Barbara Gault & Avis Jones-De Weever
Report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (US) proposes policy changes to combat low earnings and lack of training opportunities among family child care providers.

>> In focus: Work-life balance
by various authors
Current issue of the Ivey Business Journal features nine articles dedicated to work and family issues, including an article on the changing role of fathers.

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CHILD CARE IN THE NEWS
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>> Day care deal with Ottawa "imminent" [CA-BC]
Globe and Mail, 18 Aug 05
British Columbia is poised to become the seventh province to sign on to Ottawa's national child care program amid grumbling from advocates that there is no plan for the multimillion-dollar cash infusion.

>> Day care policy at centre of heated debate [CA]
Business Edge, 18 Aug 05
Despite a massive federal infusion through a series of bilateral agreements - being welcomed by virtually all players in the sector - factors affecting quality and access in Canadian child care programs fluctuate largely due to provincial policy directions.

>> New Brunswick, feds closer to inking child-care deal [CA-NB]
Moncton Times and Transcript, 18 Aug 05
New Brunswick is closer to signing a child care agreement with the federal government and could reach a deal within a month, say several MLAs.

>> A world fit for children [CA]
Globe and Mail, 17 Aug 05
Senator Landon Pearson, who is retiring this fall, has worked tirelessly in both Canada and abroad to put in place a compelling and powerful vision - a world fit for children.

>> Dryden defends government record on Israel, day care [CA]
Canadian Jewish News, 16 Aug 05
In an interview with Canadian Jewish News, Ken Dryden, who’s in charge of implementing the Liberals’ national day-care program, defended the plan as a huge step forward.

>> Thorne says child care funding doesn't make up for cuts [CA-BC]
Coquitlam Now, 13 Aug 05
The B.C. government’s recent announcement of $8.1 million in funding for child care providers doesn't make up for previous cuts, according to Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Diane Thorne, the NDP's child care critic.

>>Advocate says B.C. dithering on child care: Government accused of lacking any plan to use federal funding [CA-BC]
Victoria Times-Colonist, 12 Aug 05
The B.C. government has yet to prove it has a proper plan to use more than $600 million in federal child care money it will receive over the next five years, says Sharon Gregson of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This message was forwarded through the Childcare Resource
and Research Unit e-mail news notifier. For information on the CRRU e-mail notifier,
including subscription instructions , see http://www.childcarecanada.org
The Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto, Canada)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Related Links:

What's New? - Canadian, U.S. and international resources from Jan 2000 to the present.
Child Care in the News - media articles from January 2000 to the present
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info
Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications

Also from CRRU:

Early childhood education and care in Canada 2004
By Martha Friendly and Jane Beach
6th edition, May 2005, 232 pp
"Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada 2004 provides cross-Canada data and information on regulated child care, kindergarten, maternity and parental leave together with relevant demographic information."

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

POVERTY DISPATCH Digest
Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin
This digest offers dozens of new links each week to full-text articles in the U.S. media (mostly daily newspapers) on poverty, poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, and much more...
The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a free e-mail service that consists of an e-mail message sent to subscribers each Monday and Thursday, containing a dozen or so links to articles dealing with the areas mentioned above. The weekly Canadian Social Research Links Poverty Dispatch Digest is a compilation, available online, of the two dispatch e-mails for that week --- with the kind permission of IRP.

Here's the complete collection of U.S. media articles in this week's Poverty Dispatch Digest:
(click the link above to read all of these articles)

August 18, 2005

Today's subjects include:
Disability & Employment - Maryland // Food Stamp Program - Opinion // Foster Care Program - Michigan // Foster Care Transitions - Indiana, Missouri // Grandparents as Caregivers - Washington // Health Care for Low-Income Families // Health Insurance Program - Maine // Homeless Policy Debate - Atlanta, Ga // Homeless Program - Missouri, Texas, Utah // Immigration Costs & Benefits - Opinion // Low-Income Home Energy Program - Illinois // Low-Income Housing & Employment - Tennessee // Low-Wage Workers & Political Activism // Medicaid Policy - National, Kentucky, South Carolina // Mental Health Treatment & Child Welfare System - California // Racial Disparities in Health Care // School Achievement & Charter Schools - Ohio // School Achievement & College Readiness // School Choice Program - Wisconsin // Social Service Costs - Illinois // Unemployment - Michigan // Unemployment & Violence - Opinion

August 15, 2005

Today's subjects include: Legal Rights of Medicaid Recipients // Minimum Wage - Editorial // High School Dropouts - Opinion // Welfare Services for Hmong Refugees - Wisconsin // Battered Women and Child Care - South Carolina // Proposed Cuts in Child Care - Kansas // Funding for Poor School Districts - South Carolina // High School Exit Exams - California // Health Care and the Working Poor - Oregon // Cuts in State Health Plan - Tennessee // Lack of Health Insurance - Kentucky // Food Assistance - Montana // Affordable Housing - Chicago, Miami, California, New Jersey // Homelessness - Seattle

Each of the weekly digests below offers dozens of links or more to media articles that are time-sensitive.
The older the link, the more likely it is to either be dead or have moved to an archive - and some archives [but not all] are pay-as-you-go.
[For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH Digest link above]

Subscribe to the Poverty Dispatch!
Send an e-mail message to John Wolf < jwolf@ssc.wisc.edu > to receive a plain text message twice a week with one to two dozen links to media articles with a focus on poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, health, Medicaid from across the U.S.
And it's free...

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

For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH Digest link at the top of this section.
Recently-archived POVERTY DISPATCH weekly digests:

POVERTY DISPATCH description/archive - weekly issues back to October 2004 , 50+ links per issue
NOTE: this archive is part of the Canadian Social Research Links American Non-Governmental Social Research page.

- 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

From the Conseil de l'Emploi, des Revenus et de la Cohésion sociale (CERC):

Bulletin N°82
August 16, 2005
Subscribe to this free Bulletin to receive an e-mail message every two weeks with new links. What you see below is partial content from the latest CERC bulletin.
NOTE: I added the CERC Bulletin info to this week's newsletter at the last minute, so you'll have to click the link above and scroll down the next page that opens if you wish to read any of the content below...
Ireland:
. 2004 progress report on the National Children’s strategy, National Children’s Office, Dublin, 110 p., (2005).
United States:
. America’s children : Key national indicators of children’s well-being 2005, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, Washington, July (2005).
. Basic facts about low-income children : Birth to age 3, National Center for Children in Poverty, Washington, July, 4 p., (2005).
. Basic facts about low-income children : Birth to age 6, National Center for Children in Poverty, Washington, July, 4 p., (2005).
. Basic facts about low-income children : Birth to age 18, National Center for Children in Poverty, Washington, July, 4 p., (2005).
France:
. Les familles monoparentales et la précarité (1994-2003), J. Clément, R. Mahieu et F. Mathieu, Cnaf, Paris, Recherches et prévisions, n° 79, mars, 7 p. (2005).
. Pauvreté infantile et disparités territoriales, M. Nicolas, Cnaf, Paris, Recherches et prévisions, n° 79, mars, 10 p. (2005).
. Les travailleurs pauvres : La résurgence de la pauvreté laborieuse ?, P. Concialdi et alii, Ires, Noisy-le-Grand, La Lettre de l’Ires, n° 64, juillet, 6 p. (2005).
. Bilan Formation-Emploi. De l’école à l’emploi : parcours, M. Mansuy et alii, Insee, Paris, Economie et statistique, n° 378-379, 169 p., (2005).
. Allégements généraux de cotisations sociales et emploi peu qualifié : De l’impact sectoriel à l’effet macro-économique, S. Jamet, Dares, Paris, Document d’études, n°103, juillet, 40 p., (2005).
. Quelles prospectives pour les métiers de demain ? L'apport des observatoires de branche, C. Afriat et alii, Commissariat général du plan, Paris, juillet, 231 p. (2005).
. Evaluer la décentralisation du RMI. Les enjeux et les principes, C. Avenel, Cnaf, Paris, Recherches et prévisions, n° 79, mars, 18 p., (2005).
Europe
. Taking forward the EU social inclusion process, A. B. Atkinson and alii, An independent report commissioned by the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Ministère de la Famille et de l’Integration, Luxembourg / CEPS/INSTEAD, Differdange, July, 186 p., Annexes, 84 p., (2005).
. Labour market and wage developments in 2004, with special focus on risk of jobless growth, European Commission, Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, Brussels, 141 p., (2005).
. Minimum wages in Europe, European Industrial Relations Observatory on-line, Dublin, (2005).
. Le revenu minimum d'insertion avant la décentralisation, J-P. Lorgnet et alii, Cnaf, Paris, Recherches et prévisions, n° 79, mars, 10 p., (2005).
United Kingdom
. Jobcentre plus employer (Market view) survey 2004, K. Bunt, F. McAndrew and A. Kuechel, Department for Work and Pensions, London, Research report, n° 261, August, 148 p., (2005).
. The gender gap in early-career wage growth, A. Manning and J. Swaffield, Centre for Economic Performance, London, CEP discussion paper, n° 700, July, 62 p., (2005).
Austria, Spain, United Kingdom
. Alternative tax benefit strategies to support children in the European Union : Recent reforms in Austria, Spain and the UK, H. Levy, C. Lietz and H. Sutherland, University of Essex, Microsimulation Unit, Colchester, EUROMOD working paper, n° EM10/05, July, 39 p., (2005).
Canada
. Une étude comparative de la législation sur les normes minimales du travail au Canada, L. Boisclair et alii, Ministère du Travail, Direction de la Recherche et de l’Evaluation, Québec, juillet, 77 p., (2005).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Canada

Online Information Service
Information and online resources organized under five themes: poverty, social minima, in-work benefits, minimum wage and return-to-work programmes. The last theme was just recently added to the list, so you should explore that one first. However, as you click through the myriad reports and studies on that topic as well as links to online resources for France and for the rest of the world, I'm sure you'll want to check out the remaining themes. Includes links and resources for Canada...

Links to more CERC Bulletins

Source:
Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion (Paris)

- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.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 and submit your coordinates:
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 include a link back to the home page of Canadian Social Research Links.

Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

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