Canadian Social Research Newsletter
July 24, 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 1412 subscribers.

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

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IN THIS ISSUE:

New on the website of the Vanier Institute of the Family:

Spring 2005 issue of Transition magazine - Forty Years in the Life of Canadian Families

Summer 2005 issue of Transition magazine - Caregiving and Canadian Families

Autumn 2005 issue of Transition magazine - The Tween Years (Coming)

- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

World Conference on Prevention of Family Violence 2005
October 23-26, 2005
Banff, Alberta
"The World Conference on Prevention of Family Violence 2005 will bring together a diverse group of international leaders, researchers and policy and program experts to share promising practice in family violence prevention, intervention, support and follow-up. The goals of the conference are to heighten global awareness of family violence, strengthen leadership networks and collaborative partnerships, and point the way for a generation free of family violence."
Source:
National Children's Alliance
Alliance nationale pour les enfants

- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm
- Go to the Conferences and Events Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/confer.htm

Aspects of the Context and Consequences of Domestic Violence
- Situational Couple Violence and Intimate Terrorism in Canada in 1999
(PDF file - 397K, 21 pages)
May 2005
"The first five sections of this paper present a brief summary of certain results contained in a 2003 report on the prevalence of domestic violence in Quebec and in Canada, based on data from the 1999 General Social Survey (GSS). The remaining sections describe and discuss the context and consequences of domestic violence in more detail, following the typology of domestic violence suggested by Michael P. Johnson (1995), making the distinction between Situational Couple Violence and Intimate Terrorism. Separate tables are presented for victims of current spouse/partner, for victims of a previous spouse/partner and for victims of a current or a previous spouse/partner, by severity of violence and sex of victim."

The report published in 2003 is available (in French only) at the following address :
http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/publications/conditions/violence_h-f99_pdf.htm

Source:
Institut de la statistique du Québec (English Home Page)

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Aspects du contexte et des conséquences de la violence conjugale : violence situationnelle et terrorisme conjugal au Canada en 1999
(fichier PDF - 316Ko., 22 pages)
Mai 2005
"Les cinq premières sections de cette étude constituent un bref rappel de certains constats d'un rapport détaillé, diffusé en 2003, sur la prévalence de la violence conjugale au Québec et au Canada, d'après les données de l'Enquête sociale générale de 1999. Les sections suivantes de l'étude décrivent et discutent de manière plus détaillée le contexte et les conséquences de la violence conjugale, en faisant appel à la typologie des situations de violence conjugale proposée par Michael P. Johnson (1995), établissant la distinction entre la violence situationnelle et le terrorisme conjugal. Des tableaux distincts font état des résultats pour les victimes du conjoint actuel, pour celles d'un ex-conjoint ou pour celles du conjoint ou d'un ex-conjoint, selon la gravité de la violence et le sexe de la victime."

Le rapport publié en 2003 par l'Institut de la statistique est disponible à l'adresse suivante :
http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/publications/conditions/violence_h-f99_pdf.htm

Source:
Institut de la statistique du Québec

- Go to the Québec Links (English) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/qce.htm
- Rendez-vous à la page de liens de recherche sociale au Québec: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/qcbkmrk.htm

Information on the 2005 Pre-Budget Consultations
38th Parliament, 1st Session
July 7, 2005
"The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance is planning on holding its public hearings on the 2005 pre-budget consultations from Monday, September 26th to Friday November 4th, 2005."
Click the link above for more info on preparing and presenting a brief to the Committee, including "the main themes that the Committee would like to discuss (entrepreneurial, human and physical capital)" and the list of dates and cities where hearings are expected to be held.

The deadline for notifying the Committee of your intention to appear or to submit a brief is August 12.

RANT:
This relatively short bit of textual information is needlessly split into three separate pages. You must click "NEXT PAGE >>" in the bottom right-hand corner of the first page to read the second page and again to read the third page.
The nice Parliamentary Internet site folks would probably say that I'm being a tad too picky here, but I'd bet money that many visitors to this "information" page won't get past the first page because they won't even notice the tiny link to the second page. And WASSUP with "the main themes that the Committee would like to discuss"? Does this mean that if you or your group wish to present a brief on something other than the "main themes", your chances of appearing in front of the Committee are slim to none? ("we cannot guarantee that all witnesses requesting to appear can be heard...")
Hmph.
[If I *were* picky, I'd mention that the date in the top left corner of the first page should be Thursday - not Thrusday - July 7. Spelcheque,pleize!]

Source:
House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance

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

5. Upcoming minimum wage increases in Alberta, Saskatchewan (Sept/05) and Nova Scotia (Oct/05)

Alberta minimum wage will increase to $7.00 an hour September 1, 2005
April 25, 2005
"Alberta's minimum wage will increase from $5.90 to $7.00 an hour on September 1, 2005. About 45,000 Albertans in entry-level jobs will benefit directly from the wage increase."
Source:
Alberta Employment Standards

Saskatchewan Minimum Wage Increase Announced
June 22, 2005
"Saskatchewan's minimum wage will increase on September 1st, 2005 by 40 cents to $7.05 an hour.The increase, subject to the enactment of the regulations, is the first stage in a three-stage increase that will see the minimum wage go up by 50 cents to $7.55 an hour on March 1st, 2006 and by 40 cents to $7.95 an hour on March 1st, 2007."
Source:
Saskatchewan Government

Increase to the Nova Scotia Minimum Wage Effective October 1
"On May 25, 2005, the Nova Scotia government announced that the minimum wage rate will increase by 30 cents on October 1, 2005, to $6.80 per hour. The rate will rise again by an additional 35 cents to $7.15 per hour on April 1, 2006."
Source:
Government of Nova Scotia

...Plus six other provinces during 2005 - this link takes you to the "Hourly Minimum Wages in CANADA for Adult Workers 2005 to 2014" page of the Labour Program - Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

See also:

Current and forthcoming minimum wage levels for all jurisdictions
Source:
HRSDC

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

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

July 22, 2005
Consumer Price Index, June 2005
The 12-month Consumer Price Index increased by 1.7% in June. However, the 12-month change in the All-items excluding energy index slowed down slightly from 1.6% in May to 1.5% in June.

July 21, 2005
Study: Urban and provincial income disparities - 2001
"Provinces whose populations are more heavily concentrated in small cities and rural areas tend to have significantly lower per capita employment incomes, according to a new study. The study, which analyzed data from the 2001 Census, tests the long-held view that provincial income disparities were at least partly the result of variations in the level of urbanization from province to province."
Complete study:
Provincial Income Disparities Through an Urban-Rural Lens:
Evidence from the 2001 Census (PDF file- 525K, 22 pages)
by Desmond Beckstead and W. Mark Brown
July 2005

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

Incentive or a kick in the teeth?
July 20, 2005
By Carol Goar
"The Ontario government calls it 'an incentive to work and earn more.' Many welfare recipients call it a kick in the teeth. Beginning Aug. 1, people living on social assistance will lose 50 cents in benefits for every dollar they earn. There will be no exemptions, no progressive deductions and no time limit. Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello announced the change in May, but most clients were unaware of it — or didn't want to think about it — until now. Reality hit when they got their July welfare cheque, which spelled out how the 50 per cent clawback would work. Under the old rules, a person could earn up to $143 a month ($249 for a couple and $275 for a single parent with one child) without any reduction in social assistance. It was one of the few breaks in an otherwise punitive system. Under the new regime, every cent a welfare recipient earns — by babysitting, telemarketing or doing odd jobs — will result in a smaller cheque.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Related Link:

Backgrounder - Improving Ontario Works
May 17, 2005
Four key measures:
- extending health benefits for up to six months (up to one year in exceptional cases) or until employer health benefits are available for people exiting social assistance for employment.
- a flat exemption rate of 50 per cent on earnings to provide a better incentive for Ontario Works clients to work and earn more.
- increasing the maximum deduction for informal child care costs from $390 to $600 per month to provide another child care option for working parents.
- Creating an employment benefit of up to $500 to help recipients who obtain full-time employment pay for job-related expenses like uniforms and transportation.

- Go to the Ontario Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk.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.

22-July-05

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WHATS NEW
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>> Men in child care
by Rolfe, Heather
Report from the Equal Opportunities Commission (GB) finds that 27% of men would consider working in child care yet only one in fifty child care workers are men.

>> Take back the language: Appreciating the culture of early childhood education
by McKinlay, Linda; Leone, Linday & MacDonald, Margaret
Position paper endorsed by more than 35 training programs in early childhood education in British Columbia discusses how to bridge the divide between education and care.

>> The social economy: Finding a way between the market and the state
by Neamtam, Nancy
Article by Nancy Neamtam for Policy Options describes the social economy as “a manifestation of positive and active citizenship that governments need to recognize and support”.

>> Head Start impact study: First year findings
by Puma, Michael; Bell, Stephen; Cook, Ronna; Heid, Camilla & Lopez, Michael
Study by the U.S government tracks the influence of Head Start on 3- and 4-year old children across cognitive, social-emotional, and health domains.

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CHILD CARE IN THE NEWS
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>> Half of licensed day cares fail inspection [CA-NS]
CBC News, 21 Jul 05
More than half of Nova Scotia's child-care centres did not pass all of the provincial standards for licensing, the New Democrats say.

>> Mothers encouraged to stay out of work [AU]
Sydney Morning Herald, 21 Jul 05
Australian mothers have one of the lowest employment rates in the developed world, encouraged to stay at home through welfare payments and community expectations, says an international expert.

>> Day care dollars welcomed [CA-MB]
Portage La Prairie (Manitoba), 18 Jul 05
A provincial government announcement last week saying child care workers will receive an increase in wages as well as new training and education incentives is welcome news for Manitoba day cares.

>> Quebec stands firm on controversial parental leave program [CA-QC]
Montreal Gazette, 16 Jul 05
The provincial government is not backing down from implementing its new parental leave program on Jan. 1, despite a plea from the powerful employers' lobby that it reduce benefits paid under the plan.

>> Let's make day care a great place to learn [CA-NS]
Halifax Herald, 12 Jul 05
We will have to wait to see what the Nova Scotia draft plan actually contains, but there are concerns that the provincial government will not use this opportunity to take a leadership role in developing a sustainable early learning and care system.

>> Fathers to have child care leave [KR]
Korea Times, 22 Jun 05
Working fathers in Korea will soon be allowed to have paid leave to care their young one as part of government efforts to help turn around the declining birthrate.

**************************************************************************
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)

July 21, 2005

Today's subjects include: Poverty Reduction Report // Children's Health Report // High School Dropouts - Opinion // Immigrants and Economic Achievement // Medicaid - New York // Health Care Program - Tennessee // Working Poor - Seattle // Child Support Enforcement - Virginia // Energy Assistance Program - Michigan // Hmong Refugees - Wisconsin // Homeless Students - Chicago // Homelessness - Suburban Minnesota

July 18, 2005

Today's subjects include: Study of Childhood Poverty // Jobs and Poverty // Federal Budget Cuts and the Poor - Opinion // Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce Rates // Push for Uniform Measurement of Graduation Rates // Medicaid Reform and Copayments // Welfare Reform - Massachusetts // Welfare and Cost of Living - California // Religious Push for Antipoverty Legislation - Oregon // Expected Bugs in New Computerized Benefits System - California // Low Wages, High Cost of Living - Mesa County, CO // Lack of Health Insurance - Michigan // State Health Care Cuts - Tennessee // Affordable Health Insurance - Idaho // Paternity Establishment - West Virginia // Academic Achievement in High School - Wisconsin // Minimum Wage - California

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

How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart
Company has succeeded with generous employee compensation
By Steven Greenhouse
First published by the NY Times, July, 17, 2005
NOTE: From the ReclaimDemocracy.org editor: "While Costco unquestionably provides better jobs than Wal-Mart and its Sam's Club division, is its overall impact much better when community, environmental and other concerns are weighed? We urge you to consider that doing your business with community-based enterprise is usually the most responsible choice."

Can Christians Shop at Wal-Mart in Good Conscience?
By Jeff M. Sellers
Published by Christianity Today, April 22, 2005
"Discerning Christians with varying social/theological priorities will differ on whether to open their wallets to Wal-Mart. Its impact on local communities and on the environment, as well its treatment of minorities and women, also must be examined."

Source:
Articles, Studies and Resources on Wal-Mart - links to over three dozen online resources + links
[ ReclaimDemocracy.org (U.S) ]
"...works to create a representative democracy with an actively participating public, where citizens don't merely choose from a menu of options determined by elites, but play an active role in guiding the country and political agenda."

Related Links (both U.S):

Wake-Up Wal-Mart
WalmartWatch.com

- Go to the Banks and Business Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bookmrk3.htm

What Does the Safety Net Accomplish?
New Series of Reports Examines Research Findings (U.S.)
Press Release
July 19, 2005
"Public benefit programs cut the number of poor Americans nearly in half (from 58 million to 31 million) and dramatically reduce the severity of poverty for those who remain poor, while providing health coverage to tens of millions of people who otherwise would be uninsured, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities."
NOTE: this press release includes a short summary of each of the reports in this series

Individual reports (approx. 8-10 pages each):

• Overall Impacts of the Safety Net
• Medicaid
• The Earned Income Tax Credit
• Supplemental Security Income
• Food and Nutrition Assistance

Source:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Related Link:

July 20, 2005
Programs have cut poverty in half, report says
By The Associated Press
"Food and nutrition programs, Supplemental Security Income and other public benefits have helped lift 27 million Americans out of poverty, according to a report released Tuesday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In 2003, the number of people nationwide living below the poverty line was nearly 31 million after counting public benefits, compared to about 58 million without those programs, said the report, which also looked at the impact of Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the federal earned income tax credit."
Source:
Charleston Gazette

- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.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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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 include a link back to the home page of Canadian Social Research Links.

Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

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Music for the Baby Boomers

 For all of you who are feeling a little older and missing those great  old tunes, there is good news.
 Some of your favorite old  performers have re-released their great hits  with new lyrics to accommodate their aging audience.

Some examples:

 Herman's Hermits ----------------- "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Walker"
 The Rolling Stones ---------------- "You Can't Always Pee When You Want"
 Paul Simon ------------------------- "Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver"
 Carly Simon ------------------------ "You're So Varicose Vein"
 The Bee Gees ---------------------- "How Can You Mend a Broken Hip?"
 Roberta Flack ---------------------- "The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face"
 Johnny Nash ----------------------- "I Can't See Clearly Now"
 The Temptations ------------------- "Papa's Got a Kidney Stone"
 Nancy Sinatra --------------------- "These Boots Give Me Arthritis"
 ABBA ------------------------------- "Denture Queen"
 Leo Sayer -------------------------  "You Make Me Feel Like Napping"
 Commodores ---------------------  "Once, Twice, Three Trips to the Bathroom"
 Procol Harem ---------------------- "A Whiter Shade of Hair"
 The Beatles ------------------------ "I Get By with a Little Help From Depends"
 Credence Clearwater Revival --- "Bad Prune Rising"
 Marvin Gaye ----------------------  "I Heard It Through the Grape Nuts"
 The Who --------------------------  "Talkin' 'Bout My Medication"