Canadian Social Research Newsletter
July 27, 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 1873 subscribers.

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

IN THIS ISSUE:

Canadian content

1. New Asset and Income policies to assist low-income adults under Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (TD Economics) - July 23
2.  Finding Our Way Home: A Report on the Homelessness Crisis in British Columbia (BC NDP) - June 2008
3. The Privatization of Welfare in BC (Blog : BC Liberals Suck) - July 24
4. Alberta : AISH clients can earn more while still receiving financial assistance (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped) - July 21
5. Québec Handy Numbers, 2008 Edition (Institut statistique du Québec) - April 2008
6. Report of the Nova Scotia Poverty Reduction Working Group - June 26
7. Fifth Annual Summer Meeting for the Council of the Federation (Council of the Federation) - July 16
8. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Participation and Activity Limitation Survey of 2006: Labour Force Experience of People with Disabilities in Canada - July 24
--- Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2007 - July 24
--- 2006 Community Profiles - July 24
--- Consumer Price Index, June 2008 - July 23
--- Study: Remittances by recent immigrants, 2001 to 2005 - July 23
--- Study: Portrait of the mobility of Canadians in 2006: Trajectories and characteristics of migrants, 2006 - July 23
--- Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada, 2005 and 2006 - July 2008
--- Employment Insurance, May 2008 - July 22
--- Relative productivity levels in Canada and the United States, 1994 to 2003 - July 21
--- Youth custody and community services, 2005/2006 - July 21
9. What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto) - July 25

International  content

10. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - University of Wisconsin-Madison)
11, Obama Endorses Calls for New Federal Poverty Measure (Beyond the Dome - political blog) - July 18
12. United Kingdom : No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility ( U.K. Department of Work and Pensions) - July 21
13. Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing - selected recent content:
--- Advance Australia fair? Trends in small area socio-economic inequality, 2001 to 2006 - Posted 24-07-2008
--- Australian social trends, 2008 - Posted 24-07-2008
--- Child care and the labour supply (in Australia) - Posted 23-07-2008
--- Reforming retirement-income systems: lessons from the recent experiences of OECD countries - Posted 22-07-2008
--- Homelessness is a human rights issue - Posted 21-07-2008
--- Re-examining the relationship between income and child health on both sides of the Atlantic - Posted 21-07-2008
14. CRINMAIL (July 2008) - (Child Rights Information Network - CRIN)

Have a great week!

New Asset and Income policies to assist low-income adults under Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy
Towards a comprehensive approach to accommodate new (2008)federal programs and encourage self-reliance under Ontario’s asset and income tested benefit programs (PDF - 954K, 58 pages)
Andrea Baldwin/John Stapleton/Don Drummond
July, 2008
Source:
TD Economics

NOTE : you'll find more TD Economics reports on the home page (the link in the previous line)

Ontario can help the poor save
But provincial rules blunt the impact of new tax-free savings plan for people on welfare
July 25, 2008
For eight straight years, the number of welfare recipients in Ontario has remained unchanged, with an approximate caseload of 200,000. This puts into question the current system's ability to effectively transition high-risk groups, including working-age adults, to the labour force. There are enormous social costs to bear when such a large number of people rely on the welfare system. It can place serious strains on recipients, their families and the communities they live in. However, enabling individuals to become self-reliant is not just a social imperative – it's also an economic priority. That's because, in an era of tight labour markets, our province relies on a greater participation in the workforce. We all have something to gain when an individual makes the successful journey from welfare to work.
Source:
The Toronto Star

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

Campbell's Record on Homelessness an Abysmal Failure, Says NDP
News Release
Gordon Campbell promised action and a reduction in homelessness two years ago. The evidence is in and he has failed.
Carole James and the New Democrats have developed 12 proposals that he can enact right away.
The proposals are contained in Finding Our Way Home , a report based on a province-wide consultation launched by Carole James and NDP homelessness critic David Chudnovsky in November, 2007.

Finding Our Way Home:
A Report on the Homelessness Crisis in British Columbia (PDF - 1.6MB, 20 pages)
PDF file dated June 2008
"This morning (April 8) the Metro Vancouver figures came out — a 364 percent increase in street-level homelessness in Vancouver since 2002. Not some other century, not some other government. This government, this minister, this Premier."

Source:
BC NDP

Related links:

July 25, 2008
The Homelessness Crisis In BC - Why Now?

January 17, 2008
Finding Our Way Home: A Consultation on the Homelessness Crisis in BC
Source: Finding our Way Home blog

Homelessness Action Week
- organized in Metro Vancouver by the Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness

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

July 24, 2008
The Privatization of Welfare in BC
There are many in the Province who are well aware that the BC Liberals have been in the process of privatizing the income assistance system over the past 7 years in office. It has often been incremental and under the radar of most people. When the citizens of BC look back in years to come to see where things went so horribly wrong, they will not have too hard a time figuring it out. They need solely to look at Gordon Campbell and his merry band of scalawags, pickpockets and scoundrels to see how we lost it all and why we are suffering so, some of us more than others.

The latest scandal in the making – the impending privatization of the welfare system (aka income assistance). Interesting to note that the BC government has NOT announced their new $17.9 million contract with Haley Ltd. a multi-national company that specializes in information technology that will “upgrade” and introduce a new integrated case management system to “modernize” the social welfare system. In case you weren’t sure, in the parlance of globalization, “modernize” is synonymous with privatize.

Source:
BC Liberals Suck (blog)

Related link:

British Columbia Taps Haley and Oracle to Modernize the Province's Social Welfare System
Significant North American Social Services Implementation of Oracle's Siebel Public Sector Client Relationship
Management Suite of Products Will Use Haley Office Rules and Determinations Engine for Eligibility Processing and Benefits Delivery
WASHINGTON, July 09, 2008
Haley Limited today announced its participation with Oracle in a $17.9 million (Canadian) contract for the first phase of a new integrated case management system that will upgrade and modernize the social welfare system for the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Source:
MarketWatch

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

NOTE : Following a Cabinet shuffle on June 23, 2008, several BC Government ministries have been reorganized and combined.
Click the link to see which ones were changed, along with the list of new ministers for all portfolios.

- Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (A-C) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk2.htm

Alberta

AISH clients can earn more while still receiving financial assistance
Employment income exemption increases, effective July
July 21, 2008
Edmonton... Albertans receiving assistance through the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program can now earn more money and still remain eligible for financial assistance. The employment income exemption increase is retroactive to July 1. (...) On July 1, the upper limit of the employment exemption formula increased by $500 to $1,500 per month for single AISH clients and to $2,500 per month for couples and clients with children. Close to 7,000 AISH clients are currently working.
Source:
Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped
[ Alberta Seniors and Community Supports ]

- Go to the Alberta Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/abkmrk.htm
- Go to the Disability Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/disbkmrk.htm

Québec Handy Numbers, 2008 Edition (PDF - 1.7MB, 57 pages)
Revised April 2008
Québec Handy Numbers, 2008 Edition was published by the Institut de la statistique du Québec in collaboration with over 50 specialists in the field of Québec data. It features statistical tables and charts on several aspects of Québec society: territory, population, living conditions, the economy and finance.
Source:
Institut statistique du Québec (English home page)

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

Version française:

Le Québec chiffres en main, édition 2008 (PDF - 1.7Mo, 57 pages)
Révision avril 2008
Le Québec chiffres en main, édition 2008 est produit par l’Institut de la statistique du Québec avec l’aide de plus de 50 spécialistes de l’actualité chiffrée. La brochure comporte des tableaux statistiques et des graphiques relatifs à la réalité québécoise : territoire, population, conditions de vie, économie et finances.

Source:
Institut 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

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Working Group has handed
government its recommendations on how to best tackle poverty in Nova Scotia
News Release
June 26, 2008
Group members come from organizations representing diverse interests, many of which work with people struggling with poverty. The group met every two weeks over the winter and spring to develop recommendations for the province's poverty reduction strategy. It presented its recommendations to Judy Streatch, Minister of Community Services, and Mark Parent, Minister of Labour and Workforce Development, co-leads for the strategy, at a meeting today, June 26.
(...)
Recommendations from the group include improving access to transportation, education and training for low-income Nova Scotians, more support for the disabled, a continued increase in supports to families during the early years of a child's life, a consolidation and enhancement of low-income pharmacare programs, and a change in description of the Employment and Income Assistance Program from a program of last resort to a simple program of support.

Complete report:

Report of the Nova Scotia
Poverty ReductionWorking Group (PDF - 129K, 41 pages)
Draft dated June 26
Target Areas for Action:
* Awareness and Engagement * Employment Supports and Income * Disability Issues * Transportation
* Education and Skills Training * Housing * Child Care and Early Childhood Development * Health

Results of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Questionnaire:
A summary of the public consultation on
poverty reduction in Nova Scotia (PDF - 333K, 17 pages)
May 2008

Source:
Nova Scotia Poverty Reduction Working Group
[ Department of Community Services ]

Related link:

Fighting poverty: Major attitude shift needed
By Katherine Reed
July 10, 2008
The Working Group on Poverty Reduction appointed by the province last December released its draft report recently and immediately invoked the ire of activists by insisting on waiting for a year to actually take action. In a July 1 article in The Chronicle Herald, Wayne McNaughton, co-chair of Community Action on Homelessness, pointedly asked why this was the case and why the government was not ready with costed-out proposals to respond to the report. Why indeed? The measures required to meaningfully address poverty in Nova Scotia are substantial and would only come about as a result of a massive change of attitude and approach. I wonder if anyone has the stomach for it, frankly.
Source:
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax)

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

Successful Fifth Annual Summer Meeting for the Council of the Federation (PDF - 65K, 3 pages)
Québec City, July 18, 2008 – Premiers concluded the fifth annual meeting of the Council of the Federation. “This meeting gave us the opportunity to make progress on major issues affecting all of our citizens, including labour mobility, internal and external trade, and the environment while also celebrating together the 400th anniversary of Québec City,” declared Jean Charest, Premier of Québec.
NOTE : includes links to four more news releases from the meeting.

Premiers’ Meeting to Focus on Labour Mobility and Climate Change (PDF - 44K, 1 page)
July 11, 2008 – Premiers from all 13 Canadian provinces and territories will be in Québec City from July 16 to 18 for the 2008 Council of the Federation summer meeting.

Source:
Council of the Federation
The Council of the Federation was created by provincial-territorial Premiers because they believe it is important for provinces and territories to play a leadership role in revitalizing the Canadian federation and building a more constructive and cooperative federal system.

Related links:

It will take a nation to lift a generation out of poverty
Premiers need to put plight of poor children on their sustainability agenda this week
By Laurel Rothman, Phil Fontaine and Vera Pawis Tabobondung
July 16, 2008
We are writing to urge the country's premiers to make poverty reduction central to their discussions in Quebec City this week on environmental and economic sustainability.Canada's ongoing success relies upon a healthy population that can sustain itself and flourish. Our premiers are in a strong position to ensure that all of our young people thrive, not merely survive. The premiers, with their federal counterparts, need to use their individual and collective positions to ensure that no child or family suffers the debilitating effects of poverty.
Source:
The Toronto Star

- Go to the Council of the Federation Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/council_fed.htm

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

July 24, 2008
Participation and Activity Limitation Survey: Employment, 2006
Labour market performance was strong for people with activity limitations between 2001 and 2006, resulting in reduced gaps with Canadians without such limitations, in employment, labour force participation and unemployment.
Related link:
Participation and Activity Limitation Survey of 2006: Labour Force Experience of People with Disabilities in Canada
Table of contents:
* Introduction
* Overview of the labour force for people with disabilities
* Changes in the labour market between 2001 and 2006 for people with and without disabilities
* Barriers to labour force participation
* Perceived discrimination

July 24, 2008
Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2007
The number of Canadians who received regular Employment Insurance benefits in 2007 hit its lowest level since 2000.

July 24, 2008
2006 Community Profiles
Health Regions have now been added to the publication 2006 Community Profiles, allowing users to view the 2006 Census data by the 124 Health Regions in Canada. Health Regions refer to the various administrative areas defined by provincial ministries of health and are used to monitor the health of the population, as well as plan and deliver health services. The boundaries for the Health Regions released today are those in effect as of December 2007.
[ 2006 Community Profiles website ]

July 23, 2008
Consumer Price Index, June 2008
Fuelled by higher gasoline prices, consumer prices rose 3.1% in the 12-months ending June 2008, compared with the 2.2% gain recorded in May. June's increase was the largest since September 2005. Consumer prices excluding gasoline rose 1.8% in the 12 months to June.

July 23, 2008
Study: Remittances by recent immigrants, 2001 to 2005
Roughly 4 in 10 immigrants who arrived in Canada during 2000/2001 sent money to family or friends abroad at least once during their first four years in the country.

July 23, 2008
Study: Portrait of the mobility of Canadians in 2006: Trajectories and characteristics of migrants, 2006
The study, "Portrait of the mobility of Canadians in 2006: Trajectories and characteristics of migrants" published today in the new edition of the Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada, presents, on the one hand, an overview of the migratory movements in Canada during the last intercensal period and, on the other hand, an in-depth analysis of the socio-demographic characteristics of migrants enumerated in the 2006 Census.
Complete report:
Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada 2005 and 2006 (PDF - 7MB, 143 pages)
July 2008
Table of contents:
* Report at a glance
* Main demographic indicators for Canada, provinces and territories, 1981 to 2007*
[* includes stats for 1981 to 2007 for the following : Total population as of July 1 - Total growth rate - Natural growth rate - Total migratory growth rate - Proportion of population aged 0 to 14 - Proportion of population aged 65 years and over - Demographic dependency ratio - Median age - Total fertility rate - Life expectancy at birth for males - Life expectancy at birth for females - Infant mortality rate]
* Glossary
* Part I - Current demographic situation in Canada, 2005 and 2006
--- Population growth and age structure
--- Fertility and induced abortions
--- Mortality
--- International immigration
--- Interprovincial migration
--- Nuptiality and divorce
*Part II - Portrait of the mobility of Canadians in 2006: Trajectories and characteristics of migrants
--- Introduction
--- Part 1 - A portrait of the mobility of Canadians between 2001 and 2006
--- Part 2 - A socio-demographic profile of migrants in Canada according to the 2006 Census
--- Conclusion
[ earlier editions of this report ]

July 22, 2008
Employment Insurance, May 2008
In May, 457,020 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance benefits, down 5,330 or 1.2% from April. Regular benefit payments totalled $706.9 million in May. Compared with May 2007, the number of Canadians receiving regular benefits declined 3.2%. The decline was 2.3% among men, and 4.7% among women.

July 21, 2008
Relative productivity levels in Canada and the United States, 1994 to 2003
Labour productivity was lower in Canada than in the United States during the late 1990s and early 2000s, largely because of differences in multifactor productivity.
Complete report:
Relative Multifactor Productivity Levels in
Canada and the United States: A Sectoral Analysis (PDF - 367K, 45 pages)

July 21, 2008
Youth custody and community services, 2005/2006
Fewer young people aged 12 to 17 are being admitted to youth corrections since the enactment of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), and the characteristics of those being admitted to sentenced custody have changed. According to data from 11 reporting jurisdictions, 63% fewer youth were admitted to sentenced custody in 2005/2006 than in 2001/2002, the earliest comparable trend year prior to the enactment of the YCJA.
Complete report (PDF - 240K, 22 pages)

Scan the Daily Archives for July 2008
* Select a month, then click the "HTML" link beside any date to read a summary of releases for that day
* at the bottom of the daily links for the month, you'll find a drop-down menu that will allow you to check older content by month

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

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

July 25, 2008

Early childhood education and care systems in the OECD countries: the issue of tradition and governance
25 Jul 08
- Article by John Bennett describing two traditional approaches to system governance and the effects these have on the early childhood field.

Submissions to the Early Childhood Learning Agency Consultation, Ministry of Education, British Columbia
25 Jul 08
- Submissions to B.C.’s Early Childhood Learning Agency regarding the expansion of early learning in British Columbia for children aged 3 – 5.

Making the case for early care and education: A message development guide for advocates
25 Jul 08
- Resource from the Berkeley Media Studies Group to help advocates develop fresh language for making the case for local, state and federal child care policy in the U.S.

Preschool programs can boost school readiness
25 Jul 08
- Article from Science magazine that looks at the school readiness of universal programs and targeted Head Start programs in Oklahoma.

Child care and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
25 Jul 08
- Booklet prepared by the Canadian Coalition from the Rights of the Child discussing the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Canada and child care.

more WHAT'S NEW ONLINE »

child care in the news


· More time to talk about kindergarten options [CA-BC]
23 Jul 08

· ‘Free’ childcare to cost more [NZ]
23 Jul 08

· Is early childhood care a right? [IN]
22 Jul 08

· London play forms street play forum [UK]
16 Jul 08

· Daycare late fees no deterrent, study finds [CA]
4 Jul 08

more CC IN THE NEWS »

Related Links:

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

Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info

Source:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU)

- 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
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.

Latest issues of the Poverty Dispatch:

July 24, 2008
* Child Poverty - South Dakota
* Increased Need for Food Assistance
* Low-income Families and Nutrition
* Funding for Social Services - Ohio, Hawaii, Texas, Indiana, Nevada
* State Children's Health Insurance Program - Louisiana
* Low-income Children and Access to Dental Care
* The Homeless and Voting
* Housing Rescue Bill and Poor Neighborhoods
* Minimum Wage Increase
* Trends in Income and Wages
* Report: HIV/AIDS Cases in the South
* State Health Insurance Plans - Indiana, Ohio, Utah

July 21, 2008
* Assistance Programs - Maine, Montana, Nevada, Utah
* Child Poverty - South Dakota
* Child Welfare and Caseloads - Texas
* Medicaid and Disability Claims Backlog - Ohio
* Medicaid and Information Technology - South Carolina, Florida
* Jobless Benefits - Ohio, Wisconsin
* Funding for Homeless Programs - Louisville, KY
* Public Housing and the Hope VI Program
* Affordable Housing - New Jersey
* Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program
* Fuel Costs and Public Transportation
* Historically Underutilized Business Zone Program
* Immigrant Workers and Immigration Enforcement
* Out-of-state Prisoner Transfers - Washington
* Elite Universities and Low-income Students
* Summer Youth Employment

Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 2006

Search Poverty Dispatches

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)
[ 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

Obama Endorses Calls for New Federal Poverty Measure
By David Nather
July 18, 2008
Here’s a development that could have significant implications if Barack Obama wins the presidency: He has endorsed the idea of updating the federal measure of poverty, a proposal that is slowly gaining some traction after years of being confined to quiet talk among poverty experts. (...)

The method of calculating the federal poverty line has been a back-burner issue for years among poverty experts because it hasn’t been updated since the 1960s. At that time, food cost a third of a typical family’s budget, which isn’t true anymore — it’s only about one seventh of a typical family’s costs now. At the same time, though, housing and work-related costs have become much more expensive than they were when the poverty guidelines were drawn up.

So the use of the outdated poverty measure, according to experts who testified at McDermott’s hearing yesterday, has had the paradoxical effect of underestimating a modern family’s expenses while also underestimating the amount of help they get from antipoverty programs like food stamps, housing assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Source:
Beyond the Dome (blog)

Related links:

Advocates Call for Updating of Federal Poverty Measure
July 21, 2008
Anti-poverty advocates urged lawmakers to establish a new federal poverty measure at a House Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support hearing on July 17, citing a broad consensus that the current measure, crafted in the 1960s, was significantly outdated.
Source:
CivilRights.org

The Measuring American Poverty Act : A Draft Proposal
By Representative Jim McDermott (PDF - 85K, 16 pages)
- includes some contextual information and the full text of the bill that would change the way poverty is measured in the U.S.

Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support
Hearing on Establishing a Modern Poverty Measure
July 17, 2008
NOTE: click on the link above and then select the name of one the witnesses (panel experts) to read that person's submission.
Witnesses:
* Rebecca Blank (The Brookings Institution)
* Sheldon Danziger (Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan)
* Douglas W. Nelson (Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore)
* Mark Levitan (Director of Poverty Research, NYC Center for Economic Opportunity)
* Bruce D. Meyer (Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago)
Source:
Committee on Ways and Means
[ U.S. House of Representatives ]

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

United Kingdom

No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility
“No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility” is a wide ranging consultation on the future of welfare. The Green Paper sets out plans for improving support and work incentives to create a system that rewards responsibility. The majority of people of working age – who can work now or at some point in the future – and their families will no longer be on benefits for life. There will also be greater choice and control over the support that is provided.
Source:
Welfare Reform
[ U.K. Department of Work and Pensions ]

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

APO Weekly Briefing
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
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.

Recent APO Weekly Briefing content:

Advance Australia fair? Trends in small area socio-economic inequality, 2001 to 2006
Posted 24-07-2008
National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM)
Prosperity gains for Australian households between 2001 and 2006 in income and employment were largely offset by rapid increases in housing and other costs, according to this AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report.

Australian social trends, 2008
Posted 24-07-2008
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Social Trends 2008 is the 15th edition of an annual series that presents information on contemporary social issues and areas of public policy concern, and describes aspects of Australian society, and how these are changing over time.

Child care and the labour supply (Australia)
Posted 23-07-2008
Centre for Independent Studies
This report has found that most evidence shows very little relationship between increases in government spending on child care and mothers choosing to work.

Reforming retirement-income systems: lessons from the recent experiences of OECD countries
Posted 22-07-2008
OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Nearly all the 30 OECD countries have made at least some changes to their pension systems since the early 1990s. In 16 of them, there have been major reforms that will significantly affect future benefits. This paper summarise these reforms and highlights the main lessons.

Homelessness is a human rights issue
Posted 21-07-2008
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
More than just a housing issue, homelessness is considered in this paper in the context of the many ways that it impacts on a person's ability to enjoy basic rights and freedoms.

Re-examining the relationship between income and child health on both sides of the Atlantic
Posted 21-07-2008
Centre for Health Economics
There has been a significant amount of literature on the relationship between household income and children's health, and in particular, whether this relationship is constant as a child ages. This paper re-examines this relationship and finds significant policy implications in terms of allocation of resources.

APO Archive
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):

24 July 2008 - CRINMAIL 1001
* ITALY: Security a la Italiana: Fingerprinting, extreme violence and harrassment of Roma in Italy [publication]
* GUATEMALA: Adopted baby 'stolen' [news]
* KENYA: Government Should End All Corporal Punishment [news]
* LEBANON: Non-Lebanese children get raw deal [news]
* HUNGARY: Training of Trainers in Human Rights Education with Children [event]
* COMPETITION: Human Rights Argentine Award
* EMPLOYMENT - Unbound Philanthropy - NGO Group for the CRC - UNICEF Algeria
**NEWS IN BRIEF**

22 July 2008 - CRINMAIL 1000
* Welcome to CRIN’s 1000th CRINMAIL!
* Child rights in the Arab region - spreading the word
* Chronology
* Interviews with Sven Winberg and Bill Bell
* Survey results 2007/8
* Special CRIN quiz
*News in Brief*

Earlier issues of CRINMAIL
- 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)
[ Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) ]

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

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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

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Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

More quotable quotes...

Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself,
"Barbara, you should have remained a virgin."
-- Barbara Bush (mother of G.W.)

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered.
But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog:
"No good in a bed, but fine against a wall."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen.
I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.
-- Mark Twain

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending;
and to have the two as close together as possible. -- George Burns

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.
-- Victor Borge

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
-- Mark Twain

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy;
if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. -- Socrates

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
-- Groucho Marx

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon.
Then it's time for my nap.
-- Bob Hope

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.
-- W.C. Fields

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.
-- Will Rogers

Don't worry about avoiding temptation as you grow older, it will avoid you.
-- Winston Churchill

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty.
But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.
-- Phyllis Diller

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
---Billy Crystal

Source:|
Found somewhere on the Web

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And, in closing...
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Top 40 Magazine Covers of the last 40 years
http://www.magazine.org/ASME/top_40_covers/16996.aspx

Internet Detective
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/index.html
How to do good research online.
Recommended!

Water Drops
http://www.getwonder.com/2008/07/beautiful-water-drops/