Canadian Social Research Newsletter
August 28, 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 1431 subscribers.

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

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Justice John H. Gomery to Consult Canadians
Press Release
25 August 2005
"Ottawa: Mr. Justice John H. Gomery today officially launched the consultation part of his mandate. In Phase II: the Recommendations, Canadians are invited to share their views with the Commissioner through the Commission's website or through written submissions. (...) Those without website access can write to the Commission at: P.O. Box 1388, Station "B", Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5R4 or telephone (613) 992-1834. Any individual, group or organization, including any government organization, wishing to make a written submission is invited to do so by October 28, 2005."

Consultation Paper : Public Input
- not a paper as such, but rather a "short discussion [indeed, just a few paragraphs...] of the issues and five consultation questions to encourage Canadians to voice their views on management and accountability in government programs."

Source:
Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities
- Justice John H. Gomery, Commissioner
"...the Commission has been given a double mandate. The first requires the Commission to investigate and report on questions raised by (...) the November 2003 Report of the Auditor General of Canada. The second mandate calls upon the Commission to make recommendations to the Government of Canada, based upon its factual findings, to prevent mismanagement of sponsorship programs and advertising activities in the future."
- incl. links to : Terms of Reference - Opening Statement - Rules of Procedure and Practice - Funding Guidelines - Tentative Schedule - Schedule of Standing Hearings - Parties and Intervenors - Schedule of Witnesses - Schedule of Oral Submissions - Transcripts - Applications - Rulings - Invitation for Public Input

- Go to the General Federal Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fed2.htm

2006 National Conference on CED and the Social Economy:
Rooting Development in Community
[Call for Session Proposals]
March 15-18, 2006, Vancouver, BC
"The 2006 national conference is being organized by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), The British Columbia Community Economic Development Network (BCCEDNet), the Community Economic Development Technical Assistance Program (CEDTAP) and hosted by Fast Track to Employment. The event will offer keynote speakers, site visits, workshops, plenary sessions, networking and social events to the 600 participants that are expected.

This year, conference organizers are inviting proposals specifically for five conference streams, as well as other topics of interest.
The five streams are:
- Community Sustainability,
- Community-Based Enterprises,
- CED and Youth,
- Aboriginal CED, and
- Building Bridges Across Sectors.

The deadline for submitting proposals is September 15th.

Source:

National CED Conferences
[NOTE - follow the links to earlier conferences to access a large collection of presentations given at CED national conferences back to 2002 ]
[ Canadian Community Economic Development Network ]

- Go to the Conferences and Events Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/confer.htm

The Fiscal Monitor
Highlights of financial results for June 2005
Highlights:
- June 2005: budgetary surplus of $1.7 billion
- April to June 2005: budgetary surplus of $4.8 billion
PDF Version (88K, 8 pages)

Source:
Finance Canada

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

Foster Care Council of Canada
"The Foster Care Council of Canada is a non-profit organization made up of individuals whose lives have been affected by foster care. It is our goal to increase public awareness of important child welfare related issues as they emerge and to increase both accountability and quality of service in the child welfare sector across the country."
- incl. links to : Home - About Us - History - News - Newsletter - Foster Care Radio - Message Boards - Annual Memorial Day - Downloads/Documents - Accountability - Poetry - Contact
- founded by John Dunn, former foster child (Crown Ward) of the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto.

Personal note:
I had a link to the Council's website some time ago, but I noticed that it was dead earlier this year. I've just revised the link after hearing from John. He and I had first exchanged e-mails several years ago when he had a website in Charlottetown, and I was quite impressed with his passion for justice for kids who are victims of abuse while they're in the foster care system. John is a foster care survivor with sixteen years' experience in foster care, in a total of thirteen foster homes. He's in his early thirties now, and currently living in Ottawa. I had the good fortune to meet him at a social policy event taking place in Ottawa around 2003, and we spent some time chatting. It was a thrill for me to meet someone who is so passionate about the rights of abused children in foster care AND who's actually doing something about it.
August 2005 Update: if you visit the Council's website, you'll note that John is now in a two-year Law Clerk course at Algonquin College.
John, you're an inspiration, and I wish you all the best in everything you do...

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

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

August 26, 2005
Consumer Price Index, July 2005
A surge in gasoline prices, partly offset by lower automotive vehicle prices, pushed the 12-month increase in the Consumer Price Index up to 2.0% in July from 1.7% in June 2005.

August 23, 2005
Employment Insurance - June 2005 (preliminary)
The number of Canadians (adjusted for seasonality) receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in June rose by an estimated 1.7% compared with May. This rise was due to increases in most provinces east of Manitoba and was led by Quebec (+4.0%). Newfoundland and Labrador was the exception to this with a drop of 1.5%. All provinces west of Ontario recorded modest declines. Alberta has now shown a decrease for 10 consecutive months.

August 23, 2005
Leading indicators, July 2005
Driven by continued strength in domestic demand, the leading indicator posted a 0.3% gain in July, the same as in June and little changed since the start of the year.

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

How BC Trimmed 107,000 People from Welfare Rolls
Some got jobs. Red tape, death likely knocked out far more.
August 18, 2005
"It was almost like Dave Nash was trying to prove Premier Gordon Campbell wrong. Nash, an affable Victoria activist, was a long-term welfare recipient who was expected to work. But he didn't leave welfare for a job. In October, 2003, Nash died at the age of 55. Campbell and a succession of human resources ministers under him during the BC Liberals’ first mandate - Murray Coell, Stan Hagen and Susan Brice - have bragged that the rapidly shrinking welfare caseload is a result of a booming economy and people moving off welfare and into jobs. But as it turns out, Nash wasn't the only person to leave the welfare rolls via the morgue. The month he died, he was just one of 161 people who went out that way, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Between June 2002 and January 2005, a period of 32 months, 6,065 people on welfare died."
Source:
TheTyee.ca

- Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (C-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk3.htm

Think-tanks changing their minds
Many top Canadian policy-makers are moving on.
Maybe it's time for a bit more edge or relevance, reports CAMPBELL CLARK
August 20, 2005
OTTAWA -- A generation of influential Canadian policy-makers are moving on. They're not politicians or bureaucrats, but the heads of think-tanks, the deep thinkers sought out for fresh ideas by government leaders. It is part of a widespread rollover that is leaving Canada's think-tank sector at a crossroads. Even some of the current crop say the field may be strong but it could use something more -- a bit more edge, a little worldliness, or a touch more relevance -- to fill a market of ideas undersupplied by a sterile political debate.(...) The think-tank positions certainly have influence. Brian Guest, a former senior aide to Paul Martin who left the prime minister's office to co-found the Canadian Centre for Policy Ingenuity, which deals with the issues of cities and the environment, said his interest in think-tanks was sparked because he had to keep up with Mr. Martin's demands for arguments about their papers or perspective from someone such as Ms. Maxwell."
Source:
The Globe and Mail

Canadian Centre for Policy Ingenuity (CCPI)
"The CCPI is a non-profit organization that solves significant social, economic and environmental problems by applying systems thinking to policy development and activation."
- someone from CCPI contacted me by e-mail to ask me to post a link to this site --- although there's not really much content on the site yet except for the full text of the (above) Globe article, which I found interesting enough to share.
[- an "About this Site" page would be very nice...]

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

CCPA report to House of Commons Finance Committee predicts large surpluses ahead
News Release
August 22, 2005
"OTTAWA—The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, one of the independent forecasters commissioned by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, announced today that is once again forecasting surpluses much higher than the official government figures. In her report to the Committee CCPA Senior Economist Ellen Russell is predicting a surplus of $6.8 billion in 2004/05 and $9.5 billion in 2005/06, while the government is projecting surpluses of $3 billion and $4 billion, respectively. The CCPA’s calculations include the additional spending that was negotiated by the NDP and included in Bill C-48."
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Complete report:

Federal Fiscal Forecasting Round 3:
Report to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (PDF file - 208K, 25 pages)

- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm
- Go to the Social Research Organizations (I) in Canada page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/research.htm

Design and Implementation of a Program to Help the Poor Save:
The learn$ave Project (PDF file - 2.3MB, 208 pages)
August 2005
"This report is the second to be published on the learn$ave project, a research and demonstration project that provides matching grants to individuals who save for education and training. Written after enrolment in the project had been completed, this report presents a detailed description of the learn$ave design and evaluation strategy and also documents how learn$ave was implemented and who enrolled in the project."

Source:
Social Research and Demonstration Corporation

- Go to the Asset-Based Social Policies Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/assets.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 25, 2005

Today's subjects include: State Medicaid Programs // Welfare Reform and Child Care - Editorial // Health Care Reform - Commentary // No Child Left Behind Act // Corporate-Sponsored Education // Welfare Caseload - Illinois // Proposed Cuts to General Assistance Medical Program - Milwaukee County // Food Stamp Receipt - New York City // Child Poverty - Pennsylvania // Poverty and Rural Schools - Pennsylvania // Low-Income Schools - Chicago // Poverty and Educational Achievement - North Carolina // Higher Education for Low-Income Students - Wyoming //

August 22, 2005

Today's subjects include: Poverty, Race, and Single Mothers - Opinion // Leaving Welfare - Opinion // Disparities in Health Care - Editorial // Disparities in School Funding - Opinion // Welfare Reform - Mower County, MN // Welfare Rolls - Ostego County, NY // Working Poor - New Jersey // Poverty Line and the Elderly - Wisconsin // Child Poverty - Iowa // Poverty, Race, and Jury Duty - Kansas // Cross-Border Medical Care - California // Cuts in State Health Plan - Tennessee // Possible Loss of Medicaid Funding - Michigan // South Carolina as Model for Medicaid Reform - Michigan // Looking to Other States for Medicaid Reform - New York // Medical Costs and Poverty - Spokane, WA // Funding for Poor School Districts - South Carolina // Poverty in the Netherlands // Extreme Poverty

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

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
CRINMAIL 707: Special Edition on the Millennium Development Goals Review Summit
25 August 2005

CRINMAIL is an electronic mailing list of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN).
Subscribe to this regular e-mail newsletter by sending a blank email to crinmail_english-subscribe@domeus.co.uk
Archives of all these services can be viewed on CRIN's website at http://www.crin.org/email/index.asp

Highly recommended!
NOTE: the following is a selection of excerpts from CRINMAIL 707

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WORLD SUMMIT 2005: Reviewing MDG Progress 5 Years On
14-16 September 2005
New York
"In September, the largest gathering of world leaders in history will see over 170 Heads of State converging to the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the 2005 World Summit. The Summit will be an opportunity to review progress made so far towards the Millennium Development Goals, and to take decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the United Nations."

Related Links:

Revised draft outcome document of the High-level Plenary Meeting
of the General Assembly of September 2005 (PDF file - 442K, 39 pages)
- submitted by the President of the General Assembly

In Larger Freedom:
Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All
- by Secretary-General Kofi Annan

Source:
2005 World Summit - United Nations
[ United Nations ]

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- MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: What are they?

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a list of eight quantified targets for addressing global poverty in its different aspects: income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, lack of access to clean water, exclusion, gender inequality, lack of education, etc. The goals were drafted by a consensus of experts from the United Nations Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank in 1999. At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, 189 Heads of State and Governments pledged to work together to meet these goals by 2015. They signed the Millennium Declaration, which was then translated into a roadmap with 18 specific targets and 48 indicators in order to measure progress towards each goal:

To read the 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators, visit:
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6085

To read the Millennium Declaration, visit:
http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6086&flag='news'

For general and up-to-date information on the MDG progress, visit CRIN's dedicated webpage at:
http://www.crin/org/mdgnews

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- 8 GOALS: Online Information and Resources by Issue

GENDER and the Millennium Development Goals (OXFAM)
http://publications.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam/add_info_009.asp

HEALTH and the Millennium Development Goals (WHO)
http://www.who.int/mdg/en/

EDUCATION and the MDGs (Global Campaign for Education)
http://www.campaignforeducation.org/resources/resources_latest.php

EDUCATION FOR GIRLS (Save the Children)
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/girlseducation

ENVIRONMENT and the MDGs
http://www.unep.org/mdgs/unep_and_mdg/index.asp (UNEP)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6095 (WELL)

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- PUBLICATIONS: UN and NGO Reports on the MDGs

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2005, from the United Nations
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6092

We the People 2005 - Mobilising for Change: Messages from Civil Society, from the North-South Institute (NSI) and World Federation of United Nations Associations.
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6094

Promises, Promises: How can the Millennium Development Goals be met?, from Save the Children UK.
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6096

Youth and the Millennium Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities for Implementation, from the Ad Hoc Working Group for Youth and the MDGs
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6090

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- WEBSITES: Online Resources on the MDGs

The MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN works to support citizens' efforts to hold their government to account for the commitments made towards the MDGs. The website contains information about the Goals and tracks progress towards achieving them both globally and regionally. Users can also find links to current MDG activities from all over the world, forming a global activity calendar.
http://www.millenniumcampaign.org

The UN MILLENNIUM PROJECT is an independent advisory body commissioned by the UN Secretary-General to advise the UN on strategies for achieving the MDGs. The website provides information on the eight goals and the goal-specific targets and indicators, as well as on policy and research work carried out by the Project.
http://www.unmillenniumproject.org

The UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME's website provides all regional and country reports on the Millennium Development Goals.
http://www.undp.org/mdg/countryreports.html

OXFAM's campaign on the MDGs
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_you_can_do/campaign/mdg

TAKING IT GLOBAL, in collaboration with the Millennium Campaign and the Global Youth Action Network (GYAN), has launched the MDG youth portal, an interactive website which provides resources for young people to learn about the MDGs and to join the global fight against poverty.
http://www.takingitglobal.org/themes/mdg/index.html

The UNITED NATION's MDGs Youth Site helps children learn about the Millennium Development Goals and what they can do to help eliminate poverty around the world.
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/mdgs/index.asp

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

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

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

I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page 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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1. A bicycle can't stand alone because it is two tired.
 
2. What's the definition of a will?  (It's a dead giveaway).
 
3. Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.
 
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
 
5. In democracy it's your vote that counts; In feudalism, it's your count that votes.
 
6. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
 
7. She had a boyfriend with a wooden leg, but she broke it off.
 
8. If you don't pay your exorcist you get repossessed.
 
9. Local Area Network in Australia: the LAN down under.
 
10. The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
 
11. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
 
12. Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.
 
13. Acupuncture is a jab well done.

Source:
Found in my e-mail Inbox

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