Canadian Social Research Newsletter
January 29, 2006

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter, a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1567 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Perception Magazine - Winter 2005 Issue (Canadian Council on Social Development)
2. Jordan’s Principle Joint Declaration to Resolving Jurisdictional Disputes Affecting Services to First Nations Children (First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada) - December 2005
3. What's New from Statistics Canada
--- Payroll employment, earnings and hours, November 2005 - January 26
--- Maintenance Enforcement Survey: Child and spousal support, 2004/05 - January 25
--- Employment Insurance, November 2005 - January 26
--- System of National Economic Accounts - January 23
4. CHRA Launches On-Line Discussion on Housing Prorgam Choices (Canadian Housing and Renewal Association - CHRA) - January 24
5. Election 2006 results
6. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - January 27

International Content

7. Poverty Dispatch Digest : U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs --- January 26
8. 2006 Update of the Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines - January 24
9. World Economic Forum / World Social Forum

New from the Canadian Council on Social Development:

Perception Magazine- Winter 2005
Cold Comfort - Volume 28, No. 1 & 2 (PDF file - 1.2MB, 28 pages)
Table of Contents:
* Editorial (by Peter Bleyer)
* Lessons from Katrina: Preserving a civil society in the face of disaster (by Paul Kovacs)
* Beyond wishful thinking: Emergency planning for persons with disabilities (by Gail Fawcett)
* Why must chronic illness mean poverty and isolation? (by Michel Martin)
* A cautionary tale from Australia (by Lynne Wannan, Australian child care expert)
* The Progress of Canada's Children and Youth 2006
* Battling stereotypes
* Changing from within
* Creating safe and supportive environments for young Canadians (by Pam Joliffe)
* CCSD Member Profile: St. Christopher House - A dynamo of social change
* A helping hand up for the working poor (by Don Drummond and Gillian Manning)
* The World We Have: Towards a new social architecture (by Katherine Scott)
* Rebuilding Social Programs (by Ben Carniol)
(Version française du texte en format PDF - 1,2Ko, 28 pages)

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

Jordan’s Principle Joint Declaration to Resolving
Jurisdictional Disputes Affecting Services to First Nations Children
"Jordan's Principle presents a child first policy to resolving inter and intra governmental jurisdictional disputes that arise around services for a Status Indian child which are otherwise available to other Canadian children. All provincial/territorial and federal governments are encouraged to endorse this cost neutral policy without delay. Jordan's Principle was unanimously endorsed by the Chiefs in Assembly of the Assembly of First Nations in December. For more information on Jordan’s Principle, please visit the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada’s website."

Source:
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada

Related Link:

Call For Papers - First Peoples Child & Family Review
A Journal on Innovation and Best Practices in Aboriginal Child Welfare Administration, Research, Policy and Practice
Deadline extended – January 30, 2006

- Go to the First Nations Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/1stbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

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

January 26, 2006
Payroll employment, earnings and hours November 2005 (preliminary)
Previous release
The average weekly earnings of payroll employees edged up $1.97 from October to November to $739.82 (seasonally adjusted).

January 25, 2006
Maintenance Enforcement Survey: Child and spousal support, 2004/05
The report Child Spousal Support: Maintenance Enforcement Survey Statistics, which is available ($29) today, provides data on the collection and enforcement of child and spousal support payments for cases registered with maintenance enforcement programs.
[NOTE: I don't generally include links to reports that aren't free, but in some cases I make an exception..]

January 24, 2006
Employment Insurance, November 2005 (preliminary)
Previous release
The seasonally adjusted estimated number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits fell 1.4% from October to 496,510 in November and stood 4.2% lower than at the same time in 2004. Most provinces showed month-to-month declines in the number of beneficiaries with six provinces showing consecutive decreases for at least the last three months.

January 23, 2006
System of National Economic Accounts: New module
Featured product
Starting today, all of Statistics Canada's information and data on the System of National Economic Accounts are available in one convenient online location — and the data are free of charge for the first time. The new National Economic Accounts module, accessible from the Agency's Web site home page, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure. This includes comprehensive information and overviews of all the components of the accounts. In addition, more than 300 statistical tables are available covering topics ranging from gross domestic product, productivity and government debt to stocks of natural resources and international transactions. These tables are being offered free for the first time. The module also offers links to recent news releases from The Daily, relevant publications and release dates, glossaries and methodology, contact information and frequently asked questions.

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

CHRA LAUNCHES ON-LINE DISCUSSION ON HOUSING PROGRAM CHOICES
January 24, 2006
"For too long, Canadian housing policy has been hindered by “all or nothing” positions. In response, CHRA has developed a discussion paper to help move us toward a national housing framework that outlives policy fads or the next election. The paper, written by CHRA´s Research and Policy Committee, is intended to raise discussion around a number of different tools and seek input from across the country. It is not a CHRA position paper. The issues raised in the paper include:
* a “program tool box” – what is a balanced set of federal and provincial housing programs, should the greatest investments be targeted to the households in greatest need;
* how can bottom-up planning work – where communities choose the tools that make sense for them, and make the connections with health, immigration and city planning policies;
* are social housing, rent supplements and shelter allowances – all part of the “program tool box.”
CHRA would like your views and opinions. Please read the discussion paper (PDF file - 122K, 4 pages) and join our discussion."

Discussion Board:
Click on "Rent Supplements, Shelter Allowances
and a New Approach to Housing Policy"

Source:
Canadian Housing and Renewal Association - CHRA

Also from CHRA:

A Conceptual Framework for
Establishing a National Housing Trust/Foundation (Word file - 164K, 33 pages)
December 2004

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

Election Results:

Canada Votes - from the CBC
Election 2006 - from CTV
Decision 2006 - from The Globe and Mail
Federal Election 2006 - from The Toronto Star
Decision Canada - from Canada.com
Canadian Federal Election 2006 - from Canada Online [at About.com ]

- Go to the 2006 Federal Election and General Political Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/politics.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 Canadian content from the most recent issue of the notifier --- for international content from CRRU, see the Canadian Social Research Links Children, Families and Youth International Links page : http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chn2.htm

27-Jan-06

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WHAT’S NEW
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>> New Brunswick rural child care strategy sessions: Summary report
by Rural Voices For Early Childhood Education and Care
Report from the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women summarizes meetings with rural communities as part of the continued work to improve child care services for NB’s rural families.

>> Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Initiative. Special Chiefs Assembly: Resolution no. 46/2005
Decision by the Assembly of First Nations resolves to lobby to have federal funds “released to expand and/or enhance Early Childhood programs based on regional First Nations priorities.”

>> Most Canadians vote for a child care system!
Press release from the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia

>> Child care needs to be accessible and universal [CA]
Stoney Creek News, 27 Jan 06

>> Transcript of Stephen Harper's Jan. 26 news conference [CA]
Canadian Press, 26 Jan 06

>> Harper makes clear to provinces that Liberal national daycare program is dead [CA]
Canadian Press, 26 Jan 06

>> Duceppe won't go easy on Harper [CA-QC]
Ottawa Citizen, 25 Jan 06

>> Parents wonder about Ottawa's day care plans [CA-NB]
CBC News, New Brunswick, 25 Jan 06

>> P.E.I. totals cost of Conservative win [CA-PE]
CBC News, Prince Edward Island, 25 Jan 06

>> Calvert wants Conservatives to honour deals [CA-SK]
CBC News, Saskatchewan, 25 Jan 06

>> Segment from The Current [CA]
CBC Radio 1, 24 Jan 06

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FEDERAL ELECTION ISSUE FILE
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>> Issue File: Early learning and child care in the 2006 federal election
This Issue File collects materials about ELCC within the 2006 federal election. It provides: information about how ELCC is positioned in the political parties' platforms; what key social policy groups are calling for in the election; news clippings; and other resources about ELCC in the federal campaign. Check back regularly for updates. Remember to refresh your computer to get the latest version of the Issue File.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This message was forwarded through the Childcare Resource
and Research Unit e-mail news notifier. For information on the
CRRU e-mail notifier, including instructions for (un)subscribing,
see http://www.childcarecanada.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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:

Towards a national system of early learning and child care
Regularly updated
NOTE: this is a large (and growing) collection that includes government and non-governmental reports, press releases, news articles and other documents dealing with the new federal-provincial-territorial arrangements for early learning and child care in Canada.

Current developments in Early Childhood Education and Care: Provinces and territories
Regularly updated

- 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)

January 26, 2006
Today's subjects include: Proposed Welfare Legislation // Welfare, Work, and Mental Health - Editorial // IRS Audits of Returns from Low-Income Taxpayers - Editorial // Post-Hurricane Concerns over Poverty // Benefits of Helping Foster Children to Age 21 // Profile of Day Laborers // Minimum Wage // Poverty Rate - Alabama // Poverty and the Working Poor - Boulder, CO // Suburban Poverty - Rhode Island // Results of Welfare Reform - Virginia // Welfare Administration - Milwaukee // Effect of Proposed Budget Cuts on Social Services - New York // Study of Hunger - Broward County, FL // Student Achievement Gap - Montana // Low-Income Housing and College Students - Chicago // Homelessness - Chicago, Dallas

January 23, 2006
Today's subjects include: Proposed Welfare Legislation // Welfare, Work, and Mental Health - Editorial // IRS Audits of Returns from Low-Income Taxpayers - Editorial // Post-Hurricane Concerns over Poverty // Benefits of Helping Foster Children to Age 21 // Profile of Day Laborers // Minimum Wage // Poverty Rate - Alabama // Poverty and the Working Poor - Boulder, CO // Suburban Poverty - Rhode Island // Results of Welfare Reform - Virginia // Welfare Administration - Milwaukee // Effect of Proposed Budget Cuts on Social Services - New York // Study of Hunger - Broward County, FL // Student Achievement Gap - Montana // Low-Income Housing and College Students - Chicago // Homelessness - Chicago, Dallas

Each of the weekly digests 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:

- January 19, 2006
- January 12
- January 5
- December 29, 2005
- December 15

POVERTY DISPATCH description/archive - weekly issues back to August 2005, 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

Annual Update of the Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines - 2006
January 24, 2006

"There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: the poverty thresholds and the poverty guidelines.

The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure. They are updated each year by the Census Bureau (although they were originally developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration). The thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes — for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty each year. (In other words, all official poverty population figures are calculated using the poverty thresholds, not the guidelines.) Poverty thresholds since 1980 and weighted average poverty thresholds since 1959 are available on the Census Bureau's Web site.

The poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes — for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs."

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COMMENT:
This is a distinction between the Canadian and American government poverty measurement --- in the U.S., a person's or household's eligibility for certain programs is actually tied to an official federal government poverty measure. (However, eligibility for state welfare programs that fall under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families umbrella is means-tested and not related to any poverty measure.) In Canada, eligibility for all government transfer programs for individuals and families is needs-tested. Needs-testing and means-testing are the same thing in this context --- they both involve a test that takes into account a household's financial resources and its needs.
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Source:
Poverty Guidelines, Research and Measurement
[ Department of Health and Human Services ]

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Related Reading:
- highly recommended!
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Further Resources on Poverty Measurement, Poverty Lines,
and Their History
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Background Paper on the Poverty Guidelines
- Programs That Do — and Don’t — Use the Poverty Guidelines
- The Official Federal Statistical Definition of Poverty
- Mollie Orshansky’s Development of the Poverty Thresholds
- Research on Alternative Approaches to Poverty Measurement
- Papers by ASPE Staff Relating to the History of Poverty Lines
- For Further Questions

Prior HHS Poverty Guidelines
and Federal Register References - from 2005 back to 1996

Source:
Office of Human Services Policy
[ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation ]
[ Department of Health and Human Services ]

Related Links:

Low Income Measurement in Canada (PDF file - 220K, 20 pages)
December 2004
by Philip Giles
Statistics Canada description and comparison of measures of low income

"On poverty and low income" - by Ivan Fellegi (1997)
The Chief Statistician of Canada explains why his agency's low income cut-offs should not be used as the "official" poverty line.

Canada Before-Tax Low-Income Cut-Offs (LICOs), 2004 - by Statistics Canada (on the website of the Canadian Council on Social Development - CCSD)
NOTES:
1. the 2004 LICOs are the most recent public national info available in Canada.
2. Both Statistics Canada and the CCSD offer free stats on poverty and other social issues. Click their respective links above to check out their websites.

- Go to the Poverty Measures Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm

World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

World leaders embrace "The Creative Imperative" at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006
It’s no longer business as usual as leaders at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting seek new, creative capabilities to meet global challenges
Press Release
25 January 2006
Davos, Switzerland
"The 36th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos has opened with calls for business, political and civil society leaders to harness creativity to provide new answers to the world’s problems. “The assumptions, tools and frameworks that leaders have used to make decisions over the past decade appear inadequate. It is imperative for leaders of all walks of life to develop new capabilities if they expect to be successful and to maintain relevance,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum."

World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
The Creative Imperative
25-29 January, Davos, Switzerland
- incl. links to : Interactive Programme - Participants - Podcasts and Webcasts - Issues in Depth - Cartoons - Open Forum - Partners - FAQs - Summit 2005

From Google.ca:
"World Economic Forum" Web Search
"World Economic Forum" News Search

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World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action

Polycentric World Social Forum 2006
The sixth edition of the World Social Forum will be polycentric, which means that it will be decentralized, taking place in different parts of the world, in January 2006. Up to now, three cities will host the 6th WSF: Bamako (Mali-Africa), Caracas (Venezuela – Americas) and Karachi (Pakistan-Asia).

Polycentric WSF 2006 – Africa venue
Place: Bamako, Mali
Date: January 19th to 23rd, 2006
Website: www.fsmmali.org

Polycentric WSF 2006 – Americas venue and 2nd Americas Social Forum
Place: Caracas, Venezuela
Date: January 24th to 29th, 2006
Website: www.forosocialmundial.org.ve (under construction)

Polycentric WSF 2006 – Asia venue
Place: Karachi, Pakistan.
Date: March, 2006

From Google.ca:
"World Social Forum" Web Search
"World Social Forum" News Search

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Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

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

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

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

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news

You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

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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 mention Canadian Social Research Links when you do.

Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com