Canadian Social Research Newsletter
May 30, 2010

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 2,276 subscribers.

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Haiti Relief - from the CBC
- links to information resources, more organizations accepting donations

Canadian content

1.  The Fiscal Monitor, March 2010 (Department of Finance Canada) - May 28
2. [Toronto] The Great Recession's Impact on Homelessness (Nick Falvo, Carleton University) - May 2010
3. [Manitoba] Ombudsman's report slams social assistance program - May 27
4. Health Indicators 2010 (Canadian Institute for Health Information) - May 27
5. [Ontario] An Economy Out of Shape : Changing the Hourglass (Toronto Workforce Innovation Group) - May 4
6. [Toronto/Ontario] Soundbites e-Bulletin - May 26 issue (Community Social Planning Council of Toronto)
7. Charter Challenge: the right to housing in Canada - May 26
8. Canada’s Fiscal Edge to Fade Without Tough Action (By David Dodge in Bloomberg) - May 25
9. Québec Handy Numbers, 2010 Edition (Institut de la statistique du Québec)- May 2010
10. What's New in The Daily [Statistics Canada]:
--- Study: Layoffs and their consequences, 1993 to 1997 and 2002 to 2006 - May 2010
--- Women's participation and economic downturns - May 21
--- Food Statistics 2009 - May 27
--- Health Indicator Maps - May 27
--- Payroll employment, earnings and hours, March 2010 - May 26
--- Population projections: Canada, the provinces and territories, 2009 to 2036 - May 26
--- Low income Measurement in Canada: What do different Lines and Indexes tell us? - May 26
--- Farm income, 2009 - May 25
--- Pension plans in Canada, as of January 1, 2009 - May 25
11. What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit - May 30

International content

12. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (U. of Wisconsin-Madison)
13. [UK] State of the nation report: poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency in the UK (Department for Work and Pensions) - May 27
14. Australian Policy Online (recent content)
15. CRINMAIL (children's rights newsletter)

Have a great week!
Gilles
[ gilseg@rogers.com ]

Release of The Fiscal Monitor
News Release
May 28, 2010
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today released The Fiscal Monitor for March 2010.

Highlights
March 2010: budgetary deficit of $6.4 billion
April 2009 to March 2010: budgetary deficit of $47.0 billion

Related document:

* The Fiscal Monitor, March 2010

[ earlier editions of The Fiscal Monitor - going back to 1996 ]

Source:
Department of Finance Canada

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

Calm Before the Storm:
The Great Recession’s Impact on Homelessness (PDF - 299K, 23 pages)
By Nick Falvo, Carleton University
Paper Presentation to the
44th Annual Conference of the
Canadian Economics Association (link to conference program, but no links to papers as at May 30)
May 28-30, 2010
Quebec City, Canada
Recessions are much more than a numerical change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or another term for high unemployment. The full impact of a recession takes many years to completely unfold and a recession’s impact on households and communities is neither straightforward nor immediate. The homeless population of a given jurisdiction is one of the last groups to see a change after the onset of a recession, making homelessness the opposite of the proverbial canary in the mine shaft.
(...) The purpose of this essay is to explain how recessions have traditionally impacted homelessness. It will then discuss the current recession with a focus on Toronto, Canada. Toronto is the focus in part because, with a population of roughly 2.6 million people (5.5 million in the Greater Toronto Area), it is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government.

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

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

Manitoba

Ombudsman's report slams social assistance program
By Larry Kusch
May 27, 2010
The province's goal of moving people off welfare and into the workforce is undermined by poorly communicated policies, overwhelming staff caseloads and a failure, in some instances, to provide such basic job-searching tools as a telephone. Provincial ombudsman Irene Hamilton Wednesday released the first outside review of the province's social assistance programs since the early 1980s. Her probe arose out of complaints from 12 community organizations, many of which have clients on Manitoba's Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) program. According to Hamilton's report, very few caseworkers describe their workload as manageable, and many spoke of working in "crisis response mode."
Source:
Winnipeg Free Press

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Related links from
the Manitoba Ombudsman:

Manitoba Ombudsman releases her Report on
Manitoba's Employment and Income Assistance Program (PDF - 234K, 9 pages)
News Release
(incl. Executive Summary + Ombudsman’s recommendations)
May 26, 2010
Manitoba Ombudsman Irene Hamilton released a report on the Employment and Income Assistance Program of Family Services and Consumer Affairs. The report contains 68 recommendations for administrative improvement. (...) In its initial response to the report, the department noted that the collaborative undertaking "resulted in a well-balanced and informed report." The department added, "these reviews help programs determine strengths and identify ways to improve service delivery to increase efficiency and effectiveness."

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The complete report:

Report on Manitoba's
Employment and Income Assistance Program (PDF - 1MB, 134 pages)
Prepared by Irene A. Hamilton, Manitoba Ombudsman
May 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Executive Summary and Recommendations
* Introduction
* Employment and Income Assistance Program
--- Application for Employment and Income Assistance
--- Inadequate Disclosure of EIA Entitlements, Benefits, Rights and Responsibilities
--- The Right to Apply and Receive EIA Benefits
--- Application for Disability Category
--- Categorical Eligibility
--- Participants with Work Expectations
--- Participants with Multiple Persistent Barriers
--- Disability Category Participants
--- A Non-Categorical System
--- Rate Setting
--- Program Policy
--- Common-Law Relationships
--- Code of Conduct and Complaints
--- EIA Appeal Process
--- Staffing and Workload
--- Discretionary Decision Making
* Departmental Response

Bonus for welfare history buffs:

"The Employment and Income Assistance program was last reviewed externally in 1982/83 by the Manitoba Task Force on Social Assistance, chaired by Dr. Joseph C. Ryant. The report of the task force (the Ryant report) was issued publicly on August 11, 1983. The most significant change in the ensuing 25 years has been the abolition of the “two-tier” system, whereby people with disabilities and single parents were served by the province and people who were deemed employable were the responsibility of municipalities. This change occurred in 1999 in Winnipeg and elsewhere in the province in 2004. The program is now administered solely by the province." (Report, page 14)

[ earlier Manitoba Ombudsman reports ]

Source:
Manitoba Ombudsman

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CBC coverage:

Welfare rules unfairly applied: Ombudsman
May 26, 2010
Manitoba's Ombudsman is recommending a slew of changes to improve the provincial welfare system and how clients are treated after finding that the rules of the system are sometimes unevenly applied, resulting in the possibility some people are getting more benefits than others. In a report into her findings released on Wednesday, Irene Hamilton has recommended the Employment and Income Assistance Program make 68 separate changes to make the social-assistance system better.
Source:
CBC Manitoba

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- Go to the Manitoba Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/mbkmrk.htm

New from the
Canadian Institute for Health Information:
(from the "Dog-Bites-Man" series?)

Heart attacks more likely among lower-income groups,
but quality of care about the same for all Canadians
Variations in heart attack and hysterectomy rates much
greater by region than by socio-economic status
News Release
May 27, 2010
Canadians living in the least-affluent neighbourhoods are more likely to have a heart attack than those in more-affluent areas, according to a new report released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Canadians living in low-income neighbourhoods have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, smoking and other cardiac risk factors. However, heart attack patients receive about the same quality of care across the country, regardless of their socio-economic status. The report, Health Indicators 2010, provides more than 40 measures of health and health system performance in Canada for larger health regions, provinces and territories.

Complete report:

Health Indicators 2010
May 2010
HTML version - incl. table of contents (see below) and links to individual sections
PDF version (PDF - 1.7MB, 105 pages)

Table of contents:
* Executive Summary
* Health Indicator Framework
* In Focus: Measuring Disparities in the Health System
--- Heart Attacks and Disparities
--- Hysterectomies and Disparities
--- Concluding Remarks
* Information Gaps
--- References
* Health Indicators: Region by Region
--- Health Region Profile
--- Health Status
--- Equity
--- Non-Medical Determinants of Health
--- Health System Performance
--- Community and Health System Characteristics
--- Appendix
--- Indicator Index
* Regional Map

Companion Products

* Health Indicators e-publication
* Technical Notes

Source:
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)
CIHI collects and analyzes information on health and health care in Canada and makes it publicly available. Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments created CIHI as a not-for-profit, independent organization dedicated to forging a common approach to Canadian health information.

< Begin Snide addendum by Gilles:>

COMING SOON:
"20-Yr Longitudinal Study Finds that Canadians
are Better Rich and Healthy than Poor and Sick!"

< /End Snide addendum by Gilles.>

[ Earlier editions of Health Indicators - back to 2002 ]

- Go to the Health Links (Canada/International) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/health.htm

An Economy Out of Shape: Changing the Hourglass (PDF - 731K, 53 pages)
Researched and written by Tom Zizys
April 1, 2010
Posted online 4-May-10
This Toronto Workforce Innovation Group report examines changes in the occupational structure of the labour force in the City of Toronto and the rest of Ontario using Statistics Canada census data. The purpose of this report is to highlight trends, isolate the impact of these trends on different population groups, and offer recommendations that can contribute to economic growth and productivity as well as promote equitable outcomes for all workers.

Source:
Toronto Workforce Innovation Group (TWIG)
TWIG (formerly known as the Toronto Training Board) is a not-for-profit organization that acts as a catalyst for workforce solutions. TWIG conducts labour market studies, analyzes employment trends, convenes stakeholder consultations and facilitates workforce initiatives that serve the needs of employees and employers in the City of Toronto.

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

New from the
Community Social Planning Council of Toronto:

SOUNDBITES e-Bulletin
May 26, 2010

In this issue:

1. SPT Annual General Meeting
2. SPT Community Planning Forum: "Moving Forward, Breaking Through!"
3. SPT Research & Policy Forum: "Mending Canada’s Frayed Social Safety Net: The Role of Municipal Governments”
4. The Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning (APCOL) Project
5. 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction - Leadership Forum Report
6. Colour of Change - Forum Report
7. Update on Participation and Activity Limitations (PAL) Survey
8. York South – Weston Local Immigration Partnership (LIP)
9. Report on Foreign Workers and CERIS blog
10. Ontario Government and Trillium Foundation Launch “Partnership Project” with Non-Profit Sector
11. Social Planning Toronto Updates
12. News From Our Partners
13. Get Involved in Social Planning Toronto
14. About Social Planning Toronto
15. Join us on Twitter & Facebook

Source:
Community Social Planning Council of Toronto (CSPC-T)
The Community Social Planning Council of Toronto is committed to independent social planning at the local and city-wide levels in order to improve the quality of life for all people in Toronto. It is committed to diversity, social and economic justice, and active citizen participation in all aspects of community life.

- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk2.htm

Toronto homeless launch charter challenge:
Say federal and Ontario governments violate their rights to equality
May 27, 2010
Single mother Jennifer Tanudjaja’s two-bedroom apartment near Kipling and Finch Aves. costs $997 a month. But her monthly welfare cheque is just $935. (...) Brian Dubourdieu, 48, who became homeless after a cancer diagnosis five years ago, lived in a shack by the Don River for four years until it burned down last spring. (...) Tanudjaja and Dubourdieu are among four homeless and formerly homeless Torontonians who say Ottawa and Queen’s Park are violating the Canadian Charter of Rights by “creating and maintaining conditions that lead to and sustain homelessness and inadequate housing.” (...) Ontario is expected to release its affordable housing strategy next month
Source:
The Toronto Star

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Charter Challenge: the right to housing in Canada
May 26, 2010
Today, formerly and currently homeless Ontarians launched a landmark legal challenge against the federal and provincial governments. Joined by housing advocates and their lawyers, the individuals are seeking a Court declaration that Canada and Ontario have violated their rights under section 7 and section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by creating and maintaining conditions that lead to and sustain homelessness and inadequate housing.
Source:
Right to Housing

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Government has human rights obligation
to end homelessness argues historic Charter challenge
News Release
May 26
Source
Canada Newswire

Related links:

The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
ACTO works to better the housing situation of Ontario residents who have low incomes including tenants, co-op members and people who are homeless
[ See ACTO's Law Reform and Advocacy resources page ]

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Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA)
CERA is an Ontario-based non-profit human rights organization that promotes human rights in housing and challenges discrimination. CERA works to remove the barriers that keep disadvantaged individuals and families from accessing and retaining the housing they need.
[ CERA Resources page ]

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Stableandaffordable.com
Stableandaffordable.com is an initiative of the Wellesley Institute and the Housing Network of Ontario.
We are a network of organizations dedicated to one goal: stable and affordable housing for all Canadians.

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Charter Challenge
Government Obligated To End Homelessness
Source:
Black Hat Media
Black Hat Media is a solo attempt at an on-line magazine. Black Hat Media will combine two elements that are rarely (if ever) dealt with in the same forum effectively - advocacy and arts/entertainment. The founder, writer, photographer, editor, and publisher of Black Hat Media has a unique perspective with both elements of this e-zine.

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

- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk2.htm

Canada’s Fiscal Edge to Fade Without Tough Action: David Dodge
Commentary by David Dodge
May 25, 2010
The problems facing Greece, Spain and Ireland may lead investors to think Canada is free from fiscal worries. They should think again when looking ahead for the next few years. Canada’s relatively sound position by international standards masks a structural deficit that is poised to resume growth later this decade unless governments find more permanent solutions to cutting expenses than in their latest budgets, and introduce new measures to durably boost revenue.
(...)
Can Canadian governments balance their budgets by mid- decade with program spending cuts alone? It would mean a significant reduction in services or income-support programs, even if there were unprecedented productivity gains in public services. Specifically, it would require significant cuts in public-pension payments, employment-insurance benefits and welfare payments, health and long-term care coverage as well as increased co-payments. The quality of education, and investment in roads and public transit also would decline. [bolding added]
[Author David Dodge David Dodge is former Deputy Minister of the federal departments of Finance* and Health, and the former governor of the Bank of Canada.]
(*...thus proving that you can take David Dodge out of Finance but you can't take Finance out of David Dodge. Gilles)
Source:
Bloomberg
Bloomberg is a New York-based company employing more than 10,000 people in over 135 offices around the world. Bloomberg is about information: accessing it, reporting it, analyzing it and distributing it, faster and more accurately than any other organization.

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

Québec Handy Numbers, 2010 Edition (PDF - 2.8MB, 72 pages)
Revised May 2010
Each year the Institut de la statistique du Québec publishes this practical brochure, which collates basic statistical information about Québec society. Québec Handy Numbers contains a wide range of demographic and economic data for Québec as a whole, as well as some illustrations to help clarify the reading.

Québec Handy Numbers, 2010 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.

NOTE: on page 16, you'll find the following welfare
("Last-Resort Financial Assistance") statistics for 2001, 2008 and 2009:
* Beneficiaries
* Total benefits paid for adults / children
* Average benefits paid for adults / children
* Number of Households (cases)
* Average benefits paid per household

Source:
Institut de la statistique du Québec (English home page)

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

Version française:

Le Québec chiffres en main, édition 2010 (PDF - 3,1Mo, 72 pages)
Révision mai 2010
L’Institut de la statistique du Québec publie chaque année cette brochure de format pratique qui réunit l’information statistique de base relative à la société québécoise. Le Québec chiffres en main présente un grand nombre de données sur la population et l’activité économique à l’échelle du Québec, ainsi que quelques figures pour en éclairer la lecture. Par ailleurs, la dernière section, intitulée « Coup d’oeil régional », effectue un survol des 17 régions administratives.

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

Selected content from
The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

May 28, 2010
From the May 2010 issue of
Perspectives on Labour and Income

Study: Layoffs and their consequences, 1993 to 1997 and 2002 to 2006
May 2010
* Highlights
* Full article:
--- HTML version
--- PDF version (150K, 13 pages)
Layoffs displace a large number of workers each year, and they are known to have lasting effects on individuals' standard of living. This study conducts a comparative analysis of the risk of layoff between the 1990s and 2000s, seeking to identify the factors associated with this risk. It then examines the duration of jobless spells as well as various characteristics of the lost jobs and subsequent jobs, such as the wage, union coverage and participation in a retirement plan.

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Women's participation and economic downturns
May 2010
* Highlights
* Full article:
--- HTML version
--- PDF version ( 119K, 5 pages)
Using data from the Labour Force Survey, this article examines the evolution of the employment rate and work hours of wives whose husbands suffered job loss during the last three labour market downturns: 1981 to 1983, 1990 to 1992 and 2008 to 2009.

Source of the
two above articles:
Perspectives on Labour and Income May 2010 issue --- incl. quick links to labour and income studies
[ earlier editions of Perspectives on Labour and Income --- links to several hundred articles going back to 1989 ]
[ Perspectives on Labour and Income Main Page ]

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Food Statistics 2009
May 2010
HTML version
PDF version (314K, 44 pages)

Table of contents:
1. Highlights
2. Analysis
3. Tables
4. Data quality, concepts and methodology
5. Appendices
6. User information
7. Related products
[ earlier editions of this report - back to 2003]
[ Food Statistics Main Page ]
On a per capita basis, the Canadian diet in 2009 included more fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals, coffee and fish compared with 2008.
(No mention of food insecurity, in case you're wondering...)

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Health Indicator Maps
May 27, 2010
This publication presents a series of thematic maps, including those showing the subprovincial variations for selected health indicators based on the latest data available from different data sources. Reference maps showing the boundaries of health regions in Canada are also available by province.

View a list of all reference maps - health regions and peer groups by province and territory

View a list of all thematic maps - over three dozen themes, from Adults who are obese by health region to Smoking by health region, Vital Statistics - Birth Database, Low Birth Weight by health region, etc.

[ earlier editions of this report ]
[ related articles and links to maps ]
[ Health Indicator Maps Main Page ]
[ Health Indicators Main Page]

Source:
Health Indicators
This publication, produced jointly by Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), is a compilation of over 80 indicators measuring health status, non-medical determinants of health, health–system performance and community and health-system characteristics.

See also:
Health in Canada --- all StatCan health reports in one location

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May 26, 2010
Payroll employment, earnings and hours, March 2010
Non-farm payroll employment rose by 30,100 in March, bringing total gains since the start of the upward trend in August 2009 to 115,700 (+0.8%). The job growth in March was spread across a number of industries.
- includes two tables:
* Average weekly earnings (including overtime) for all employees
* Number of employees

Related subjects:
* Labour
* Employment and unemployment
* Hours of work and work arrangements
* Industries
* Wages, salaries and other earnings

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May 26, 2010
Population projections: Canada, the provinces and territories, 2009 to 2036
All growth scenarios considered, Canada's population could exceed 40 million by 2036. The ageing of the population is projected to accelerate rapidly, as the entire baby boom generation turns 65 during this period. The number of senior citizens could more than double, outnumbering children for the first time.
- includes a table:
Observed (2009) and projected (2036) population according to three scenarios, Canada, provinces and territories

Related subjects:
* Population and demography
* Population aging
* Population estimates and projections

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Low income Measurement in Canada:
What do different Lines and Indexes tell us?
May 2010
By Xuelin Zhan
Income Statistics Division
Abstract and Summary HTML)
Complete research paper (PDF - 1.2MB, 44 pages)
While Canada has never had an official poverty line, there are a number of low income lines widely employed to inform public debates and program initiatives. (...) This study assesses the existing Low Income Cut-Offs (LICO), Low Income Measures (LIM), and Market Basket Measure (MBM) lines, together with a fixed LIM, by using several distribution sensitive indexes. We found that the low income lines tracked each other well in the long-run. But, in the short-run, they often behaved differently.

Table of contents:
* Introduction
* A comparison of LICO, LIMs and MBM
* Low income indexes under alternative lines
* Who fall between the lines?
* Who contributes more to overall low income? A decomposition analysis
* Summary and conclusions
* Tables and figures
* Appendix 1 Methodology
* References
* More information

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May 25, 2010
Farm income, 2009
Realized net farm income amounted to $3.6 billion in 2009, down $10 million (-0.3%) from 2008, as both receipts and operating costs declined. The slight drop in 2009 followed increases in both 2007 and 2008.
[ Farm cash receipts, first quarter 2010 ]

NOTE: See New products and studies for links to seven new/updated StatCan reports on farm finances (income, operating expenses, capital, farm debts, etc.

---

May 25, 2010
Pension plans in Canada, as of January 1, 2009
Membership in registered pension plans (RPPs) increased 1.7% in 2008 to just over 6.0 million, the first time the number of active participants has surpassed that level. The number of registered pension plans as of January 1, 2009 remained virtually unchanged at 19,200.
- incl. table: Registered pension plan membership by sector and type of plan.

Related subjects:
* Business, consumer and property services
* Professional, scientific and technical services
* Seniors
* Income, pensions and wealth

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

The Daily Archives
- select a month and click on a date for that day's Daily

Source:
The Daily
[Statistics Canada]

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

- Go to the Education Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/education.htm

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

May 30, 2010

What's new online:
[This section archives documents that
have been featured on the CRRU homepage..]

Preschool Excellence Initiative (PEI)
28 May 10
- Government of Prince Edward Island promises major reform of their early childhood system.

Link between child care and academic achievement and behavior persists into adolescence
26 May 10
- Latest research from the NICHD longitudinal study points to lasting importance of high quality care.

Composite learning index 2010
26 May 10
- Canadian Council on Learning releases the results of its annual measure of lifelong learning; finds Canada's score stalled in 2010.

Nursery university
26 May 10
- Documentary provides an exclusive look into the world of New York's "preschool scramble", where parents battle to place their children in elite nursery schools with limited spaces and high price tags.

more WHAT'S NEW ONLINE »

child care in the news:
[This section features interesting and noteworthy news
about ECEC and related issues in Canada and internationally.]

· P.E.I. to regulate daycare costs
[CA-PE] 28 May 10

· Province announces new Preschool Excellence Initiative
[CA-PE] 28 May 10

· Province reveals plan to revitalize early childhood sector today
[CA-PE] 28 May 10

· A mother's catch-22
[US] 26 May 10

· Student parents facing 'day-care crisis'
[CA-SK] 26 May 10

· UCLA's Early Care & Education child services program faces budget constraints
[US] 26 May 10

· CalWORKs program threatened statewide
[US] 24 May 10

· Is Ottawa leaving women behind?
[CA] 22 May 10

· Kinder, kuche... Germany's lowest birthrate yet blamed on dated policy
[DE] 19 May 10

· Study shows benefits from early daycare
[US] 14 May 10

more CC IN THE NEWS »

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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)
The Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) is a policy and research oriented facility that focuses on early childhood education and child care (ECEC) and family policy in Canada and internationally.

- 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 several times a week
- scan of U.S. web-based news items dealing with topics such as poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.

Latest issues of Poverty Dispatch:

May 28:
Extension of Jobless Benefits
Eligibility for Free School Lunch Program - Philadelphia, PA
Food Stamp Enrollment - Oregon
Mobile Banking - Kenya
Drought and Hunger - Niger, Africa
Income and Heart Attack Risk - Canada

May 27:
Cell Phones and Access to Financial Services - India
High School Graduation Rate - Oregon
Exhaustion of Jobless Benefits
Economic Segregation in Public Schools
Child Care Subsidies - Texas

May 26:
Health Care Reform, States, and Medicaid Costs
Teen Birth Rate - Canada
Food Stamp Eligibility - North Carolina, Minnesota
Medical-Legal Partnerships

May 25:
State Budgets and Children’s Health Insurance Coverage
Medicaid and Managed Care - Hawaii
Children on Medicaid and Regular Checkups
Extension of Jobless Benefits

May 24:
Child Care Subsidies and Welfare to Work
Global Death Rates for Children
Medicaid and Dental Care in Rural Wisconsin

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Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to dispatches back to June 2006

Search Poverty Dispatches

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To subscribe to this email list, send an email to:
povdispatch-request@ssc.wisc.edu?subject=subscribe

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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

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

New from the
UK Department for Work and Pensions:

Iain Duncan Smith: reforms will tackle poverty and get Britain working again
Press Release
27 May 2010
A radical welfare reform programme designed to tackle entrenched poverty and end the curse of intergenerational worklessness is set out today by new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith. Calling for an end to a culture of welfare dependency by bringing the welfare system into the 21st century, Iain Duncan Smith set out the critical need to make work pay and end the absurd situation where some of the poorest face huge penalties for trying to get off benefits and into work.

The report:

State of the nation report:
poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency in the UK (PDF - 1MB, 65 pages)
Income inequality is at its highest since records began; millions of people are simply parked on benefits with little hope of ever progressing into work; there are 800,000 more workingage adults in poverty than in 1998/99; and high levels of family breakdown, educational failure, addiction and health inequality are having a severe impact on outcomes for both adults and children. [Excerpt from the Foreword]

Table of contents:
Executive summary
Chapter 1 - Income poverty, inequality and social immobility
Chapter 2 - Worklessness: unemployment and inactivity
Chapter 3 - Welfare dependency
Chapter 4 - Poor health and educational disadvantage
Chapter 5 - Families and communities
Chapter 6 - Multiple disadvantage
[Click the PDF link above to the report to access this content.]

Source:
State of the Nation Report (Cabinet Office website)
[ Department for Work and Pensions ]
See also:
Cabinet Office

Related link:

Government vows to 'make work pay'
May 27, 2010
A grim picture of the level of poverty in the UK was painted by the coalition Government today as it unveiled plans to radically change the system to "make work pay". Ministers complained that entire communities were existing at the "margins" of society, trapped in dependency and leaving disadvantaged children to become disadvantaged adults. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said sanctions will be used against benefit claimants who refuse to take up jobs, while all those on incapacity benefit will now be reassessed. Charity groups said root and branch reform of the benefits system was "long overdue", but union leaders said the Government should be reducing unemployment by creating jobs, not driving people off welfare and "further into poverty".
(...)
A report published by the Work and Pensions Department today revealed that income inequality in the UK was now at its highest level since comparable statistics began in 1961.
Source:
The Independent (UK)

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

Australian Policy Online (APO)
APO is a news service and library specialising in Australian public policy reports and articles from academic research centres, think tanks, government and non-government organisations. The site features opinion and commentary pieces, video, audio and web resources focussed on the policy issues facing Australia.
[ About APO ]
NOTE : includes links to the latest APO research; the five most popular downloads of the week
appear in a dark box in the top right-hand corner of each page.

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Most viewed this week on APO:

1. Garma Festival 2009 key forum address
2. Asylum seekers and refugees: what are the facts?
3. Islands of power?
4. The scandal that almost wasn't
5. An ethnographic study of the day-to-day lives and identities of people who are homeless in Brisbane

[You'll find these links on the APO home page.]

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New Research : Social Policy | Poverty
- topics include:
* Community * Cultural diversity * Families & households * Gender & sexuality * Immigration & refugees * Population * Poverty * Religion & faith * Social Inclusion * Social problems * Welfare * Youth

Most viewed this week:

1. Asylum seekers and refugees: what are the facts?
2. An ethnographic study of the day-to-day lives and identities of people who are homeless in Brisbane
3. Images of children and young people online
4. Linking stories and initiatives: A narrative approach to working with the skills and knowledge of communities
5. Chosen sacrifices? Some paradoxical effects of strategies to attract and retain care workers

[You'll find these links on the APO Social Policy page.]

- 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)

Latest issue of CRINMAIL (children's rights newsletter):

NOTE: The design of CRINMAIL was revamped starting with issue 1175.

26 May 2010, issue 1176
In this issue:
* Editorial: Children and sexuality
* Latest news and reports:
--- Global report on children and armed conflict
--- Nigeria and Egypt face legal action over child marriage
--- More
* CRIN catches up with Po Yan Cheng - Hong Kong's first Children's Commissioner in the making?
- Also includes:
* World news * Reports * Events * Laws * Issues * Advocacy * Challenging breaches * Take action * Campaigns * Toolkits

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Links to Issues of CRINMAIL
- links to 200+ 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, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the launch of the EURONET Website.
NOTE: see http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.htm for the table of contents for, and links to, several months' worth of issues of CRINMAIL.

Source:
CRINMAIL(incl. subscription info)
[ Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) ]

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

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:
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...or send me an email message.
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 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

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And, in closing...