Canadian Social Research Newsletter
January 31, 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 2,208 subscribers.
Haiti Earthquake
(Canadian Red Cross)
Powerful earthquake hits Haiti – Urgent help needed
On
January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by several powerful aftershocks,
struck off the western coast of Haiti, causing buildings to collapse in Port
au Prince and chaos
as people fled the damage. Hundreds of thousands of people
are dead or homeless. Haiti needs our help.
The Canadian
Red Cross is accepting donations to support Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.
Please give what you can.
* Donate
online (secure site)
* Call toll-free 1-800-418-1111
* Visit a
Red Cross office near you to donate in person.
* Other
ways to donate (regular mail, planned legacy)
Source:
Canadian Red Cross
Canadian content
1.
Ontario Disability Support Program : "Stupid Rules"
Create Dire Consequences (ODSP Action Coalition) - January 28
2. Canada
Suffering from Huge Democratic Deficit, Report Says (Institute of Wellbeing)
- January 27
3. The importance of social science research in Canada - E-dialogue
(Royal Roads University, Victoria) - February 2
4. Is EI Working for Canada’s
Unemployed? Analyzing The Great Recession (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)
- January 25
5. [British Columbia] A timeline of cuts to BC legal aid
(PovNet.org) - January 25
6. [Ontario] Province Moves Forward With Legal
Aid Transformation (Ontario Attorney-General) - January 24
7. [British
Columbia] Going for gold on minimum wages (Vancouver Sun) - January 20
8. British Columbia 2010 Poverty Olympics coming to Vancouver on February 7
9. On Prorogation: Selected readings
10. What's New in The Daily [Statistics
Canada]:
--- Study: The financial impact of student loans - January 29
--- Participation and Activity Limitation Survey
2006: Tables - January 29
--- Payroll employment, earnings and hours,
November 2009 - January 28
--- Real Gross Domestic
Income, Relative Prices and Economic Performance Across the
- January 28
--- Hours worked and labour productivity in the provinces
and territories, 1997 to 2008 - January 27
--- Study: Consequences of long-distance caregiving, 2007 - January 26
--- Cities and Growth: Earnings Levels Across Urban and Rural Areas: The Role
of Human Capital - January 26
11. What's new from the Childcare Resource
and Research Unit (Toronto) - January 31
International content
12. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage
of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin-Madison)
13, The Happy Planet Index : Is Gross Domestic Product An Obsolete Measure
of Progress? (New Economics Foundation - U.K.) - January 30
14. Australian
Policy Online - recent content
15. CRINMAIL (children's rights newsletter)
Have a great week!
Gilles
************************
Gilles Séguin
Canadian
Social Research Links
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net
| 1. Ontario Disability
Support Program : "Stupid Rules"
Create Dire Consequences - January 2 |
Ontario Disability Support Program:
"Stupid
Rules" Create Dire Consequences
January 28,
2010
The Coalition had an opportunity to meet with members of the Social Assistance
Review Advisory Council (SARAC) in late January, and to present them with a list
of quick changes that could be made to some of the "stupid rules" in ODSP. This
Council was recently appointed by the government to give advice on two things:
some "quick fix" changes to counterproductive rules, and the mandate and scope
of a more comprehensive social assistance review to be carried out later this
year.
Related link:
A
Proposal for ODSP Rule Changes (Word file - 127K, 16 pages)
Source:
ODSP Action Coalition
The ODSP Action
Coalition is made up of community clinic caseworkers, agency staff, and community
activists. We undertake campaigns and activities designed to raise awareness of
issues affecting persons in receipt of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
benefits.
- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk3.htm
| 2. Canada Suffering
from Huge Democratic Deficit, Report Says - January 27 |
New from the
Institute
of Wellbeing:
Canada
Suffering from Huge Democratic Deficit, Report Says
Press Release
January 27, 2010
OTTAWA, ON – Canada is experiencing a huge democratic
deficit with trust in Canadian government and public institutions on a steep decline,
says a report on Democratic Engagement released today by the Institute of Wellbeing.The
report, which assesses Canadians’ democratic engagement, looks at eight
quality of life indicators and finds Canadians aren’t satisfied with their
democracy – which shows growing skepticism in political institutions and
declining voter turnout rates.
Context:
The Canadian Index of Well-being is tracking changes in eight
quality of life categories or “domains”. The Democratic Engagement
report, released on January 27, is the latest release in the series. Domain reports
on Living Standards, Healthy Populations and Community Vitality are now available;
reports on the findings from the other domains will be released as the research
is completed over the next year.
Democratic
Engagement
Democratic Engagement measures the participation of citizens
in public life and in governance; the functioning of Canadian governments with
respect to openness, transparency, effectiveness, fairness, equity and accessibility;
and the role Canadians and their institutions play as global citizens.
TIP:
in the left-hand margin of the Democratic Engagement page, you'll find links to
the other seven domains.
* Report Highlights (PDF 345KB)
* Full Report (PDF 2MB)
* Improving Canada’s Democratic Engagement: Ten Ideas for Positive Change (PDF 85KB)
Related link:
Time
to address democratic deficit
January 27, 2010
Editorial
Canadians like to think of themselves as nothing if not democratic. Since the
days of Baldwin and LaFontaine, we have enjoyed the fruits of responsible government
– responsible, that is, to Parliament. But a report today from the Institute
of Wellbeing – a non-partisan research group – suggests that our democracy
is being eroded on a variety of fronts. Turnout in the last federal election was
down to a pathetic 59 per cent of voters, a record low. It is even lower in most
municipal and provincial elections. Just 2 per cent of Canadians are involved
in advocacy or political groups. Surveys show Canadians are dissatisfied with
their democracy. And women and visible minorities are grossly under-represented
in our parliament and legislatures.
Source:
The
Toronto Star
- Go to the Poverty Measures
- Canadian Resources page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm
| 3. The importance of social
science research in Canada (E-dialogue) - February 2 |
Social
Science Research: Dark Age Ahead?
The importance of social science research
to Canada's innovation and competitiveness
E-dialogue (online panel discussion)
February 2nd, 3:00pm to 5:00pm ET
(Noon-2:00 p.m. PT)
Social science research is seriously underfunded in this
country.
Listen in, and participate, as researchers across the country engage
in a critical real-time discussion on the contributions the social sciences have
made and are making in Canada.
Go to the e-dialogues
page and register to be part of the e-audience*,
then listen in to our expert panel discuss
the contributions of the
social sciences in the areas of innovation, competitiveness
and well-being.
Registered participants may ask questions of the panelists
during the last hour.
---
* NOTE:
Click the link, then (on the next page) read the terms of use (Rules, Policies,
and Disclaimers)
on the left side of the page and then click "I agree"
to create a user profile; ignore the Login box on the right side of that page
until you've registered.
---
Moderator:
Dr. Ann Dale, Canada Research Chair on Sustainable Community Development, Royal
Roads University
Panelists:
* Caroline
Andrew, former Dean of Social Sciences, Professor, School of Political Studies
and Director of the Centre for Governance, University of Ottawa
* Chad
Gaffield, President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
* Noreen Golfman, Professor and Dean of Graduate Studies, Memorial University
and President, Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
* Professor John Robinson, Member of the International Panel on Climate
Change, University of British Columbia
* Giselle Yasmeen, Vice-President
of Partnerships, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
[ Biographical
notes on all panelists (scroll down the page for bio notes) ]
Source:
E-dialogues
for sustainable development
[ Community
Research Connections ]
[ Royal Roads
University - Victoria, British Columbia ]
---
Related
links from
GlobeCampus.ca
(A Globe
and Mail feature):
Do
social sciences get enough funding?
(Online discussion transcript)
May 27, 2009
Scholars say science research is getting a disproportionate amount
of government money, in the mistaken view that innovation is restricted to that
area
Source:
Social
scientists to press Ottawa for more funding
By Elizabeth Church
May 25, 2009
Social scientists and humanities scholars are feeling stung by
the federal government's policies on research, and the tendency to equate innovation
with science alone
- Go to the Canadian Universities
and Colleges Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/univbkmrk.htm
| 4. Is EI Working
for Canada’s Unemployed? Analyzing The Great Recession - January 25 |
EI system failing recession “stress test”—report
News Release
January 25, 2010
OTTAWA—Canada’s
Employment Insurance system is failing the “stress test” of the recession
and fixing it must be a key priority in the upcoming federal budget, says a new
report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). According to the
report, even as the EI system became easier to access the number of unemployed
Canadians not in receipt of EI benefits jumped from 650,760 in October 2008 to
777,4000 in October 2009.“Many unemployed workers have fallen through the
cracks of the EI system,” says Andrew Jackson, Chief Economist with the
Canadian Labour Congress and a CCPA Research Associate. “In October 2009,
51% of unemployed Canadians were collecting EI benefits—and just 41% in
Ontario.”
Complete report:
Is
EI Working for Canada’s Unemployed?
Analyzing The Great Recession
(PDF - 348K, 8 pages)
January 2010
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
(CCPA)
The CCPA is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned
with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of
Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates. By combining
solid research with extensive outreach, we work to enrich democratic dialogue
and ensure Canadians know there are workable solutions to the issues we face.
-
Go to the Employment Insurance Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ei.htm
| 5. [British Columbia] A timeline of cuts to BC legal aid - January 25 |
A
timeline of cuts to BC legal aid
January 25, 2010
Brief timeline
and backgrounder on the cuts to legal aid in BC culled from various press releases
and news articles.
Source:
PovNet.org
Related link:
Access
to Justice
- campaign to restore funding to legal aid in BC and to
stop the cutbacks to the Legal Services Society
- incl. links to press releases,
news, petitions and more
- Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk3.htm
| 6. [Ontario] Province
Moves Forward With Legal Aid Transformation - January 24 |
Ontario
Province
Moves Forward With Legal Aid Transformation
McGuinty Government Resolves
Legal Aid Boycott
News Release
January 24, 2010
Ontario is
transforming the province's legal aid system, to help ensure that Ontarians have
access to the legal services they need, regardless of their ability to pay, and
to drive reforms in the family and criminal courts.
Source:
Office
of the Ontario Attorney-General
Criminal lawyers and Ontario make deal to end legal aid boycott:
CBC:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/01/24/ontario-legal-aid541.html
The Star:
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/755330--lawyers-end-boycott-stalling-legal-aid-cases
[Thanks to Jennefer Laidley of the
Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
for the above media links.]
- Go to the Ontario Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk.htm
| 7. [British Columbia] Going for gold on minimum wages
- January 20 |
British Columbia:
Going for gold on minimum wages
By Marjorie Griffin Cohen and Iglika Ivanova
January 20, 2010
As we prepare to cheer for our athletes during the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic
Games, it's worth remembering the fields in which B.C. isn't going for the gold.
Ensuring that work is a guaranteed way out of poverty, for example. It's a little-known
fact, but "the best place on Earth" is now home of the lowest minimum wages in
Canada. Our minimum wage has been frozen at $8 per hour (and an embarrassingly
low $6 for the first 500 hours of work) since 2001, and there is little indication
that this is about to change any time soon.
Source:
Vancouver
Sun
[ more Vancouver Sun articles on the minimum wage ]
How
does that compare
with other Canadian jurisdictions?
Current
And Forthcoming Minimum Hourly Wage Rates For Adult Workers in Canada
(this is the BEST resource for info on current
and upcoming minimum wage levels by province/territory)
Minimum Hourly
Wages for Canadian Adult Workers since 1965
This information is presented
in five files - one for each decade.
The link above takes you to the latest
decade (2005 to 2014);
click the date links at the top of the page for pages
for earlier decades.
NOTE: Several
other jurisdictions have either recently increased their minimum wage level or
will be doing so in the coming months.
Highlights:
* Newfoundland
and Labrador increased its minimum wage from $9.00 to $9.50 as of January 1.
* Nova Scotia will increase its minimum wage twice this year - in April and October.
The current level is $8.60, increasing to $9.65 as of October.
* Ontario's
minimum wage, currently $9.50, will increase to $10.25 at the end of March.
* Since 2007, Yukon increases its minimum wage each April to match increase in
the Consumer Price Index for the City of Whitehorse.
For more information,
see Minimum Hourly
Wages, 2005-2014 (this is the same link as above)
Source:
Minimum
Wage Database
[ Employment
Standards Legislation in Canada ]
[ Labour
Program, Human Resources and Social Development Canada ]
-
Go to the Minimum Wage /Living Wage Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm
-
Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (D-W) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk3.htm
| 8. British Columbia 2010 Poverty Olympics coming to Vancouver on February 7 |
And
while we're on the
subject of British Columbia...
Poverty
Olympics to be held
in Vancouver days before 2010 Winter Games
January 16, 2010
By Stephen Hui
Five days before the opening of the 2010
Winter Olympics in Vancouver, community groups will stage a protest event designed
to internationally embarrass the Canadian, B.C., and city governments into addressing
poverty. The 2010 Poverty Olympics, the third edition of the annual street-theatre
event, will take place on February 7 at the Vancouver Japanese Language School
and Japanese Hall (487 Alexander Street) in the Downtown Eastside.
Source:
Georgia Straight
Related links:
2010
Winter Olympics (Official Home Page)
2010
Poverty Olympics
The Vancouver Poverty Olympics
are brought to you by a group of concerned citizens and community groups who oppose
the 2010 Winter Games because public dollars could be more justly spent on ending
poverty and homelessness.
- incl. links to : * Home * World Class Poverty
* Land of Plenty * Broken Promises * Take Action * The Games * Who We Are
"Come out for free family fun with a conscience on February 7, 2010
at the
Japanese Language School (487 Alexander St., Vancouver) from 1 - 3 p.m.
Watch
the Games (Welfare Hurdles, Skating around Poverty, and more), cheer the
Mascots (Itchy the Bedbug, Creepy the Cockroach and Chewy the Rat), boo the Bad
Guys
(Mr. Bid and Mr. Con Dough), sing along with the Poverty Anthem, eat
cake and be merry!
Contact us: info@povertyolympics.ca
Poverty Olympics Blog
- dozens of links to articles in the media, news releases and
related resources concerning the Poverty Olympics
Poverty
Olympics partners:
* Raise
the Rates is a coalition working towards a five-point poverty reduction
strategy in BC. Raise the Rates is lead organizer of the 2010 Poverty Olympics
and the Provincial Poverty Olympics Torch Relay.
* Downtown
Eastside Neighbourhood House
* The
Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is a project of the board of
the Carnegie Community Centre Association. CCAP works mostly on housing, income,
and land use issues in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver so the DTES can
remain a low income friendly community.
* The
British Columbia Persons With AIDS Society exists to enable persons living
with AIDS and HIV disease to empower themselves through mutual support and collective
action.
* Streams of Justice
Streams of Justice is a christian social justice movement that
has as its fundamental concern the realization of human communities marked by
liberating justice and life-giving love.
* Vancouver
Area Network of Drugs Users (VANDU)
VANDU is
a group of users and former users who work to improve the lives of people who
use illicit drugs through user-based peer support and education.
[ 2009 Poverty Olympics - Last year's event in Vancouver ]
Poverty
Olympics Social Index
- baker's dozen of factoids intended to draw
links between the cost of the Olympics and the costs of poverty and welfare, e.g.
the face value of the best seat at the Olympic opening ceremony is $1,100, which
is almost $200 more than the maximum monthly welfare amount payable in BC to a
single person with disability.
Downtown Eastside
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is the
oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is known as "Canada's
poorest postal code".
| 9. On Prorogation: Selected readings |
On Prorogation:
Jennefer Laidley of the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
has collated
a large number of links to media coverage of the prorogation
of Parliament in Canada in 2010.
Thanks for sharing this, Jennefer!
---
A few selections to whet your prorogation appetite:
250,000
Canadians hit the streets:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/from-facebook-to-filling-the-streets/article1442056/
Thousands protest:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100123/national/parliament_prorogue_protests
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/755053--thousands-protest-the-prorogue
---
To
access links to over 100 articles in the Canadian
media about prorogation,
go to the Prorogation links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/prorogation.htm
---
Visit
the ISAC website and ISAC's Social Assistance Review website for a large collection
of Ontario resources.
The Income Security Advocacy Centre works with and on
behalf of low income communities in Ontario to address issues of income security
and poverty.
---
- Go to the Prorogation Links page : http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/prorogation.htm
| 10. What's New in The
Daily [Statistics Canada]: |
Selected
content from
The
Daily [Statistics Canada]:
January
29
Study:
The financial impact of student loans
As tuition fees have risen,
more students have relied on student loans to help finance their postsecondary
education and debt loads have gone up. This situation in turn has had an impact
on individual students' financial positions after graduation. This study, based
on data from three different surveys, found that well over one-half (57%) of the
graduating class of 2005 had student loans, up from 49% 10 years earlier. Average
student debt on graduation rose from $15,200 to $18,800 during the same decade.
Also, the proportion of borrowers who graduated with debt loads of at least $25,000
increased to 27% in 2005 from 17% in 1995.
The
financial impact of student loans
* Highlights
* Full article:
HTML
PDF
(220K, 14 pages)
Source:
January
2010 issue of
Perspectives on Labour and Income
Related
subjects:
* Education,
training and learning
* Fields
of study
* Outcomes
of education
* Income,
pensions, spending and wealth
* Household
assets, debts and wealth
* Household,
family and personal income
* Labour
* Employment
and unemployment
---
January
29
Participation
and Activity Limitation Survey 2006: Tables (part VI)
The Participation
and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) is Canada's national survey that gathers
information about adults and children whose daily activities are limited by a
physical, mental, or other health-related condition or problem. This
report presents a series of tables concerning help with everyday activities as
well as unmet needs and help providers.
- includes tables with statistics
on the number of people with disabilities who (*)
need help with everyday activities in 2001 and 2006, organized by sex, by age
groups, by type of disability, by province, by severity and by activity type;
also includes a table showing the reasons specified by
respondents regarding unmet needs with everyday activities in Canada in 2006 and
a table with stats on main help providers, Canada in 2006.
<
*Begin grammar lament. >
The
actual heading on each of the StatCan tables is "Adults with disabilities that
need help..." but I can't paste that on my page in all good conscience.
It's
bad English. StatCan needs a copy editor to tell them that "who" should always
be used in the case of a person, and "that" in the case of a thing.
<
End grammar lament.>
[ Earlier
tables from the 2006
Participation and Activity Limitation Survey ]
---
January
28, 2010
Payroll
employment, earnings and hours, November 2009
Non-farm payroll
employment fell by 33,800 in November, the result of small losses across a large
number of industries. This decline followed two consecutive months of increases.
- includes links to two tables:
* Average weekly earnings (including overtime)
for all employees
* Number of employees
[ Related link: Employment, Earnings and Hours - click "View" to see the latest issue]
Related
subjects:
o Labour
o Employment
and unemployment
o Hours
of work and work arrangements
o Industries
o Wages,
salaries and other earnings
o Non-wage
benefits
---
January
28, 2010
Real
Gross Domestic Income, Relative
Prices and Economic Performance Across the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
This
paper uses Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data
to examine changes in labour productivity, real gross domestic product (GDP),
real gross domestic income (GDI), economic aggregates and relative economic growth
over time.
NOTE: Click "View" to access the latest issue of this report,
or click "Chronological index" to access dozens of reports in
the Economic
Analysis Research Paper Series.
---
January
27, 2010
Hours
worked and labour productivity in the provinces and territories, 1997 to 2008
From 1997 to 2008, business sector productivity increased at an annual
average rate of 1.3% in Canada. However, productivity growth slowed considerably
after 2003 when compared with the 1997-to-2003 period. All provinces experienced
a slowdown between the two periods with the main contributors being Ontario, British
Columbia and Quebec.
- incl. links to two tables:
* Real output and hours
worked in the business sector
* Labour productivity and hourly compensation
in the business sector
Related subjects:
o Economic
accounts
o Productivity
accounts
o Labour
o Hours
of work and work arrangements
o Wages,
salaries and other earnings
---
January
26, 2010
Study:
Consequences of long-distance caregiving, 2007
As the population
of seniors increases and families live further apart, many Canadians face the
challenges of caring for an aging parent from a distance. In 2007, about 1.65
million people aged 45 and over provided assistance or care to a parent or a mother-
or father-in-law who suffered from a long-term health problem or physical limitation.
Roughly 360,000 of these individuals, or 22%, provided help to a parent, even
though the individual receiving care lived at least an hour away by car.
Article
from issue #89 of
Canadian Social Trends:
Caring
for a parent who lives far away: The consequences
By
Mireille Vézina and Martin Turcotte
January 26, 2010
HTML
PDF
(136K, 13 pages)
Source:
Canadian
Social Trends
[ more
articles on caregiving and disabilities ]
[ more
articles on all subjects - from Aboriginal People to Volunteering ]
Related subjects:
* Seniors
* Care
and social support
* Health
and disability among seniors
* Housing
and living arrangements
---
January
26, 2010
Cities and
Growth: Earnings Levels Across Urban and Rural Areas:
The Role of Human Capital
by Desmond Beckstead, W. Mark Brown, Yusu Guo, and K. Bruce Newbold
[ Click the link above to access all of the files below; only two are linked below.]
1. Acknowledgements
2. Abstract
3. Executive
summary
4. Main article
5. Tables
6. Charts
7. Appendices
8. User information
9. PDF version
(279K, 40 pages)
Source:
The
Canadian Economy in Transition
[ Earlier
reports in this series ]
---------------------------------
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 Employment Insurance Links page : http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ei.htm
- Go to the Social Statistics Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/stats.htm
| 11. What's
new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto) - January 31 |
What's new from the
Childcare Resource and Research
Unit (CRRU):
January 31, 2010
What's new online
This section archives documents that have been featured on the CRRU
homepage.
Items are in chronological order by posting date from the most
recent to the
least recent. Follow the title link for details.
Increasing
Canada's productivity through early childhood development
27
Jan 10
- Resolution from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce calls on the federal
government to "fund and assist in the development of a provincially-delivered
effective early childhood development program".
A
portrait of Canada's early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce 2009
27 Jan 10
- Report from the Child Care Human Resource Sector Council
"provides a statistical overview of the labour market situation in the ECEC sector".
Early
care and education quality and child outcomes
27 Jan 10
-
Research-to-Policy brief from Child Trends describes findings from a meta-analysis
of studies looking at associations between child care quality and child outcomes
Women,
men and the new economics of marriage
27 Jan 10
- Study from
the Pew Center (US) has revealed that the proportion of American wives earning
more than their husbands has risen more than five-fold since 1970.
more WHAT'S
NEW ONLINE »
Child care in the news
·
City of
Windsor daycare supporters mobilize
[CA-ON] 27 Jan 10
·
All-day
kindergarten under threat?
[CA-ON] 26 Jan 10
· All-day
kindergarten threatens daycares
[CA-ON] 26 Jan 10
·
City of
Windsor report recommends closing municipal daycares
[CA-ON] 22
Jan 10
· Australia-
Childcare reformed in wake of ABC collapse
[AU] 20 Jan 10
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
sitesin 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
| 12. Poverty
Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
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:
January 29:
Kids Count Report - Wyoming
State Medicaid Programs
Severe Child Poverty
- UK
Pensioners Living in Poverty - UK
January 28:
Hybrid
Welfare System - Indiana
Kids Count Report - Missouri
Worldwide Unemployment
and Job Losses
Low-income Students and Higher Education - England
January 27:
US Food Hardship Survey
Food Stamp Program Enrollment - California, Idaho
2009 Enrollment in Assistance Programs
Teenage Pregnancy and Sex Education
January 26:
Youth Joblessness - Illinois
Teenage Pregnancy and Sex Education
Unemployment
and Poverty - Ohio
Report: Income Inequality - Oregon
January 25:
Paid Sick Leave - Washington, DC
Tax Refund Anticipation Loans
Healthy
Families Program - California
Eligibility for a Public Defender - Wisconsin
---
Past
Poverty Dispatches
- links to dispatches back to June 2006
---
To
subscribe to this email list, send an email to:
povdispatch-request@ssc.wisc.edu?subject=subscribe
---
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
| 13. The Happy Planet Index
: Is GDP An Obsolete Measure of Progress? - January 30 (New Economics Foundation - U.K.) |
Happy Planet Index (HPI)
The HPI is an innovative measure that shows the ecological efficiency with which
human well-being is delivered around the world. It is the first ever index to
combine environmental impact with well-being to measure the environmental efficiency
with which country by country, people live long and happy lives. The second compilation
of the global HPI, published in July 2009, shows that we are still far from achieving
sustainable well-being and puts forward a vision of what we need to do to get
there.
- incl. links to: * Home * Learn * Explore * Engage * News
The
Happy Planet Index 2.0:
Why good lives don’t have to cost the Earth
(PDF - 5.2MB, 64 pages)
July 2009
You'll have to download the report to
see the ranking for all 143 countries included in the study (p. 61), but
here's the short version.
Best to worst:
1. Costa Rica
2. Dominican
Republic
3. Jamaica
............
89. Canada
............
114.
USA
............
141. Botswana
142. Tanzania
143. Zimbabwe
HPI
2.0 Excel Datafile (336K)
July 2009
Complete data file containing
overall scores for HPI 2.0, as well as component results and HPI data over time
for selected countries.
Earlier HPI reports:
The
European (un)Happy Planet Index:
An index of carbon efficiency and well-being
in the EU (PDF - 961K, 47 pages)
Published 2007
The
(un)Happy Planet Index:
An index of human well-being and environmental impact
(PDF - 1.6MB, 59 pages)
Published 2006
Calculate
your own HPI score
Take the online survey to measure your own life
expectancy, life satisfaction and ecological footprint and calculate your personal
HPI score.
-----------------------
Gilles says: According to this survey,
my personal Happy Planet Index (HPI) is 63.4.
This is below the target of
83, "which represents a good life that doesn’t cost the Earth."
I wonder
if I could get a good Internet connection in Costa Rica?
What's your HPI?
-----------------------
Source:
nef
(New Economics Foundation)
Based in the U.K., nef is an independent think-and-do
tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being.
See also:
Social Policy
nef aims to find ways of achieving sustainable social justice: a fair and equitable
distribution of natural, social and economic resources between people, countries
and generations.
Source:
nef
programme areas
* Well-being * Democracy and Participation * Social
Policy * Business, Finance and Economics * Valuing What Matters * Climate Change
and Energy * Connected Economies * Natural Economies
------------------------------------------------
Related links:
Is GDP
An Obsolete Measure of Progress?
By Judith D. Schwartz
January
30, 2010
Since last summer the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has gone
up — indeed, it grew at a surprising 5.7% rate in the 4th quarter —
seeming to confirm what we've been hearing: the recession is officially over.
But wait — foreclosure and unemployment rates remain high, and food banks
are seeing record demand. Could it be that the GDP, that gold standard of economic
data, might not be the best way to gauge a nation's relative prosperity?
(...)
One new calculation that's been attracting attention is the Happy Planet Index
(HPI), which combines economic metrics with indicators of well-being, including
subjective measures of life satisfaction, which have become quite sophisticated
(HPI uses data from Gallup, World Values Survey, and Ecological Footprint). The
HPI assesses social and economic well-being in the context of resources used,
looking at the degree of human happiness generated per quantity of environment
consumed.
Source:
Time Magazine (U.S.)
Happy
Talk: The Economics of Happiness
By Carol Graham (Senior Fellow,
Foreign Policy)
January 03, 2010
Last year was not a happy one. Economic
crisis. Job losses. Wars. Yet, while we can quantify things such as gross domestic
product or home foreclosures, it's harder to measure their impact on our collective
happiness.
Source:
Brookings Institution
[
more Brookings
links to articles
about Economics of Happiness ]
---
Report
by the Commission on the
Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress
(PDF - 3.2MB, 292 pages)
By Joseph E. STIGLITZ, Amartya SEN and Jean-Paul
FITOUSSI
September 2009
Source:
Commission
on the measurement of economic performance and social progress
The Commission
on the measurement of economic performance and social progress was created at
the beginning of 2008 by the French government.
------------------------------------------------
Similar
initiatives in Canada
and elsewhere in the world:
The Canadian Index of Wellbeing - from Roy Romanow's Institute of Wellbeing
The Index of Economic Well-being - from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) - Canada
Indicators of Well-being in Canada - from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Genuine Progress Index (GPI) for Atlantic Canada
Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) Alberta ( from the Pembina Institute)
Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Pacific
2009 Prosperity Index - from the Legatum Institute
Gross National Happiness - from The Centre for Bhutan Studies
Social Indicators Links - from the Canadian Council on Social Development
------------------------------------------------
Related
links:
- Go to the Poverty Measures - Canadian Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm
- Go to the Poverty Measures - International Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty2.htm
| 14. Australian
Policy Online - recent content |
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, and the downloads
vary depending on the topic you select.
-------------------------------------------------------
Recent additions to the APO website:
Estimates of poverty and social exclusion in Australia: a multidimensional
approach
19 January, 2010
By Weiping
Kostenko, Roger Wilkins, Rosanna Scutella
Melbourne
Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
This paper compares
poverty against measures of social exclusion using data from the Household, Income
and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.
---
Child
protection Australia 2008-09
25 January, 2010
Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare
This report contains comprehensive information
relating to state and territory child protection and support services, and the
characteristics of Australian children within the child protection system.
New Research : Social Policy |
Poverty
- topics include:
* Community * Cultural diversity *
Families & households * Gender & sexuality * Immigration & refugees
* Population * Poverty * Religion & faith * Social problems * Welfare * Youth
- Go to the Social Research Links in Other Countries (Non-Government) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internatngo.htm
| 15. CRINMAIL (Child Rights Information Network - CRIN) |
From the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
Latest issue of CRINMAIL (children's rights newsletter):
28 January
2010 - CRINMAIL 1143
* BELGIUM: Detention of Chechen children unlawful
[news]
* GLOBAL: State of the world's indigenous people [publication]
* ROMANIA: Roma families forcibly evicted [news]
* CANADA: Are We Doing Enough?
A status report on Canadian public policy and child and youth health [publication]
* SWITZERLAND: Support for young “sans papiers” grows [news]
*
EMPLOYMENT: Save the Children International
* CRIN NOTICEBOARD
**NEWS
IN BRIEF**
26 January
2010 - CRINMAIL 1142
* AFRICAN COMMITTEE: Elections 2010 – Information
for NGOs [news]
* CAMBODIA: "Skin on the Cable" - The illegal arrest, arbitrary
detention and torture of people who use drugs [publication]
* HAITI: International
community call for use of International Guidelines [news]
* SAUDI ARABIA:
Flogging of teenage girl must be prevented [news]
* UNITED STATES: Call for
Iowa court to reverse life without parole sentence [news]
* EVENTS: Scottish
Law Centre and UNICEF call for papers
* EMPLOYMENT: UN Assistant Secretary-General
for Human Rights
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
------------------------------------------
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.
Source:
CRINMAIL(incl. subscription info)
[ Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
]
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
...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 ]
------------------------
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
And, in closing...
----------------------------