What's New? - Nouveautés

Women's Court of Canada
The Women’s Court of Canada is an innovative project bringing together academics, activists, and litigators in order literally to rewrite the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms equality jurisprudence. Taking inspiration from Oscar Wilde, who once said “the only duty we owe to history is to rewrite it”, the Women’s Court operates as a virtual court, and ‘reconsiders’ leading equality decisions. The Women’s Court renders alternative decisions as a means of articulating fresh conceptions of substantive equality.
- incl. links to :
* Home * About Us * Blog * WCC Judgments * Media and Events * Resources * Archives * Contact

Women's Court of Canada Judgments
The first six WCC judgments were published in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law in early 2008. These decisions concern issues that affect the lives of Aboriginal women, women with disabilities, women living in poverty, women with children, and women workers.
The WCC judgments are for the following cases:
* Symes v. Canada, [1993] : deduction — child care expenses — women — taxpayer — income
* Native Women’s Association of Canada v. Canada, [1994] : funding — freedom of expression — women — equal — constitutional
* Eaton v. Brant County Board of Education, [1997] : placement — disabled — special — child — pupil
* Law v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [1999] : discrimination — differential treatment — claimant — survivor’s pension — dignity
* Gosselin v. Quebec (Attorney-General), [2002] : programs — welfare recipients — security of the person — dignity — legislation
* Newfoundland (Treasury Board) v. Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, [2004] : pay equity — government — crisis — hospital workers — women

Canada’s Human Rights Institutions At Risk
By Shelagh Day, Senior Editor and Publisher, Canadian Human Rights Reporter
July 28, 2010
It is time to go into worry mode about Canada’s human rights institutions.
Here are some recent developments that cause concern:
• Saskatchewan’s Minister of Justice proposes to dismantle the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal and send human rights complaints directly to the courts
• The B.C. Law Institute has been asked by the Ministry of Labour to conduct “research and analysis in relation to workplace dispute resolution mechanisms in British Columbia”. The disputes in question include human rights employment complaints.
* Heather MacNaughton, the widely respected Chair of the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, was not re-appointed. Human rights watchers speculate that British Columbia also plans to dismantle its Tribunal.
• The Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave to appeal in Canada (Attorney General) v. Mowat, a case about whether the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has the authority to award legal costs to a successful complainant. This case arises because the Canadian Commission has stopped representing human rights complainants before the Tribunal and courts, and complainants are increasingly appearing unrepresented, with a high likelihood of losing, or they are hiring their own counsel.
* more...
The effect of shutting down Tribunals, sending human rights complainants to courts, and using legal costs as a substitute for public access, will be to weaken Canada’s system of human rights laws and discourage Canadians from using them.
Source:
Women's Court of Canada

SOUNDBITES e-Bulletin : August 31, 2010
In this issue:
1. REGISTER TODAY for "Common Ground - Schools as Community Hubs: The Vision, The Challenge, The Opportunity"
2. Coming Together to Address Poverty in Toronto – Establishing Roots for Community Action
3. Social Planning Toronto helps lead the “Save the Census” Campaign
4. SPT Member Forum Responds to “Partnership Project”
5. News From Our Partners
6. Worth Repeating - How Census-Gate Will Change Canada
7. Get Involved in Social Planning Toronto
8. About Social Planning Toronto
9. Join us on Twitter & Facebook
Source:
Social Planning Toronto
Social Planning 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.

TED : Ideas Worth Spreading
[NOTE : videos may not work if you're behind a network firewall; if that's the case, try viewing them at home]

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. (...) On TED.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 700 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled in English, and many are subtitled in various languages. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.
[ About TED ]

TED themes
* Technology * Entertainment * Design * Business * Science * Culture * Arts * Global issues

Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index - "A place where happiness doesn't cost the earth..." (17-minute video)
Filmed July 2010; posted online August 2010
Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn't have to cost the earth). Which countries rank highest in the HPI? You might be surprised.

Foster children get tuition support
August 25, 2010
(...) Less than half of [Ontario's foster children complete high school by age 21, and less than a quarter of those go on to post-secondary education. By contrast, 75 per cent of Ontario youth finish high school and 40 per cent get a post-secondary education. (...) Social policy expert John Stapleton ... says youth should be allowed to stay in foster homes until they are 21 if they choose to, and that the province should financially support those in care until age 25. “The real de facto age of adulthood in our society is much higher and people are leaving home much later. If child welfare agencies are in the position of being a parent to a child, they should be doing what any normal good parent would,” he said.
Source:
Parent Central
[ The Toronto Star ]

NOTE: I don't generally copy Finance Canada news releases into my site and newsletter, but whenever the Harper government releases something late on a Friday, I hear even louder alarm bells than usual...

At 3:19pm on Friday afternoon ("Maybe no one will notice, eh?"), Finance Canada sent out an email announcing a consultation on "draft legislative proposals to implement tax measures from Budget 2010 along with several previously announced tax initiatives."
The consultation ends September 27.

Legislative Proposals relating to the Income Tax Act,
the Air Travellers Security Charge Act, the Excise Act, 2001, and the Excise Tax Act
The proposals released today include draft legislation to:
* Provide for the sharing of the Canada Child Tax Benefit and the Universal Child Care Benefit in cases of shared custody.
* Allow Registered Retirement Savings Plan proceeds to be transferred to a Registered Disability Savings Plan on a tax-deferred basis.
* Implement disbursement quota reform for registered charities.
* Better target the tax incentives in place for employee stock options.
* Expand the availability of accelerated capital cost allowance for clean energy generation.
* Adjust the capital cost allowance rate for television set-top boxes to better reflect the useful life of these assets.
* Clarify the definition of a principal-business corporation for the purposes of the rules relating to Canadian Renewable and Conservation Expenses.
* Introduce amendments consequential to the introduction in 2011 of new International Financial Reporting Standards by the Accounting Standards Board.
* Provide legislative authority for the Canada Revenue Agency to issue online notices where the taxpayer so requests.
* Implement a new reporting regime for aggressive tax planning, taking into account comments received during post-budget consultations.
* Replace the previous proposals relating to foreign investment entities with several limited enhancements to the current Income Tax Act and better target and simplify previous proposals relating to non-resident trusts, taking into account comments received during post-budget consultations.
* Counter schemes designed to shelter tax otherwise payable by artificially increasing foreign tax credits.
* Ensure that income trust conversions into corporations are subject to the same loss utilization rules that currently apply to similar transactions involving only corporations.
* Limit tax arbitrage opportunities by extending the application of the Specified Leasing Property rules to property that is the subject of a lease to a government or other tax-exempt entity, or to a non-resident.

The draft legislative proposals also include other previously announced measures identified in Budget 2010, as modified to take into account consultations and deliberations since their release, as well as an income tax amendment relating to the enactment of the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act:

* The Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative for small excise taxpayers, announced by the Minister of National Revenue on March 31, 2009.
* Measures relating to the income taxation of shareholders of foreign affiliates, previously released in draft form on December 18, 2009.
* Rules to facilitate the implementation of Employee Life and Health Trusts, released in draft form on February 26, 2010.
* The introduction of a personal income tax credit in respect of Employment Insurance premiums paid by self-employed individuals.

References to “Announcement Date” are to be read as references to today’s date. Explanatory notes to the legislative proposals will be posted on the Department of Finance website shortly.

Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the draft legislative proposals by September 27, 2010.

Release of The Fiscal Monitor
News Release
August 27, 2010
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today released The Fiscal Monitor for June 2010.
Highlights
* June 2010: budgetary deficit of $2.8 billion
* April to June 2010: budgetary deficit of $7.2 billion

Census burden 'colossally inflated,' MPs told
August 27, 2010
Gloria Galloway
Political posturing dominated a debate about the government’s decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census at parliamentary hearing Friday with Conservative MPs trying to make opposition members seem out of touch with the common man and their rivals in opposition trying to make the Tories appear out of touch with common sense. Conservative members of the standing committee on industry, science and technology did their best to trip up those experts called by opposition members to defend the mandatory long-form. And opposition members did the same to the people called by the Tories.
Source:

Science journal attacks Harper’s ban on long census
Provides essential information for planning the future, professors say in Nature journal.
August 25, 2010
Canada is facing international criticism in the prestigious science journal Nature over the Harper government’s decision to stop requiring that Canadians fill out a lengthy census questionnaire. Two U.S.-based statistics experts describe Canada’s move as part of a global attack on census taking that is jeopardizing a vital tool for taking the pulse of nations.
Source:
Globe and Mail

Police take on Harper over census
By Gloria Galloway
August 23, 2010
The plan to scrap the long-gun registry is not the only policy of the federal Conservative government that is causing consternation at Canadian police agencies. The Canadian Association of Police Boards (CAPB) approved eight resolutions when its members met in New Brunswick last week, including one that calls on the government to restore the mandatory long-form census.

Census Offensus (The Offensive Census)
Papal Encyclical
August 25, 2010
I am aware of the ways in which the Census has been and continues to be misconstrued and emptied of meaning, with the consequent risk of being misinterpreted, detached from ethical living and, in any event, undervalued. In the social, juridical, cultural, political and economic fields — the contexts, in other words, that are most exposed to this danger — it is easily dismissed as irrelevant for interpreting and giving direction to moral responsibility.
Source:
Pope Benedict XVI

datalibre.ca
datalibre.ca is a blog that's maintained mostly by Tracey Lauriault.
It's inspired by civicaccess.ca, which believes all levels of Canadian governments should make civic information and data accessible at no cost in open formats to their citizens.

NOTE: Tracey is on "Census holiday" until September 2.
Check her latest Census-related blog posts below,
then scroll to the bottom of the Census Watch page (also Tracey's work)
for links to many other key online resources.

Is there an old-style Tory in the House?
Murray and Mulroney: Is there an old-style Tory in the House?
The Canada we know was a blend of the centre and the centre-left. Now it’s a hybrid of the centre and the hard right
By Lawrence Martin
August 26, 2010
(...)
But the [Tory] party’s hard right now appears, with a few policy exceptions, to have assumed control of the agenda. And that agenda is about keeping out boat people, letting in Fox News, building new jails, reviewing affirmative action, killing the gun registry, playing down climate change, revamping the census and giving more voice to social conservatives.
Source:
Globe and Mail

CLEO Legal Rights Guides (rental housing and social assistance) - August 24
(CLEO - Community Legal Education Ontario)

CLEO - Community Legal Education Ontario
CLEONet is a web site of legal information for community workers and advocates who work with low-income and disadvantaged communities.
CLEONet has resources, news, events, and webinars produced by community organizations and legal clinics across Ontario.
CLEONet is a project of CLEO and is funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario.
CLEONet benefits from the funding that CLEO receives from Legal Aid Ontario and the Department of Justice Canada.
------------------
Site français :
Éducation juridique communautaire Ontario
------------------

NEW!
CLEO Legal Rights Guides ( rental housing and social assistance) - August 2010
CLEO is producing these guides to provide people with another way to easily access essential legal information.
The first two guides are on rental housing and social assistance. Your feedback is important as we expand to other areas of law.
* Rental Housing - Repairs, rent increases, eviction and more
* Social Assistance - Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program: applying, appealing and more

How Welfare Works in Ontario
- for clients of the system:

Social Assistance
In Ontario, if you have a low income or no income, you may qualify for help from one of these social assistance programs:
1. Ontario Works (OW), which some people call welfare. This program is delivered by municipal governments. In other words, it is run by the local government of the town, city, county, district, or region you live in.

2. The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), which some people call disability benefits. This program is for people with serious health problems. It is run by the Ontario government's Ministry of Community and Social Services."

Click the above link to read the rest of the OW and ODSP general descriptions, then select the program that interests you in the dark green horizontal band at the top of the page. Clicking Ontario Works, for example, opens a new subset with the following links:
* Qualifying for OW * Participation Agreements * Living with a spouse * Support payments and OW * If you are under 18 * Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit * OW and working * Proving you still qualify * Refused, reduced, or cut off * Health benefits when you go off OW

CLEONet Launches Online Legal Rights Guides
News release
Posted August 24, 2010

Browse resources by legal topic
* Abuse and Family Violence * Aboriginal Law * Consumer Law * Criminal Law * Education Law * Employment and Work * Family Law * Health and Disability * Housing Law * Human Rights and the Charter * Immigration and Refugee Law * Legal System * Social Assistance and Pensions * Wills and Estates
[ Ressources en français par sujet ]
[ Resources in 40+ languages - including Swahili. ]

CLEO Links
===> 150+ links organized under the following headings:
* Community Legal Clinics in Ontario * Public Legal Education * International Public Legal Education * Community Information Centres * Literacy * Social Justice * Government * Boards and Tribunals * Laws * Domestic Violence * Legal Services * Other

News & Events
- Latest news and events about legal issues and law reform

Selected recent news
(from the News & Events link):

Don't slash food assistance
Posted August 23, 2010
- A Toronto Star editorial says the Special Diet replacement program is unlikely to meet the needs of recipients with medical conditions unless the government consults with them before implementing it.

Groups want input on Ontario's new nutrition supplement
Posted August 23, 2010
- Health and social advocates say they are still waiting for promised Ontario government consultation on the design of a program to replace the special diet allowance, according to a Healthzone.ca article.

Hydro price comparison requirement gets zapped
Posted August 19, 2010 - A Toronto Star article reports that a proposal to require electricity retailers to give consumers a side-by-side price comparison, showing what they would pay with or without an energy contract, has been quietly ditched by the Ontario government.

A quick way to ease poverty
Posted August 18, 2010 - A Toronto Star editorial says urging people to get jobs and then stripping them of the financial benefits that come with work makes little sense, but that is just what Ontario's welfare system does.

Women's Court of Canada offers alternative thoughts on equality judgments
Posted August 17, 2010 - According to its web site, the Women's Court of Canada is an innovative project bringing together academics, activists, and litigators in order literally to rewrite the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms equality jurisprudence.

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

August 27, 2010
Gambling, 2010
* Net revenue from government-run lotteries, video lottery terminals (VLTs), casinos and slot machines not in casinos rose steadily from $2.73 billion in 1992, before levelling off and remaining at around $13.7 billion since 2007 ($13.75 billion in 2009).1
* Net revenue from pari-mutuel betting (horse racing) dropped from $532 million to $355 million over the same period (1992 to 2009).
- includes the following tables and charts
Table 1 Gambling revenues and profits
Table 2 Characteristics of workers
Table 3 Characteristics of jobs
Table 4 Household expenditures on gambling activities
Table 5 Household expenditures on all gambling activities by income group, 2008
Chart A Net revenue from government-run gambling has levelled off recently
Chart B Gambling gross domestic product (GDP) turned down before the rest of the economy
Full article:
HTML
PDF (115K, 5 pages)

August 27, 2010
Income replacement during the retirement years
* Highlights
* Full article:
HTML
PDF (136K, 8 pages)
Abstract:
This article examines the extent to which family income of individuals in their mid-fifties is 'replaced' by other sources of income during the retirement years. It does so by tracking various cohorts of tax filers as they age from their mid-fifties to their late seventies. Earlier work examined this question for the 50% of the population with strong labour market attachment during their mid-fifties. This paper extends that work to include 80% to 85% of the population.

Source:
Perspectives on Labour and Income
[Click "View" for the current issue or
"Chronological index" for earlier issues of this publication.]

August 26, 2010
Payroll employment, earnings and hours, June 2010
Between June 2009 and June 2010, the average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees rose by 4.0% to $853.50. This was the fastest year-over-year increase since February 2008.
- includes two tables:
* Average weekly earnings (including overtime) for all employees
* Number of employees

Employment, Earnings and Hours
This publication presents a timely picture of employment, earnings and hours.
The tabulations focus on monthly labour market information and some historical data series.
NOTE: the report itself is posted about a month later than the release in The Daily.
Click "View" to see the latest issue of this report online; click "Chronological index" for earlier issues.

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

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

Children in Europe -- Playing outside: Why does it matter?
25 Aug 10
- Latest issue of Children in Europe examines the use of outdoor space across the EU and the benefits that unstructured play and the natural environment offer to young children.

Online guide to ECEC credentialing
25 Aug 10
- Website developed by the Child Care Human Resources Sector Council allows users to search, compare and browse requirements to work in ECEC across Canada.

First round Early Years Centres
25 Aug 10
- Government of Prince Edward Island announces the first 36 centres that will implement the Preschool Excellence Initiative.

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.

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.

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.

August 27:
Hurricane Katrina Recovery at 5-Year Anniversary
Overhauling Low-Performing Schools
Food Stamp Program Enrollment - Wisconsin
Joblessness in the US
Flooding in Pakistan

August 26:
Depression among Mothers of Infants in Poverty
State Budget and Programs for the Poor - Texas
Supplemental Security Income and Refugees
State Children’s Health Insurance Program - Kentucky

August 25:
Race to the Top
Medicaid Reform - Florida
Medicaid Application Process and Enrollment - South Carolina
Medicaid and Family Planning - Wisconsin
Food Stamp Program Enrollment - Montana
Costs of Chronic Homelessness

August 24:
Race to the Top Grant Competition
Children’s Mental Health Post-Hurricane Katrina
General Assistance Medical Care - Minnesota
Recession and Rural Hospitals - Georgia
Recession and Health Insurance Coverage

August 23:
State Cuts to Family Services - Texas
The Homeless and Access to Health Care
Child Care Subsidies - Georgia
Poverty Measurement in Arab Nations

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 (see below)
appear in a dark box in the top right-hand corner of each page.

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

1. A social inclusion action plan: opportunities and challenges
2. A scan of disadvantage in Queensland 2010
3. Leaving Care and Homelessness: A CHP Sector Forum
4. Community activity and service delivery models: an overview of Brotherhood centres
5. Technology developments in the digital economy

25 August 2010, CRINMAIL issue 1189
In this issue:
- Europe's asylum policies must give children a chance
- Global Employment Trends for Youth
- Swaziland - next victim of ritual killings
- Commentary on the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- International youth report on corporal punishment
- West Africa: Youth forum on violence against children
- Bangladesh bars enforced Islamic dress code
- El Salvador: UN children's expert makes first visit
- Malta: Children's Commissioner investigates detentions
- Egypt: Children's participation (event and call for papers)
- Also includes:
* World news * Reports * Events * Laws * Issues
* Advocacy * Challenging breaches * Take action * Campaigns * Toolkits

Links to Issues of CRINMAIL
- links to hundreds of 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.

Call someone on the telephone from Gmail - Anywhere in Canada or the U.S. FREE!!
Requires Windows XP+ / Mac OS X 10.4+ / Linux
Free calls to telephones in the US and Canada; cheap international calls (pennies per minute)
Video chat, too --- Install the plugin and get video chat for free!
(See the rate comparison table)
By Gilles: I just installed the Google software on my Intel Duo core quad Gateway computer with Windows 7 (64-bit) operating system. (using Firefox 3.6.8 browser).
The installation went without a hitch* and I made my first free call to my land line telephone upstairs. The quality of the call is equivalent to a half-duplex speakerphone.
[*except for the slow download of the setup file, likely because a few million people are trying to download the program at the same time....
When you've installed the program and restarted your browser, you can call landline telephones via Google Mail --- just click the "Call phone" link in the left column in Google Mail..

Whenever I add a link to any page on the Canadian Social Research Links site, I copy it to this What's New page. At the beginning of each week, usually on Sunday, I copy the content directly from this page into the Canadian Social Research Newsletter and send it by e-mail to subscribers. I also create an HTML version of the newsletter (see the links immediately below), which I post to my site. The HTML version of the newsletter also serves as an archive for "old" content from this What's New page.

NOTES:
1. I don't update the links in the newsletter, so you'll definitely find some broken ones in there, especially in the older issues.
2. If you plan to link from your website to any of the newsletters below, or to add one or more issues of this newsletter to your Internet Explorer Favorites or your Netscape/Firefox Bookmarks, please note that I clean up server space for my site from time to time by deleting older newsletters. Feel free to download any of the newsletters below to your own computer before they disappear...

Newsletter Archive*
*NOTE: The Canadian Social Research Newsletter page contains the table of contents for each issue in the current calendar year.
For the table of contents for issues in earlier years, see:

You can read older issues of this newsletter back to September 2003
by going to the "csrl-news archive" of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) web site.
[In the list below, no link means no newsletter was sent out that week.]