Community Action articles from February 2006

Community Action archives from February 2006

A fragile time.(Stephen Harper)
February 20, 2006... The Conservative government led by Stephen Harper is a very fragile affair. Depending on how things are managed, the Tories may not survive the next budget debate. However long it lasts, this government will be a challenge to everyone with an...

Honourable David Emerson.(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... The Honourable David Emerson and his supporters think that he is much too good, much too competent, and much too superior to waste his time in the opposition benches of the House of Commons. So overnight, he moved from minister in a Liberal...

Child advocates see chill in abuse reporting in Supreme Court ruling.
February 20, 2006... St. John's, NL -- The Supreme Court of Canada backed Wanda Young against Memorial University of New Foundland and two social work professors in the Supreme Court of Canada. She was awarded $850,000 because she was mistakenly identified as a...

Harper cancels child care agreements, NDP will offer child care bill.
February 20, 2006... Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to proceed with his Choice in Child Care and is canceling the early learning and child care agreements between the federal government and the provincial and territorial governments. His plans will meet with a...

Quality as well as access counts in health care, health council states.
February 20, 2006... Canadians need quality as well quicker health care, Health Council of Canada says in its second annual report. Council Chair Michael Decter said, "The Health Council of Canada believes it's time to ask, 'Access to what?' The report, Health...

$2.3 million missing, man faces charges.
February 20, 2006... Toronto -- Former Salvation Army property accountant Ming Wa has been charged by Toronto police with fraud over $5,000 and falsification of books and documents. The Army claims that $2.3 million is missing. In a civil lawsuit launched...

Calendar Canada.(Calendar)
February 20, 2006... Mar. 3-4: Fundamentals of mindfulness groups; Toronto; University of Toronto Continuing Education; www.socialwork.utoronto.ca Mar. 7-10: Training for human service providers and other professionals to safely manage disruptive and assaultive...

Foreign calendar.(Calendar)
February 20, 2006... Feb. 27-Mar 1: Conference: Child Welfare League of America; www.cwla.org/conferences Mar. 1-4: Therapeutic approach to the suicidal patient; Aeschi, Switzerland; Aeschi Working Group; www.aeschiconference.unbe.ch Mar. 2: Conference:...

African leaders supporting end to genital mutilation.(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... UNICEF reports that over the last six years, thousands of villages in West Africa have joined together in public pledging ceremonies to abandon female genital mutilation/cutting. The aid organization is supporting programs to end FGM/C in 18...

Drop-out rates declining, women and Atlantic provinces lead the way.(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... Canada's high school dropout rate has declined significantly since the early 1990s, especially in the Atlantic provinces, according to a report by Statistics Canada. Young women have made more progress than males and the dropout rate among...

Saskatchewan ups wages of ECE and child care workers.(CHILD FAMILY)
February 20, 2006... Regina -- Saskatchewan's early learning and child care workers will receive a retroactive six per cent wage increase, effective November 1, 2005. An estimated 1,200 child care centre employees in licensed child care centres are expected to...

Conservative family think-tank opens.(Institute of Marriage and Family Canada opened)(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... "A general awakening by the social conservative community across Canada" has led to the opening of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada in Ottawa. The Institute's first Executive Director Dave Quist says the organization will be a...

Correction.(CHILD FAMILY)(Correction notice)
February 20, 2006... April 10 is the correct deadline date to apply for the Ruth Atkinson Hindmarsh Award in 2006. The $50,000 award is given annually to a charitable organization that has implemented an activity that significantly improves the life prospects of...

National Homelessness Initiative.(FUNDING)
February 20, 2006... 905-517-2020 Living Rock: Renovations and safety upgrades to existing basement storage area. $12,980 St Matthew's House: Renovations and upgrades to food storage area. $15,000 Replacement of freezers and shelving. $25,000

Canadian International Development Agency, Ottawa.(donates money to Save the Children and Foster Parents Plan International)(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... 819-953-6238 Save the Children, Canada: To help children displaced by the violence in Colombia. The funds will provide educational opportunities for children who cannot attend school and will finance projects that teach peacebuilding and...

Richard Boustead Foundation for Children's Charities, Toronto.(FUNDING)
February 20, 2006... www.rbfcc.com/ems.html Toronto Children's Breakfast Club. To help the club provide social and educational stimulation for school age children while serving them nutritious breakfast meals daily. $10,000

Calgary Co-operative Association.(FUNDING)
February 20, 2006... 403-219-6025 Alberta Children's Hospital. To fund the construction of Emily's Backyard in the new hospital, a supervised play area in which to leave their children while they are meeting with medical staff or visiting another child in the...

Microsoft funds local tech centres.(FUNDING)
February 20, 2006... Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates announced the company will expand its funding and support for its Unlimited Potential program by $25.2 million (U.S.) to a total of more than $152 million in cash and software for community technology...

Trillium Foundation, Ontario.(FUNDING)
February 20, 2006... 800-263-2887 Port Colborne Social and Recreation Centre for Senior Citizens. To develop and promote programs for seniors in the community. This will help encourage recreation, reduce isolation and promote healthy activity for seniors in...

Maytree Foundation, Toronto.(FUNDING)
February 20, 2006... 416-944-2627 Canadian Council for Refugees, Montreal. To strengthen CCR's communications capacity. This will include working more effectively with the media; educating the public on refugee issues and thus increasing support for Canada's...

Job market not as strong as it looks, quality jobs lacking.(GENERAL)
February 20, 2006... The Canadian labour market is not as strong as it looks, Benjamin Tal of the CIBC World Markets wrote in a company publication. Job quantity is there but not the quality of jobs, according to the Canadian Employment Quality Index. Canada's...

Add rent supplement unit to Richmond's Courtyard Gardens.(GENERAL)
February 20, 2006... Richmond -- Forty assisted living units at Courtyard Gardens will receive rent supplements, provided by BC Housing to help bridge the gap between the market rent and what some tenants can afford. Courtyard Gardens, operated by Diversicare...

Demolition starts rebuilding of Regent Park.(GENERAL)
February 20, 2006... The demolition of 470 Dundas Street East in downtown Toronto is the first step in the rebuilding of Regent Park, Canada's oldest social housing development. It is the beginning of a $1-billion, 12-year revitalization project. However, the...

Ontario to offer incentives for disability support clients.(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... Ontario introduced changes to it's Ontario Disability Support Program. It provides more generous support aimed at helping people with disabilities gain greater financial independence and increase their standard of living. Minister of Community...

Ontario's youth challenge fund for youths at risk.(GENERAL)
February 20, 2006... The United Way of Toronto will administer the Ontario government's Youth Challenge Fund. As part of the province's efforts to deal with youth violence, the $15 million fund aims to create meaningful opportunities for young people who are at...

India sets out on massive effort to reduce rural poverty.(GENERAL)
February 20, 2006... The Indian government's National Rural Guarantee Scheme is an ambitious effort to reduce rural poverty, aiming to assist 60 million households. The program guarantees one member of each of the targeted households 100 days of work per year....

Aboriginal youth loans launched.(GENERAL)
February 20, 2006... The first loans have been made to student groups at the Ponoka Outreach High School in Ponoka AB under the Aboriginal Youth Lending Circle program of the Business Development Corporation. Each group of students will receive financing of up...

Four named to Order of Canada.(GENERAL)
February 20, 2006... Among those appointed to the Order of Canada in the health care and social service categories are: Maggie Hodgson, Edmonton; Pierre Viens, Neuville, QC; John H. Wedge, Toronto; Marjorie Bencz, Edmonton; Sister Susan M. Moran, Toronto; Daniel N....

1/3 of women in custody are natives.(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... Nearly one-third of women in provincial/territorial sentenced custody were Aboriginal in 2003/04. Approximately 8,100 women were sentenced and more than 2,400 were women. There were 81,100 admissions to sentenced custody in the provinces and...

Publications.
February 20, 2006... The publications listed below are for information purposes only. To obtain copies contact the publisher. The entries in this section are listed free of charge and are limited to material published in Canada and by the Canadian authors....

Sense of belonging important to health.(in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec)(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... How important is the sense of belonging to a community? A Statistics Canada report points to significant associations between community belonging and self-perceived general health emerged in all provinces, except Prince Edward Island and...

Seniors biggest budget item.( Old Age Security payments increased)(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... The biggest transfer category in the federal budget is Major Transfers to Persons. Altogether, these payments cost $42 billion, or almost 23 cents of every tax dollar. These transfers included payments to eligible elderly Canadians through...

Canada's low maternal death rates is too low, professor argues.(HEALTH)
February 20, 2006... Toronto -- Is Canada's maternal death rate too low? University of Toronto Professor Donna E. Stewart, Canada's maternal death rate may be undercounted because the statistical criteria are narrow. In the Canadian Medical Association Journal,...

More foreign MD's licenced in Ontario.(record number of medical licences issued by College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario)(Brief article)
February 20, 2006... Toronto -- Medical licences were issued by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 2005 to the highest number in 20 years. Increasing numbers of international medical graduates received practice certificates in the past two years....

Stock and bond donations could skyrocket if capital gains tax axed.(HEALTH)
February 20, 2006... "If this measure is passed, we expect donations of securities to charities to skyrocket," says JoAnne Ryan, TD Waterhouse's Philanthropy Advisor. The new Conservative government's campaign pledge to eliminate capital gains on donations of...

Manager not a manager sometimes B.C. labour boards decides.(HEALTH)
February 20, 2006... Vancouver -- A nurse-manager is now included in the bargaining unit of the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society, an agency serving people living on the street. The inclusion resulted from a decision by the British Columbia Labour...

Internet expands social ties, report says.(HEALTH)
February 20, 2006... Internet and email expand and strengthen the social ties that people maintain in the offline world, contrary to the claims of many social critics. The report, The Strength of Internet Ties, describes the ways email supplements, rather than...

78% of homes smoke free.(HEALTH)
February 20, 2006... Almost four out of five (78 per cent) Canadians reported in a one week survey that their homes are smoke-free. This included 48 per cent of homes with one or more smokers and 94 per cent of homes without smokers. Canadian Cancer Society...

UN nearing pact on disabilities.(HEALTH)
February 20, 2006... Agreement appears to be close among the members of the United Nations General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities...

Sharon Home unites N. Wpg sites.
February 20, 2006... Winnipeg -- Sharon Home's Simkin Centre will consolidate services from Kanee Centre in north Winnipeg. New construction will increase the number of personal-care beds at Simkin Centre to 200. New kosher kitchen facilities will also be built at...

Contracting out of drug plan opposed.(HEALTH)
February 20, 2006... The Ontario government's plan to contract out the Trillium Drug Plan by June 30th, is being opposed by an Ontario Public Service Employees Union which has launched a campaign against the change. The Trillium Drug Program provides subsidies...