Community Action articles from January 2005

Community Action archives from January 2005

Tsunami fundraising.(Comments)
January 24, 2005... By now, the fact that the natural disaster in the Indian Ocean has produced a huge wave of generosity in Canada is well-known. Approximately $160 million has been contributed to organizations who have agencies or connections to programs...

Quality is higher in non-profit centres than commercial, study reports.(Child & Family)(child care centres)
January 24, 2005... TORONTO -- Quality is higher in non-profit child care centres than in commercial facilities, stated economists Gordon Cleveland and Michael Krashinsky. "From our study, it appears that non-profit child care would make good public policy,"...

Panel proposes tax aid for disability, program expenditures still needed.(Disability)(Technical Advisory Committee on Tax Measures for Persons with Disabilities)
January 24, 2005... OTTAWA -- Tax-based initiatives to help disabled Canadians has its limitations, the Technical Advisory Committee on Tax Measures for Persons with Disabilities recommends and urges the federal government to provide additional funding for persons...

Unicef plays down adoption in SE Asia.(Child & Family)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... Unicef Executive Director Carol Bellamy said that several thousand children (over 3,000 in Sri Lanka) remain unclaimed in the wake of the tzunami that hit the Indian Ocean area on Dec. 26. "Their lives and futures are under threat." ...

Ontario undoing welfare legacy of the Harris government.(Income Security)(Mike Harris)
January 24, 2005... The Ontario government is changing its social assistance regulations to undo some of the harsher measures introduced by the previous government led by Mike Harris. The government announced that it will: * no longer treat grants,...

Calendar Canada.(Calendar)
January 24, 2005... Jan. 28-29: Workshop: Aggression in Children--Children's Mental Health Program; TAPE Educational Services; Toronto; www.adv-edu.com; 416.929.3396 Jan. 28-29: Workshop: E-Counselling: A New Method for Delivering Clinical Services; TAPE...

Foreign calendar.(Calendar)
January 24, 2005... Feb. 10-11: Sociotherapy for Sociopaths; Criminal Justice Addiction Services, Birmingham, AL; /ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/criminaljustice Feb. 20-27: The Spirit of Creative Caring: The Cuban Children's and Family Services Tour,...

Victim service agencies assist over 360,000 per year.(Child & Family)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... Canada's first victim service agencies survey reports that these organizations helped almost 360,000 people affected by crime in 2002/03. A one-day survey snapshot, taken on October 22, 2003, showed that more than three-quarters of the...

Child benefit clawback challenged in court.(Child & Family)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TORONTO -- A group of Ontario parents who receive social assistance are taking the federal and provincial government to court on the clawback of the National Child Benefit Supplement from the welfare payments. They have launched a Charter...

Director claims CAS told: don't pay foster parents and rotate staff.(Child & Family)(Bernard Smith, Bruce Children's Aid Society)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... "It is a crying shame" Bruce Children's Aid Society Executive Director Bernard Smith wrote in a letter published in the Toronto Star. The Ontario government is failing to pickup $80 million for the 51 children's aid societies. He claims...

Saskatchewan opens access to paternal adoption records.(Child & Family)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... REGINA -- New Saskatchewan legislation enables birth fathers to be included in the planning for their child in adoption proceedings and will increase flexibility for accessing birth father information in adoptions that have been finalized in...

Ontario removes adoption fees.(Child & Family)(intercountry adoptions)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TORONTO -- As adoption agencies receive a massive increase of requests for adoption of children from the tzunami-hit areas of South East Asia, Ontario's Youth Services Minister Dr. Marie Bountrogianni announced that the provincial government...

Funding.
January 24, 2005... Office of Francophone Affairs, Ontario 416 325-4958 Federation de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne FESFO-Union culturelle des franco-ontariennes, Ottawa: Workshops for teenagers "Self Affirmation" to raise awareness among teenagers and the...

Ontario office of Francophone affairs family violence prevention.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... Federation de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne FESFO-Union culturelle des franco-ontariennes, Ottawa: Project: Workshops for teenagers "Self Affirmation" to raise awareness among teenagers and the training team about prevention of violence and...

Prohibitive cost main cause of unmet needs of people with disabilities.(Disability)
January 24, 2005... OTTAWA -- Canadians with disabilities have unmet needs for aids and devices mainly because of the high cost of those aids and persons with severe disabilities are affected the most by prohibitive costs says a report prepared by the Canadian...

BC's top earners gained, lower income people lost, inequality study reports.(Income Security)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... VANCOUVER -- "We spent much of the 1990s fretting about the confidence of upper-income earners," said Marc Lee, author of New Perspectives on Income Inequality in BC, "It turns out they were doing just fine. The real story should have been...

Non-standard jobs for new workers.(Income Security)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... Most people (60%) entering the labour force or turning to work after no employment, usually come in as non-standard workers--taking part-time jobs, temporary position or self-employment, according to a study of non-standard employment in...

Ont. Senior credit up, first in 10 years.(Income Security)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TORONTO -- The Ontario government will raise tax credits for seniors with low and moderate incomes, the first time in more than 10 years. The basic property tax credit for seniors will increase by $125 to $625, effective for 2004 and subsequent...

Alta. auditor looks at seniors programs.(Income Security)(Alberta)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... EDMONTON -- Alberta is examining Seniors Core Services and Programs in Alberta. The audit objective is to determine whether the Ministries of Health and Wellness and Seniors and Community Supports have systems to ensure that their...

Ontario raises minimum wage.(Income Security)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TORONTO -- The Ontario government will raise the province's minimum wage on February 1, 2005 for the second time since taking office, Labour Minister Chris Bentley announced. The general minimum wage will rise from $7.15 to $7.45 per hour...

Letter.(Letter to the Editor)
January 24, 2005... I have been reading and benefitting from our Health Library subscription to the Community Action Newsletter for a number of years, and appreciate all the good information I receive from this format. I am sending this email to highlight an...

Residential treatment program for problem gamblers opens in Alberta.(Health)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... GRANDE PRAIRIE, AB -- The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission has opened a residential treatment program for problem gamblers at the AADAC Northern Addictions Centre (NAC) in Grande Prairie. NAC Gambling Treatment Program has four...

Rights violated in Manitoba when women have abortions at private clinic.(Health)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... WINNIPEG -- A Manitoba judge has ruled that the rights of two Manitoba women were violated because they paid for their abortions. Court of Queen's Bench Justice Geoffrey Oliphant says sections of the province's Health Services Insurance Act are...

Saskatchewan reviews addiction strategies.(Health)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... REGINA -- MLA Graham Addley has begun a review of Saskatchewan's current addictions policies and programs. He will examine best practices in the area of addictions strategies, and recommend changes that could be made in that program in the...

Canada is not a "free-rider" on U.S. drug research, expert says.(Health)
January 24, 2005... ITHACA. N.Y. -- Canada, Britain and Europe, are not "free riders" on U.S. patients and taxpayers, as the U.S. pharmaceutical industry claims. Pharmaceutical industry expert Donald Light (and supporter of President George W. Bush) told the...

Ontario judge orders detained patient moved for psychiatric treatment.(Health)
January 24, 2005... BARRIE, ON -- A psychiatric patient detained, in an Ontario maximum security hospital without receiving treatment, has been moved to a minimum security hospital where he will receive treatment. The change resulted from an order by Justice Bruce...

Ontario plans additional mental health services to treat offenders.(Health)
January 24, 2005... The government announced plans to spend $27.5 million annually in community mental health agencies across the province that will provide services to an additional 12,000 people which will treat non-violent offenders. The plan includes: *...

Ontario helps 73 hospitals to balance budgets, may still have to cut staff.(Health)
January 24, 2005... TORONTO -- Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care George Smitherman announced a $200 million one-time transitional fund to enable 73 hospitals to balance their budgets by March 31st, 2006. Hospital and nursing leaders claim that this is...

Screening urged for depression.(Health)
January 24, 2005... OTTAWA -- Routine screening of adult patients for depression will improve the detection of depression in clinical practices that have systems to assure an accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and follow-up says a recently published article...

BC offers degree courses in colleges.(Health)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... VICTORIA -- BC'S colleges will now be offering new degrees. These include: * a master of arts in criminal justice at the University College of the Fraser Valley, and * a B.SC in nursing at Douglas College--the first nursing degree to...

New health service research coming.(Health)
January 24, 2005... A peer-reviewed journal for Canadian health services and policy researchers will appear in the spring of 2005. As yet unnamed, the journal will be published by Longwoods Publishing. An editor will be appointed shortly. The new journal is...

New centre treats York-Simcoe kids.(General)
January 24, 2005... ORILLIA -- The York Simcoe Children's Treatment Centre at Soldiers' Memorial Hospital Child Development Centre has been established. Approximately 3800 children will be served by the community-based program, eliminating a 80 to 120 kilometer...

Imagine Canada.(General)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TORONTO -- The Canadian Centre for Philanthropy and the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations have amalgamated under a new name: Imagine Canada.

$1.2 billion for new foundation.(General)
January 24, 2005... HONG KONG -- Li Ka Shing, a man who went from the rice paddy to riches, announced that he was selling his 17,008,928 common shares of CIBC for approximately C$1.2 billion. Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation was established "in recognition of the...

Scotland Yard hunts child traffickers.(General)
January 24, 2005... LONDON -- The Metropolitan police have set up a child protection unit to work with international efforts to combat the possible trafficking of children in the wake of the Indian Ocean earthquake. It established the intelligence cell...

Florida rejects privatized welfare model, chooses public-non-profit route.(General)
January 24, 2005... TALLAHASSEE -- After much deliberation and speculation, Florida Governor Jeb Bush has rejected the idea of privatizing the state's welfare system. In stead it has chosen the route of public and non-profit model. Resisting considerable...

CIC fast-tracking family class immigration from disaster areas.(General)(Citizenship and Immigration Canada)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... OTTAWA -- "The Government of Canada is committed to doing as much as we can to help reunite close family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents who have been, and continue to be, seriously and personally affected by the disaster,"...

In passing.(Janet Youdell)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
January 24, 2005... Janet Youdell, who suffered from cerebral palsy since birth, and worked for the Ontario March of Dimes from the late 1980s until a few years ago as a Government Relations Assistant.