From the Business section of the Monday, January 28, 2008, Toronto Star, page B4, an article about the Centre for Social Innovation:
The Bottom Line
'SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MOVEMENT' HAS A RICH HISTORY
Dale E. ShuttleworthSpecial to the Star
It was most gratifying to read Carol Goar's recent editorial column in the Toronto Star, "Focal point for social innovators" (Jan. 18, 2008). Ms. Goar describes the Centre for Social Innovation, a renovated warehouse in the Spadina Ave. area of Toronto.
The centre houses 85 "social enterprises," including organizations concerned with the environment, the arts, social justice, education, health, technology and design. The article pays tribute to the "social enterprise movement" in Quebec and Vancouver for providing the impetus for this very successful venture.
In fact, the cause of social enterprise has a rich history in the later part of the 20th century, including New Dawn Enterprises in Sydney, N.S. and the Mondragon Movement in the Basque Region of Spain. In each instance, these pioneers in "community economic development" had a built-in relationship with an educational and training facility to encourage co-operative enterprise and entrepreneurial skills.
Toronto also has provided leadership in the areas of community education and community economic development - essential components in the creation of social enterprises. In 1974, the Toronto Board of Education assisted in the establishment of the Learnxs Foundation Inc. as part of its Learning Exchange System.
The foundation represented an additional source of support for the burgeoning "alternatives in education" movement. In 1973, the Ontario government had imposed ceilings on educational spending and together with reduced revenue due to declining enrolment the Toronto board had limited means to fund innovative and experimental programs. The Learnxs Foundation was an independent "arms-length" non-profit charitable enterprise, which could solicit funds from public and private sources and generate revenue through the sale of goods and services to support innovative programs within the Toronto system.
What followed during the 1970s was a series of Learnxs-sponsored demonstration projects as a source of research and development in such areas as:
* School and community programs to improve inner-city education;
* A series of small enterprises to employ 14- to 15-year-old school leavers;
* Youth Ventures - a paper recycling enterprise employing at risk youth;
* Artajunction- discarded material from business and industry were recycled for use as craft materials for visual arts classes;
* Toronto Urban Studies Centre - a facility to encourage the use of the city as a learning environment;
* Learnxs Press - a publishing house for the production and sale of innovative learning materials.
The York Board of Education and its school and community organizations jointly incorporated the Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF), modeled on Learnxs. Originally devoted to multicultural arts environment. LEF during the 1980s jointed with parental groups and the school board to establish 13 school-based childcare centres for infants, pre-school and school-age children.
Training programs for youth, immigrants and refugees soon followed. Often with teachers in the workplace, provided by the board's Adult Day School, training program included renovation and construction, industrial maintenance, home helpers, health-care aides, childcare assistants, food service and catering, courier, light delivery, bus drivers and clerical services.
In 1984, LEF was asked by Employment and Immigrant Canada to convene a local committee of adjustment in response to York's high rate of unemployment and plant closures. The York Community Economic Development Committee, besides LEF and the school board, included the City of York, the York Association of Industry, the United Steelworkers and the Ontario Ministry of Labour. Outcomes of the work of the Committee included:
* York Business Opportunities Centre. In 1985, with support from the Ontario Ministry of Industry, Trade & Technology, LEF opened the first small business incubator operated by a non-profit charitable organization. Originally 28,000 square feet, the centre was later increased to 74,000 square feet providing small business incubator and training space for 40 enterprises creating 160 new jobs in the first three years. Business education students from the Adult Day School provided clerical and administrative services to tenants. An LEF childcare facility was also established at the front of the building.
* MICROTON Centre: This training facility was devoted to micro-computer skills, word and numerical processing computer-assisted design, graphics and styling, and electronic assembly and report. Located in three surplus classrooms at Vaughan Road Collegiate, it was jointly sponsored by the board of education, LEF, Commodore Business Machines, Comspec Sysems, Corel Systems and the York Business Opportunities Centre. MICROTRON served York Board employees, small business and industry, government departments, voluntary organizations and the community at large.
* MICROTRON Bus: This refurbished school bus incorporated eight workstations from the MICROTRON Centre. It visited small business, industry and service organizations on a scheduled basis to provide training in word and numerical processing for their employees and clients.
In 1996, the Training Renewal Foundation was incorporated as a non-profit charity to serve disadvantage youth and other displaced workers seeking skills, qualifications and employment opportunities. Over the years TRF has partnered with governments, employers and community organizations to provide a variety of services including job-creation programs for immigrants and refugees, OED high school equivalency, cafe vending service workers, industrial warehousing and life truck operators, fully expelled students, youth parenting, construction and craft workers and garment manufacturing.
These three community education and training organizations have been unique in the "social enterprise movement." They have combined the resources of the governmental, commercial and voluntary sectors to address skill shortages in the labour market while providing entrepreneurial opportunities for some of the most disadvantaged segments of our society.
Dale E. Shuttleworth, executive director of The Training Renewal Foundation, is a former co-ordinator of Alternative and Community Programs with the Toronto Board of Education and Superintendent of Community Services with the City of York Board of Education. The Bottom Line is a weekly guest column. Please send your submissions to the bottomline@thestar.ca
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Student Defenders
From the Greater Toronto section of the Toronto Star, Monday, January 21, 2008, page A8, an article about law students at a legal services clinic:
STUDENTS GREAT DEFENDERS OF THE NEEDY
At the Downtown Legal Services clinic, young legal eagles find a rewarding learning experience that fills an overwhelming need
Peter Small
Courts Bureau
Kareem Leslie stares up at Justice William Wolski in drab Courtroom 112 at Old City Hall, and softly says one word: "guilty."
During an argument last July, he hit a fellow rooming house tenant on the head with a garbage can and pulled her hair, according to an agreed statement of facts read into the record. Grabbing a kitchen knife, he said, "I'll kill you."
As the slender 19-year-old man with slicked black hair and an earring pleads guilty to one count of assault, student Kate Brindley, 26, stands beside him. She is with Downtown Legal Services, a clinic run by the University of Toronto's law school.
Like 200 law students each year, she is getting a gritty first-hand taste of tribunals and lower courts while providing free services to poor clients.
Crown prosecutor Robert Wright asks the judge to give Leslie a suspended sentence and a year's probation, which would leave the young man with a criminal record.
But Brindley points out that Leslie is gainfully occupied as a full-time student and has moved away from the rooming house where the argument occurred. "He has had no contact with this woman ever again," she says.
Wolski is surprisingly generous. He grants Leslie an absolute discharge, despite the violence of his crime, noting that temper tantrums are not unusual for people living in close quarters. Leslie will have no criminal record.
It's a sweet turn of events for Brindley, a second-year law student from Thunder Bay who negotiated the guilty plea.
"I'm very happy for my client," she says.
For her, working at the clinic has been the most rewarding part of law school, giving her a taste of the challenges faced by people without means. "It's a learning experience for me, and this is very real for them."
As Leslie prepares to leave court, he confides that he couldn't have afforded a lawyer. "She had my back," he says of Brindley. "She worked really hard to help me."
Downtown Legal Services, one of six legal clinics operated by Ontario law schools, is at the cutting edge of the province's access to justice crisis.
Occupying smart but modestly decorated rooms in a three-storey brick house on Spadina Ave., the clinic manages to look both efficient and welcoming.
In a phone room, first-year law students supervised by more experienced scholars screen calls, make referrals or offer guidance on simple matters.
In other offices, upper-year students interview clients or stare at computers and law books as they prepare cases.
In a small conference room, second-year law student Joel Hechter holds a seminar for three first-year women on how to apply the Charter of Rights to real caases.
All the work is supervised by the clinic's three staff lawyers.
"We tend to be, like community clinics, a place of last resort," says executive director Judith McCormack. Out of 4,000 people who call each year, the clinic serves 1,000 directly. Most of the rest are referred to other services. "The need for legal services outstrips our ability to provide," she says.
The clinic handles immigration and refugee issues, academic offences and appeals, tenants' rights, children's rights, family law and summary conviction (the more minor) criminal charges - all free of charge.
Back at Old City Hall courthouse, student Sam Siew, 21, stands beside a 37-year-old woman who pleads guilty to assault and threatening death. Her case is remanded to May 14.
Justice Peter Hryn agrees to a minor variation on her bail, which should be a simple matter.
But the paperwork must be signed by another judge before it can take effect. At a clerk's office, Siew and the woman, who asked that her name not be used, learn that the form has been signed in error by a justice of the peace, instead of a judge.
For more than an hour, the second-year law student and the woman walk between offices chasing the judge's signature. For a time, the bail paper gets lost in one of the offices.
Dressed in an impeccable blue suit, Siew explains their dilemma to four clerks and secretaries in a calm, reasonable manner. He phones a lawyer at the clinic for advice. Finally, the paperwork is located. Now, the right judge must be found.
"These kinds of things put people off," Siew confides. "Even though the system is broken, we have to work in it to make it better."
McCormack says the at one of the chief benefits of the clinic is that it exposes future lawyers like Siew - as well as those who go on to become judges, policy-makers and politicians - to the struggles that the poor and marginalized face in getting representation.
"We have kind of a front-row seat in the access-to-justice crisis,"she says.
The clinic gets almost two thirds of its $760,000 annual budget from Legal Aid Ontario. The rest of the funding comes from student fees and the U of T faculty of law.
Downtown Legal Services has scored notable successes in courtrooms or tribunals, sometimes setting legal precedents, because the students bring time, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas to their work, says Karen Bellinger, a staff lawyer specializing in criminal cases.
"They may not have the polish of some lawyers, but I don't think anyone beats them for sheer dedication and heart," Bellinger says.
STUDENTS GREAT DEFENDERS OF THE NEEDY
At the Downtown Legal Services clinic, young legal eagles find a rewarding learning experience that fills an overwhelming need
Peter Small
Courts Bureau
Kareem Leslie stares up at Justice William Wolski in drab Courtroom 112 at Old City Hall, and softly says one word: "guilty."
During an argument last July, he hit a fellow rooming house tenant on the head with a garbage can and pulled her hair, according to an agreed statement of facts read into the record. Grabbing a kitchen knife, he said, "I'll kill you."
As the slender 19-year-old man with slicked black hair and an earring pleads guilty to one count of assault, student Kate Brindley, 26, stands beside him. She is with Downtown Legal Services, a clinic run by the University of Toronto's law school.
Like 200 law students each year, she is getting a gritty first-hand taste of tribunals and lower courts while providing free services to poor clients.
Crown prosecutor Robert Wright asks the judge to give Leslie a suspended sentence and a year's probation, which would leave the young man with a criminal record.
But Brindley points out that Leslie is gainfully occupied as a full-time student and has moved away from the rooming house where the argument occurred. "He has had no contact with this woman ever again," she says.
Wolski is surprisingly generous. He grants Leslie an absolute discharge, despite the violence of his crime, noting that temper tantrums are not unusual for people living in close quarters. Leslie will have no criminal record.
It's a sweet turn of events for Brindley, a second-year law student from Thunder Bay who negotiated the guilty plea.
"I'm very happy for my client," she says.
For her, working at the clinic has been the most rewarding part of law school, giving her a taste of the challenges faced by people without means. "It's a learning experience for me, and this is very real for them."
As Leslie prepares to leave court, he confides that he couldn't have afforded a lawyer. "She had my back," he says of Brindley. "She worked really hard to help me."
Downtown Legal Services, one of six legal clinics operated by Ontario law schools, is at the cutting edge of the province's access to justice crisis.
Occupying smart but modestly decorated rooms in a three-storey brick house on Spadina Ave., the clinic manages to look both efficient and welcoming.
In a phone room, first-year law students supervised by more experienced scholars screen calls, make referrals or offer guidance on simple matters.
In other offices, upper-year students interview clients or stare at computers and law books as they prepare cases.
In a small conference room, second-year law student Joel Hechter holds a seminar for three first-year women on how to apply the Charter of Rights to real caases.
All the work is supervised by the clinic's three staff lawyers.
"We tend to be, like community clinics, a place of last resort," says executive director Judith McCormack. Out of 4,000 people who call each year, the clinic serves 1,000 directly. Most of the rest are referred to other services. "The need for legal services outstrips our ability to provide," she says.
The clinic handles immigration and refugee issues, academic offences and appeals, tenants' rights, children's rights, family law and summary conviction (the more minor) criminal charges - all free of charge.
Back at Old City Hall courthouse, student Sam Siew, 21, stands beside a 37-year-old woman who pleads guilty to assault and threatening death. Her case is remanded to May 14.
Justice Peter Hryn agrees to a minor variation on her bail, which should be a simple matter.
But the paperwork must be signed by another judge before it can take effect. At a clerk's office, Siew and the woman, who asked that her name not be used, learn that the form has been signed in error by a justice of the peace, instead of a judge.
For more than an hour, the second-year law student and the woman walk between offices chasing the judge's signature. For a time, the bail paper gets lost in one of the offices.
Dressed in an impeccable blue suit, Siew explains their dilemma to four clerks and secretaries in a calm, reasonable manner. He phones a lawyer at the clinic for advice. Finally, the paperwork is located. Now, the right judge must be found.
"These kinds of things put people off," Siew confides. "Even though the system is broken, we have to work in it to make it better."
McCormack says the at one of the chief benefits of the clinic is that it exposes future lawyers like Siew - as well as those who go on to become judges, policy-makers and politicians - to the struggles that the poor and marginalized face in getting representation.
"We have kind of a front-row seat in the access-to-justice crisis,"she says.
The clinic gets almost two thirds of its $760,000 annual budget from Legal Aid Ontario. The rest of the funding comes from student fees and the U of T faculty of law.
Downtown Legal Services has scored notable successes in courtrooms or tribunals, sometimes setting legal precedents, because the students bring time, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas to their work, says Karen Bellinger, a staff lawyer specializing in criminal cases.
"They may not have the polish of some lawyers, but I don't think anyone beats them for sheer dedication and heart," Bellinger says.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Poverty, Education and Immigrant Children
From the Canadian Immigrant, January 2008, page 32, an article about poverty, education and children from immigrant families in an an area of Toronto where the majority never graduate from high school:
HEADING DOWN THE RIGHT PATH
Program helps youth in Regent Park - where more than 70 per cent of kids from immigrant families never receive diplomas
By Zalina Alvi
Sometimes all you need is a little support to get you on this right path. For high school kids in Regent Park, support comes in the form of the Pathways to Education program.
Since its launch in 2001, the program that provides support to at risk and/or economically disadvantaged youth in one of the poorest communities in Toronto has helped more than 300 young men and women graduate from high school. This is following a dropout rate that, before 2001, saw 56 percent of youth, and more than 70 per cent of kids from immigrant families, never receiving their diplomas.
According to Norman Rowen, the developer and ex-director for the Regent Park program and current director of research and evaluation for Pathways to Education Canada, the support the program provides is responsible for getting these kids across the finish line.
"The program was designed to say, 'What are the challenges that the kids face, and what are the supports that can be provided to change that dropout rate?'"
Today, that rate has fallen to about 10 percent for students involved with the program, with more than 80 percent of those who graduate going on to pursue postsecondary education. In a community where the challenges that youth face are aggravated by issues of poverty, this is a remarkable feat.
Rowen understands the seriousness of poverty in the community especially in light of the recent United Way report that identified Toronto as the poverty capital of the country.
"It is a view of trying to address some of the issues involved in poverty to give folks a better education," he explains.
"Attacking poverty through education has been a longtime dream of many folks."
The program offers four kinds of support to tackle these issues: academic, in the form of tutoring five nights a week; mentorship, which includes career counselling in grades 11 and 12; financial, including bus tickets to get to school and a postsecondary education tuition fund, and a student-parent support worker, who acts as a mediator and counsellor for the kids.
Many of the kids benefiting from the program are coming from immigrant families, a factor that brings with it its own challenges. For some, getting used to the education system is a difficult transition. For others, their situation is worsened by the fact that some parents have credentials that go unrecognized in Canada.
"That's part of poverty they face," Rowen asserts.
But this year, about 830 students are participating in the program, representing between 90 and 95 percent ofthe youth population in the community. In fact, it has been such a success that in September 2007, Pathways to Education Canada was created and similar efforts were launched in other cities around Canada, including Lawrence Heights, Rexdale, Kitchener, Ottawa and Montreal-Verdun.
Rowen explains why the program works.
"It's not simply mentoring, it's not simply tutoring, it's not simply a caring adult; it's actually organizing the immediate financial and long-term supports together with the other kinds of support - academic, social, motivation, psychological, all of those kinds of things that make it possible for kids to be successful."
And Rowen makes it clear that the youth remain the focus and motivation behind the program.
"The kids in Regent Park are a normal distribution of kids. They may have the stigma of being low income or tough, or gangs or whatever. But, in fact, they're normal kids. They're just kids who are homogeneously poor, that's the thing they have in common."
The thesis we went in with was that with those supports, the kids in Regent Park could be as successful as anybody else in the city of Toronto."
HEADING DOWN THE RIGHT PATH
Program helps youth in Regent Park - where more than 70 per cent of kids from immigrant families never receive diplomas
By Zalina Alvi
Sometimes all you need is a little support to get you on this right path. For high school kids in Regent Park, support comes in the form of the Pathways to Education program.
Since its launch in 2001, the program that provides support to at risk and/or economically disadvantaged youth in one of the poorest communities in Toronto has helped more than 300 young men and women graduate from high school. This is following a dropout rate that, before 2001, saw 56 percent of youth, and more than 70 per cent of kids from immigrant families, never receiving their diplomas.
According to Norman Rowen, the developer and ex-director for the Regent Park program and current director of research and evaluation for Pathways to Education Canada, the support the program provides is responsible for getting these kids across the finish line.
"The program was designed to say, 'What are the challenges that the kids face, and what are the supports that can be provided to change that dropout rate?'"
Today, that rate has fallen to about 10 percent for students involved with the program, with more than 80 percent of those who graduate going on to pursue postsecondary education. In a community where the challenges that youth face are aggravated by issues of poverty, this is a remarkable feat.
Rowen understands the seriousness of poverty in the community especially in light of the recent United Way report that identified Toronto as the poverty capital of the country.
"It is a view of trying to address some of the issues involved in poverty to give folks a better education," he explains.
"Attacking poverty through education has been a longtime dream of many folks."
The program offers four kinds of support to tackle these issues: academic, in the form of tutoring five nights a week; mentorship, which includes career counselling in grades 11 and 12; financial, including bus tickets to get to school and a postsecondary education tuition fund, and a student-parent support worker, who acts as a mediator and counsellor for the kids.
Many of the kids benefiting from the program are coming from immigrant families, a factor that brings with it its own challenges. For some, getting used to the education system is a difficult transition. For others, their situation is worsened by the fact that some parents have credentials that go unrecognized in Canada.
"That's part of poverty they face," Rowen asserts.
But this year, about 830 students are participating in the program, representing between 90 and 95 percent ofthe youth population in the community. In fact, it has been such a success that in September 2007, Pathways to Education Canada was created and similar efforts were launched in other cities around Canada, including Lawrence Heights, Rexdale, Kitchener, Ottawa and Montreal-Verdun.
Rowen explains why the program works.
"It's not simply mentoring, it's not simply tutoring, it's not simply a caring adult; it's actually organizing the immediate financial and long-term supports together with the other kinds of support - academic, social, motivation, psychological, all of those kinds of things that make it possible for kids to be successful."
And Rowen makes it clear that the youth remain the focus and motivation behind the program.
"The kids in Regent Park are a normal distribution of kids. They may have the stigma of being low income or tough, or gangs or whatever. But, in fact, they're normal kids. They're just kids who are homogeneously poor, that's the thing they have in common."
The thesis we went in with was that with those supports, the kids in Regent Park could be as successful as anybody else in the city of Toronto."
Friday, February 1, 2008
War on Poverty
From the Comment & Editorials section of the Toronto Star, Thursday, January 17, 2008, page AA4, a comment on the war on poverty:
KEY PLAYER IN WAR ON POVERTY
John Cartwright
Poverty reduction has been identified as the Number 1 challenge for 2008. The issue has been front-page news in all the major Toronto media, and now the Ontario government has concurred. The United Way's Losing Ground report, followingby U of T's The Three Cities within Toronto, each show in the starkest terms the impact of the new economy onToronto residents.
As Toronto's poverty rate grows, so must our political will to tackle its root causes. But to actually do that there has to be an admission that the dramatic expansion of poverty is directly related to low income and jobs that don't pay a living wage. Then we have to look at history. What elements were put in place in past years to create the framework for what one prime minister sought to describe as a "just society"?
The notion of a just society is at the heart of Canadian life. In a sense it is the Canadian dream, centring more on the collective spirit than on mere individualism. Building on this dream, we created institutions that helped extend fairness and opportunity to everyone. Universal health care, quality public schools, unemployment insurance and a strong social safety net are just some of the examples of what was undertaken in the past.
For working people, the best anti-poverty program has been collective action to improve wages and benefits. Unions have historically played this role by providing workers with a means for collective action - often across entire sectors of the economy. Manufacturing jobs were once only a source of poverty wages, until the mass unionization efforts of the 1940s. Governments in Canada and the U.S. created a legal framework to curtail the power of business and create some balance in the workplace. Today, extending the voice that unions provide to more workers across the economy is a crucial building block in the campaign against poverty.
Recent protests by temporary workers excluded from the benefits of labour standards and paid holidays points to the growing need for more workers to have a voice at work. Labour laws need to reflect the changing workplace. With more than 40 per cent of workers who came to Canada between 1990 and 1999 earning less than a poverty wage, the exclusion of new Canadians from the benefits of work threatens not only the dream of a just society but the social fabric of society itself.
Without unions a balance of power in the workplace doesn't exist. Unions help to ensure that as the economy grows so do opportunities for everyone. National wealth does little good if it is being squandered by the super-rich on luxury items while those at the other end of the economic scale are struggling with two or three jobs. Our nation's wealth should allow for families to have time together, for people to have affordable places to live, for health needs to be met and for communities to thrive.
Government has a role in ensuring that the rights of workers be protected and that voices of workers be heard. The best way to protect these rights is by respecting the rights of workers to form unions so that they can have a direct say in their future. Ordinary people can then demand a living wage, good working conditions, fairness and equity at work, and advance the principles of a just society through collection action.
Unions have a basic role in demanding that the rights of all workers be respected. By taking the lead in the fight for the $10 minimum wage and advocating on behalf of vulnerable workers. Toronto's unions continue to demonstrate our commitment to those who are trapped in poverty-level jobs. But we also fight for strong public services and social programs that are a key element in our quality of life.
The fight against poverty and for a just society requires that we strengthen our commmitment to every Canadian. These efforts must start with the political will to both rebuild existing institutions and to fashion new ones. Our history shows that working together through collective action is absolutely essential if are to start seriously tackling poverty in 2008.
John Cartwright is president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council.
KEY PLAYER IN WAR ON POVERTY
John Cartwright
Poverty reduction has been identified as the Number 1 challenge for 2008. The issue has been front-page news in all the major Toronto media, and now the Ontario government has concurred. The United Way's Losing Ground report, followingby U of T's The Three Cities within Toronto, each show in the starkest terms the impact of the new economy onToronto residents.
As Toronto's poverty rate grows, so must our political will to tackle its root causes. But to actually do that there has to be an admission that the dramatic expansion of poverty is directly related to low income and jobs that don't pay a living wage. Then we have to look at history. What elements were put in place in past years to create the framework for what one prime minister sought to describe as a "just society"?
The notion of a just society is at the heart of Canadian life. In a sense it is the Canadian dream, centring more on the collective spirit than on mere individualism. Building on this dream, we created institutions that helped extend fairness and opportunity to everyone. Universal health care, quality public schools, unemployment insurance and a strong social safety net are just some of the examples of what was undertaken in the past.
For working people, the best anti-poverty program has been collective action to improve wages and benefits. Unions have historically played this role by providing workers with a means for collective action - often across entire sectors of the economy. Manufacturing jobs were once only a source of poverty wages, until the mass unionization efforts of the 1940s. Governments in Canada and the U.S. created a legal framework to curtail the power of business and create some balance in the workplace. Today, extending the voice that unions provide to more workers across the economy is a crucial building block in the campaign against poverty.
Recent protests by temporary workers excluded from the benefits of labour standards and paid holidays points to the growing need for more workers to have a voice at work. Labour laws need to reflect the changing workplace. With more than 40 per cent of workers who came to Canada between 1990 and 1999 earning less than a poverty wage, the exclusion of new Canadians from the benefits of work threatens not only the dream of a just society but the social fabric of society itself.
Without unions a balance of power in the workplace doesn't exist. Unions help to ensure that as the economy grows so do opportunities for everyone. National wealth does little good if it is being squandered by the super-rich on luxury items while those at the other end of the economic scale are struggling with two or three jobs. Our nation's wealth should allow for families to have time together, for people to have affordable places to live, for health needs to be met and for communities to thrive.
Government has a role in ensuring that the rights of workers be protected and that voices of workers be heard. The best way to protect these rights is by respecting the rights of workers to form unions so that they can have a direct say in their future. Ordinary people can then demand a living wage, good working conditions, fairness and equity at work, and advance the principles of a just society through collection action.
Unions have a basic role in demanding that the rights of all workers be respected. By taking the lead in the fight for the $10 minimum wage and advocating on behalf of vulnerable workers. Toronto's unions continue to demonstrate our commitment to those who are trapped in poverty-level jobs. But we also fight for strong public services and social programs that are a key element in our quality of life.
The fight against poverty and for a just society requires that we strengthen our commmitment to every Canadian. These efforts must start with the political will to both rebuild existing institutions and to fashion new ones. Our history shows that working together through collective action is absolutely essential if are to start seriously tackling poverty in 2008.
John Cartwright is president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Economy, Goverment and Family-Friendly Policies
From the Comment section of the Toronto Star, Friday, November 30, 2007, page AA6, an article about the need for economic and government policies that are friendly to families:
NATIONS THRIVE BY HELPING FAMILIES
Economists are leery about work-life balance. It is too abstract, too incompatible with market principles.
Governments treat family-friendly policies as a frill, a grudging concession to working women.
The media play up images of female executives rushing to daycare centres in their power suits; female lawyers struggling to meet their quota of billable hours after their kids are in bed; female celebrities wrestling with maternal guilt.
The issue is much bigger than this, says the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Yesterday, the Paris based international organization released the most comprehensive study ever done of the tug-of-war between work and family life.
Its conclusion: Countries that want to raise their standard of living, improve their fertility rate, reduce child poverty and narrow the pay gap between men and women have to get serious about offering parents healthier choices.
It is not just a matter of easing workplace stress, says Babies and Bosses. It is a question of how - sometimes whether - individuals contribute to a nation's economy.
"As long as there are people who are constrained in their choices about work/family balance, the result may be both too few babies and too little employment or unsatisfactory careers,"says the 215-page report (available at www.oecd.org).
It is a synthesis of five years' work, reviewing the policies of Canada, Britain, Sweden, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Ireland, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands. Statistics for other OECD countries such as the U.S., Mexico, Germany, France and Spain are also included in the study.
Here are its principal findings:
* Access to affordable preschool care is vital.
Without it, some women postpone or forgo having children. Others sacrifice their career to raise their children. Many make compromises - shortchanging their children or their employers - that eat away at them and impose an unfair burden on their co-workers.
For single mothers, the options are especially stark. Trapped between governments that require them to work and daycare centres that charge more than they can afford, they make tenuous babysitting arrangements or find ways to stay on welfare.
Canada fares badly in this regard. Child care costs 21.3 per cent of the average industrial wage, compared with 4.5 per cent in Sweden, 9.1 per cent in Germany, 19.5 per cent in the U.S. and 33.8 per cent in Switzerland. (The OECD average was 16.3 per cent.)
* Parental leave programs make a big difference.
They give mothers (and fathers in some countries) time to bond with their newborns while allowing them to stay in the workforce.
They encourage young couples to start families, rather than holding off until they can afford to interrupt their careers.
And they provide children with full-time personal care in the crucial early months of their lives.
Canada's policies place it in the middle of the pack. It lags behind most European countries, but is ahead of the U.S. and Japan.
* After-school care is badly needed.
By keeping schools open after classes, governments could go a long way toward aligning parent's' and kids' schedules, alleviate pressure on workers to leave early and reduce the number of latchkey children.
Denmark and Sweden are the only countries with well-established programs. Britain and the Netherlands are moving in this direction.
* Employers are unlikely to act on their own.
Companies that offer flexible hours, work sharing and other family-friendly arrangements report reduced absenteeism, lower staff turnover and enhanced productivity. But the business case is not strong enough to convince most corporate executives.
This means governments have to take the lead, using tax measures, public programs and moral suasion.
Life was simpler, the OECD acknowledges, when families consisted of a breadwinner, a homemaker and a brood of children. But that hasn't been the case for half a century.
Canada can catch up to reality or its politicians can pursue "bigger" priorities: Handing out tax cuts, playing partisan games and dissecting the alleged ethical lapses of a prime minister who left office 14 years ago.
Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Real Meaning of Holiday Cheer
From the Greater Toronto section of the Wednesday, December 26, 2007, Toronto Star, page A12, an article about a man who spent his holidays bringing food and cheer to the homeless:
'IT SHOULD BE LIKE THIS EVERY DAY'
Man spends his holiday delivering cheer, gifts to the city's homeless in downtown core
Emily Mathieu
Staff Reporter
Parth Bhavsar has developed his own spin on what it means to give gifts at Christmas.
"You just load up the car and get out there," said Bhavsar, 27. Yesterday was his fifth year handing out food and gifts to people living on the streets on Christmas Day.
The packages are a big hit, but it's not just about the items inside, he said.
"Most of the time they just want to chat," he said.
The trunk of the grey Nissan he was driving was filled with bags of warm gloves, hats, homemade turkey sandwiches, fruit and juice. He also handed out items such as packs of facial tissue and small bunches of cigarettes in plastic bags.
"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked one man as he crouched low to give him a package. "Going anywhere for dinner tonight?"
Along for the ride was girlfriend Kyla Falconer, 26, delivering for the second year. She chose to spend Christmas handing out items to people in need "just to help." Christmas has become all about giving - but not to the people who need it the most, she said.
Throughout the morning, the car wove through the downtown care, pulling sharply to the side of the street each time the couple spotted someone who looked like they would benefit from a gift. Falconer and Bhavsar bought all of the items themselves.
The streets were almost entirely free of people, aside from those who were wrapped in sleeping bags in doorways or lying across air vents for warmth.
At many locations, Bhavsar and Falconer were not the first people to lend a helping hand.
"It should be like this every day," Falconer said, gesturing toward a man dozing on a patch of concrete near Queen St. and University Ave. Next to his sleeping bag rested a small pile of Christmas gifts left by other well-wishers.
At one stop the pair handed gift parcels to two men curled into sleeping bags on a patch of pavement close to the corner of King St. W. and Duncan St.
"They are nice," said one man, who identified himself as Frosty, "like the snowman," as he gestured to the duo. Lying with his back to him was Dino, who was "just relaxing" and drinking a juice he'd pulled out of the gift bag.
By the time the men started sorting through their gift bags, Falconer and Bhavsar were back in the car, off to their next stop.
Bhavsar said there really isn't a reason why he decided to start spending Christmas this way.
The holidays could be a happier time if more people helped one another out, he said.
"Turn it into what you want it to be."
'IT SHOULD BE LIKE THIS EVERY DAY'
Man spends his holiday delivering cheer, gifts to the city's homeless in downtown core
Emily Mathieu
Staff Reporter
Parth Bhavsar has developed his own spin on what it means to give gifts at Christmas.
"You just load up the car and get out there," said Bhavsar, 27. Yesterday was his fifth year handing out food and gifts to people living on the streets on Christmas Day.
The packages are a big hit, but it's not just about the items inside, he said.
"Most of the time they just want to chat," he said.
The trunk of the grey Nissan he was driving was filled with bags of warm gloves, hats, homemade turkey sandwiches, fruit and juice. He also handed out items such as packs of facial tissue and small bunches of cigarettes in plastic bags.
"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked one man as he crouched low to give him a package. "Going anywhere for dinner tonight?"
Along for the ride was girlfriend Kyla Falconer, 26, delivering for the second year. She chose to spend Christmas handing out items to people in need "just to help." Christmas has become all about giving - but not to the people who need it the most, she said.
Throughout the morning, the car wove through the downtown care, pulling sharply to the side of the street each time the couple spotted someone who looked like they would benefit from a gift. Falconer and Bhavsar bought all of the items themselves.
The streets were almost entirely free of people, aside from those who were wrapped in sleeping bags in doorways or lying across air vents for warmth.
At many locations, Bhavsar and Falconer were not the first people to lend a helping hand.
"It should be like this every day," Falconer said, gesturing toward a man dozing on a patch of concrete near Queen St. and University Ave. Next to his sleeping bag rested a small pile of Christmas gifts left by other well-wishers.
At one stop the pair handed gift parcels to two men curled into sleeping bags on a patch of pavement close to the corner of King St. W. and Duncan St.
"They are nice," said one man, who identified himself as Frosty, "like the snowman," as he gestured to the duo. Lying with his back to him was Dino, who was "just relaxing" and drinking a juice he'd pulled out of the gift bag.
By the time the men started sorting through their gift bags, Falconer and Bhavsar were back in the car, off to their next stop.
Bhavsar said there really isn't a reason why he decided to start spending Christmas this way.
The holidays could be a happier time if more people helped one another out, he said.
"Turn it into what you want it to be."
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Fair-Trade T-Shirts
From the Ideas section of the Wednesday, October 31, 2007, Toronto Star, page AA8, is an article about the Dalai Lama's visit to Toronto and the issue of whether to sell cheap or fair-trade clothes in fundraising by a Tibetan association:
HAPPINESS IS FAIR TRADE T-SHIRTS
Hillary Vipond
The Dalai Lama speaks today at the Rogers Center. He is coming to deliver a talk on human happiness, but it is his presence and his example that is shifting the priorities of local business in Toronto.
He has been invited to speak by the Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario, and it, like the rest of us, has its own projects and priorities.
One of these is raising money to build a Tibetan centre in Ontario. This year, as in years before, it is selling T-shirts at a profit in order to raise funds. It needs to make as much money as possible off the sale of the shirts and in years past simply has used the cheapest T-shirts available.
Unfortunately, cheap T-shirts invariably mean sweatshop labour, and so this year a member of the Tibetan community suggested that it use fair-trade T-shirts.
This was a difficult decision. Fair-trade shirts are more expensive than sweatshop shirts and cut directly into fundraising, but the price difference is reflected in the living standards of the labourers.
For example, Gildan Activewear Inc. is able to produce very inexpensive shirts. Its labour standards are not high. Gildan is certified as meeting fair labour standards by a group called the Fair Labour Association (FLA), which also certifies Nike, Adidas, and Asics.
The FLA guarantees to meet either the minimum wage in the country or the prevailing industry wage. It fails to mention that the prevailing industry wage is usually sweatshop labour wage, and that the minimum wage in many countries either does not exist or is set to base-level subsistence.
The FLA has also committed to no more than a 60-hour work week, but this does not apply when there are "extraordinary business circumstances." It does not require members to pay overtime unless they are legally obliged to do so. Workers are allowed one day off a week.
The shirts provided by the Fair Trade Clothing Co-op, on the other hand, are from a co-operative in El Salvador that is owned and run by single mothers. The women make on average $89 per week, more than double the standard sweatshop wage in El Salvador. They have the weekends off, and their workdays have decreased from 12 hours to eight. They do not have to leave their children alone at night.
In the end, the Tibetan Association of Ontario had to make a decision between potentially losing some of its income and supporting fair trade, or going with standard business practice. It chose to go with fair trade shirts. The Fair Trade Clothing Co-op in Toronto also lowered the price on the shirts as far as it possibly could without actually losing money. And the consumer will end up paying a little more at the end of the day.
Is all this work worth it? Is the sacrifice demanded from every group at every stage of this process worth the labour standards of people in other countries? Are human rights worth it?
I think so. I don't doubt that the Dalai Lama thinks so. The Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario thinks so. And some consumers will think so.
It is unquestionable that fairer trade - with fewer sweatshops, fewer human rights abuse, less poverty, less child labour - will raise the cost of the products we buy. From sneakers to T-shirts this is true.
But extreme poverty is a human rights abuse, and allowing it to happen for the sake of cheap products is not something we should be willing to do.
Hillary Vipond is an intern with Canadian Crossroads International, an NGO working with southern partners to address the root causes of poverty and HIV/AIDS.
HAPPINESS IS FAIR TRADE T-SHIRTS
Hillary Vipond
The Dalai Lama speaks today at the Rogers Center. He is coming to deliver a talk on human happiness, but it is his presence and his example that is shifting the priorities of local business in Toronto.
He has been invited to speak by the Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario, and it, like the rest of us, has its own projects and priorities.
One of these is raising money to build a Tibetan centre in Ontario. This year, as in years before, it is selling T-shirts at a profit in order to raise funds. It needs to make as much money as possible off the sale of the shirts and in years past simply has used the cheapest T-shirts available.
Unfortunately, cheap T-shirts invariably mean sweatshop labour, and so this year a member of the Tibetan community suggested that it use fair-trade T-shirts.
This was a difficult decision. Fair-trade shirts are more expensive than sweatshop shirts and cut directly into fundraising, but the price difference is reflected in the living standards of the labourers.
For example, Gildan Activewear Inc. is able to produce very inexpensive shirts. Its labour standards are not high. Gildan is certified as meeting fair labour standards by a group called the Fair Labour Association (FLA), which also certifies Nike, Adidas, and Asics.
The FLA guarantees to meet either the minimum wage in the country or the prevailing industry wage. It fails to mention that the prevailing industry wage is usually sweatshop labour wage, and that the minimum wage in many countries either does not exist or is set to base-level subsistence.
The FLA has also committed to no more than a 60-hour work week, but this does not apply when there are "extraordinary business circumstances." It does not require members to pay overtime unless they are legally obliged to do so. Workers are allowed one day off a week.
The shirts provided by the Fair Trade Clothing Co-op, on the other hand, are from a co-operative in El Salvador that is owned and run by single mothers. The women make on average $89 per week, more than double the standard sweatshop wage in El Salvador. They have the weekends off, and their workdays have decreased from 12 hours to eight. They do not have to leave their children alone at night.
In the end, the Tibetan Association of Ontario had to make a decision between potentially losing some of its income and supporting fair trade, or going with standard business practice. It chose to go with fair trade shirts. The Fair Trade Clothing Co-op in Toronto also lowered the price on the shirts as far as it possibly could without actually losing money. And the consumer will end up paying a little more at the end of the day.
Is all this work worth it? Is the sacrifice demanded from every group at every stage of this process worth the labour standards of people in other countries? Are human rights worth it?
I think so. I don't doubt that the Dalai Lama thinks so. The Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario thinks so. And some consumers will think so.
It is unquestionable that fairer trade - with fewer sweatshops, fewer human rights abuse, less poverty, less child labour - will raise the cost of the products we buy. From sneakers to T-shirts this is true.
But extreme poverty is a human rights abuse, and allowing it to happen for the sake of cheap products is not something we should be willing to do.
Hillary Vipond is an intern with Canadian Crossroads International, an NGO working with southern partners to address the root causes of poverty and HIV/AIDS.
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