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Canada is the first nation in the world to enshrine official multiculturalism in its constitution. Twenty years later, multiculturalism helps define the country's national identity in the eyes of the world. But not all institutions have contributed equally to what one academic hopefully calls ‘the multicultural reconstruction of Canadian society.’ One such institution is the country's 102 daily newspapers, which millions of Canadians rely on to be their windows on social change. Public awareness of issues related to social cohesion relies on fair, accurate and inclusive coverage by the media. So who's telling the news? In summer, 2004, managing editors at 37 Canadian daily newspapers provided demographic data on their newsgathering staffs. This ‘census’ focused on racial minorities and women. The data was compared to a similar survey in 1994, when the diversity of Canada's population was much lower. The findings of the 2004 survey shows that racial minorities are more than five times under-represented in daily newsrooms. Moreover, the commitment of editors to change their hiring patterns has declined, not risen, in 10 years. This study addresses what other academics have identified as a neglected area of research. The misrepresentation of non-whites in news coverage has been well documented; less so has the racial representation of those who report and edit the news. The findings of this study raise important issues for social cohesion in a country that is heavily reliant on immigration and highly committed to building a multicultural society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the 6th International Conference on Diversity in 2006, participants from Northern Ireland and Canada had the opportunity to meet and discuss parallels between Irish Travellers in Northern Ireland and First Nations People in Canada. First Nations community development workers from Canada subsequently travelled to Northern Ireland to facilitate a series of workshops with a range of Irish Traveller organisations and Irish Travellers themselves. This paper discusses the impact and potential of this exchange between indigenous marginalised groups. It begins with an overview of the Irish Traveller and First Nations populations in Northern Ireland and Canada, as well as various policy responses to them. The paper then highlights some of the discussions that have taken place during Sharing The Story project activities - many of which have centred on improving community development practices and influencing effective public policy in relation to Irish Travellers. The interaction between First Nations people and Travellers has also opened up valuable space to explore new approaches to achieving positive change for Irish Travellers. This paper argues that this type of dialogue presents a useful alternative to the highly polarised debate that often takes place about the assimilation or integration of Travellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the classroom is a microcosm of the societies in which we live, then it becomes apparent that Canadian society is changing. Canada is, without a doubt, a multicultural society, a colourful and rich tapestry woven by the uniqueness of people from different ethno-religious and cultural backgrounds. This demographic change, which research shows is increasing in pace, has tremendously benefited the overall fabric of Canadian society. However, while this change has added to the vividness and richness of our Canadian identity and heritage, it has also caused and created certain problems. Along with this demographic change, conflict has also emerged in the form of rising tensions between different community groups within our country. Quebec's reasonable accommodations debate is a good example that validates this point. The question fundamentally becomes: What are the root causes of this conflict? How can we hope to prevent such conflict from emerging in the future? This paper, guided by empirical research, suggests that conflict has emerged from a pervasive ignorance about others who inhabit a shared socio-geographic space, an ignorance that breeds misunderstanding and mistrust. More importantly, this paper asserts that educators and educational systems can play a seminal role in responding appropriately to these issues within our society. If conflict is born out of ignorance, then how can education replace ignorance with knowledge in an effort to curtail future conflict? The vitality of any given society is only guaranteed insofar as the systems that educate its members keep up with the pace of change within this society. As classrooms throughout our country change to reflect the ever altering landscape of Canada, so too should the curricula that are used within these spaces. This paper will highlight the necessity to revitalize our systems of education so that they reflect our Canadian society in a meaningful way while adding to the promise of an active citizenry and promoting a prosperous civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place and space are central to human ways of organizing the experience of living. Homelessness is an experience of displacement that profoundly modifies a person's sense of self and place. This paper examines the forces that propel the flow of migratory homeless people into urban communities in northern Ontario, Canada. In order to advance knowledge in the area of place attachment among homeless migrants, the paper addresses three objectives: (i) to examine the proportion of migratory persons in the homeless population (ii) to describe the characteristics, including the gender, culture and language among homeless, migratory persons as well as their reasons for homelessness and migration and (iii) to explore the meaning of and attachment to places among migratory homeless persons. The study utilized quantitative and qualitative data gathered in Sudbury, Ontario. The data were from a period prevalence count of homeless people and focus groups with service users. In addition, an analysis of interviews with fifteen homeless individuals who had experienced migration was carried out to acquire a deeper understanding of their sense of place and belonging. The quantitative data, based on a sample of 349 homeless adults, revealed that 28% (n=98) self-identified as migrants. The profile of migrants indicated that they tended to be Aboriginal, male, absolutely homeless and without custody of dependent children. Analysis of place attachments among migrant homeless individuals revealed that various spaces were transformed into meaningful places when homeless migrants forged bonds with others and met their existential needs. The bonds migrant homeless individuals formed with places they inhabited were central to their identity and a sense of belonging; hence along with race, class and gender, elements of place should also be considered in virtually any study, particularly those examining issues such as power, exclusion, and inequality within society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of transnational aid campaigns, more specifically Make Poverty History (MPH), on public opinion/awareness, foreign aid policy and the discourse of global poverty in Canada. It considers three hypotheses: (1) the heavy focus and involvement by high profile celebrities and moral icons in MPH campaign will have significant impact on public opinion and an increase in public awareness and mobilization towards foreign aid and global poverty issues, (2) the involvement by high profile celebrities and moral icons will have no impact on Canadian governments' foreign aid policy, and (3) MPH has shaped or re-shaped a broader understanding of poverty issues. The paper uses data from several sources such as opinion poll archives, media broadcasts and government documents. I find fairly mixed support for hypothesis one, however, weaker support for hypothesis two that MPH has not changed the behavior of the Canadian government nor has it impacted foreign aid policy significantly. My findings also concur with hypothesis three that MPH has indeed shaped or re-shaped a broader understanding of global poverty issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of studies have found that public opinion influences policy outcomes. However, the question of whether some groups have more influence than others has received very little attention in empirical work, despite its theoretical significance. This study will represent a first step in addressing this issue. Specifically, it considers three hypotheses: (1) the opinions of highly educated people will have more influence than those of less educated people, (2) The opinions of rural dwellers will have less influence than those of urbanites, and (3) The opinions of visible minority groups will have less influence than those of mainstream (whites). The paper uses a different strategy to the majority of previous studies on the influence of public opinion on policy in which measures of policy are regressed on a measure of public opinion and appropriate control variables. Instead, it employs qualitative document analysis of transcripts of face-to-face consultations as well as written submissions on the issue of bringing to balance the fiscal deficit in Nova Scotia. I find fairly strong support for the hypothesis that the opinions of educated people have more influence, as well as stronger support for the hypothesis that the opinions of urban dwellers will have more influence on the policy than those of the rural dwellers. However, there was no support for the hypothesis that the opinions of visible minority groups will have less influence than those of mainstream (whites). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the principalship is that of an expert in assessment, instruction, curriculum and data analysis. In the past, aspiring principals obtained their training through many years of teaching, leading departments, perhaps administering summer programs to gain additional experiences. However , the expectations of working long, unpaid hours; dealing with teacher dissatisfaction; student discipline, public scrutiny on school management issues and the public display of student achievement outcomes from standardized tests have challenged many new principals. This paper attempts to share some preliminary findings from an exploratory conducted with six newly appointed school administrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual media have long been recognized as a means of inspiring affective or emotional responses among consumers and/or spectators. Within the context of postsecondary classroom settings, visual media, combined with "educultural" (Lea and Sims 2008) teaching strategies, are hailed for their ability to disrupt dominant cultural notions of race, including color blindness and white privilege. This paper explores how the inclusion and critical interpretation of various forms of visual media in my undergraduate anthropology class opened up a productive discursive space for challenging color blindness in Canadian society. Such strategies are increasingly important to incorporate within teaching contexts as color blindness allows embedded or institutionalized forms of racism to persist. Using an example derived from ethnographic data, I document how the introduction of visual media stimulates an affective response among students. Such a response is necessary to unsettle color blindness and to open up a more inclusive and accepting space within university education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For queer refugees, obtaining legal refugee status in Canada is a challenge. Confronted by the immigration system, they are asked to provide ample evidence to "prove" their sexual identity in addition to sharing their story in a clear and sufficient manner . In performing research, it was noticed that there was a lack of consistency in regards to who gets in as a legal refugee, and who is left out. I believe this lack of consistency that exists within the Canadian immigration system is a result of the intricacy of having to deal with the notion of sexual identity within immigration law. This complexity stems from the idea that different individuals have different understandings of what it means to be queer . In response to three documented stories of individuals who have made their refugee claim based on their sexuality, Passing Lines (both a paper essay and an audio/sound documentary) explores the tensions that sexual identity and testimony brings to court hearings. How can an individual successfully prove his/her sexual identity to a judge or immigration officer? How should sexual identity be understood in the context of queer refugee claimants? How should one respond to queer refugees' testimonies and stories told both inside and outside the courtroom? How should one understand the journey of a queer refugee? It is within the context of differenciality, liquidity, testimony and empathy that the following explores queer refugees' challenges and strategies in seeking safety, based on documented stories relective of real-life testimonies obtained outside the judicial system. In doing so, it is maintained that queer refugee claimants' identities and testimonies should be understood as fluid, and that their situation must be valued through empathy, thus suggesting new ways of understanding their identities, stories, and situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contemplates changes in the content of harassment and discrimination policies at Canadian universities. I argue that changes in discourse surrounding harassment and discrimination issues within institutions are more than simple adjustments to changes in case law: these changes represent a potentially problematic backgrounding of human rights issues within institutions that is fuelled by the neoliberal social and political context in which policies are developed. The changes represent a re-inscription of hegemonic discourses on anti-harassment issues because they downplay the demands of marginalized groups based on their historical oppression in favour of reprivatized and neutralized approaches to issues of 'personal security' and 'respectful workplaces'. These changes are influenced by a social context that favours individual responsibility and the rejection of demands of so-called 'special interest groups'. I argue that this represents an example of the effect of the neoliberal turn in the Canadian social and political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada is a pioneer country in the adoption of so many African war refugees. Newcomer children of these refugees are not only enrolled in the public school system, but are provided some learning programs and resources to accommodate their new and special learning challenges. The paper examines the public school learning transition, curriculum content and mainstream teacher practices on multicultural educational pedagogies of recognition for the inclusion of this newcomer K-4 graders. Discussions are based on findings of a qualitative multicultural educational research that was conducted with a sample of the African war refugee students, their teachers and parents. Theoretical discussions adopted the review of pertinent literature on the social phenomenology pedagogies of recognition within the praxis of diversity, critical, and antiracist/multicultural pedagogies, in addition to a selected Canadian based multicultural educational models, to ascertain the extent of teacher implementation and challenges, and its impact to the newcomer kids and their peers. The concluding part provide prescriptive classroom teacher practices in curriculum policy and processes that will increase the commitment to pedagogies of recognition for the inclusion of these newcomer learners, as well as peers of the mainstream culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museums have increasingly been exploring inclusion and diversity work and engaging in "decolonizing" educational programming. Complicating this undertaking are the fraught and violent histories that live within many museum collections. The Indigenous peoples of Canada continue to suffer from systemic cultural genocide, as they have for hundreds of years through treaties signed under false pretenses, the pillaging and theft of sacred objects and human remains, and the ongoing trauma from the devastating "Sixties Scoop" and Residential School system. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released a report with ninety-four calls to action that address the crimes committed against Indigenous populations. This article will argue that the repatriation of Indigenous sacred objects and human remains is essential toward reconciliation efforts in Canada and that it is the obligation of the Canadian museums to work with Indigenous and government partners to further the TRC recommendations through repatriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is one of the most diverse regions in the world; 42.86% of its 5,113,149 citizens are visible minorities. However, discrimination, underemployment and wage gaps persist. Organizations that promote diversity support social inclusion, while the "business case" is that diversity enables competitive advantage in the global marketplace via improved performance and access to new markets. Diverse leaders can influence the aspirations and advancement of under-represented groups, but the media largely creates society's images of leaders. This multi-layered 2010 study examined the representation of visible minorities in senior roles in the GTA as well as in media content, to determine whether the population's diversity was reflected in its leadership and media images. It counted the number of visible minorities among 3,348 elected officials, government agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs), educational institutions, foundations and private sector organizations. It counted visible minorities among 289 media sector leaders, qualitatively assessed who constituted the media decision-makers, and counted who was represented as leaders in local news coverage. It supplemented the counts with interviews and surveys and also assessed the diversity strategies of different organizations. Data showed that visible minorities were significantly under-represented in leadership positions, accounting for only 14% of leaders, compared to 49.5% of the general population under study. Representation ranged by sector from 22.3% (ABCs) to 4.1% (corporate) and varied by organization. In media organizations, only 4.8% of board members and executives were visible minorities. Visible minorities were also under-represented among newspaper columnists and as hosts and experts on supper time broadcasts. The study's original contributions are its multi-perspective analysis and its recommendations for more diverse leadership including the adoption of metrics, targets, integrated policies and communication of diversity goals. News coverage also provides an opportunity for media to diversify with the identification of experts from diverse backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian agriculture is a spatially heterogeneous industry and therefore, climate change currently does and in the future, would have different impacts in different regions. At a regional level, these impacts are related not only to different climate characteristics, but also to differing enterprise combinations. In general, for many Canadian regions, such impacts are estimated to be positive; however, increased frequency of extreme climate events may moderate these changes. A review of studies suggests a wide range of impacts on crop production-varying from large negative to large positive changes in yields of various crops. For livestock, empirical studies related to climate change impacts on livestock are lacking, although conceptually, impacts are negative due to adverse impacts on forage, pastures, and feed grain production, and on livestock productivity. Besides lack of research on the livestock sector, a number of other research gaps can be identified. The wide range of estimated impacts of climate change on crop yields may be a result of studies employing different methodologies, assumptions related to nature of climate change, especially regional precipitation, projection period, CO. fertilization effect, shift of agro-ecosystems, extreme climate events, air and water pollution, insect pests and diseases, and integrated effects, among others. Although many studies suggest that climate change could bring beneficial changes, the exact nature of these changes is not known. Research regarding agriculture productivity under future extreme climate event frequency, severity, duration and area is also lacking. Effects of climate change on weeds, insect pests and diseases are rarely considered. In many parts of the country, irrigation has been adopted as a practice to counteract vagaries of nature. However, climate change would affect water availability as temperatures and associated water demands climb, glaciers retreat (affecting water availability on the Prairies), and as aquifer yields decline. Climate change impact analyses would also require knowledge of adaptation measures that can be undertaken over the short-term and long term. Such knowledge of adaptation measures is also scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examines the ways in which youth political engagement is constructed online, particularly through the use of social media technologies (SMTs). To investigate this further, a qualitative case study analysis of the youth organization, Apathy is Boring, was conducted. Using the organization's microblog (i.e. Twitter page) as a source of data, a critical discourse analysis was conducted. Collectively, the findings of this study suggested that youth political engagement forms a complex network of meanings that reinforce the prevailing status quo on what is political, while shedding light on how new technologies such as SMTs are being used to bolster the power of authoritative figures to influence when, and by what means, engagement becomes political when young people are involved. Thus, the current study has contributed to existing literature by uncovering the underlying messages that are simultaneously utilized to define and engage young Canadians within issues of political interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There are few studies that describe the characteristics of individuals who transition from information and communication technology usage to non-usage. The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of non-sustaining Internet users who reported at least one activity limitation to the 2006 Canadian census. Non-sustainers are past users who have not used the Internet during the last 12 months. Methods: We analyzed data from the respondents of the 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS 2006) using descriptive analyses. The demographic and clinical profiles of those who had given up using the Internet (non-sustainers) were compared to that of people who had continued using the Internet (sustainers). Results: PALS 2006 surveyed adult Canadians with at least one activity limitation. While nearly half of all respondents reported having used the Internet in the past, 9.8% of those had not used it in the past 12 months and were designated "non-sustainers". Individuals who were older (60+ years of age; 44.4%), were in the lowest income category (53.8%), and lived in rural communities (28.1%) were over-represented in the non-sustainer group compared to those who had sustained Internet usage. The most commonly reported limitations were pain (68.8%), mobility (67.5%), and agility (58.3%), although overall Internet usage and dropout rate were not markedly different between conditions. More than one-third of non-sustainers reported taking five or more prescribed medications on a daily basis, compared to less than one-quarter of sustainers. Conclusion: Compared to the general population, a high percentage of people with activity limitations report not having sustained their Internet usage. While the clinical profile of this group is not markedly different from those who continue to use the Internet, non-sustainers are more likely to be older, have less income and live in a rural community. We recommend that further research be conducted to identify the reasons for giving up the Internet and potential interventions to increase sustainability since a lack of digital engagement may lead to greater disadvantage for people with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to interrogate the pervasive dichotomization of "conventional" and "alternative" therapies in popular, academic and medical arenas. Specifically, I rethink concepts such as holism, vitalism, spirituality, natural healing and individual responsibility for health care as taken-for-granted alternative ideologies. I explore how these ideologies are not necessarily "alternative", but integral to the practice of clinical medicine as well as socially and culturally dominant values, norms and practices related to health and health care in Canada and elsewhere. These reflections address both theoretical and applied concerns central to the study of integration of different medical practices in Western industrialized nations such as Canada. Overall, in examining both biomedicine and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as homologous symbolic systems with overlapping and diverse ideological constructs, this article sheds light on the potential for enhancing dialogue between diverse perspectives to facilitate an integrative health care system that meets multiple consumer needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the immigrant population continues to grow in Canada, their impact on organized labor can no longer be overlooked. This study examines whether a meaningful difference exists in the demand for unions between immigrant and non-immigrant persons in Canada. Based on assumptions within the Self-Protection model, a questionnaire surveying 175 participants from immigrant and non-immigrant samples allowed for assessment of these assumptions during the job search process. Cross-sectional results were analysed using regression techniques and t-tests. The results secured support for three of five hypotheses. Immigrants are more likely to support union activity than non-immigrants and feel that union instrumentality decreases discrimination. The results suggest that immigrants feel that union presence and instrumentality is important in providing protection against discrimination in the workforce, therefore their job search behaviors are influenced by union presence. Organizations should consider means to manage these perceptions to ensure that the organizations pool of applicants is maximized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A confrontation with police at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995 resulted in Canada's first death of a First Nations protester in more than 100 years of land claims disputes. No media were present when police marched on a small band of protesters occupying the park, but nearly 400 newspaper articles appeared in the month after the shooting of Dudley George. These included 275 news articles, 64 opinion articles (editorials and columns) and 55 letters to the editor. These were analyzed to determine how they conformed to journalistic standards of verification and accuracy: Which sources were relied on; how were the stories framed; whose version of events was given prominence; was the opinion based on fact or stereotypes? This analysis found significant problems with the coverage. It also developed a new "framing" model for stories involving aboriginal-police confrontation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To respond to the urgent need to improve foundational literacy skills in children from low-income homes, this study provided an intervention program to increase the reading skills of children in schools located in low-income neighborhoods. The participants were 305 children, grade 1 through grade 3, from three schools in low-income neighborhoods in a medium-size Canadian city. The children were divided into two groups: an experimental group (n = 221) that received an intervention program whose objective was to raise literacy skills and a control group (n = 84) that received only regular classroom instruction in literacy. With the collaboration of school and university researchers, the intervention program consisted of 2 elements: (a) modified regular reading instruction conducted by the classroom teacher and (b) supplementary reading instruction delivered by university student tutors. The supplementary reading instruction was administered in 20-30-minute sessions 3 times per week, totaling 60 minutes per week (weekly session), in small groups of 2-3 children. Tutoring focused on reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension and served to complement the classroom instruction. The results indicated the effectiveness of this intervention program along two factors: (a) a duration of more than 20 weekly tutoring sessions, totaling 60 minutes per week (weekly session), and (b) the participation of readers with an initial low reading performance. Implications for further intervention and research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of integration of different medical practices in Western industrialized nations such as Canada has garnered intense scholarly attention. The aim of this article is to problematize the ongoing emphasis on a single, bio-scientific evidence base to assess the efficacy and safety standards of complementary/alternative medical (CAM) practices. Since mainstream health care practitioners as well as many integrative health care proponents in Canada emphasize the biomedical framework in defining evidence bases, I argue that this orientation creates three main paradoxes of CAM integration into mainstream health care: i) a hierarchy of value between the Western biomedical paradigm and other legitimate CAM epistemologies; ii) the biomedicalization of CAM practices, and iii) an integrative health care system that only considers bio-scientific evidence. Through preliminary ethnographic research with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners in Ontario, Canada, I conclude that further collaborative research with practitioners of various medical traditions who integrate CAM into their regular practices is necessary to identify more encompassing types of evidence to evaluate the safety and efficacy of any therapeutic modality. Such a broader conceptual framework will facilitate a truly symmetrical and integrative health care system in which the contributions to health and wellness from different epistemologies meet diverse health care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some years ago Janet Wolff, in The Social Production of Art (1981), cogently argued that art could be the subject of sociological analysis. Shortly thereafter, Howard Becker (1982) defined the sociological parameters of art worlds. More recently, Vera Zolberg (1990) enquired into the question of whether or not artists might be both ‘born and made’. Following up on their insights, this is an ethnography on Luis Merino's (i.e., Jose Luis Merino Orea) social production of contemporary art within his art world of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The research is based on participant observation and a review of newspaper articles. Photographs of the artist, his family, and mentors, as well as reproductions of some of the works are provided. There are six parts: believing in art, finding new ground, being recognized, escaping to the wilderness, searching for a vocabulary, and finding a voice. This is an empirical study into why Luis Merino may have become an artist, and how he might have been able to survive. Given the limitations of this publication format, only the broad outlines can be suggested, and a wealth of detail has been necessarily omitted. Regardless of this limitation, I hope to provide an adequately ‘thick description’ (Geertz, 1973) so that further research may emerge from this ‘confrontation with fresh empirical objects’ (Bourdieu, 1992/96: 178). I have cast the story chronologically beginning in Mexico in 1942. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]