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The purpose of this article is to share a Canadian model called Developing a Compassionate Community (DCC) in which aging, dying, caregiving, and grieving are everyone's responsibility. The model provides a research-informed practice guide for people who choose to adopt a community capacity development approach to developing a compassioante community. Based on 30 years of Canadian research by the author in rural, urban, First Nations communities, and long-term care homes, the DCC model offers a practice theory and practical tool. The model incorporates the principles of community capacity development which are as follows: change is incremental and in phases, but nonlinear and dynamic; the change process takes time; development is essentially about developing people; development builds on existing resources (assets); development cannot be imposed from the outside; and development is ongoing (never-ending). Community capacity development starts with citizens who want to make positive changes in their lives and their community. They become empowered by gaining the knowledge, skills, and resources they need. The community mobilizes around finding solutions rather than discussing problems. Passion propels their action and commitment drives the process. The strategy for change is engaging, empowering, and educating community members to act on their own behalf. It requires mobilizing networks of families, friends, and neighbors across the community, wherever people live, work, or play. Community networks are encouraged to prepare for later life, and for giving and getting help among themselves. This Canadian model offers communities one approach to developing a compassionate community and is a resource for implementing a public health approach to end-of-life care in Canada. The model is also available to be evaluated for its applicability beyond Canada and is designed to be adapted to new contexts if desired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substance use in pregnancy has been a prominent public health concern for the last several decades. Since the legalization of cannabis in Canada and across several American states, cannabis use during pregnancy has gained considerable public health, scientific, and media attention. This critical interpretive synthesis explores how the problem of cannabis use in pregnancy is constructed in the scientific literature and illuminates clinical, social, and political responses this construction engenders. The state of empirical evidence regarding the impact of perinatal cannabis use is fraught; a number of studies, of variable quality, have found no associations between cannabis use and adverse neonatal outcomes, while others have found cannabis to be associated with low birthweight and prematurity among other risks. Despite the inconsistent nature of the evidence base, the literature is underpinned by two important assumptions: prenatal cannabis exposure is an asocial phenomenon that can be disentangled from the social determinants of health, and cannabis exposure has detrimental effects on fetal and neonatal health. These assumptions shape indicators of signal and noise in the data by influencing the significance ascribed to particular findings, producing patterns of data interpretation that ultimately transform evidence of potential harms into certain risks and creates the mirage of a cohesive, unambiguous evidence base. We argue that the way that cannabis use in pregnancy is framed as a scientific and public health problem in the literature contributes to the stigmatization of pregnant people who use substances. We caution that failure to consider the interplay between environment, resources and other social determinants of health may ultimately cause undue harm to families and foreclose opportunities for investments that may promote health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide is a critical public health concern globally. Sex workers experience a disproportionate burden of social and health inequities driven by forms of violence, stigma, and criminalization, yet empirical research on suicidality is limited. This study longitudinally investigated the burden and socio-structural correlates of recent suicidality among women sex workers in Vancouver, Canada. Data (2010-2017) were drawn from a community-based, prospective cohort of cis and trans women sex workers across Metro Vancouver. Women completed biannual interviewer-administered questionnaires, and correlates of suicidality in the last 6 months were analyzed using bivariate and multivariable logistic regression with generalized estimating equations (GEE). Of 867 women at baseline, 48% (n = 413) reported lifetime suicidality, 16% (n = 141) reported suicidality in the last 6 months, and 29% reported suicidality at some point during the study. In multivariable analysis, factors independently associated with suicidality included physical/sexual childhood abuse (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 2.99; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.75, 5.10]), mental health issues (depression/anxiety/posttraumatic stress disorder; AOR = 2.19; 95% CI = [1.63, 2.95]), intimate partner violence (AOR: 2.11; 95% CI = [1.60, 2.80]), physical/sexual client violence (AOR: 1.82; 95% CI = [1.33, 2.50]), and homelessness (AOR: 1.44; 95% CI = [1.10, 1.89]). Older age (AOR: 0.97; 95% CI = [0.95, 0.99]) and higher social cohesion (AOR: 0.88; 95% CI = [0.78, 0.99]) were significantly associated with reduced odds of suicidality. Findings reveal key socio-structural correlates of suicidality among sex workers including experiences of historical and interpersonal violence, trauma/mental health issues, and homelessness. Strengthening social cohesion may have a protective effect on suicidality. Trauma-informed community-led structural interventions tailored to sex workers are urgently needed alongside a legal framework that enables collectivization and connectedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public confidence and trust in higher education has declined (Johnson and Peifer 2017) and the future of the higher education sector has been questioned (AGB 2020). More specifically, the discipline of sociology is considered to be in "crisis" and applied sociological approaches are offered as a solution (Graizbord 2019; Weinstein 1997). The purpose of this introduction article as well as the broader special issue is to explore the nature and state of applied sociology in Canada. With a collection of seven articles authored by Canadian sociologists on topics including application research, reflections on process, and teaching practice, this special issue provides a platform to discuss and showcase the distinct nature and contributions of applied sociology in Canada as well as highlight the work of Canadian applied sociologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of precarious employment across Canada prompted sociologists and community researchers to understand the causes and consequences of insecure work. However, structural context often leads research organizations' goals to conflict with those of its members. According to organizational theory, external pressures influence organizational goals and their approaches to problem solving. Thus, the purpose of this article is to illuminate some of the concrete ways that such pressures, known as embeddedness, help to shape research output. We draw on written reflective analyses of our experiences with embeddedness while working in the research organization Poverty and Employment Precarity in Niagara (PEPiN) to highlight the external factors which constrained our data analysis and our final report's legislative and workplace policy recommendations for relieving the economic and family stresses associated with precarious work. We argue that embeddedness under neoliberal conditions limits the extent of structural critique that research organizations make of working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to understand the impact of the opioid overdose epidemic on the social lives of people suffering from chronic pain, focusing on interactions within their personal and professional circles. The study was based on 22 in-depth interviews with people living with chronic pain in Canada. Using thematic analysis, we documented three main impacts of the opioid overdose epidemic: (a) increased worries of people in pain and their families regarding the dangers of opioids; (b) prejudices, stigma, and discrimination faced during conversations about opioids; and (c) stigma management attempts, which include self-advocacy and concealment of opioid use. This study represents important knowledge advancement on how people manage stigma and communicate about chronic disease during everyday life interactions. By showing negative effects of the epidemic's media coverage on the social experiences of people with chronic pain, we underscore needs for destigmatizing approaches in public communication regarding opioids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinical symptoms of dementia include difficulty with speech, poor short-term memory, and changes in behavior. These symptoms can affect how the person with dementia understands and performs in social interactions. This qualitative review investigated how people with mild to moderate dementia managed social connections. A systematic search of social science databases retrieved 13 articles; data were synthesized using thematic analysis. Results established the work undertaken by people with dementia to maintain and present a social persona seen as socially acceptable. Interpretations are contextualized within Goffman and Sabat's theories on "self." People with dementia were agentic in impression management: undertaking work to maintain recognized social roles, while being aware of when their illness led to others discrediting them. Wider recognition of strategies used to maintain a social self could inform interventions designed to increase capability and confidence in co-managing social connections following dementia diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health sociologists interested in how macro state influences affect micro health care practices have much to gain from meta-ethnography research. In this article, we bring together insights from two separate empirical studies on state health care services involving HIV/AIDS as a way to speak to larger issues about the organization and production of medical expertise and governance in health care systems. We use Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnography approach to bring these studies into conversation and identify six shared "organizers" of health care encounters. The organizers illustrate how state health interests operate across institutional contexts and impact the work of providers in seemingly unrelated health care settings. On the basis of this synthesis, we conclude that state interests both structure and create conflict in health care settings. We believe this perspective offers the potential to advance the goals of health sociology and the field of qualitative health research in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical qualitative health researchers typically occupy and navigate liminal academic spaces and statuses, with one foot planted in the arts and social sciences and the other in biomedical science. We are at once marginalized and empowered, and this liminality presents both challenges and opportunities. In this article, we draw on our experiences of being (often the lone) critical qualitative health scholars on thesis advisory committees and dissertation examinations, as well as our experiences of publishing and securing funding, to illuminate how power and knowledge relations create conditions that shape the nature of our roles. We share strategies we have developed for standing our theoretical and methodological ground. We discuss how we use the power of our liminality to hold firm, push back, and push forward, to ensure that critical qualitative research is not further relegated to the margins and its quality and integrity sustained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine variations between immigrants and nonimmigrants in 1) prevalence of common mental disorders and other mental health variables; 2) health service utilisation for emotional problems, mental disorders, and addictions, and 3) health service satisfaction.Methods: This article is based on a longitudinal cohort study conducted from May 2007 to the present: the Epidemiological Catchment Area Study of Montreal South-West (ZEPSOM). Participants were followed up at 4 time points (T1, n = 2433; T4, n = 1095). Core exposure variables include immigrant status (immigrant vs. nonimmigrant), duration of residence, and region of origin. Key outcome variables included mental health status, health service utilisation, and health service satisfaction. Data were analysed both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.Results: Immigrants had been in Canada for 20 years on average. Immigrants had significantly lower rates of high psychological distress (32.6% vs. 39.1%, P = 0.016), alcohol dependence (1.4% vs. 3.9%, P =0.010), depression (5.2% vs. 9.2%, P = 0.008), and various other mental disorders. They had significantly higher scores of mental well-being (48.9 vs. 47.1 score, P = 0.014) and satisfaction with social (34.0 vs. 33.4 score, P = 0.021) and personal relationships (16.7 vs. 15.6 score, P < 0.001). Immigrants had significantly lower rates of health service utilisation for emotional problems, mental disorders, and addictions and significantly higher rates of health service satisfaction at all time points. Asian and African immigrants had particularly low rates of utilisation and high rates of satisfaction.Conclusions: Immigrants had better overall mental health than nonimmigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a leading Canadian scholar on sport, identities, and community, Christine Dallaire, considers the dynamic role of sport in reproducing national and ethnocultural communities in Canada. A diverse research agenda grew, merging considerations of not only the trajectory of Canada as a nation, but the meshing of immigrant and new national identities and the role of First Nations communities on the sport landscape. Noting the constant interaction and opposition among communities with different self-determination, ethnocultural and national aims, an ongoing challenge in sociological work about the roles of sport resides in reaching nuanced understandings of differing identity narratives that circulate and that are reinvented through sport. Future research will need to focus on the complexities of “Canadianness” in sporting identities and how the reproduction of contested ethnocultural and national identities are cast and understood in stories about differentiated, racialized, and gendered sport heroes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There are growing concerns in many industrialized Western societies about declining opportunities for children to play, and fears that this will have adverse health consequences for them. Informed by anti-obesity efforts, public health institutions have recently begun to advance active forms of play as a way of improving children’s physical health; however, promoting play for physical health might reshape meanings of play for children. We conducted photography and interview sessions with 25 Canadian children aged 7 to 11 years to examine their representations of play. Our findings suggest that for children, (a) play is an end in itself, (b) play involves but is more than active play, (c) there is ambivalence about scheduled play, and (d) risk is considered a pleasurable component of play. These findings point to a dissonance between children’s play promoted for physical health and the meaning of play for children as emotionally contingent, intrinsically motivated, and purposeless. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nursing work has evolved tremendously over the last century, raising ongoing questions about nursing’s professional status. Through various strategies, professionalization in nursing has to some extent been accomplished, although autonomy over nursing practice has been elusive. This is especially so in the contemporary health care system, in which managerial control is emphasized and physician dominance continues. In response to professional constraints in traditional work settings, nursing self-employment is growing. In this study I used focused ethnography to explore the professional experiences of Canadian self-employed nurses and to reconsider nursing knowledge, ethics, and professionalism in this unique context. Despite the barriers they faced, these nurses offered a perspective on nursing professionalism that transcends classic professional traits, showing how the concept of professionalism can be invoked not as a way to “prove” status but as a way to describe a sense of commitment and the contribution to societal well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: To examine associations between Aboriginal enculturation, Canadian acculturation, and alcohol problems among Aboriginal university students living in an urban area in Canada. Methods: Data for this mixed methods study were collected through in-person surveys with a convenience sample of Aboriginal university students (n = 60) in 2008/2009. Results: Students evidenced high levels of Aboriginal enculturation and Canadian acculturation. Aboriginal enculturation was significantly associated with reduced alcohol problems for Aboriginal university students. There was no association between Canadian acculturation and alcohol problems. Qualitative findings suggest Aboriginal cultural practices helped students cope with problems in their daily lives and provided them with both personal and social rewards. Conclusions: This study found Aboriginal enculturation was significantly associated with reduced alcohol problems among Aboriginal university students. Results support the growth of programs and services that encourage Aboriginal students to maintain their cultural identity within the university setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its content being perceived as highly relevant to Canadian Forces (CF) leader development and current and future role demands, sociology has not become permanently embedded in the Canadian military college (milcol) curriculum. We argue that among other factors, this has been the result of such influences as lack of interest and/or support from academic sociologists outside the military; hegemony of other disciplines within the military; reaction of the military system to sociological topics and results; the number and organization of uniformed and civilian sociologists internally; and the failure of military sociologists to adequately market themselves or to follow up on the gains they have made. Notwithstanding, the authors note that recent developments both outside and inside the military college environment offer some promise of improved prospects for sociology (and anthropology): preferably, within a more multidisciplinary instructional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two predominant interpretations of the history of Canadian university extension. The ''liberal or institutional'' perspective argues that extension has been a means for universities to disseminate resources, foster progress in society, and meet the learning needs of individuals. The ''critical or nostalgic'' perspective claims that university extension once resisted dominant forms of power relations but now supports such relations. This article challenges these two interpretations through exploring the sociological concepts of subjection and modes of production and through presenting a historical case study of extension at one Canadian university. The article narrates the evolution of official claims made regarding extension at the University of Saskatchewan from 1908 to 2007 and argues that this evolution was influenced by changes to the mode of production in the province. This argument encourages adult educators with interests beyond university extension to reflect on their agency as scholars and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author examines the development of the notion of the field experiment in High Arctic environmental sciences during the period 1958—70. After a discussion of the philosophy and sociology of experiment, the author considers a set of field practices conducted under the auspices of the Canadian Government's Polar Continental Shelf Project. Drawing on archival and oral historical research, he argues that field scientists had to deal with a number of logistical, corporeal, and epistemic difficulties in the High Arctic. It is demonstrated that these obstacles hindered attempts to develop a scientific literature based upon experimental practices during fieldwork. In doing so, the author attempts to set new agendas for historical geographers of science around the analysis of the geographical sciences, whilst also contributing to discussions about the epistemic status of variegated field practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study represents the first enumeration of the street homeless population in Canada. Past enumeration attempts have been challenged on their significant methodological shortcomings. This enumeration directly addressed the lessons learned from previous attempts, and improvements to the methodology are presented and discussed. In addition, lessons learned and recommendations are discussed for application to future enumerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on legal and social integration of women in the Canadian armed forces. Military organizations are considered to be conservative organizations that are resistant to social change. Like many other male-dominated institutions in society, the military has been slow in fully integrating women. Traditionally, most military organizations banned women from combat positions since war was seen as a man's world with no place for women. Women were characterized as having a different moral voice, that is, one based on caring and compassion. And even though women have always been casualties of war, the battlefield itself has been considered to be an exclusively male domain. Canadian women have a long tradition of military service. They have been a part of Canada's armed forces for over a hundred years, when trained nurses were first called for active duty during the suppression of the North West Rebellion in 1885. Canadian nurses have served continuously in this nation's forces. During the First World War, they were assigned on hospital ships, in field ambulance units and to overseas hospitals. They have also been wounded and killed in action during the World Wars.

The peculiarity of Canada, a country composed of two major national groups, spatially, linguistically and culturally differentiated is strongly reflected in its social sciences. Canada contains two entirely distinct academic communities, one solidly bound to the Anglo-American context and the other more attached to French and Continental intellectual traditions. In Canada, words have to be defined before being used in public matters and this also applies to scientific issues. It is not only a question of semantics and translation in a bilingual setting, but rather a question of interpretation sometimes, even the word sociology does not seem to have the same meaning in either part of the country. In Canada, words have to be defined before being used in public matters, and this also applies to scientific issues. It is not only a question of semantics and translation in a bilingual setting, but rather a question of interpretation sometimes, even the word sociology does not seem to have the same meaning in either part of the country.

The article presents notes related to various articles on Canadian sociology, published in the March 1986 issue of the journal "Current sociology." It is generally acknowledged that if one were to consider the whole of sociology in English Canada prior to the mid-1970s little would distinguish it from American sociology. But because the sociology of Canada has been such a growth industry over the past decade, and because it is substantially different from mainstream American sociology, the differences between sociology in the United States and Canada are now more marked. Though, a slightly different figure is given for 1977, the number of academic sociologists in Canada does appear to have stabilized at about 900 by the year. But there were substantial intellectual differences among these scholars as well, and a full study of their thought would have to take these into account. Most of the criticisms of the entrepreneurial thesis in the articles also apply to staples theory, which regards economic growth and stagnation in Canada as the outcome of two main factors, namely, changing international demand for scarce raw materials and international variations in the availability of those resources.

The article focuses on sociological study of Canadian politics. American-influenced interpretations emphasizing the cultural sources of Canadian political behavior predominated in the 1960s. In the 1970s this approach was widely rejected, partly on empirical grounds, and the structural bases of Canadian politics became the chief subject of attention. While many types of Canadian social movements have been studied, most attention has been devoted to movements that have become institutionalized as political parties closely aligned with neither of the country's dominant political parties. In a highly influential work, researcher Gad Horowitz sought to explain, in cultural and institutional terms, the propensity of the Canadian political system to give rise to weak third parties. Researcher Seymour Martin Lipset added to Horowitz's argument by citing a number of historical events that supposedly reinforced the tory tendencies of Canadian political culture. Looking at the research results, it seems, that mass values are far less important determinants of the number and policies of Canadian political parties than adherents of the cultural/institutional thesis are prepared to recognize.

The article presents information on Canadian sociology. After the detailed research done on the issue of Canadian socio-political conditions, it is widely acknowledged that European sociology owes its first debt to conservative thinkers. In the wake of the French Revolution many philosophers expressed opposition to such radical ideas as individual liberty and equality of opportunity. In their writings they sought to justify the maintenance of order by stressing the importance of hierarchy and authority in social life. For the conservatives, society was a real organic entity, not just an agglomeration of individuals, as the liberals thought. As mentioning Marx indicates, this orientation was compatible not just with conservative, but also with socialist thought. The difficulty of sociology when transplanted to liberal North America in the late nineteenth century was that context and pedigree fought against one another for the minds of North American sociologists. But it nevertheless seems that there has been an overreaction in some circles against the valuable empirical and universalizing tendencies of American sociology.

The article focuses on the evolution of sociology in English Canada. The Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association was formed only in 1965. The country's first English-language sociology journal "Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology," began publication in 1964. Before 1965 no significant government or private agency for funding sociological research existed in Canada. Four main criticisms have been lodged against the cultural interpretation of Canadian society. First, serious questions have been raised about the quality of evidence adduced to support the cultural argument. The second main criticism of the cultural interpretation as originally formulated is that, in two senses, it is an historical theory. Third, the cultural theory tends to play down and in some cases wholly ignore the unusually wide variations within Canada in virtually every aspect of social organization. Fourth, proponents of the cultural theory have not seriously entertained plausible alternative explanations for political, economic and other differences between the United States and Canada despite the fact that many alternatives are straightforward and obvious.

Stacking, a form of ethnic segregation peculiar to the world of team sport, is alive and well in the 1990s more than twenty years after its scientific discovery in 1970. Although it has become one of the most widely studied topics in the sociology of American sport, crosscultural data are still extremely rare. Two quantitative comparisons of this nature were made of Canadian and American football in the 1950s and 1960s which, however, are now rather dated and which lack player views on stacking. A new comparison is presented based on qualitative data gathered in 1983 and 1984. It demonstrates that there are dramatically different stacking practices in Canada, practices with implications that pertain to stacking of all kinds and to stacking in internationally expanding American team sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the process of adolescent socialization into sport in Japan and Canada, focussing on the structural and cultural differences and similarities. Results from national survey data indicate that the school is a strong socializing agent in Japan, while the sport system within the community has more influence on sport involvement in Canada. It is suggested that sport socialization in Japan is unique in that it arises from a closed structure, as compared to the open structure in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This articles focuses on the significance of Canadian sociology. There are three reasons for the distinctiveness of Canadian sociology. First, the exceptional status of Quebec compared to the rest of the places in Canada. American and French sociological traditions strongly influenced sociological practice in Quebec. Second, the creation and survival of the community in the face of hostile elements and outside forces. Before modern methods of communication and transportation compressed time and space, the most arresting thing about Canada was its sheer physicality, its intimidating size, topography and climate. There is a fascinating quality in the manner in which distant powers forged a human community in this setting. Third, the tendency toward intellectual radicalism without a complete policy orientation. Many English-Canadian sociologists have so little impact on their ultimate constituency. English-Canadian sociology is more radical than its U.S. counterpart but it is also less relevant to the lives of most citizens. The sociologists have failed to contribute to the public debate on the most pressing issues that face the country. Many English-Canadian sociologists are mute to issues such as structural unemployment and Quebec separatism.

The article proposes a framework for large-scale problem management for the nation of Canada. The frameworks and techniques outlined in this article have evolved from the attempts to deal with actual large-scale problems in the Canadian context. Thus, it should be stressed that their essential purpose is to provide conceptual tools which assist the professional planner concerned with large scale problem management. These tools reflect a new way of viewing complex problems, and the processes and techniques of their solution. The concepts described above are part of and based upon an accumulation of new ideas, theories, and methods of viewing the future and planning for change. This network of interrelated ideas, emerging from various sources over the past several years, are providing a basis for a new tradition or paradigm of planning. This paradigm has evolved through the development of shared ways of viewing the world and practising within it. It is dependent, therefore, not only on the development of new theories of planning but also on new techniques and methods of planning practice.

This article presents information on the journal "The international Newsletter on Migration" which is a publication of the Research Committee on Migration, International Sociological Association, Canada. Some of the organizational news presented was related to the conference on return migration, announced in the previous issue of the Newsletter that is being moved to the Fall 1981. The program remains the same. The Committee will be in a better financial position to meet the costs of the conference. A preliminary program will be published in June, 1981. The anticipated time of the conference is toward the end of October, again in Rome. The Committee is issuing additional details on the conference to its members in its Bulletin. The World Congress of Sociology will be held in Mexico City at the end of August, 1982. The Research Committee on Migration is organizing eight sessions dealing with questions of internal and international migration. Some of the sessions will be devoted to the issues of migration in Latin America. Members of the Committee will be eligible for presenting papers subject to selection by the individual session organizers.

On the basis of theoretical arguments from the sociology of sociology and the sociology of knowledge, we explore how sociologists have constructed the undergraduate curriculum. Focusing on sociological theory and research methods, we use survey data from departments and instructors in the United States and in English Canada. In addition to comparing the degree of fragmentation versus unification that exists in undergraduate curricula, we explore six specific questions: the relative importance of theory versus methods in teaching; the proportionate emphasis of quantitative methods teaching; the emphasis on classical versus contemporary theory; the extent of integration of theory with methods; the relation between theory/methods teaching and substantive courses; and the stress on sociology versus other courses in the undergraduate BA program. We find that the English Canadian curriculum is more European in flavor; it places relatively greater emphasis on sociological theory, especially classical training. In contrast, U.S. schools emphasize research methods in the context of a more liberal arts program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay focuses on the social structure of a Canadian pioneer town. The town of Schefferville is situated on the shores of Knob Lake in the heart of the vast peninsula of Quebec-Labrador. With the decision to exploit the vast iron ore reserves of this hitherto unknown area, the Iron Ore Co. of Canada laid plans for the construction of a complete town to house the labor force and their families. It is noted at the beginning of this essay that participation in the social life of the town is much more common, although such activity is restricted by the overwhelming preponderance of males. Consequently, the bunk-house and staff-house groups alike are essentially a shifting, unstable element, and for broadly the same reasons: they contribute little to the character of the social life of the town community.

This article focuses on the importance of leaders in the assimilation process of immigrant groups. There is no doubt that if accepted leaders could act as channels of communication between the minority and majority groups this would greatly contribute to the assimilation process of new immigrants. It has been pointed out that the existence of a distinct community with distinct patterns of behaviour, values etc., need not necessarily be a sign of a lack of adaptation provided its members perform the universal roles of the society, its particularist tendency agrees with the normative premises of the absorbing social structure and its structural peculiarities fall within the legitimate institutional limits of the society. But in such a case, ethnic associations and leaders play important roles as channels of communication and as mediators of the roles and values of the wider society. Another feature about Italians in Canada is that a large proportion of immigrants have been sponsored. Given that a majority of Italian immigrants have originated in the rural south of Italy it is not surprising to find that they are of low educational level.

Zekeri's comments (2007) on Bridges and Kunselman's work (2005.) were not sufficiently grounded in sociological theory, the calculation of the "rates, of potential years of life lost" (PYLL) was modified but unreported, and the use of PYLL, despite limitations as a measure of premature mortality "was not justified." The theoretical framework, however, consisted of "environmental" and "social group" statements which gave a specific means for grounding 'premature mortality" in sociological theory, and findings were consistent with Lester's social deviancy theory of suicide (1989). How the "rates of PYLL" were calculated, i.e., by the Canadian government is misinterpreted, although Allard, et al. (2004) provided justification for the use of age-standardized rates of PYLL in their 2005 study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematical sociology as a sub-area of sociology is of recent origin. Even in the U.S., where sociology is pursued most intensively, the number of sociologists who may be called contributors to mathematical analysis of the society is not large. It is interesting to note that a majority of the mathematical sociologists in the U.S. are demographers. This is probably true of other countries as well where mathematical sociologists are mostly statisticians, or applied mathematicians. This debate is of no immediate concern to the author. If sociology in Canada is influenced by American sociology, then one can expect a preponderance of quantitative approaches to the study of society. Most of the Canadian sociology departments offer undergraduate and graduate courses in quantitative methodology. Of the 19 departments listed in the 1975 American Sociological Association directory of graduate departments of sociology in Canada, 13 claim to offer quantitative methodology courses. Although training in mathematical sociology is in its infancy in Canada, research in this area is not insignificant. Various demographers, statisticians and mathematical sociologists trained in the U.S. or elsewhere have carried out interesting research in areas embracing this branch of sociology.