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Social inclusion/exclusion involves just/unjust social relations and social structures enabling or constraining opportunities for participation and health. In this paper, social inclusion/exclusion is explored as a dialectic. Three discourses - discourses on recognition, capabilities, and equality and citizenship - are identified within Canadian literature. Each discourse highlights a different view of the injustices leading to social exclusion and the conditions supporting inclusion and social justice. An Integrated Framework for Social Justice that incorporates the three discourses is developed and used to critique the dominant focus on distributive justice within foundational Canadian nursing documents. We propose a broader conceptualization of social (in)justice that includes both relational and structural dimensions. Opportunities for multilevel interventions to promote social justice are identified. This framework is congruent with nursing's moral imperative to promote health equity and with the multiple roles played by nurses to promote social justice in everyday practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the social justice initiative of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA). It focuses mainly on the two editions of the CNA's discussion document on social justice, and particularly on its emphasis on the principle of equity. The paper considers whether a coherent justification can be made for the CNA's espousal of equity, and the discussion focuses in turn on the principle of equity itself and on the CNA's position in relation to equity. A body of arguments supporting an active moral role for professions, generally known as civic professionalism, provides a framework for exploring the CNA's role in this respect. Justifications for equity are explored in relation to the liberal-contextualist spectrum, and civic professional arguments are subjected to the same structure of analysis. This is in turn related to evidence from the literature concerning nursing perceptions of equity. The paper concludes that contextualist justifications of equity and civic professionalism support one another more robustly than liberal justifications in relation to the CNA's initiative; and that they also sit more comfortably with the realities of the CNA's role in relation to nursing, and to the Canadian health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the Criminal Code's prohibition on assisted death. Just over a year later, the federal government crafted legislation to entrench medical assistance in dying (MAiD), the term used in Canada in place of physician‐assisted death. Notably, Canada became the first country to allow nurse practitioners to act as assessors and providers, a result of a strong lobby by the Canadian Nurses Association. However, a legislated approach to assisted death has proven challenging in a number of areas. Although it facilitates a degree of accountability, precision and accessibility, it has also resulted in particular challenges negotiating the diverse perspectives of such a morally contentious act. One of these challenges is the tendency to conflate what is legal and what is moral in a modern liberal constitutionalism that places supreme value on autonomy and choice. Such a conflation tends to render invisible the legal and moral/ethical considerations necessary for nurses and nurse practitioners to remain ethical actors. In this paper, we introduce this conflation and then discuss the process of lawmaking in Canada, including the legalization of MAiD and the contributions of nursing to that legalization. We then engage in a hypothetical dialogue about the legal and moral/ethical implications of MAiD for nursing in Canada. We conclude with an appeal for morally sustainable workspaces that, when implementing MAiD, appropriately balance patient choices and nurses' moral well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Normative and prescriptive claims regarding social justice are often inadequately developed in the nursing literature and, in consequence, they must be rejected in their current form. Thus, claims regarding social justice are frequently presented as mere assertion (without clarification or supporting argument) or, alternatively, when assertions are supported that support may be weak (e.g. social justice is repeated juxtaposed against contentious assumptions regarding market disutility). This paper challenges the coherence of social justice as a shared nursing value and it is suggested that claims regarding the concept should be tempered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Healthcare practitioners in Alberta and across Canada have varying levels of access to information resources depending on their institutional and professional affiliations, yet access to current health information is critical for all. Objectives To determine what information resources and services are provided by Albertan and Canadian professional health associations to their members. Methods Representatives of professional colleges and associations were interviewed regarding information resources and services offered to members and perceptions of their members' information needs. Results National-level associations are more likely to provide resources than provincial ones. There is a clear distinction between colleges and associations in terms of information offered: colleges provide regulatory information, while associations are responsible for provision of clinical information resources. Only half of the associations interviewed provide members with access to licensed databases, with cost being a major barrier. Conclusions There is considerable variation in the number of electronic resources and the levels of information support provided by professional health associations in Alberta and Canada. Access and usage vary among the health professions. National licensing of resources or creation of a portal linking to freely available alternatives are potential options for increasing access and awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]