By now, the average Canadian household has at least heard of Occupy Wall Street. This global movement has some excited, some irritated and many baffled. While the protests represent diverse concerns, the movement takes a courageous stand against a common problem: growing social inequality. Read more »
By Chandra Pasma | Friday, September 16th, 2011 - 1:52PM
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Two different organizations have recently released helpful reports on economic equality and well-being that cast a somewhat dispiriting picture of the state of prevailing economic philosophies. On Tuesday, the Conference Board of Canada, a business-funded think tank, released its second report of the summer on income inequality, detailing how inequality has risen faster in Canada than in the United States.
The Conference Board report also notes that since the mid-1990s, Canada has had the fourth largest increase in inequality among its peer countries. Read more »
By Chandra Pasma | Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 - 3:52PM
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In this week’s web feature, I highlight the increased spending on prisons, noting that in terms of effectiveness, we’d be better off investing in cheaper approaches such as crime prevention and restorative justice. In choosing to put more people in prison for longer periods, Canada is emulating our neighbour to the south, which has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. But just as we are moving in this direction, some US states are starting to back away from it. Their primary motivation? They just can’t afford to be “tough on crime” any longer.
One in 100 adults in the US is now in county jail, state or federal prison, compared to 1 in 400 in the 1970s. This incarceration boom had a significant impact on prison budgets – according to a study by the Pew Center on the States, 1 in every 15 state dollars is now going to corrections. In 1987, the 50 states spent $10.6 billion of their general funds on corrections; but 2007, they were spending $44 billion, an increase of 127% when adjusted for inflation. Read more »
By Chandra Pasma | Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 - 3:30PM
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Don Drummond had a bit of a strange op-ed in the Toronto Star on Sunday. On the one hand, he acknowledged the debate over the option of corporate tax cuts and called for the impact of cuts to be monitored so that we know whether or not they are actually delivering on their goals. On the other, he reviewed and dismissed all of the arguments against corporate tax cuts as negligible. Read more »
By Rebekah Sears | Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 - 9:45AM
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Today, April 22, is Earth Day. Initiated by US Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 as a national movement for education and promotion of environmental care, Earth Day eventually was recognized and is now celebrated around the world.
The first International Earth Day was held in 1990, with over 140 countries joining the movement. Today, with over 170 countries involved, Earth Day is one of the biggest movements in the world in terms of global environmental education and action. Read more »
By Rebekah Sears | Monday, March 15th, 2010 - 3:08PM
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Until very recently, the United States Government has been using measures developed in the 1960s to determine the number of people living in poverty. Developed under President Johnson in 1963 and 64, these concepts may be a little outdated, to say the least!
But last week, according to the New York Times, President Obama decided to look into new measures of poverty to potentially replace those developed under President Johnson. Read more »
In November, Judge Phelan ruled that the Safe Third Country Agreement violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This ruling was good news for refugees and advocates alike, ensuring that refugees would not be turned away in spite of the fact that they had entered Canada through the US. But despite this ruling, the border still remains closed to many refugees at risk of being sent back to dangerous situations. Read more »
By now, the average Canadian household has at least heard of Occupy Wall Street. This global movement has some excited, some irritated and many baffled. While the protests represent diverse concerns, the movement takes a courageous stand against a common problem: growing social inequality. 
In November, Judge Phelan ruled that the Safe Third Country Agreement violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This ruling was good news for refugees and advocates alike, ensuring that refugees would not be turned away in spite of the fact that they had entered Canada through the US. But despite this ruling, the border still remains closed to many refugees at risk of being sent back to dangerous situations. 
