Kathryn Wilkins from Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics participated on the call and contributed the following letter submitted to the Government regarding the Cancellationof the long form census.  The CCSD has carried forward a Federal Court challenge that is still pending decision on this point.  The Datalibre blog has also kept a list of the many other organizations that came spoke out on this issue at Census Watch.

Access to public data is an issue for open governement and being able to track demographics is a method to keep government accountable to its charter responsibilities but these data are also important in public health.  Kathryn's letter is available here.

Ted Hildebrandt from Community Development Halton, is a member of the Community Data Program and has been engage in opening and sharing data in the social sector for a number of years.  He was intrumental a encouraging Social Planning Council to take up community based mapping.  

He produces with CDH Community Dispatches which are loaded with community scaled government produced data arranged in a way that is useful to municipal council and their members.

UBC Interprofessional Continuing Education, a non-profit organization that provides multidisciplinary conferences to health professionals and the community on health-related issues in an interdisciplinary environment, is hosting the following conferences:

Child and Youth Mental Health Matters
First National Parental Mental Health Conference
First International Young Carers Congress
Third International World Congress on Children of Parents with Mental Illness
May 6 – 8, 2012
Vancouver, BC

This conference brings together an interdisciplinary group of professionals working in the field of mental health with young people and parents and other stakeholders to share knowledge and experiences related to child and youth mental health. There are three themes woven through the conferences: Parental Mental Health, Children of Parents with Mental Illness and Young Carers.

Registration is currently open and available at the Child and Youth Mental Health Matters website.

Health & Wellbeing in Children, Youth and Adults with Developmental Disabilities
Challenging Behaviour – The Tip of the Iceberg
November 15-17, 2012
Vancouver, BC

Conference Objectives:

• - To promote best practices in physical and mental health for individuals with developmental disabilities
• - Recognize the multifactorial determinants of challenging behaviour
• - Recognize the role of traumatic experiences in understanding challenging behaviour
• - Maximize health and wellbeing in order to minimize disability and improve quality of life
• - Share knowledge and common experiences with others working in the field.

A Call for Abstracts is currently open at the IPCE Health and Wellbeing conference page.

For further information please visit the IPCE website www.interprofessional.ubc.ca , or contact Ian Chipperfield at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , (604) 827–3112.

Service Provider and Researcher Perspectives

The Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families (CUP) at the University of Alberta are happy to announce the release of the report Recruitment and Engagement of Low-Income Populations: Service Provider and Researcher Perspectives. The report includes a discussion on recruitment, use of incentives, challenges, as well as retention and communication strategies.

You can read and download a copy of the report at the Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families' (CUP) website, available in PDF format.

Currently, there is only an e-copy of the report. If you are interested in receiving hard copies in the future, please email CUP at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and let them know how many hard copies you would be interested in.

by: Katherine Scott, CCSD Vice-President, Research & Policy

We’ve been warned. The next federal budget, expected in March, will be first and foremost about cuts to public programs, with the express goal of reducing the federal deficit over the next few years, and reducing the debt accumulated since the 2008-09 recession. Even as the economic news last Fall suggested that the recovery was losing steam, the Finance Minister was reconfirming the government’s intent to bring down the deficit as quickly as possible.

Greetings all;

Last week outreach was made to the following:

• All endorsers (see the letter here)
• CivicAccess.ca List
• David Eaves (Call scheduled March 5)
• Democracy Watch (Information received)
• Stephen Walker, Treasury Board of Canada (Call scheduled for March 6)
• Mike Gifford & Caterine Roy, Disability and Accessibility Experts (Call TBD)
• Canadian Association of Public Data Users
• Marc Weiler, FOI Expert
• Canadian Association of Geographers
• Michael Gurnstein, (Call scheduled this week)
• All 24 cities of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Quality of Life Reporting system (Invited to Conf. Call)
• All Community Data Program Leads
• CIPPIC (Call TBD after March 19)
• Canadian Association of Research Libraries (Invited to Conf. Call)
• IASSIST Canada (Invited to Conf. Call)
• Canadian Cartographic Association (Invited to Conf. Call)
• Association of Canadiam Map Librarians and Archivves (Invited to Conf. Call)
• All members on the Census Watch List
• DFAIT (Call to be scheduled this week)

Call Schedule this week:

• Mon. March 5, David Eaves (PM)
• Tues. March 6, Michael Gurnstein (AM), Stephen Walker (PM)
• Wed. March 7 11 AM EST & March 8 11 AM EST (Open Call)

Call Info:

Dial in # 1-877-727-8553
Participant Code 108111962

Notes will be taken during all the calls and posted here as will links to documents and websites.

CCSD presents to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology Evidence.

CCSD President and CEO Peggy Taillon and Vice-President Katherine Scott presented at the meeting of Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology held this week, Wednesday February 15th, 2012.

The presentation focused on the reality that Canada is fast becoming a country of two solitudes, income disparity is driving a wedge between the "haves" and "have nots". Inequality erodes community.

This was the eighth meeting of the committee with regard to their current study on social inclusion and cohesion in Canada. The meeting focused on urban planning and its impact on issues with inclusion or exclusion to particular populations in Canada.

You can view the PowerPoint deck, Building Bridges, that was presented to the committee.

The unrevised transcript of the meeting is available for review as well. (Download Word document)