By: Lauren Vogel, CMAJ

Among measures urged to improve mental health in Canada is the introduction of a “poor tax” on wealthier Canadians to help provide basic necessities, such as affordable housing and transportation, to at-risk individuals. Photo credit: ©2011 Thinkstock

A “toxic combination of poor social policies and programs, unfair economic arrangements and bad politics” is undermining efforts to treat Canadians with mental health problems and causing even more people to require treatment, mental health experts say.

Canada’s failure to address the social determinants of health to the same degree as other developed nations has resulted in a situation in which about 15% of Canadians now live in “health threatening situations of poverty,” Dennis Raphael, a professor of health policy and management at York University in Toronto, Ontario, told delegates to a “Women in Mind” conference held in Ottawa, Ont. on Oct. 21.

Change will require a complete shift in how Canadians think about mental health, as well as earlier interventions to provide support before mental health problems surface, Raphael argued. “Otherwise, we're just dragging people out of the river, but doing nothing to stop them from falling in the first place.”

Such supports might include raising social assistance and disability benefits, or introducing a “poor tax” on wealthier Canadians to help provide basic necessities, such as affordable housing and transportation, to at-risk individuals, he said.

The fight to save the Census continues as CCSD et al vs The Government of Canada will be heard in the Federal Court on November 23, 2011 at 09:30AM.  CCSD and 12 other partners are fighting for Canada's equal right to be counted in the Mandatory Short Form, the only mandatory tool left in the group of census surveys that reaches every Canadian.

The Short form (little more than a head count) only asks 10 questions of Canadians,  none of which determines one's ethnicity and cultural heritage, aboriginal status or disability. The exclusion of the important groups of Canadians is a clear breach of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Gaps in data of this measure will ensure that decision makers at every level, will not have the necessary information to serve these important groups of Canadians. Perhaps that's the point, is this marginalization by design?

We deserve better, these groups of Canadians deserver better, join us in this important moment in Canadian history.

If you would like more information or want to get involved, contact our President, Peggy Taillon at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Make a donation to the data defence fund and become of a member of CCSD.

Partners in the challenge include:

SOCIAL PLANNING TORONTO,
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT HALTON,
SOCIAL PLANNING COUNCIL OF WINNIPEG
CANADIAN ARAB FEDERATION,
ONTARIO COUNCIL OF AGENCIES SERVING IMMIGRANTS,
COUNCIL OF AGENCIES SERVING SOUTH ASIANS,
CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION TORONTO,
AFRICAN CANADIAN LEGAL CLINIC,
NATIONAL ABORIGINAL HOUSING ASSOCIATION,
SOUTH ASIAN LEGAL CLINIC OF ONTARIO,
AFRICAN CANADIAN LEGAL CLINIC,
METRO TORONTO CHINESE SOUTHEAST ASIAN LEGAL CLINIC

From The StarPhoenix, Tuesday October 11, 2011

An ill-advised ministerial decision that put political pandering ahead of sound scientific methodology likely will continue to hamper Canada's ability to make wise public policy decisions and conduct good social research for at least a decade or more.

A study commissioned by Statistics Canada says there's not enough time to embark on a new type of census before the 2016 census or even the 2021 tally. Consultant Don Royce concluded the only viable course remains to juggle the components of the current census, the methodology of which has come under attack by statisticians and academics after a political decision to make completion of the long-form census non-compulsory.

BY Bruce Campbell and Armine Yalnizyan

Are unions more of a problem than a solution today?

Anti-union sentiment has accelerated since the global crisis of 2008 brought economies to their knees and left public finances in a mess.

Widespread frustration with fragile growth and soaring debt has been channeled towards unions, which are increasingly characterized as an elite, irrelevant, and a drag on the economy.

But consider this: No country has ever achieved widespread prosperity and created a large middle class without strong unions.