New research begins on women and disabilities

In an effort to improve the economic prospects of women with disabilities, the CCSD's Gender Research Unit is embarking on a major new research project that will investigate the reasons why these women have relatively low rates of participation in the labour force. The project is being supported by Ontario's Trillium Foundation. CCSD senior researcher Gail Fawcett is coordinating this initiative in consultation with a community-based advisory group of experts on women with disabilities.

In the first phase of the project, Fawcett is preparing detailed profiles of the socio-economic characteristics of men and women with and without disabilities. In the project's second phase she will examine the reasons for the lower labour force involvement of women with disabilities, including factors such as their family responsibilities. In the final phase of the project, the CCSD will bring a number of Ontario women with disabilities together in a series of focus groups to discuss the statistical ana lysis and provide their own perspectives on the barriers to labour force participation. At the end of this 18-month project, a report and other information materials will be produced to summarize the research findings and provide specific recommendations for policies and programs to better meet the labour market needs of women with disabilities. For further information about this project, contact Gail Fawcett at (613) 236-8977 ext. 238.

Website will serve social planning councils

The CCSD's Internet Webmaster, Susan Scruton, is designing a website that will serve as a hub for social planning councils (SPCs) across the country. Many SPCs do not have sufficient resources to construct their own sites, and others have expressed a desire for increased communication between SPCs, particularly now that regional and municipal agencies must take on more responsibilities – with fewer resources – in the wake of federal and provincial cut-backs. Expected to be up and running by mid-summer, this website will enable social planning councils to share information and communicate on issues of common interest. For further information, contact Susan Scruton at (613) 236-8977 ext. 237.

More detailed portrait of urban poverty planned

The Centre has extended an invitation to municipalities across Canada to become partners in a detailed exploration of poverty in their cities, using data from the 1996 Census as the primary source of information. With support from these municipal partners, the Centre would purchase customized Census data and analyse it to provide the most comprehensive report ever on the conditions and causes of poverty in Canada's urban centres. The report would provide a detailed look at the demographic, labour market and income characteristics of particular urban communities, as well as cross-comparisons.

This project is intended to help municipal-level governments and other organizations make informed decisions in their program and policy-planning activities as they grapple with increased demands to deliver more social and other services, but with shrinking amounts of public dollars. The Centre is also offering to organize a forum where the participating urban partners will be able to discuss the research findings and related policy issues with experts from across the country.

The plan for this project is to identify the participating partners and develop the research parameters this year, so that the research itself can be conducted as soon as the Census data becomes available in 1998.

New information resource on social programs

The CCSD is preparing a new book called Income Security Programs in Canada that will update information from two previous works, The Canadian Fact Book on Income Security Programs (1992) and An Overview of Social Policy in Canada (1993). This new publication, expected out later this year, will examine Canada's income security programs in light of the wide range of program and policy changes that have taken place since the early 1990s.

The author, policy analyst Christopher Clark, will outline the evolution of Canada's income security programs and will profile current programs including the Child Benefits System, Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, the Canada Health and Social Transfer, and provincial social assistance and Workers' Compensation programs.

Report looks at work and family life

Centre Director Clarence Lochhead has recently completed a research report that will be published by the Vanier Institute of the Family, examining the connections between work and family life. Lochhead has assessed the competing demands placed on individuals by their paid work and their family responsibilities, and the ways in which the work that people do at home and in their jobs is mutually supportive. The report also examines the financial characteristics of families, including their roles as consumers; the time and resources that family members spend on nurturing or caring for their relatives; the changing characteristics of jobs, services and work arrangements by which families sustain themselve; and the strategies used by employees and employers to cope with the work and family challenge.

Statistics Canada to publish CCSD research on literacy and poverty

Vivian Shalla and Grant Schellenberg, senior researchers with the Centre, have just completed a study of the relationship between literacy and poverty to determine why people with low literacy skills are so much more likely to be poor than those with higher skill levels. They reviewed a variety of factors that affect the inter-relationship between literacy and poverty including access to paid employment, types of jobs obtained and literacy practices on and off the job for people with different levels of literacy. They also explored intergenerational dimensions of literacy and poverty, paying special attention to the literacy practices of children in poor and non-poor households. The study will be published as a monograph by Statistics Canada later this year.

How are kids faring? CCSD looks at data by province

Building on the Council's research in The Progress of Canada's Children and using data from the ground-breaking National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) from Statistics Canada, the CCSD is preparing profiles of children's status in various provinces. Coordinated by Assistant Director Grant Schellenberg, the Centre has invited support from each of the provinces, and will prepare profiles for those who join as partners in this project. Work is currently underway on profiles for two provinces. The purpose of these profiles is to provide policy-makers and others with a rich source of information that they can use to assess the well-being of children within their jurisdictions and to identify unique characteristics warranting special policy consideration.

The profiles that Centre staff are now preparing are based on results from the "first wave" of NLSCY data released last fall, which provide information about the household composition, prenatal care, family functioning and school readiness of children up to 11 years of age. The CCSD's profiles also compare characteristics of children in each province against findings for the entire country.

Statistics Canada is expected to release information from the "second wave" of the NLSCY later this month that will provide more data on children's health, educational performance, activities, neighbourhood conditions and parental health. The "third wave" of data from the NLSCY is to be released in September, and will include information on family and custody history and marital status.

Once the second and third waves of NLSCY data are released, Centre staff are prepared to develop more detailed provincial profiles incorporating the new findings.

The Centre for International Statistics is the self-sustaining, non-profit research division of the CCSD. The Centre provides statistical and analystical research services to governments at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, to non-governmental and community organizations, trade unions, and others who require social and economic data. Staff also organize symposia on social research topics.

Canadian Council on Social Development, 190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3