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Govind Rao

Discrimination: A checklist and sample collective agreement language | Canadian Union o... - 0 views

cupe.ca/-collective-agreement-language

from heather cupe equity bargaining

shared by Govind Rao on 19 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Oct 19, 2015
  • This document provides a checklist and examples of collective agreement language on discrimination. Discrimination is an action or a decision that treats a person or a group negatively for reasons such as their gender, race or disability. These reasons are known as grounds of discrimination. Depending on the jurisdiction of your workplace (provincial, territorial or federal), your list of “prohibited grounds” of discrimination can include: age, sex, race, gender, colour, creed, religion, ethnicity, pregnancy, ancestry, political belief, marital status, family status, language, citizenship, civil status, nationality, place of origin, physical disability, mental disability, criminal conviction, Aboriginal origin, social condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, source of income, linguistic background or other grounds.
Govind Rao

Transgender face discrimination, mistreatment in health care - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...article23474377

from heather equity gender

shared by Govind Rao on 20 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Monday, Mar. 16 2015,
  • Many transgender men face discrimination in U.S. health-care settings, according to a new study.About 42 per cent of female-to-male transgender adults reported verbal harassment, physical assault or denial of equal treatment in a doctor’s office or hospital, the researchers report.“Over a third of participants in the study were blatantly mistreated when they tried to get health care,” said Deirdre Shires of Wayne State University in Detroit.
Irene Jansen

Long-term-care insurance plans call for some women to pay more than men - The Washingto... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html

US LTC insurance Affordable Care Act women discrimination

shared by Irene Jansen on 27 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Starting next year, the Affordable Care Act will largely prohibit insurers who sell individual and small-group health policies from charging women higher premiums than men for the same coverage.
  • Long-term-care insurance, however, isn’t bound by that law, and the country’s largest provider of such coverage has announced it will begin setting its prices based on sex this spring.
  • Women’s premiums may increase by 20 to 40 percent under the new pricing policy
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Consumer health advocates say they aren’t surprised that women’s claims for long-term-care insurance are higher than men’s.Because women typically live longer than men, they frequently act as caregivers when their husbands need long-term care, advocates say, thus reducing the need for nursing help that insurance might otherwise pay for. Once a woman needs care, however, there may be no one left to provide it.
  • “The Affordable Care Act recognized the gender bias in health insurance,” she said. “The same [rules] should apply to long-term-care insurance.”
  • A 2012 study by the National Women’s Law Center found that 92 percent of top-selling health plans in the individual market practiced sex-based pricing in states where the practice was allowed. (Fourteen states banned or limited the practice, according to the report.) Nearly a third of plans charged women at least 30 percent more than men for the same coverage, even plans that did not include maternity benefits, the study found.
  • Insurers that sell individual and small-group health policies on the state-based health insurance exchanges or outside them on the private market in 2014 will be able to vary premiums based only on geography, family size, age and tobacco use. (Plans that have grandfathered status under the law are exempt from these requirements.)
  • Under federal laws against sex discrimination in the workplace, employers are generally prohibited from charging women more than men for the same health insurance coverage.
Irene Jansen

Comparative Performance of Private and Public Healthcare Systems in Low- and Middle-Inc... - 1 views

www.plosmedicine.org/...10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001244

privatization quality costs excellent

shared by Irene Jansen on 31 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Studies evaluated in this systematic review do not support the claim that the private sector is usually more efficient, accountable, or medically effective than the public sector
  • Irene Jansen on 31 Mar 13
     
    Summary by Anna Marriott, Oxfam Access and responsiveness * Studies that measured utilization by income levels tended to find the private sector predominately serves the more affluent. In Colombo, Sri Lanka, where a universal public health service exists, the private sector provided 72% of childhood immunisations for the wealthiest, but only 3% for the poorest. * Waiting times are consistently reported to be shorter in private facilities and a number of studies found better hospitality, cleanliness and courtesy and availability of staff in the private sector. Quality * Available studies find diagnostic accuracy, adherence to medical management standards and prescription practices are worse in the private sector. * Prescribing subtherapeutic doses, failure to provide oral rehydration salts, and prescribing of unnecessary antibiotics were more likely in the private sector, although there were exceptions. * Higher rates of potentially unnecessary procedures, particularly C-sections, were reported at private facilities. In South Africa for example, 62% of women delivering in the private sector had C-sections, compared with 18% in the public sector. * Two country studies found a lack of drug availability and service provision at public facilities, while surveys of patients' perceptions on care quality in the public and private sector provided mixed results. Patient outcomes * Public sector provision was associated with higher rates of treatment success for tuberculosis and HIV as well as vaccination. In South Korea for example, TB treatment success rates were 52% in private and 80% in public clinics. Similar figures were found for HIV treatment in Botswana. Accountability, transparency and regulation * While national statistics collected from public sector clinics vary considerably in quality, private healthcare systems tended to lack published data on outcomes altogether. Public-private partnerships also lacked data. * Several reports ob
healthcare88

UN alarmed at how Canada treats black people; Delegation critiques nation on poverty, e... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246471|tost|20161103|259762429

racism

shared by healthcare88 on 03 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • Toronto Star Thu Nov 3 2016
  • A UN working group on issues affecting black people is raising alarm over poverty, poor health, low educational attainment and overrepresentation of African Canadians in justice and children's aid systems. The findings were made by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent after its cross-Canada mission in October - the first ever since it was established in 2002. Previous attempts to visit Canada by the group failed under the former Conservative government, but it was made possible this time with an invitation by the Trudeau Liberals.
  • "The working group is deeply concerned about the human rights situation of African Canadians," the group wrote in its preliminary report, the final version of which will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council next September. "Canada's history of enslavement, racial segregation and marginalization has had a deleterious impact on people of African descent which must be addressed in partnership with communities." Dena Smith of Toronto's African Canadian Legal Clinic was happy the working group acknowledged some of the key issues faced by the community.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • While the findings and recommendations are not binding, Smith said they highlight the challenges faced by African Canadians for the international community and hopefully put more pressure on Ottawa to rectify the inequities. "The situation is only going to get worse," Smith said. "We have families in the community torn apart at an alarming rate. "The future looks pretty bleak for our young people."
  • The UN delegation was in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax to meet with government officials, community members and rights groups to identify good practices and gaps in protecting the rights of black people. "We had been trying to secure a visit to Canada for a long time. It's a great joy that we were officially invited here," the working group's chair Ricardo Sunga told the Star in a phone interview Tuesday. "We look at Canada as a model in many ways when it comes to human rights protection.
  • We appreciate Canada's effort in addressing discrimination in various forms, but no country is exempt from racism and racial discrimination." Despite the wealth of information on socio-economic indicators in Canada, the investigators criticized the "serious" lack of race-based data and research that could inform prevention, intervention and treatment strategies. "The working group is concerned that the category 'visible minorities' obscures the realities and specific concerns of African Canadians," its report said. "There is clear evidence that racial profiling is endemic in the strategies and practices used by law enforcement. Arbitrary use of 'carding' or street checks disproportionately affects people of African descent."
  • The overrepresentation of black people in the criminal justice system was of particular concern for the group, who found African Canadians make up only 3 per cent of the population but account for 10 per cent of the prison population. In the last decade, the number of black detainees in federal correctional facilities has grown by 71.1 per cent, it warned. Among other findings by the UN experts: Across Canada, African Canadian children are being taken into child welfare on "dubious" grounds. Forty-one per cent of children in Children's Aid Society of Toronto's care were black when only 8 per cent of children are of African descent. The unemployment rate for black women is 11 per cent, 4 per cent higher than the general population, and they earn 37 per cent less than white males and 15 per cent less than white women.
  • A quarter of African Canadian women live below the poverty line compared to 6 per cent for their white counterparts. One-third of Canadian children of Caribbean heritage and almost half of continental African children live in poverty, compared to 18 per cent of white Canadian children. Chris Ramsaroop, an advocate with Justicia for Migrant Workers, hopes the report will raise awareness of the plight of African Canadians. "We need every opportunity to hold the feet of the federal and provincial governments to the fire," he said. The UN experts recommend a national department of African-Canadian affairs to develop policies to address issues facing black people and implement a nationwide mandatory disaggregated data collection policy based on race, colour, ethnic background and national origin.
  • Odion Fayalo, of Justice is Not Color Blind Campaign, protests racial profiling before a Toronto Police board meeting. • René Johnston/TORONTO STAR file photo
Heather Farrow

Racism in health care is 'a real thing,' says Indigenous physician - North - CBC News - 0 views

www.cbc.ca/...s-racism-health-care-1.3722120

aboriginal racism

shared by Heather Farrow on 16 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Overt or subtle discrimination 'can have very real consequences,' says Alika Lafontaine
  • Aug 15, 2016 5
  • The president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada says racism in health care can have 'very real and sometimes negative' consequences.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Dr. Alika Lafontaine, an anesthesiologist in northern Alberta and the president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, spoke with Lawrence Nayally of CBC Radio's Trail's End about the racism and discrimination Indigenous people face in Canada's health care system.
Govind Rao

Report Exposes "Discrimination" Against Frail, Elderly Patients - 0 views

www.marketwired.com/...l-elderly-patients-1883271.htm

from heather ontario cupe hospital campaign cuts

shared by Govind Rao on 28 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Abandoned at home elderly have borne brunt of cuts to hospitals
  • PERTH, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 26, 2014)
  • The province's near 20-year fixation with cuts to Ontario hospitals including the closure of 19,000 beds and decreased access to in hospital restorative convalescent care, is resulting in human tragedies on a grand scale, with many patients, foremost the elderly pushed out hospitals while acutely ill with little access to care at home, a report released today in Perth has found. The report, Pushed Out of Hospital, Abandoned at Home: After Twenty Years of Budget Cuts, Ontario's Health System is Failing Patients found it is the elderly and those in smaller communities who are being hurt most by hospital downsizing. Making the situation worse is the under-resourcing of care at home under an "outpatient" community care model that the report shows, is failing miserably.
Govind Rao

Does your benefits plan discriminate against some of your members? | Canadian Union of ... - 0 views

cupe.ca/nate-against-some-your-members

from heather cupe benefits equity

shared by Govind Rao on 28 May 15 - No Cached
  • May 11, 2015
  • More than three-quarters of CUPE members have access to some level of workplace benefits like extended health, dental or vision coverage, but 22 per cent of our members still don’t have any plan at all. The percentage of CUPE members in equality-seeking groups (women, racialized workers, Aboriginal workers, LGBTTI workers, and workers with disabilities) without access is greater than the overall percentage.
  • If there are groups of workers that don’t have access (part-time or casual workers, for instance) bargain to include them.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Overall we see more small gains than losses in benefit plans across Canada. It’s an area where we can continue to improve, and where we can do our part to reduce inequality in our workplaces.
Govind Rao

Ottawa's safe country list for refugees 'unconstitutional'; Federal Court ruling latest... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246471|tost|20150724|225531232

from heather refugees cuts migrant worker

shared by Govind Rao on 24 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • Toronto Star Fri Jul 24 2015
  • In a major blow to the Harper government, the Federal Court has struck down its so-called safe country list for refugees as unconstitutional. In a ruling Thursday, the court said Ottawa's designation by country of origin, or DCO, discriminates against asylum seekers who come from countries on this list by denying them access to appeals.
  • "Moreover, it perpetuates a stereotype that refugee claimants from DCO countries are somehow queue-jumpers or 'bogus' claimants who only come here to take advantage of Canada's refugee system and its generosity." It is yet another devastating hit to the Conservative government, which recently also lost two cases on constitutional grounds over the ban of the niqab at citizenship ceremonies and on health cuts for refugees.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The distinction drawn between the procedural advantage now accorded to non-DCO refugee claimants and the disadvantage suffered by DCO refugee claimants ... is discriminatory on its face," wrote Justice Keith M. Boswell in a 118-page decision. "It also serves to further marginalize, prejudice and stereotype refugee claimants from DCO countries which are generally considered safe and 'non-refugee producing.'
  • "We remain committed to putting the interests of Canadians and the most vulnerable refugees first. Asylum seekers from developed countries such as the European Union or the United States should not benefit from endless appeal processes." The latest court decision means all failed refugee claimants, whether on the list or not, are entitled to appeal negative asylum decisions at the Immigration and Refugee Board's refugee appeal division, better known as the RAD. "This is a very important victory for refugees," said Jared Will, counsel for the refugee lawyers association. "Every refugee deserves to have their claims determined on their own merits."
  • "This is another Charter loss for the Harper government," noted Lorne Waldman, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, a party to the legal challenge against the DCO regime. The government said it will appeal the decision and ask the court to set it aside while it is under appeal. "Reforms to our asylum system have been successful resulting in faster decisions and greater protection for those who need it most," said a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.
  • This is another example of how the Stephen Harper government "flagrantly" overreaches its authority and disregards the Charter rights, he said, and "the court decision is confirming that." Calling the issues "complex," a spokesperson for the refugee board said it will respect the court ruling and "take the necessary time to examine the decision and its potential impacts." In December 2012, the federal government overhauled the asylum system in order to eliminate the growing backlog and expedite the processing of claims.
  • Not only do claimants face tighter timelines in filing their claims and scheduling a hearing and removal, those from DCO are ineligible to work for six months, appeal a rejected claim or receive a pre-removal risk assessment within three years after an asylum decision. Three refugee claimants - only identified in court by their initials - challenged the constitutionality of the DCO regime after they were denied asylum and subsequently the opportunity to appeal to the newly established refugee appeal tribunal.
  • Lawyers for the trio criticized the arbitrariness of the country designation process, arguing the DCO regime subjected some claimants to an "inferior determination process" - and discrimination - by limiting their access to opportunities and benefits that are afforded to others. They also argued that the government's branding of DCO claims as bogus, and the use of refugee statistics to trigger designation, feeds into the stereotype that their fears are less worthy of attention. In its defence, the government contended that it does not draw distinctions among claimants based on their national origin but rather whether they come from regions that are generally safe.
  • The government said the expedited processing for DCO claims is legitimate and conforms to Canada's international obligation. It explained that it limits the access to an appeal to the RAD only on the basis of a thorough assessment of the country conditions. However, Justice Boswell rejected its arguments: "This is a denial of substantive equality to claimants from DCO countries based upon the national origin of such claimants." He sent all three claims involved in the case to the refugee appeal tribunal for redetermination.
Govind Rao

Hospital cuts hitting north hardest - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246243|kldn|20150710|224572767

from heather cupe hospital Ontario campaign cuts rural

shared by Govind Rao on 10 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • The Kirkland Lake Northern News Fri Jul 10 2015
  • North Bay -Hospital cutbacks have been made worse in Northern Ontario by socio-economic conditions that have led to more prevalent chronic medical conditions and lower life expectancies, says the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. According to Michael Hurley, large aboriginal and senior populations in the North, coupled with issues such as geography and underemployment, should be the basis for increased services. But he says Northern hospitals have instead suffered devastating cuts. Hurley suggests North Bay has been even harder hit as a result of the province's $1-billion deal with the private sector to build, finance and maintain the North Bay Regional Health Centre.
  • As a P3 facility, he said the North Bay hospital shoulders higher operating costs than those that are owned outright by the province. "The hospital cuts in North Bay have probably been among the deepest in the province," said Hurley, who was in the city Wednesday, as part of campaign to highlight the impact of reductions in recent years on Northern Ontario patients. Hurley, who was joined by Sharon Richer, a hospital worker from Sudbury and an OCHU regional vice-president, hosted a news conference at the Royal Canadian Legion on First Avenue to provide an update to a 2014 report that concluded the health care system actively discriminates against frail, elderly patients, pushing them out of hospital instead providing the care they require. The report, entitled Pushed out of Hospital, Abandoned at Home, chronicled the experiences of hundreds of patients and their families from more than 30 Ontario communities who called a 1-800 patient hotline set up for a year by the OCHU and Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The update features additional anecdotal experiences of patients who have been let down by the health care system as a result of issues such as understaffing, overcrowding, early discharge and insufficient community support or home care. It also focuses specifically on cuts in the North. The report indicates that cutbacks in North Bay, which is the first stop of the campaign, include the closure of an eight-bed mental health rehabilitation unit and more than 56 positions -representing an estimate of more than 50,000 nursing care hours per year, affecting departments throughout the facility.
  • Although the local hospital has indicated resources are being transferred to the community, Hurley suggested such transfers do not commensurate with the cutbacks and often come at the expense of acute care services. "With the cuts that are happening across Northern Ontario, this is only going to get worse," said Richer, who share some the anecdotal experiences of patients included in the report. One account was that of an elderly man who had suffered a stroke and whose family believed he had been discharged too soon from hospital and did not receive adequate physiotherapy. Although the family struggled to pay for some private therapy, but the man never regained the ability to walk and died within two years of his stroke.
  • Hurley said hospitals have been forced to make cuts because they are now in the fourth year of a five-year freeze on their budgets. And he said estimates cited by the auditor general calculate that hospitals need a 5.8% increase annually to meet their basic costs. The report calls for the reopening of chronic and alternate level of care beds, a halt to the closure of acute care beds, adequate hospital funding, hospital reinvestment, the elimination of fees for home care, therapies and services and a move away from private for-profit home care, long-term care and pharmaceuticals. Hurley said the OCHU is also preparing to file a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission of discrimination in the health care system against the elderly when it comes to acute care services.
Govind Rao

Northerners harder hit by hospital cuts - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246243|nbng|20150709|224491600

from heather cupe Ontario hospital cuts campaign rural

shared by Govind Rao on 09 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • The North Bay Nugget Thu Jul 9 2015
  • Hospital cutbacks have been made worse in Northern Ontario by socio-economic conditions that have led to more prevalent chronic medical conditions and lower life expectancies, says the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. According to Michael Hurley, large aboriginal and senior populations in the North, coupled with issues such as geography and underemployment, should be the basis for increased services. But, he says, Northern hospitals have instead suffered devastating cuts.
  • Hurley suggests North Bay has been even harder hit as a result of the province's $1-billion deal with the private sector to build, finance and maintain the North Bay Regional Health Centre. As a P3 facility, he said, the North Bay hospital shoulders higher operating costs than those owned outright by the province. The hospital cuts in North Bay have probably been among the deepest in the province," said Hurley, who was in the city Wednesday, as part of campaign to highlight the impact of reductions in recent years on Northern Ontario patients. Hurley, who was joined by Sharon Richer, a hospital worker from Sudbury and an OCHU regional vice-president, hosted a news conference at the Royal Canadian Legion on First Avenue to provide an update to a 2014 report that concluded the health-care system actively discriminates against frail, elderly patients, pushing them out of hospital instead providing the care they require.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The report, entitled Pushed out of Hospital, Abandoned at Home, chronicled the experiences of hundreds of patients and their families from more than 30 Ontario communities who called a 1-800 patient hotline set up for a year by the OCHU and Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. The update features additional anecdotal experiences of patients who have been let down by the health-care system as a result of issues such as understaffing, overcrowding, early discharge and insufficient community support or home care. It also focuses specifically on cuts in the North.
  • The report indicates that cutbacks in North Bay, which is the first stop of the campaign, include the closure of an eight-bed mental health rehabilitation unit and more than 56 positions - representing an estimate of more than 50,000 nursing care hours per year, affecting departments throughout the facility. Although the local hospital has indicated resources are being transferred to the community, Hurley suggested such transfers do not commensurate with the cutbacks and often come at the expense of acute care services. With the cuts that are happening across Northern Ontario, this is only going to get worse," said Richer, who shared some the anecdotal experiences of patients included in the report.
  • One account was that of an elderly man who had suffered a stroke and whose family believed he had been discharged too soon from hospital and did not receive adequate physiotherapy. Although the family struggled to pay for some private therapy, the man never regained the ability to walk and died within two years of his stroke. Hurley said hospitals have been forced to make cuts because they are now in the fourth year of a five-year freeze on their budgets. And, he said, estimates cited by the auditor general calculate that hospitals need a 5.8% increase annually to meet their basic costs. The report calls for the reopening of chronic and alternate level of care beds, a halt to the closure of acute care beds, adequate hospital funding, hospital reinvestment, the elimination of fees for home care, therapies and services and a move away from private for-profit home care, long-term care and pharmaceuticals. Hurley said the OCHU is preparing to file a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission of discrimination in the health-care system against the elderly when it comes to acute care services.
Govind Rao

Beth MacLean claims 15 years spent in hospital discrimination - Nova Scotia - CBC News - 0 views

www.cbc.ca/...pital-discrimination-1.3093066

from heather mental health NS hospital

shared by Govind Rao on 01 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • Woman with intellectual disability has lived at Emerald Hall in Dartmouth since 2000
  • Jun 01, 2015
  • Jo-Anne Pushie (left) used to be Beth MacLean's social worker while working at Emerald Hall, where MacLean has lived for the last 15 years. (CBC)
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • For nearly 15 years, Beth MacLean has wanted to live in a community. That dream has remained unfulfilled despite the 43-year-old being told she is capable of doing so with support. MacLean has an intellectual disability and lives in a locked unit of Emerald Hall at the Nova Scotia Hospital.
  • She is one of three Nova Scotians who will bring their complaint to a human rights hearing in the upcoming months. When MacLean was admitted to the Nova Scotia hospital in 2000, she was told she would have supported living in the community within a year. She's been in an institution ever since, despite being told she's ready to leave. 
Govind Rao

Saving costs, hurting families - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246200|ntnp|20150313|216302039

from heather Quebec cuts

shared by Govind Rao on 13 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • National Post Fri Mar 13 2015
  • Gaetan Barrette, Quebec's Minister of Health, recently announced proposed legislation that would change how the province funds in vitro fertilization (IVF) for women unable to conceive without medical assistance. Women would have to sign a declaration stating that they had been sexually active for a sustained period, and were still unable to become pregnant. Women over the age of 42 would not be eligible for IVF at all. Minister Barrette, I would like to introduce you to Mikey, my little boy. I had him when I was 43 and I am not alone. The trend toward later motherhood is significant in most Western countries today. The proportion of Canadian women giving birth in their early forties has doubled since 1988, and in the U.S., it has quadrupled. The decision when to have a child is very personal. It is also widely acknowledged that women today are under tremendous social pressures to "be responsible," complete their education and establish financial and relationship stability prior to starting a family. Having a child later in life is not always a mere preference; often it is the result of how our current social structure limits the choices open to women. But by the time it is "socially responsible" to have a child, it may become biologically challenging. Our fertility declines and we are racing against our biological clocks. This is precisely when some need the assistance of IVF to conceive.
  • I am not certain why you chose 42 as a threshold (perhaps you are relying on policy advice from Douglas Adams' Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that suggested "42" is the answer to the meaning life). But this age threshold discriminates between women who are lucky enough to conceive spontaneously in their forties, and those who need assistance. It also discriminates between me and my husband, for whom there is no age limit in your Bill. Is it medically riskier to have a baby after 40? Yes, it is. Does the risk justify not having a baby? In most cases, it does not. And in almost all cases, this is a decision that a woman should have the liberty to make for herself. Women are making much riskier decisions without government intrusion, such as undergoing plastic surgery. They are making them for more trivial reasons than the desire to bring a child into the world.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Your proposed Bill 20 is meant to improve health-care access and cut costs in Quebec. But by banning access to IVF for women over 42, it is overstepping its objectives and violating the rights of citizens. Choosing to limit public funding for a service, when trying to save money, is one thing; but banning it completely, even when people choose to pay out of their own pockets, is an entirely different matter. When you were recently challenged on this point, you said that this is not a matter of cost but rather of "protecting mothers and children." My son and I are doing very well, thank you for your concern. And like other mothers who conceived in their 40s, I would appreciate some respect for my autonomy. This justification of 42 as an age limit for IVF is good old-fashioned paternalism that has no place in today's society. Under the guise of protection, this Bill represents an attack on Quebec women and mothers.
  • To make things worse, Bill 20 is threatening physicians with heavy fines if they direct me to another province or jurisdiction where I can privately access IVF after 42. This is an alarming violation of the professional autonomy of a doctor to refer patients, not to mention a violation of a woman's freedom to have access to health information she needs. In 2010, the Quebec government introduced a program that funded every aspect of IVF for everyone, an unprecedented level of coverage in North America. The program was in such high demand that it cost much more than expected, $261 million to date. Looking back, there is wide agreement in Quebec that the hasty introduction of the program in the absence of reflection and public consultation led to very problematic consequences. You, Minister Barrette, famously criticized this program for being an "open bar" and allowing access to IVF without appropriate restrictions.
  • But the fix for bad policy is not another bad policy. Proposing ethically and socially appropriate conditions of eligibility for publicly funded IVF is a laudable objective. The thoughtful and well-argued report published in June 2014 by the Quebec Commissioner for Health and Well-being, based on an extensive public consultation, proposes many such conditions that would allow cutting costs while respecting considerations of justice and equity. Conditions on access to public funding may be justified.
  • But there is no way to justify draconian measures that have nothing to do with cost control, but are rather an affront to women's rights. Rather than protecting us from IVF, you should protect us from unwarranted government intrusion. Vardit Ravitsky is an associate professor in the Bioethics Program at the School of Public Health, University of Montreal.
Govind Rao

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - March 21 | Hospital Em... - 0 views

www.heu.org/...crimination-%E2%80%93-march-21

from heather cupe bc racism campaign

shared by Govind Rao on 23 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • March 20, 2015
  • On March 21, 1960, white South African police fired more than 700 shots at peaceful black demonstrators, who were protesting discriminatory “pass laws” in the Sharpeville Township of South Africa. 
  • Sixty-nine people were killed and 180 wounded. Almost all were shot in the back. 
Govind Rao

Bargaining LGBTTI rights: A checklist for collective agreement language | Canadian Unio... - 0 views

cupe.ca/-collective-agreement-language

from heather cupe equity bargaining

shared by Govind Rao on 19 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Oct 19, 2015
  • This document provides a checklist of ways to advance LGBTTI[1] rights through the collective agreement. Your collective agreement should: Include gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation as prohibited grounds of discrimination and harassment.
Heather Farrow

Exploitative practices of disabled workers persist across Canada | Canadian Association... - 0 views

calm.ca/...orkers-persist-across-canada-0

disability discrimination

shared by Heather Farrow on 13 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • Just how many jurisdictions across Canada allow for employers to pay disabled workers below the minimum wage?
  • Mon Apr 11 2016
  • by Teuila Fuatai "Outdated" employment legislation permitting employers to pay disabled workers below minimum wage in Alberta is set to be reviewed, the NDP government says. The law, which states an employer is eligible to apply for a permit from the government nullifying minimum wage standards for disabled workers, has been repealed in all other Canadian jurisdictions -- with Saskatchewan and Manitoba the most recent of the provinces to scrap equivalent legislation in 2013.
Heather Farrow

'Systemic racism' to blame for poor health care for First Nations: Ottawa doctor - 0 views

www.ottawasun.com/...-first-nations-ottawa-doctor-2

racism aboriginal

shared by Heather Farrow on 10 May 16 - No Cached
  • May 09, 2016
  • Canada’s First Nation’s health care — like the child welfare system — is built on a platform of racism, says an Ottawa-raised doctor who has become an outspoken advocate for better health services for First Nations.
  • Kirlew, 35, recently held MPs’ attention when he talked to the Commons Indigenous Affairs Committee about health care for First Nations living on reserves. “It is not just a little inferior, it is far inferior,” he said.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Recently, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Canada discriminates against First Nations children on reserves by failing to provide the same level of child welfare services as exist elsewhere. The tribunal ordered the federal government to speed up changes in response to that ruling.
Heather Farrow

Speaking out for dissent and democracy | - 0 views

www.hilltimes.com/...63258

campaign legislation

shared by Heather Farrow on 11 May 16 - No Cached
  • May 11, 2016
  • Citizens around the world are mobilizing this Saturday to assert their right to speak out, organize, and take action. As part of a Global Day for Citizen Action, people will be asked whether they are free to raise their voice and call for change.
  • Applying lessons learned from the harsh realities of the past and taking full advantage of the window of opportunity presented by the new government, the Voices alliance is putting forward an agenda for action to create enabling conditions for full, free civic engagement by Canadians from every background and belief.
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  • An alliance of Canadians from coast to coast to coast is taking up that question, launching a homegrown initiative that day to promote a healthy environment for debate, dissent, diversity, and democracy in Canada.
  • If you were from an indigenous community or a Muslim or a climate activist, you were all the more vulnerable to drive-by smears—or worse.
  • Given this bleak backdrop, some might suggest we have little to complain about in Canada. But the past dismal decade is a sober reminder there’s no cause for complacency. On the contrary, citizens and organizations critical of the government were dismissed, dismantled, defamed, and defunded. Officers of Parliament were silenced as were scientists and public servants. Access to evidence was severely constrained and dissent increasingly criminalized.
  • In Zimbabwe, Honduras, China, and too many other countries the risks for those who speak out are huge. Freedom of expression and freedom of association are under attack. Human rights defenders are targeted.
  • Transformative change is required to our laws, institutions, priorities, and political culture. Respect for human rights—both charter rights and Canada’s international obligations—must serve as the bedrock upon which all policies and programs are founded. And the vital role of civil society organizations in informing public opinion, shaping public policy, and generating political will must be respected and promoted.
  • This is particularly true for groups that represent marginalized constituencies including women, racialized peoples and others who have borne the brunt of cuts, attacks, and discrimination. Critically, the Canadian government must build a new relationship with indigenous peoples based on rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership.
  • Parliamentary accountability must be strengthened, ending omnibus bills and improving oversight and independent review. Citizens must have ready access to information, including all publicly funded research. And public servants must be encouraged to provide independent advice based on evidence and respect for the constitution and human rights. The agenda for action is ambitious but vital if we are to have a healthy enabling environment for a flourishing Canadian democracy.
  • It’s also a living document. The public, parliamentarians, pundits, and public interest groups are all encouraged to contribute their ideas and to join in securing the essential reforms we so urgently need. In its first six months, we’ve seen encouraging signals the government is following through on commitments to increase transparency and accountability. Renewed funding for the Court Challenges program, for example, is a welcome show of good faith.
  • But we’ve also seen troubling lapses where human rights have taken a back seat and alternative views have been censured, in particular in relation to the Middle East. And there are major files that remain open, including replacing Bill C-51 with legislation that respects rights and complies with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
  • The signal we send and the example we set for advocates of freedom of expression and association around the world are critical if the phrase “Canada’s back” is to have any substance and sunny ways are to prevail—let alone if we are to reinforce these rights so they are stronger here than ever before. There is no better time for bold action to bolster respect for rights and civic engagement than now. Robert Fox is a founding member of the Voices Coalition and a long-time social justice activist.
Govind Rao

Not just justice: inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women needs public healt... - 0 views

www.cmaj.ca/...E78

from heather aboriginal gender violence

shared by Govind Rao on 15 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • CMAJ March 15, 2016 vol. 188 no. 5 First published February 29, 2016, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.160117
  • On Dec. 8, 2015, the Government of Canada announced its plan for a national inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, in response to a specific call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.1 On Jan. 5, 2016, a pre-inquiry online survey was launched to “allow … [stakeholders an] opportunity to provide input into who should conduct the inquiry, … who should be heard as part of the inquiry process, and what issues should be considered.”2 We urge the federal government to be cognizant of the substantial knowledge, skill and advocacy of those who work in public health when deciding who should be consulted as part of this important inquiry.
  • A recent report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police3 confirmed that rates of missing person reports and homicide are disproportionately higher among Aboriginal women and girls than in the non-Aboriginal female population. As rates of female homicide have declined in Canada overall, the rate among Aboriginal women remains unchanged from year to year. This is troubling, and the need to seek testimony from survivors, family members, loved ones of victims and law enforcement agencies in the inquiry is clear.
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  • However, we should avoid diagnosing this problem merely as a failure of law enforcement. Murders represent the tip of an iceberg of problems related to endemic violence in communities. Many Aboriginal women and girls, and indeed men and boys, live each day under the threat of interpersonal violence and its myriad consequences.
  • Initial statements from the three federal ministers tasked with leading the forthcoming inquiry — the ministers of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Justice and Status of Women — suggest that its purpose is to achieve justice, to renew trust between indigenous communities and the Canadian government and law enforcement bodies, and to start a process of healing.
  • The inquiry surely must also endeavour to lay the groundwork for a clear plan to address the broader problem of interpersonal violence, which, in turn, is rooted in several key determinants. Addressing interpersonal violence is not merely an issue of justice; it is also a public health concern.
  • Factors associated with both the experience and perpetration of interpersonal violence are manifold. They include but are not limited to mental health issues, drug and alcohol misuse, unemployment, social isolation, low income and a history of experiencing disrupted parenting and physical discipline as a child. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report has highlighted that many of these factors are widespread in the Aboriginal populations of Canada.4 Many of the same factors contribute to disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in areas such as education, socioeconomic circumstances and justice. T
  • here is also substantial overlap with identified determinants of poor health in Aboriginal communities both in Canada and elsewhere.5,6 These are the factors associated with higher rates of youth suicide, adverse birth outcomes and tuberculosis, and poorer child health. It’s clear that a common web — woven of a legacy of colonization and cultural genocide, and a cumulative history of societal neglect, discrimination and injustice — underlies both endemic interpersonal violence and health disparities in Canada’s indigenous populations. There is no conversation to be had about one without a conversation about the other — if the aim is healing — because the root causes are the same.
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently engaged in developing a global plan of action to strengthen the role of health systems in addressing interpersonal violence, particularly that involving women and girls.7 A draft report by the WHO acknowledges interpersonal violence as a strongly health-related issue that nevertheless requires a multisectoral response tailored to the specific context. Evidence from Aboriginal community models in Canada gives hope for healing.
  • A recent report from the Canadian Council on Social Determinants of Health highlighted important strides that some Aboriginal communities have made to address the root causes of, and to mitigate, inequities through efforts to restore the people’s connection with indigenous culture.8 Increasing community control over social, political and physical environments has been linked to improvements in health and health determinants.
  • The public health sector in many parts of Canada has embraced the need for strong community involvement in restoring Aboriginal people to the health that is their right. In many community-led projects over the past few decades, the health care sector has worked with others to address common proximal and distal determinants of disparities.
  • We are presented with not just an opportunity for renewing trust between indigenous communities and the Government of Canada but also for extending the roles of public health and the health care sector in the facilitation of trust and healing. There is much that the health sector can contribute to the forthcoming inquiry. Health Canada should be involved from the start to ensure that public health is properly represented
Heather Farrow

Public solicitation for organ donors: a time for direction in Canada - 0 views

www.cmaj.ca/487

cma organs

shared by Heather Farrow on 18 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • CMAJ April 19, 2016 vol. 188 no. 7 First published February 29, 2016, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.150964
  • The disparity between supply and demand for transplantable solid organs has resulted in strategies to drive increased organ donation, including public solicitations for living donors. Public organ solicitation occurs when a recipient or their representative solicits an organ for transplantation by public broadcast (e.g., social media or a public notice). The intended donor and recipient may not have a prior relationship. Lack of regulation of public solicitations for organ donation in Canada is a cause for concern. We call for careful screening of altruistic donors within a well-organized system that links willing donors with a maximum number of beneficiaries.
  • Public solicitation for organs offers an opportunity to find a living donor for potential recipients who do not have one within their social or familial network. Thus, solicitations are a way to redress a somewhat natural injustice, whereby some people have more friends or family members who are willing to donate than others. Accepting these donations does not discriminate1 nor does it disadvantage those on the waiting list.2 Solicitation leads to access to an organ that would not otherwise have been available for donation.3 In addition to being a benefit to the direct recipient, every transplant reduces the demand on the waiting list.2 Solicitation can also increase the awareness of organ shortages and may elicit more donors for other recipients.3
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  • However, there are concerns. Organ solicitations have been criticized as unfair, because they enable donation to identified recipients rather than to a recipient on a waiting list. Celebrity status and access to resources clearly provide increased opportunities to find a donor. A person with a high profile or more appealing story may be perceived as getting ahead in the transplant system, which could influence the public against organ donation.4 Recipients who are computer literate, social media savvy or English-speaking have enhanced access to potential donors beyond their local community and are more likely to find a donor than those without these characteristics.2 Publicity surrounding personal stories involving organ solicitation can be misleading and encourage offers to the solicitor, without considering donations to those with greatest need.5 However, all living donation is inequitable in that the donor chooses to whom to donate — generally someone they know — without any requirement to donate to the wait-list recipient with the greatest need.
  • One concern with public solicitations for organs is the potential for exposure of the recipient to harms from a donor who is unknown to them, which may in turn damage the reputation of transplant programs.3 Canadian law requires a minimum donor age for living donors, voluntary consent and no exchange of goods for an organ.6 Public solicitation may increase the potential for exchange of valuable considerations for an organ, because the donor is unknown to the recipient.
  • Two recent, well-publicized Canadian cases focused attention on these issues. The owner of the Ottawa Senators hockey team, who needed a new liver, used his public profile to solicit an anonymous donor.7 In the other case, the family of a young girl who needed a liver transplant made a public appeal through a Facebook page.8 The solicitation was fuelled by media attention surrounding this touching story, whereby the child’s twin had received liver tissue donated by their father, who could only donate once. The solicitation received more than 500 responses from people willing to donate.8 These two public solicitations for organs received markedly different public responses: one faced criticism9 and the other garnered sympathy. The difference in public perceptions was likely due to the different recipient profiles. In both cases, anonymous donors came forward, were screened and donated a part of their livers.
  • There are no guidelines for public solicitation of organs in Canada. Canadian transplant programs have had to address this issue on a case-by-case basis, often without consensus. Within Canada, different responses to organ solicitation by potential donors may be producing inequity of access to organs. Transplant programs and their patients could benefit from guidance on how to address the challenges raised by public solicitations. Many transplant doctors would be comfortable with public solicitation only if the donor became a nondirected altruistic donor, by which the organ is allocated to the next suitable recipient on the waiting list rather than to the actual solicitor (unpublished survey data, July 2015). Transplant doctors consider the next best thing to be to ensure that a relationship existed between the recipient and the solicited donor before donation occurs.
  • Donors who respond to public solicitations should be considered for transplantation. However, transplant programs must ensure that the motivation for donation is based on altruism rather than secondary intention, and that donors meet medical and psychosocial criteria for living donors, provide informed consent and agree to meet the requirements of the program regarding contact with the recipient. Although they should not be dissuaded from donating to the intended recipient, solicited donors should be made aware of alternatives such as donating to the recipient with the greatest need. A model is Canada’s National Kidney Paired Donation program. This program is the best option for candidates who have living kidney donors who are willing to donate and medically able, but who are incompatible with their intended
  • recipient. The program coordinates a chain of multiple transplants so that a willing donor’s organ can find its way to a compatible recipient while the intended recipient also receives an organ.10 This system allows the most people in need of an organ to get one. Even if the solicited donor and recipient are compatible, they can still choose to enter the National Kidney Paired Donation program as a pair, to benefit the greater transplant community, because a critical number of pairs are required for the overall success of the program.10 Whether donors from a public solicitation should remain anonymous to their recipients is a decision best left to the transplant program.
  • Donations of living organs are valued. Solicited organ donation helps to identify willing donors. It is an important facet of living donation and should be promoted. However, solicited organ donors should be encouraged to consider anonymous nondirected organ donation within systems, such as the National Kidney Paired Donation program, to maximize the number of patients in need who receive a transplant from a willing altruistic donor.
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