This is Your BA » Canadian Studies

Social working social policy

ccms_editor — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:37:16 +0000

School of Social Work professor Thérèse Jennissen has been interested in developing a course on comparative social policy for a long time. So, when the Centre for European Studies issued a call for proposals to develop courses that would integrate materials on the European Union, Jennissen saw the perfect opportunity for developing such a course at the School of Social Work.

Therese Jennissen, professor of Social Work, willl develop a new graduate-level course on comparative social policy, to be offered in January, 2012.

Her new graduate course, Comparative Social Policy: Canada and the European Union, introduces a comparative approach to social policy by focusing first on particular initiatives in Canada and then comparing them to similar policies in selected countries of the European Union.

While people aren’t always aware that the study of social policy is important for social workers, it is one of the main streams of the MSW program at Carleton. “Social workers are at the interface of the policy and the grass roots community, that is, the people who rely on the policies,” says Jennissen. “For example, we see, firsthand, the devastating effects that cutbacks to social programs and services have on those who rely on these services.”

“Social workers have important insights into social issues,” Jennissen explains. “These insights can be central for innovating, designing, and implementing social programs and services that are responsive to the changing needs of the beneficiaries of the policies.”

These insights become particularly important in the context of today’s global economic instability. According to Jennissen, there is much to be learned by comparing Canada’s approach to social policy with that of other countries.

“Several countries in the European Union historically have had innovative, well-developed social policy infrastructures and it is important to examine how and what they are doing in current conditions,” says Jennissen. “Comparing and contrasting what is occurring in countries that are similar to ours is an important educational exercise.”

While the course will select specific policies from a broad menu of social policy issues as they relate to social work (long-term care for seniors, pensions, child care, health and mental health, youth programs, unemployment, immigration, poverty, post secondary education, among others) the course is not limited to, nor will it appeal only to, social work students. The course will also be of interest to students of European studies, political science, sociology, public administration, law, and Canadian studies. The course will be offered in January, 2012.

Those interested in learning more about the course are invited to contact Professor Jennissen at therese_jennissen@carleton.ca.

Defending history

ccms_editor — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Nancy Oakley

By Nicole Findlay

Nancy Oakley is a stalwart defender of history. For the better part of a year, the Centretown resident has been lobbying to save Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture building.

A Masters student in School of Canadian Studies’ heritage conservation program, Oakley is putting theory into practice.

“When I heard about Carleton’s heritage conservation program, led by world-renowned expert Herb Stovel, I just had one of those ‘aha’ moments and knew it was the program for me,” said Oakley, who also works at an Ottawa-based public history firm as research assistant. “Heritage conservation was the best, natural fit for my interests and abilities.”

Like many Ottawans, Oakley followed the Lansdowne Park Live proposal from the sidelines. However she was alarmed when an Ottawa Citizen blog was censored as it became increasingly critical of the developers’ proposal.

Oakley took action, joining a local heritage advocacy group and together with her fellow graduate students began to speak out publically to save the 96 year old Horticulture building.

While the building won’t be bulldozed, it will be moved 150 feet if the developers’ plan is implemented.

“It seems innocuous, but this represents a dangerous precedent and a bad process,” said Oakley. “The decision to relocate the building was made before it was known if it was even feasible.”

In addition, Oakley says the City of Ottawa’s heritage report is not objective, requires the City to strip the heritage designation of the building and finally calls for the tax-payer to foot the bill for the relocation.

Oakley isn’t a reactionary. She supports private-public partnerships as an economical and realistic approach to revitalization, provided that the process is transparent and conducted with meaningful public consultation.

“The design (Lansdowne Live) right now forces us to choose between heritage and new development – why can’t we have both?”

Controversies in the classroom

ccms_editor — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:46:29 +0000

By Nicole Findlay

Mention Toronto’s Jane and Finch, and gun-toting gangs preying on children immediately springs to mind. Although firearms related murders are not restricted to that community alone, it is viewed as an anomaly, one more closely associated with racism in the United States, than a product of Canadian marginalization.

Students entering their first year at Carleton and enrolled in Katherine Arnup’s FYSM Contemporary Controversies in Canadian Society will tackle issues of inequality, race and poverty. In the process, they will upset their own perceptions – most students begin the class with the assumption that we are all equal in Canada.

“They don’t like me very much during the first term because I challenge what they think they know,” Arnup laughs. “Many say they have never experienced racism, but they tend to be white, middle class students who wouldn’t be exposed to difference.”

Arnup’s seminar will examine the colonial policies that shaped Canada’s immigration policy, including slavery and the Chinese head tax. Far from upholding an ideal of racial tolerance and equality, students are shocked to discover that Canada was complicit in the slave trade. The little-known practice fell from favour not as a result of superior ideals, says Arnup, but the short agricultural season which made housing slaves financially impractical.

The course material covers racism and discrimination in immigration policies, residential schools for aboriginal children, and climate change denial. As the fall months go by, students’ notions of Canada are upended. Arnup is sympathetic to them.

“I can remember the day I was reading a Globe and Mail the article and I realized that inequality did exist in Canada. I wanted to go back to my dreams of being a rich socialist!”

During the second half of the full-year seminar, students are ready to delve into more personally challenging content, as they begin to explore issues of death and dying, hospice care, and euthanasia.

“If you don’t die young, most of us will end up disabled in some way,” Arnup says. This is a notion that is impossible to fathom in the throes of immortal youth. Many of her students may have experienced the death of a grandparent or in rarer cases a friend, but most feel immune to death themselves and they rarely talk about it with friends or classmates.

Instead of despair, Arnup hopes the seminar’s content will imbue a sense of engagement among students in shaping their own, and Canada’s future.

Canadian Studies student makes mark on copyright

ccms_editor — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:38:02 +0000

Davina DesRoches is making her mark on Canada’s copyright legislation. The work she has completed during her practicum with the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL/ABRC) proved so impressive, the organization has been distributing it through their website.

“While researching another project, I stumbled across the issue of perceptual disabilities, and my interest was immediately piqued,” said DesRoches. ” I have a younger brother who has been identified as a special needs student, and I wanted to see how copyright law assists those with perceptual disabilities.”

The report, “Postsecondary Students, Perceptual Disabilities and Copyright Reform” assesses Canada’s Copyright Act and its effect on students with perceptual disabilities – defined as those who cannot or have difficulty reading or hearing material as it is originally presented.

Her examination of the Copyright Act revealed that the legislation does allow universities to provide “academic materials in formats students require”. However these are not all-encompassing, and are remarkable more for what is not permissible.

One of the restrictions DesRoches addresses is the prohibition on the production of large-print textbooks without prior consent from publishers or Access Copyright. She argues that the law hampers accessibility for visually impaired students and is a superfluous protection of publishing copyright.

The Copyright Act also prohibits the use of sign language to transcribe films.

“It’s actually illegal to translate a cinematographic work using sign language, which is ridiculous, because sign language is nonmaterial – once you have made the sign, it’s gone!” said DesRoches.

DesRoches hopes to increase public awareness of the challenges faced by students with perceptual disabilities and will continue to lobby the government to amend the act. In the interim, her work has gained the respect of leaders in her field.

“The fact that an important national organization like CARL/ABRC is distributing her reports speaks highly of Davina’s talents as a researcher and analyst,” said Richard Nimijean, undergraduate supervisor, School of Canadian Studies. “Not only is she an excellent student; she is also a wonderful ambassador for Carleton, reminding the capital that we have many high-calibre undergraduate students.”

DesRoches is currently working under the guidance of Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law, on copyright and digitization for her next report.