Latest Policy Bytes

November 2, 2015 - Like many other Ontarians, I have been following the debate about the introduction of our very own provincial pension plan with some interest. The latest reasoning put forward in support of the plan has me truly perplexed. As the argument goes, people can’t afford to save for retirement so we must force them to do so. It seems we have decided that it is more important that someone be able to purchase groceries in 40 years from now when they are 65 than it is for them to be able to purchase groceries today when they are 25.

October 28, 2015 - As the birth place of the Blue Box, the world’s first curb-side recycling program, Ontario was once a leader in waste management.

October 20, 2015 - Every September a fresh crop of hundreds of mostly novice teachers head North to teach in remote, mostly First Nations populated communities. Hired by northern public school districts or aboriginal education authorities, the recruits arrive flush with excitement and prepared to ‘sink or swim’ on a mostly unfamiliar educational terrain. 

October 14, 2015 - School has resumed for another year and most parents, teachers and students are once again confronting the thorny issue of homework.  After a decade-long campaign against assigning kids too much work to be completed at home, homework definitely making a comeback in Canadian schools.

September 28, 2015 - Do you know what a demonym is? What if I were to ask you to tell me what the term Torontonian meant? You’d probably be able to tell me that this term describes someone who lives or is from the city of Toronto, and that’s precisely what demonym means. It is a term used to attribute the name of place or location to someone, usually a resident, and generally involves adding a suffix, such as “ian” or “nian” in the case of Toronto. The term traces its origins back to ancient Greece and is derived from the word “deme,” which was used to describe a township. The adjective demonymic, therefore, describes the process of attributing the name to an Athenian citizen according to the deme that they reside. Currently, the word deme is still used to describe an administrative division in modern Greece. 

September 16, 2015 - Transforming emptying or mothballed schools into community hubs is now becoming de rigueur for provinces and school districts. Three weeks ago, Ontario became the latest to embrace the policy initiative and take on the herculean implementation challenge. Breaking into that educational silo will take what American policy analyst Frederick Hess has aptly termed “cage-busting leadership.”

September 8, 2015 - As summer interns in Sault Ste. Marie, Mandy and I spent the summer working on a research project with Northern Policy Institute, called “Know the North.” Working out of Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, a generous amount of our days were spent reaching out to economic developers in First Nations and non-First Nations communities, in hopes of arranging informal interviews. We were happy to speak with an average of 72 economic development players this summer. The goal of the conversation was to gain a better understanding of how First Nations and Municipalities are faring on a social and economic scale, as well as address regional themes that Northern Policy Institute can tailor its research around and open the door to the beginning of a lasting partnership with northern communities.  Seventy two interviews and six well-used notebooks later, here is a snapshot of the things we learned over the summer:

August 31, 2015 - This summer, Northern Policy Institute had the pleasure of working with an inspiring group of young adults from Northern Ontario through its annual internship program. These eight interns, all hailing from different educational and professional backgrounds, provided Northern Policy Institute with new perspectives on existing research and innovative ideas of ways to grow Northern Ontario.

August 28, 2015 - In Northern Ontario, the environment is one of the largest economic drivers, and at first glance, extracting a living from the land could appear as fertile grounds for a poverty of ideas.  In a hyper-digitized global context, Northern Ontario’s traditional industries may fail to be thought of as sectors that are capable of creating new ways to earn a profit while building on cultural capital (Hall & Donald, 11), better known as non-financial assets, such as education, ideas, and knowledge that arm individuals with a social advantage (Crossman).

August 18, 2015 - What’s the first thing people normally do when the person on the other side of the counter can’t or won’t give them the level of customer service they desire? They ask to speak to the manager. They want to know that the person they are talking to has the power to not only identify a solution, but to implement it.