Alexia Polillo, Nick Kerman, John Sylvestre, Catherine M. Lee and Tim Aubry
Foreign-born families face challenges following migration to Canada that may impact their well-being and lead them to homelessness. Yet, there is limited research on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Foreign-born families face challenges following migration to Canada that may impact their well-being and lead them to homelessness. Yet, there is limited research on the experience of homelessness in this population. The purpose of this paper is to examine the health of foreign-born families staying in the emergency shelter system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and compare their experiences to Canadian-born homeless families who are also living in shelters.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted with 75 adult heads of families who were residing in three family shelters. This study focused on mental and physical health functioning, chronic medical conditions, access to care and diagnoses of mental disorders.
Findings
Foreign-born heads of families reported better mental health than did Canadian-born heads of families with a significantly lower proportion of foreign-born participants reporting having been diagnosed with a mental disorder. Foreign-born heads of families also reported fewer chronic medical conditions than did Canadian-born heads of families.
Research limitations/implications
This study relied on self-reported health and access to healthcare services. Data were drawn from a small, non-random sample.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first studies to examine the health and well-being of homeless foreign-born heads of families. Moreover, this paper also focuses on disparities in health, diagnoses of mental disorders, and access to healthcare services between foreign-born and Canadian-born families – a comparison that has not been captured in the existing literature.
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This chapter provides a genealogy of the Gladue–Ipeelee principle of special consideration of Indigenous circumstances at sentencing. The principle is codified in the 1996…
Abstract
This chapter provides a genealogy of the Gladue–Ipeelee principle of special consideration of Indigenous circumstances at sentencing. The principle is codified in the 1996 statutory requirement that “all available sanctions other than imprisonment … should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders” (s. 718.2e of the Criminal Code of Canada). Using the Foucaultian genealogy method to produce a “history of the present,” this chapter eschews normative questions of how s. 718.2e has “failed” to reduce Indigenous over-incarceration to instead focus on how practices of “special consideration” reproduce settler-state paternalism. This chapter addresses three key components of the Gladue–Ipeelee principle: the collection of circumstances information, the characterization of those circumstances, and finally their consideration at sentencing. Part one focuses on questions of legitimacy and authority and explicates how authority and responsibility to produce Indigenous circumstances knowledge was transferred from the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) to Indigenous Courtworker organizations in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Part two identifies how authority shapes problematization by examining the characterization of Indigenous circumstances in the two eras, finding that present-day Gladue reports articulate an Indigenous history and critique of colonialism as the root cause of Indigenous criminalization, whereas DIA reports prior to 1970 generally characterized this criminalization as a “failure to assimilate.” Part three focuses on the structural reproduction of power relations by exploring historical continuities in judicial and executive-branch consideration of Indigenous circumstances, suggesting that the Gladue–Ipeelee principle reinscribes a colonial “mercy” framework of diminished responsibility. The author discusses how the principle operates in the shadow of Indigenous over-incarceration as a form of state “recognition” and a technique of governance to encourage Indigenous participation in the settler justice system and suggests that the Gladue–Ipeelee principle produces a governing effect that reinforces settler-state authority by recirculating colonial practices and discourses of settler superiority.
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Placide Poba-Nzaou, Sylvestre Uwizeyemunugu, khadija Gaha and Mélanie Laberge
The purpose of this paper was to develop a taxonomy of organizations based on business value (BV) underlying electronic human resource management (e-HRM) adoption motivations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to develop a taxonomy of organizations based on business value (BV) underlying electronic human resource management (e-HRM) adoption motivations.
Design/methodology/approach
A taxonomy was developed using cluster analysis of the online case stories of 146 firms. Results were validated using discriminant analysis. Differences in organization and environmental characteristics across clusters were examined.
Findings
Seven meaningful and distinct clusters were uncovered showing asymmetry in the consideration of strategic BV underlying the motivations of e-HRM adoption. Statistical tests revealed that the seven clusters have high internal validity. Statistically significant differences in organizational conditions were found among clusters.
Research limitations/implications
This research offers an empirically and conceptually grounded taxonomy of organizations that reveals strategic and nonstrategic BV that organizations actually put forward and the way they combine together to form different profiles. This research is based on secondary data, that is, data initially gathered for a distinct goal different from this research.
Practical implications
The developed taxonomy provides human resource (HR) managers, executives, researchers and consultants a useful way to describe and understand motivations underlying e-HRM adoption. The taxonomy may also facilitate valid and systematic assessment of e-HRM effectiveness.
Originality/value
This research moves the debate beyond normative arguments to a more analytic assessment of the actual practice of organizations regarding e-HRM adoption and expected BV.
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Michael John Norton and Oliver John Cullen
The term recovery is an abstract concept. It differs for each and every person regardless of race, sexual orientation, culture or belief system. Throughout the age of modern…
Abstract
The term recovery is an abstract concept. It differs for each and every person regardless of race, sexual orientation, culture or belief system. Throughout the age of modern medicine, doctors and scholars have tried to understand the concept of recovery for those in mental distress and those who are in the process of addiction. This chapter aims to highlight the different understandings of the concept of recovery from both a mental health and addiction perspective in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the processes of recovery and how its definition and qualities have changed over time as new and more compelling clinical evidence emerges.
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France has a long tradition of research on labor and employment issues dating back to the emergence of the “Social Question” in the 1830s. Yet, the field identified as industrial…
Abstract
France has a long tradition of research on labor and employment issues dating back to the emergence of the “Social Question” in the 1830s. Yet, the field identified as industrial relations (IR) emerged slowly in France and has not achieved the institutional status it did in Anglo-Saxon countries. French universities have no IR departments and there are no academic journals with IR on the title. Teaching takes place within different disciplines and research produces an abundant literature, which does not always claim the IR label.
The concept of “industrial relations”, translated as “relations professionnelles”, started to be used in France only after World War II (WWII). The terms commonly used both before WWII and even nowadays alongside IR are “relations du travail” (labor relations) or “relations sociales” (social relations). Even though “industrial relations” might not always be the label used, a distinctive French IR tradition exists nonetheless which this paper identifies and presents.
The paper starts with the forerunners at the origins of the field of IR in France, high ranking civil servants who played a role not only in the development of French but even of international industrial relations, and represented a “problem-solving” approach to IR. The emergence of IR as a field of research with a self-recognized academic community bent on “science building”, however, mostly followed the evolution of IR practice in France in the post-WWII period, which the paper then analyzes, presenting the IR milieu in France through its research structures, theoretical debates and challenging prospects.
John Farley, Shawn Vasdev, Benedikt Fischer, Jürgen Rehm and Emma Haydon
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health concern in Canada, which now mostly affects marginalized populations, including correctional inmates. These populations…
Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health concern in Canada, which now mostly affects marginalized populations, including correctional inmates. These populations ‐ until recently ‐ have largely been excluded from HCV pharmacotherapy. We report preliminary data on HCV treatment in a federal correctional population sample in British Columbia (BC), using Pegetron combination therapy. HCV RNA results are presented at week 12 of treatment, a strong predictor of treatment outcome. Just over four‐fifths (80.8%) of inmate patients had no detectable HCV RNA at week 12; inmates with genotype 2 and 3 fared better than those with genotype 1. These preliminary results suggest that HCV treatment is feasible and promises to be efficacious in correctional populations.
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In the UK, Masters level discipline-specific courses in sustainability integrate modules on the social, economic, and environmental issues of sustainable development. The…
Abstract
In the UK, Masters level discipline-specific courses in sustainability integrate modules on the social, economic, and environmental issues of sustainable development. The postgraduate faculty teaching on these courses and the student cohorts enrolling in such courses bring varying attitudes, experiences, and beliefs to the ecological and anthropological discourses and practices about sustainable development. Existing studies of education for sustainable development (ESD) have identified strengths and weaknesses in the knowledge and attitudes of students and faculty although few studies have focused on postgraduate cohorts and fewer still have attempted to compare and contrast students and lecturers. This mixed method case study analyses findings from data collected (2016–2017) from student surveys (n = 121) and semi-structured interviews with faculty (n = 21) recruited from multiple university departments, centers, and programs (n = 12) to identify prevailing anthropocentric and eco-centric ideas and rationales about sustainable development and ESD. Findings suggest a strong orientation to mainstream sustainable development in both groups but analysis identifies reasons for resisting a focus on extremes of “deep green” or “green wash” approaches. In addition, prevailing belief in academic neutrality, institutional and disciplinary factors, student pragmatism, and other drivers are highlighted. The study concludes by identifying potential paths from prevailing (experiential) education in sustainable development to more transformational approaches.
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The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that systematically captures the ambiguity of different understandings about science, the university and its relation to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that systematically captures the ambiguity of different understandings about science, the university and its relation to society, while conceptualising sustainability. Following Corley and Gioia (2004, p. 174) on identity ambiguity and change, it seems pivotal to better understanding the ambiguity of sustainability in relation to academic cultures and university models to manage the transition more effectively.
Design/methodology/approach
The nature of this paper’s objectives as well as the wide thematic scope leads to the need of exploring a broad knowledge base. This was best addressed by an exploratory literature review with data collection from primary and secondary sources. The data was interpreted through a hermeneutic analysis and resulted in the inductive development of first categories and goals (further referred to as category development). In addition, a multi-method approach further adjusted the categories and raised their empirical validity and social robustness.
Findings
Implementing sustainability involves dealing with a double bound ambiguity due to organisational and individual identity reasons. Five fields of ambiguity were developed to systemise the conceptualisation of a sustainable university along contradictory understandings of science, the university and sustainability. These fields offer a framework to qualitatively assess the degree of sustainability in higher education institutions. Arguments for and against sustainability in universities have been categorised around five criteria and associated to the fields of ambiguity. The finding indicates that meaning in organisational change management for sustainability can be considered both, a potential driver and barrier for a sustainability transition in universities.
Research limitations/implications
This paper exclusively focussed on the internal perspective and left aside any external factors that influence the sustainability transition, such as political measures to stimulate sustainability in higher education. In addition, the operational dimension of a sustainable university has been neglected, which is by all means a necessary and important aspect. The interrelation of the identified goals has not been discussed.
Originality/value
This paper focusses on the conceptualisation and understanding of sustainability within the institution, an often-forgotten but fundamental aspect of implementation. The fields of ambiguity are designed to be applied for assessing the “degree of maturity” of a sustainable university. The fields reveal the different understandings about the role, the mission and the governance of universities, stemming from competing preferences about goals and their assumed relations by various stakeholders of a higher education institutions. The five fields are not an attempt to resolve the hidden contradictions and tensions in a sustainability transition, but to state them clearly to anticipate resistances and conflicts that hinder the development of a shared understanding.
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Chad J.R. Walker, Mary Beth Doucette, Sarah Rotz, Diana Lewis, Hannah Tait Neufeld and Heather Castleden
This research considers the potential for renewable energy partnerships to contribute to Canada's efforts to overcome its colonial past and present by developing an understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
This research considers the potential for renewable energy partnerships to contribute to Canada's efforts to overcome its colonial past and present by developing an understanding of how non-Indigenous peoples working in the sector relate to their Indigenous partners.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is part of a larger research program focused on decolonization and reconciliation in the renewable energy sector. This exploratory research is framed by energy justice and decolonial reconciliation literatures relevant to the topic of Indigenous-led renewable energy. The authors used content and discourse analysis to identify themes arising from 10 semi-structured interviews with non-Indigenous corporate and governmental partners.
Findings
Interviewees’ lack of prior exposure to Indigenous histories, cultures and acknowledgement of settler colonialism had a profound impact on their engagement with reconciliation frameworks. Partners' perspectives on what it means to partner with Indigenous peoples varied; most dismissed the need to further develop understandings of reconciliation and instead focused on increasing community capacity to allow Indigenous groups to participate in the renewable energy transition.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, the authors intentionally spoke with non-Indigenous peoples working in the renewable energy sector. Recruitment was a challenge and the sample is small. The authors encourage researchers to extend their questions to other organizations in the renewable energy sector, across industries and with Indigenous peoples given this is an under-researched field.
Originality/value
This paper is an early look at the way non-Indigenous “partners” working in renewable energy understand and relate to topics of reconciliation, Indigenous rights and self-determination. It highlights potential barriers to reconciliation that are naïvely occurring at organizational and institutional levels, while anchored in colonial power structures.