OTESSA's Submission for the Government of Canada's Federal Pre-Budget Consultations

Author(s):  
OTESSA

Governments have the opportunity to influence policy in education and to facilitate funding to support its implementation. This document contains seven recommendations made to the Government of Canada as part of its public consultation in developing its federal budget. It was developed with input from both members and public contributors involved with the Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA), then submitted to the Canadian federal government in August of 2021. The document was originally posted on a blog post on the OTESSA website at https://otessa.org

1973 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-130
Author(s):  
Bernard S. Sheehan

The federal government withdrew from the field of direct financial support of universities in 1967 under provisions of the new Act. Along with the full responsibility for university finance, the federal government transferred to each province certain tax revenues and a post-secondary education adjustment payment to bring the total financial transfer to at least 50 per cent of the allowable operating cost of post-secondary education. Costs allowable under the Act exclude capital costs, federal grants, student aid, and income for assisted, sponsored, and contract research. The federal councils and agencies continue to be the primary contributors to university research funds. The purpose of this note is to determine the current financial contribution of the government of Canada to university research. Much of the problem is its definition. To establish the framework for this definition, three sets of ideas are explored. These are: direct and indirect costs of university research, university research as an embedded activity, and the problem of relating university activity costs to incomes received from specific sources. These notions lead to formulae which yield divergent alternatives of the federal contribution depending upon the set of assumptions deemed appropriate. Much of the data needed for these calculations were gathered from primary sources and illustrate the application of the formulae for the four-year period 1966–70.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-43
Author(s):  
Roger A. Boyer

The Canadian Government released a document to aid in the relationships between the Government of Canada and First Nations around the ratification and redesign of the Indian Act of 1876. The name of this document was the “White Paper.” The Federal Government's “White Paper, statement of Government of Canada on Indian Policy of 1969,” rejected the concept of special status for First Nations within confederation—they should have the same rights and responsibilities as other Canadians. The Federal Government argued treaty rights were irrelevant in today's society; the important issues demanding attention included economic, educational, and social problems. In Canada's assessment of the “savage” situation, the government could not see wellness wholistically addressing the poverty, social crises, and bleak future faced by most First Peoples was rooted in the very denial of treaty rights and humanness. This article pushes to educate health leaders about current circumstances contributing to racism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Xiao ◽  
Keith W. Hipel ◽  
Liping Fang

The Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) methodology is employed to ascertain strategic insights into a serious conflict over environmental concerns connected to the expanded exploitation of oil sands at the Jackpine Mine Expansion project located in Alberta, Canada. In fact, the expansion of extracting bitumen from large tracts of oil sands in Alberta and its associated potential negative environmental impacts have received increasing attention at the global level. Accordingly, environmentally responsible extended mining of bitumen at the Jackpine site is urgently needed. Hence, the GMCR methodology and its associated decision support system GMCR II are utilized to systematically investigate the conflict of the Jackpine Mine Expansion project. The results imply that the Federal Government of Canada is more concerned about the economic benefits generated by the oil sands projects rather than environmental impacts. It is suggested that more effort should be devoted to the environment conservation by the government.


Ethnologies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 63-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald L. Pocius

Over the past twenty years, what constitutes a culture’s heritage has been debated amongst those responsible for governmental policies, as well as the constituents that governments serve. While heritage has often focused on tangible items – architecture and the material world – recent policies have broadened the focus to include the intangible: knowledge, ideas, performances, beliefs handed down for generations. Many national and international agencies – lead by UNESCO – now have policies and programs that deal with intangible cultural heritage (ICH). Within the Canadian context, the federal government has had differing interpretations of the importance of this type of heritage. Most recently, in spite of initial involvement in its drafting, the Department of Canadian Heritage has decided not to support UNESCO’s new international ICH Convention, which went into force in April, 2006, and now includes more than 160 countries that have ratified it. Historically, provincial governments and NGOs across Canada have been more involved with ICH, and it is here that the most recent initiatives are occurring. The changing stance of the Department of Canadian Heritage on this topic may well be related to specific figures involved, unspoken fears of legal repercussions, and the lobbying of special interest heritage groups.


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 335-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Légaré

AbstractThe paper presents a geographical and historical overview of the Territory Nunavut (Canada) established in 1999 and inhabited by a majority of Inuit People. The author outlines the process that led to the conclusion of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the current structure of the government of Nunavut, which can best be described as a form of Inuit self-government. Th e main objective of the paper consists in an overview and analysis of current socio-economic challenges faced by the government of Nunavut. Based on the visions of the Bathurst Mandate, the author attempts to assess the success of the ‘Nunavut Project’.The author concludes that because of Nunavut's weak economy and fi scal dependency on the central federal government of Canada, the numerous socio-economic challenges have not been resolved. The Nunavut experiment has not yet been proven a success. The prosperous vision, expressed through the Bathurst Mandate, of a viable Nunavut seems for now just an illusion.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron S Phillips

In January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal released its decision regarding the provision of Child and Family Services to First Nations living on reserves and the Yukon. The Tribunal found that the government of Canada had discriminated against First Nations children on the basis of their race. Many of the arguments made by the government of Canada to describe their actions in the provision of First Nations child and family services can be easily transferred to the provision of First Nations education programs and services to First Nations children throughout Canada. This article has replaced child and family services terms and phrases with education terms and phrases in the decision. Hopefully, the federal government of Canada will see the futility of fighting First Nations in education as they did in child and family services. It is time to provide First Nations students on reserves a comprehensive system of education.


FACETS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 512-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aerin L. Jacob ◽  
Jonathan W. Moore ◽  
Caroline H. Fox ◽  
Emily J. Sunter ◽  
Danielle Gauthier ◽  
...  

Since being elected in 2015, Canada’s federal Liberal government has taken steps to overhaul major environment-related laws and policies, including federal environmental assessment (EA) and regulatory processes. During 2016–2017, a government-appointed panel toured Canada and received >1000 suggestions from diverse sectors of society regarding EA reform. Yet, different sectors of society may have different views concerning scientific components of EA. We analyzed written submissions during public consultation (categorized into five sectors) regarding five key scientific components of EA: (1) openly sharing information, (2) evaluating cumulative effects, (3) scientific rigour, (4) transparency in decision-making, and (5) independence between regulators and proponents. On the whole, submissions from Indigenous groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals/academics supported strengthening all five components. In contrast, most contributions from industry/industry associations, and, to a lesser extent, government bodies or agencies, suggested that there was no need for increased scientific rigour or increased independence. These findings indicate that there is cross-sectoral support for strengthening some scientific aspects of EA. However, the degree to which the Government of Canada strengthens the scientific rigour and independence of EA will indicate whether environmental decision-making in Canada is aligned with preferences from industry or the rest of Canada.


2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-245
Author(s):  
Ron Sydney Phillips

In Canada, education is generally referred to as being the exclusive constitutional responsibility of the provinces and territories. However, the federal government has a constitutional responsibility. This responsibility comes from the Constitution Act 1982 and Treaties 1 - 11 between the Crown (i.e., The Government of Canada) and First Nations throughout Canada. It is very difficult to find any mention of the federal government’s constitutional education responsibilities in the literature or documents. This has allowed the federal government to downplay their educational responsibilities throughout Canada and the world. This paper examines the federal government’s constitutional responsibilities in First Nations education and makes recommendations.


Author(s):  
Ashleigh Weeden

We live in an era obsessed with innovation. So much so that in 2016, the Government of Canada began work on a new national ‘Innovation Agenda’ with the following proposition: “Innovation is a Canadian value. It’s in our nature, and now more than ever, it will create jobs, drive growth and improve the lives of all Canadians. It’s how we make our living, compete and provide solutions to the world. We have the talent, the drive, the dedication and the opportunity to succeed. So, what’s next?” However, as every public consultation on the Innovation Agenda took place in a major city and produced initiatives with names like ‘the Smart Cities Challenge,’ it seems like ‘what’s next’ is a national innovation conversation so steeped in unquestioned urbanism that it fails to even acknowledge, let alone include, rural Canadians. This doctoral research project will use a comparative case study approach to investigate the complex relationships at play in place-based rural innovation systems and provide grounded, illustrative narratives for informing public policy.


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