How to research… Canadian social policies & legislation SSW Social Policy 2 September 17 & 18, 2008 – d’Alessio & Nichols 1

2 Help is available…  Staff in the Library  Tutoring - student teachers  Self study - LRC online Guides   Telephone  Chat – “AskON”

How do policies become law?  A number of people see a problem or need  They spread the word, they lobby  Government gets involved (if not an initiator)…formulates policies to solve the problem  Legislatures direct drafting of legislation – then present for a vote 3

Two examples of social policies that became law…  1. Social unacceptability of hate propaganda  2. Need for day care centres 4 Ontario Day Nurseries Act Last amendment: 2006, c. 35, Sched. C, s. 25.

5 Example1: Policy is made into Law Policy  On hate statements (a Federal responsibility primarily ) (a Federal responsibility primarily ) ► Legislation (Laws)  Canadian Human Rights Act (1985)  Criminal Code

6 Example2: Policy is made into Law Policy  To provide appropriate Day Care Nurseries in the province of Ontario  A provincial policy primarily ► Legislation (main)  Day Nurseries Act (1990)  Early Childhood Educators Act (2007)

7 Policies in Canada  Powers are divided between the Federal & Provincial governments (Constitution Act, 1867)  Provinces have taxation powers over municipalities (Constitution Act, 1867)  FEDERAL policies  PROVINCIAL policies MUNICIPAL policies MUNICIPAL policies

8 Many policy areas are shared… Examples  Immigration  Natural resources  Health  Agriculture Provincial Municipal Federal

idb/forsey/index-e.asp  How Canadians Govern Themselves, 6 th ed., by Eugene Forsey (free on the Internet) 9

10 Eugene Forsey. How Canadians Govern Themselves website…

11 Social policies – often Provincial…  Labour (maximum hours, minimum wages, safety, workers’ compensation, industrial relations)  However, Federal government takes care of certain industries such as banking, telephones, works declared by Parliament to be for the general advantage of Canada, etc._

12 Some Provincial Policy areas…  Health service delivery is primarily provincial & territorial –except for groups that fall under federal jurisdiction, such as aboriginal peoples, the Canadian forces & veterans. –Also the Federal Government shares in policy when it offers tax revenues to provinces for hospitals & medical care “with strings” (conditions that certain Federal policies are implemented.)

13 Some Provincial Policy areas…  Education is primarily the responsibility of provincial legislatures  However, the Federal Government shares in policy when it offers tax revenues to provinces for educational purposes – especially at the post-secondary level.

14 Some Federal Policy areas  Defence  Criminal law & procedure in criminal cases  Money & banking

Information when a Policy becomes Law…  Government publishes the law in a variety of documents – paper and online  News reporters and journalists report and discuss in the media – when law is passed – and when issues arise later on 15

Canadian Social Policy & Legislation Research tools   Newspapers (paper & e-resources)   E-resources (journal articles, newspaper articles, statistics)   Books   Internet (government laws, website Info & discussion, statistics)

What newspapers offer…  Current info on policy issues & legislation – news!  Hot topics - including problems in society  Debates, different viewpoints & opinions  Analysis & background info  Tips on research studies, government policies & other publications 17

What LRC e-resources offer…  Newspaper articles – current and back files  Journal articles  Encyclopedia essays  Statistics 18

19 E-resources  LRC subscribes to about 80 e-resources

e-resources in the Library that contain newspaper articles…  Lexis Nexis  Thomson Gale  EBSCO  Proquest  FP Infomart ► ► See handout for more details 20

21 What the Library book collection offers…  Historical / background information  Description of issues in broad context  Opinions, discussion, research  Brief summaries – e.g. encyclopedia articles 21

What the Internet offers…  Laws (full text - government websites)  Statistics  Opinion (political party websites, “think tank” websites, newspaper websites, etc.)  Research 22

Internet vs E-resources Internet  More general content  Quality varies widely E-resources  More academic content  More consistent reliable quality 23

24 Evaluating web sites on the Internet … Be particularly critical when viewing websites, as the quality varies widely  Who is the author?  Who sponsors the author?  How recent?  Is it reliable, accurate?

Sample search – Hate statements Policy area that is primarily a Federal responsibility Legislation (Laws) were passed  Canadian Human Rights Act (1985)  Criminal Code

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27 Canadian Encyclopedia… Results for search on Hate propaganda… A recommended site as one starting point

28 Department of Justice Canada website – for federal laws…

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32 Sample search – day care A Policy area Primarily the responsibility of the provincial governments ► Legislation (laws) were passed in Ontario  Day Nurseries Act (1990)  Early Childhood Educators Act (2007)

33 E-Laws government site for Ontario laws…

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37 E-resources – searching for day care issue  LRC subscribes to about 80  e-resources  many containing journal & newspaper articles

38 Go to E-Resources by Type (for newspapers)

39 Search LexisNexis (newspaper database)… day care ontario Limit to: Major U.S. & World publications All available dates

40 View All results - then select Newspapers under “Sources by Category”

41 View newspapers only (999 records in this search)

42 View all – or select a specific newspaper – e.g. Globe and Mail

43 Tag records you want to keep and click “View Tagged”

44 Select your records and print, , save, or export

45 Go to E-Resources by Subject – Social Sciences for journal articles…

46 In Canadian Reference Centre (EBSCO), search for day care AND ontario Limit to full text.

47 AND (Boolean operator that combines) Your 1 st Term Your 2 nd Term AND

48 In Canadian Reference Centre … day care AND ontario 311 records found…

49 Get more with search strings… e.g. day care OR daycare OR day nurseries AND ontario

50 OR (Boolean operator the collects) Your 1 st term O R Your 2 nd term

51 OR (Boolean operator the collects) Your 1 st term O R Your 2 nd term Day care OR daycare OR day nurseries AND ontario 479 records found…

52 Get more focus by … limiting day care string to title field only

53 Limit day care string to title field (more focus)… 143 records found

54 Database Search Tools : Limits 1. Limit to full text articles only 2. Limit search terms to a specific field ( e.g. subject, title, abstract, author, reviews, etc.) 3. Ask the computer to combine many terms (e.g. carrier AND sweater AND criticism AND hockey) 4. Limit to scholarly articles only 5. Limit by publication date or type 6. Limit to articles of a certain number of pages 7. Lock a phrase to avoid casual results; e.g.. “peter jones” or “inconvenient truth”

55 Database Search Tools : Expanders 1. Search all fields 2. Ask the computer to search a variety of similar terms by using the OR operator to create a ‘search string’ 3. Use truncation to get all variations of a word (e.g. canad* will get you all words that start with this stem) 4. Check the thesaurus (aka Subject Terms, Topics) for keywords recommended 5. Etc

56 THESAURUS  A “thesaurus” or “subject terms list” or “topics” tab – gives you ideas for more keywords  Use to increase your chances of success, or if you are having trouble

57 Concept: “policy” Use Keywords & phrases to express the concept:  Synonyms & closely related words: –Policy, policies, public policy, social policy, political policy, issue, issues, debate, debates, program, programs, government, etc.  Distantly related words: –Legislation, regulation, law, laws, etc.

58 Social Policy at municipal level of government Topic: Littering in the City of Toronto Where do I find the legislation?

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60 Toronto Municipal Code - on Toronto government website

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62 Statistics  ESTAT: a Statistics Canada e-resource on subscription in the LRC  Statistics Canada website (Internet)  Many other sources… Ask the staff for help

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