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Studies in Canadian Social Policy
Department of Canadian Studies
CAST 477 (2007)
Instructor: Sean Kheraj
Office: Kerr House 206
Office Hours: Wednesdays 11:00am-1:00pm
Email: seankheraj@trentu.ca
Course Description:
The role of the state in the everyday lives of Canadians has changed in considerable ways
from the nineteenth century to the present. This course attempts to chart the development
of Canadian social policy to understand how we arrived in our present-day circumstances.
First, students will examine early responses to poverty, criminality, labour relations, mental
illness, disease, and old age from the nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War
to better understand the historical roots of Canada’s complicated social policy framework.
Next, the course turns to developments in Canadian social policy post-1945 including
unemployment insurance, healthcare, childcare, pensions, family allowance, and public
housing. Finally, the course ends with a look at contemporary social policy issues and future
directions for Canada. The primary purpose of the course is to explore what social policy is
and how the changing role of the Canadian state has affected ordinary Canadians.
Format:
The class will meet every Monday for a two-hour seminar from 9:00am to 11:00am. Students
will be expected to undertake primary research in a social policy topic of their choice in
consultation with the instructor.
Assignments & Marking:
The principal assignment for this course is a major primary research paper. The readings and
topics in the syllabus are intended to guide students as they work through their research over
the course of two semesters. The first step is to select a topic in consultation with the
instructor early in the fall semester. A short research proposal (500 words) with a preliminary
bibliography is due on October 15th. The next assignment is a 2,500 word literature review
essay due on November 26th. Students must complete a first draft of their research essay by
March 17th. This draft will be reviewed by a peer reviewer and returned to the student on the
day of their research presentation (weeks of March 24th and 31st). The final draft of the major
research paper is due on April 17th. Late assignments will be penalized one letter grade per
day. All outstanding assignments must be turned in no later than the last day before
the final examination period.
In addition to the major research paper students must present on one weekly topic each
semester. Students will also be graded on their overall seminar participation.
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The course instructor is responsible for all grading and will be available to meet with
students during office hours to discuss upcoming assignments and returned work. Contact
through email should be limited to short discussion. Any concerns of a more detailed nature
should be brought up during office hours. The course instructor will not discuss grades over
email.
Should you wish to discuss a graded assignment, please allow 24 hours to review the mark
and comments before contacting the course instructor (this includes email).
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism and cheating, is an extremely serious
academic offence and carries penalties varying from failure in an assignment to suspension
from the University. Definitions, penalties, and procedures for dealing with plagiarism and
cheating are set out in Trent University’s Academic Dishonesty Policy, which is printed in
the University Calendar. (To be added, if applicable: Departmental interpretations of this
policy are posted on the departmental website).
Access to Instruction
It is Trent University’s intent to create an inclusive learning environment. If a student has a
disability and/or health consideration and feels that he/she may need accommodations to
succeed in this course, the student should contact the Disability Services Office (BL Suite
109, 748-1281, disabilityservices@trentu.ca) as soon as possible. Complete text can be found
under Access to Instruction in the Academic Calendar.
Required Texts:
Rice, James and Michael J. Prince. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2000.
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt: The Development of
Social Policy in Canada. Toronto: Broadview, 2006.
Kheraj, S. CAST 477, coursepack.
Evaluation:
Research Proposal
First Term Essay
Seminar Participation
First Term Presentation
Second Term Presentation
Research Presentation
Major Research Paper
5%
15%
15%
5%
5%
15%
40%
Week 1 (September 10) – Course Introduction
Week 2 (September 17) – Globalization, Social Pluralism, and Canadian Social Policy
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Rice, James and Michael J. Prince. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Introduction, Ch. 1
and Ch. 6, (pgs. 3-18; 19-33; 130-156).
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Introduction, Ch.
16 “The Social Policy Divide: The Welfare State in Canada and the United States”
(pgs. 9-17; 345-382).
Wilson, Gail, “Local Culture, Globalization, and Policy Outcomes: An Example from LongTerm Care” Global Social Policy 6 (3) 2006: 288-303.
Week 3 (September 24) – Poverty
Rice, James and Michael J. Prince. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Ch. 2, (pgs. 34-53).
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 1 “Saving for
a Rainy Day: Social Security in Late Nineteenth-Century and Early TwentiethCentury Canada” (pgs.25-44).
Harvey, Janice, “Dealing with ‘the destitute and the wretched’: The Protestant House of
Industry and Refuge in Nineteenth-Century Montreal” Journal of the Canadian
Historical Association 12 (2001): 73-94 [coursepack].
Anderson, Richard, ““The Irrepressible Stampede”: Tramps in Ontario, 1870-1880” Ontario
History 84 (1) 1992: 33-56 [coursepack].
Week 4 (October 1) – Prisons, Police, and Social Reform
Oliver, Peter. “Terror to Evil-Doers”: Prisons and Punishments in Nineteenth-Century Ontario.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998, Ch. 2 “The Gaol and the Community”
and “Conclusion” (pgs. 43-86; 500-506) [coursepack].
Neufeld, Roger, “Cabals, Quarrels, Strikes, and Impudence: Kingston Penitentiary, 18901914” Histoire Sociale 31 (61) 1998: 95-125 [coursepack].
Marquis, Greg, “The Police as a Social Service in Early Twentieth Century Toronto” Histoire
Sociale 25 (1992): 335-358 [coursepack].
Week 5 (October 8) – Thanksgiving [no classes]
Week 6 (October 15) – The Department of Indian Affairs and the Development of
Social Policy in Canada
*Research Proposal Due*
Shewell, Hugh. “Enough to Keep Them Alive”: Indian Welfare in Canada, 1873-1965. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2004, Ch. 2 “The Development of Rudimentary Relief
Administration during the Initial Period of Subjugation, 1873-1912” (pgs. 41-133)
[coursepack].
Lux, Maureen. Medicine that Walks: Disease, Medicine, and Canadian Plains Native People, 18801940. Toronto University of Toronto Press, 2001, Ch. 4 “‘Indifferent to Human Life
and Suffering’: Medical Care for Native People to 1920” (pgs. 138-188) [coursepack].
Barman, Jean, Yvonne Hébert, and Don MacCaskill, eds. Indian Education in Canada, Volume
I: The Legacy. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1986, Ch. [?][coursepack].
Week 7 (October 22) – Reading Week [no classes]
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Week 8 (October 29) – The Workers’ Compensation Movement
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 2 “Blood on
the Factory Floor: The Workers’ Compensation Movement in Canada and the
United States” (pgs. 45-58).
Guest, Dennis. The Emergence of Social Security in Canada. 3rd ed. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997
Ch. 4 “The First Stage of the Modern Era: Workers’ Compensation in Ontario” (pgs.
40-48 [coursepack].
Stirtch, Andrew, “Power Resources, Institutions, and Policy Learning: The Origins of
Workers’ Compensation in Quebec” Canadian Journal of Political Science 38 (3) 2005:
549-579 [coursepack].
Winsor, Fred, ““Solving a Problem”: Privatizing Workers’ Compensation for Nova Scotia’s
Offshore Fishermen, 1926-1928” Acadiensis 18 (2) 1989: 94-110 [coursepack].
Week 9 (November 5) – Disease and Public Health
MacDougall, Heather A., “The Genesis of Public Health Reform in Toronto, 1869-1890”
Urban History Review 10 (3) 1982: 1-9 [coursepack].
McLaren, Angus. Our Own Master Race: Eugenics in Canada, 1885-1945. Toronto: McClelland
and Stewart, 1990 Ch. 2 “Public Health and Hereditarian Concerns” (pgs. 28-45)
[coursepack].
Sears, Alan, “To Teach Them How to Live: The Politics of Public Health from Tuberculosis
to AIDS” Journal of Historical Sociology 5 (1) 1992: 61-83 [coursepack].
Week 9 (November 5) – Sanity and the Asylum
Moran, James E. Committed to the State Asylum: Insanity and Society in Nineteenth-Century Quebec
and Ontario. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000, “Medicine, Moral
Therapy, and Madness in Nineteenth-Century Quebec and Ontario” [coursepack].
Menzies, Robert, ““I Do Not Care for a Lunatic’s Role”: Modes of Regulation and
Resistance Inside the Colquitz Mental Home, British Columbia, 1919-33” Canadian
Bulletin of Medical History 16 (1999): 181-213 [coursepack].
Terbenche, Danielle, “‘Curative’ and ‘Custodial’: Benefits of Patient Treatment at the
Asylum for the Insane, Kingston, 1878-1906” Canadian Historical Review 86 (1) 2005:
29-52 [coursepack].
Week 10 (November 12) – Regulating Gender and Sexuality
Sangster, Joan. Regulating Girls and Women: Sexuality, Family, and the Law in Ontario, 1920-1960.
Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2001, Ch. 3 “Rhetoric of Shame, Reality of
Leniency: Wife Assault and the Law” (pgs. 47-84) [coursepack].
Backhouse, Constance. Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1999, Ch. 5 “‘Mesalliances’ and the ‘Menace to White
Women’s Virtue’: Yee Clun’s Opposition to the White Women’s Labour Law,
Saskatchewan, 1924” (pgs. 132-172) [coursepack].
McLaren, Angus. Trials of Masculinity: Policing Sexual Boundaries, 1870-1930. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1997, Ch. 5 “Murderers” (pgs. 111-132) [coursepack].
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Maynard, Steven, “Through a Hole in the Lavatory Wall: Homosexual Subcultures, Police
Surveillance, and the Dialectics of Discovery, Toronto, 1890-1930” Journal of the
History of Sexuality 5 (2) 1994: 207-242 [coursepack].
Week 11 (November 26) – The Elderly
*Literature Review Essay Due*
Struthers, James. The Limits of Affluence: Welfare in Ontario, 1920-1970. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1994, “Regulating the Elderly: House of Refuge, Old Age Pensions,
and the Politics of Aging in Ontario, 1900-1945” (pgs. 50-76) [coursepack].
Davies, Megan. Into the House of Old: A History of Residential Care in British Columbia. Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003, “Institutional Culture: The World of the Old
Age Home” (pgs. 107-143) [coursepack].
Snell, James G. “The Newfoundland Old Age Pension Programme, 1911- 1949” Acadiensis
23 (1) 1993: 86-109.
Montigny, Edgar-André, ““Foisted Upon the Government”: Institutions and the Impact of
Public Policy on the Aged. The Elderly Patients of Rockwood Asylum, 1866-1906”
Journal of Social History 28 (4) 1995: 819-836 [coursepack].
Week 12 (December 3) – Motherhood
*First Term Essay Due*
Murray, Karen Bridget, “Governing ‘Unwed Mothers’ in Toronto at the Turn of the
Twentieth Century” Canadian Historical Review 85 (2) 2004: 253-276 [coursepack].
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 3 “In the
Interests of the Children”: Mothers’ Allowances and the Origins of Income Security
in Ontario, 1917-1930” (pgs. 59-88).
Little, Margaret Hillyard, “Claiming a Unique Place: The Introduction of Mothers’ Pensions
in B.C.” BC Studies 105-106 (1995): 80-102 [coursepack].
Week 13 (January 7) – Unemployment and the State
Rice, James and Michael J. Prince. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Ch. 3 (pgs. 54-82).
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 5 ““Forward
to a Farm”: Land Settlement as Unemployment Relief in the 1930s” (pgs. 123-142).
Struthers, James. No Fault of Their Own: Unemployment and the Canadian Welfare State, 19141941. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983, Ch. 5 “King and Chaos:
Unemployment Policy, 1935-7” (pgs. 138-174) [coursepack].
Abbott, George M. “Pattullo, the Press, and the Dominion-Provincial Conference of 1941”
BC Studies 111 (1996): 37-59 [coursepack].
Week 14 (January 14) – Disability
Clarke, Nic, “Sacred Daemons: Exploring British Columbian Society’s Perceptions of
“Mentally Deficient” Children, 1870-1930” BC Studies 144 (2004/05): 61-89
[coursepack].
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Grekul, Jana, Harvey Krahn, and Dave Odynak, “Sterilizing the “Feeble-Minded”: Eugenics
in Alberta, Canada, 1929-1972” Journal of Historical Sociology 17 (4) 2004: 358-384
[coursepack].
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 19 “Canadian
Disability Policy: Still a Hit-and-Miss Affair” (pgs. 435-454).
Gadacz, René R. Re-Thinking Dis-Ability: New Structures, New Relationships. Edmonton:
University of Alberta Press, 1994, Ch. 7 “Emancipatory Politics: Equal Rights and
Reasonable Accommodation” (pgs. 205-254) [coursepack].
Week 15 (January 21) – Health Care
Feather, Joan and Vincent L. Matthews, “Early Medical Care in Saskatchewan” Saskatchewan
History 37 (2) 1984: 41-54 [coursepack].
Armstrong, Pat and Hugh Armstrong. Universal Healthcare: What the United States Can Learn
from the Canadian Experience. New York: New Press, 1988, “How Canadians Got
Universal Coverage” (pgs. 6-32) [coursepack].
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 21 “Three
Choices for the Future of Medicare” (pgs. 467-484) and Ch. 22 “How Will the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Evolving Jurisprudence Affect Health-Care
Costs?” (pgs. 485-514).
Week 16 (January 28) – Environmental Justice
Cruikshank, Ken and Nancy B. Bouchier. “Blighted Areas and Obnoxious Industries:
Constructing Environmental Inequality on an Industrial Waterfront, Hamilton,
Ontario, 1890-1960” Environmental History 9 (3) 2004: 464-96 [coursepack].
Carlson, Hans M. “A Watershed of Words: Litigating and Negotiating Nature in Eastern
James Bay, 1971-75” Canadian Historical Review 85 (1) 2004: 63-84 [coursepack].
Debbane, Anne-Marie and Roger Keil, “Multiple Disconnections: Environmental Justice and
Urban Water in Canada and South Africa” Space & Polity 8 (2) 2004: 209-225
[coursepack].
Hunold, Christian, “Canada’s Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Problem: Voluntarism
Reconsidered” Environmental Politics 11 (2) 2002: 49-72 [coursepack].
Week 17 (February 4) – Housing
Harris, Richard. Creeping Conformity: How Canada Became Suburban, 1900-1960. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2004, “The Growing Influence of the State” (pgs. 106128) [coursepack].
Bacher, John C. Keeping to the Marketplace: The Evolution of Canadian Housing Policy. Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993, Ch. 7 “The Return to Privatism, 1949-1954”
(pgs. 181-210) [coursepack].
Purdy, Sean, ““Ripped off” by the System: Housing Policy, Poverty, and Territorial
Stigmatization in Regent Park Housing Project, 1951-1991” Labour/Le Travail 52
(2003): 45-108 [coursepack].
Carroll, Barbara Wake and Ruth J. E. Jones, “The Road to Innovation, Convergence or
Inertia: Devolution in Housing Policy in Canada” Canadian Public Policy 26 (3) 2000:
277-293 [coursepack].
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Week 18 (February 11) – From Child Labour to Child Care
Hurl, Lorna F. “Restricting Child Factory Labour in Late Nineteenth-Century Ontario”
Labour/Le Travail 21 (1988): 87-121 [coursepack].
Mahon, Rianne, “The Never-Ending Story: The Struggle for Universal Child Care Policy in
the 1970s” Canadian Historical Review 81 (4) 2000: 582-615 [coursepack].
Rice, James and Michael J. Prince. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Ch. 7 (pgs. 157181).
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 9 “In the
Children’s Interest? Change and Continuity in a Century of Canadian Social Welfare
Initiatives for Children” (pgs. 203-220).
Week 19 (February 18) – Reading Week
Week 20 (February 25) – The Family
Dominique, Jean, “Family Allowances and Family Autonomy: Quebec Families Encounter
the Welfare State, 1945-1955” in Canadian Family History: Selected Readings. Toronto:
Copp Clark Pittman, 1992 (pgs. 401-437) [coursepack].
Christine, Nancy. Engendering the State: Family, Work, and Welfare in Canada. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2000, Ch. 7 “Reconstructing Families: Family
Allowances and the Politics of Postwar Abundance” (pgs. 249-309) [coursepack].
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 12 “First
Nations Child and Family Services, 1982-1992: Facing the Realities” (pgs. 251-262).
Week 21 (March 3) – Work and Welfare
Rice, James and Michael J. Prince. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Ch. 4 & Ch. 5 (pgs.
83-129).
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 10 “Income
Maintenance, Insurance Principles, and the Liberal 1960s”: Canada’s Unemployment
Insurance Program, 1961-1971” (pgs. 221-236); Ch. 13 “Eroding Canadian Social
Welfare: The Mulroney Legacy, 1984-1993” (pgs. 263-274); Ch. 17 “Current Issues
Surrounding Poverty and Welfare Programming in Canada: Two Reviews” (pgs. 383419).
Week 22 (March 10) – Changing the Canada Pension Plan
Struthers, James, “Building a Culture of Retirement: Class, Politics, and Pensions in PostWorld War II Ontario” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 8 (1997): 259-282
[coursepack].
Kennedy, Bruce, “Refinancing the CPP: The Cost of Acquiescence” Canadian Public Policy 15
(1) 1989: 34-42.
Blake, Raymond and Jeffrey A. Keshen. eds. Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt, Ch. 18 “Tilting
Toward Marketization: Reform of the Canadian Pension Plan” (pgs. 419-434).
Condon, Mary, “Gendering the Pension Promise in Canada: Risk, Financial Markets, and
Neoliberalism in Canada” Social & Legal Studies 10 (1) 2001: 83-103 [coursepack].
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Week 23 (March 17) – Gender and Social Policy
*First Draft of Major Research Paper Due*
Rice, James and Michael J. Prince. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Ch. 8 (pgs. 182206), Ch. 10 (pgs. 232-255).
MacDonald, Martha, “Restructuring, Gender and Social Security Reform in Canada” Journal
of Canadian Studies 34 (2) 1999: 57-88 [coursepack].
Armstrong, Pat, “The State and Pay Equity: Juggling Similarity and Difference, Meaning and
Structures” in Women and the Canadian Welfare State: Challenges and Change, eds.,
Patricial Marie Evans and Gerda R. Wekerle. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1997 (pgs. 246-268) [coursepack].
Week 24 (March 24) – Research Presentations
Week 25 (March 31) – Research Presentations
*Final Draft of Major Research Paper Due April 7th*