How to research…
Canadian social
policies
& legislation
SSW Social Policy 2
September 17 & 18, 2008 – d’Alessio & Nichols
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Help is available…
 Staff
in the Library
 Tutoring - student teachers
 Self study - LRC online Guides
 Email
 Telephone
 Chat – “AskON”
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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
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Two examples of social policies
that became law…
 1.
Social
unacceptability
of hate
propaganda
 2.
Need for day
care centres
Ontario
Day
Nurseries Act
Last amendment:
2006, c. 35,
Sched. C, s. 25.
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Example1: Policy is made into
► Legislation
Policy

On hate
statements
(a Federal
responsibility
primarily )
Law
(Laws)


Canadian Human
Rights Act (1985)
Criminal Code
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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)
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Policies in Canada

Powers are divided
between the Federal &
Provincial
governments
 FEDERAL
policies
(Constitution Act, 1867)

Provinces have
taxation powers over
municipalities
(Constitution Act, 1867)
 PROVINCIAL
policies
•
MUNICIPAL
policies
7
Many policy areas are shared…
Examples
 Immigration
 Natural resources
 Health
 Agriculture
Federal
Provincial
Municipal
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http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/
idb/forsey/index-e.asp
 How
Canadians
Govern
Themselves,
6th ed., by
Eugene Forsey
(free on the
Internet)
9
Eugene Forsey.
How Canadians
Govern
Themselves
website…
10
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._
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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.)
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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.
13
Some Federal Policy areas



Defence
Criminal law &
procedure in
criminal cases
Money & banking
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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
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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
E-resources
 LRC
subscribes
to about 80
e-resources
19
e-resources in the Library that
contain newspaper articles…
 Lexis
Nexis
 Thomson Gale
 EBSCO
 Proquest
 FP Infomart
►See handout for more details
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What the Library book collection
offers…
 Historical
/ background information
 Description of issues in broad context
 Opinions, discussion, research
 Brief summaries – e.g. encyclopedia
articles
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What the Internet offers…
 Laws (full text -
government websites)
 Statistics
 Opinion (political
party websites, “think
tank” websites,
newspaper websites,
etc.)
 Research
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Internet vs E-resources
Internet


More general
content
Quality varies
widely
E-resources


More academic
content
More consistent
reliable quality
23
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?
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Sample search – Hate statements
Legislation
(Laws) were
passed
Policy area
that is primarily
a Federal
responsibility


Canadian Human
Rights Act (1985)
Criminal Code
26
Canadian
Encyclopedia…
Results for
search on
Hate
propaganda…
A recommended
site as one
starting point
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Department of Justice
Canada website – for
federal laws…
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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)
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E-Laws government
site for Ontario laws…
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34
35
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E-resources – searching for day
care issue
LRC subscribes to
about 80
 e-resources


many containing
journal &
newspaper articles
37
Go to E-Resources by
Type (for newspapers)
38
Search LexisNexis
(newspaper database)…
day care ontario
Limit to:
•Major U.S. & World
publications
•All available dates
39
View All results - then
select Newspapers
under “Sources by
Category”
40
View newspapers only
(999 records in this
search)
41
View all – or select a
specific newspaper –
e.g. Globe and Mail
42
Tag records you want to
keep and click “View
Tagged”
43
Select your records
and print, email, save, or
export
44
Go to E-Resources by
Subject – Social Sciences
for journal articles…
45
In Canadian Reference Centre
(EBSCO),
search for day care AND
ontario
Limit to full text.
46
AND
(Boolean operator that combines)
AND
Your 1st Term
Your 2nd Term
47
In Canadian Reference
Centre …
day care AND ontario
311 records found…
48
Get more with search strings…
e.g. day care OR daycare OR day
nurseries
AND ontario
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OR
(Boolean operator the collects)
Your 1st term
OR
Your 2nd term
50
OR
Day care OR daycare OR day
nurseries
AND ontario
479 records found…
(Boolean operator the collects)
Your 1st term
OR
Your 2nd term
51
Get more focus by …
limiting day care string to
title field only
52
Limit day care string to
title field (more focus)…
143 records found
53
Database Search Tools: Limits
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Limit to full text articles only
Limit search terms to a specific field (e.g. subject,
title, abstract, author, reviews, etc.)
Ask the computer to combine many terms (e.g.
carrier AND sweater AND criticism AND hockey)
Limit to scholarly articles only
Limit by publication date or type
Limit to articles of a certain number of pages
Lock a phrase to avoid casual results; e.g..
“peter jones” or “inconvenient truth”
54
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
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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
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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.
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Social Policy at municipal
level of government
Topic: Littering in the City of
Toronto
Where do I find the legislation?
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Toronto Municipal
Code - on Toronto
government
website
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Statistics
 ESTAT:
a Statistics Canada
e-resource on subscription in the LRC
 Statistics
(Internet)
 Many
Canada website
other sources…
Ask the staff for help
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