Resisting Precarity in Toronto's Municipal Sector: The Justice and Dignity for Cleaners Campaign

This paper examines a relative rarity in recent Canadian labour-state relations: the successful resistance by public sector workers and their allies to government-driven employment precarity. At stake was Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s determination to contract out a thousand jobs held by city cleaners. In response, the cleaners and the city’s labour movement launched a Justice and Dignity for Cleaners campaign to preserve these jobs as living wage employment. Effective coalition building behind a morally compelling campaign, together with some fortuitous political alignments, has forestalled city efforts to privatize a significant yet undervalued segment of the workforce. Our examination of the Justice and Dignity for Cleaners campaign reveals that resistance to precarity is not futile, notwithstand ing some attendant ambiguity of what constitutes a labour victory

Immigration, diversity and urban citizenship in Toronto

Abstract not available

Chapitre 5. Réponses urbaines à la diversité religieuse : le cas de Toronto

A bien y penser, Toronto a traversé une véritable révolution tranquille dans les dernières décennies du XXe siècle, une révolution qui a transformé profondément son paysage religieux. La portée de ce changement peut être définie, grâce aux études réalisées au fil des ans sur la culture civique de Toronto par un certain nombre d’observateurs pénétrants. Je veux d’abord citer quelques auteurs pour donner une idée de la mutation religieuse subie par la métropole au XXe siècle. En 1998, le chroni..

International Perspectives on Immigrant Service Provision

Produced by the Mowat Centre at the School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto.In this paper, Myer Siemiatycki and Phil Triadafilopoulos examine the role of sub-national jurisdictions in immigrant settlement and integration in Australia, Germany, the United States and Britain. They find that Canada has been much more active, sophisticated and forward-looking in its immigrant settlement programs, but that some of these countries are catching up in important ways. There is broad recognition that sub-national jurisdictions can more quickly respond and successfully adapt settlement programs to meet local immigrant and community needs than national governments. As a result, they see a clear trend towards devolving these programs

The Impact of Ombudsman Investigations on Public Administration: A Case Study and an Evaluation Guide

[Executive Summary]: "It is not easy to evaluate the impact ombudsman have on the operations of a government or organization. While there are clear benefits for residents who have their problems solved, what are the benefits for the day-to-day operations and processes of a public service?  It is difficult to point to the money saved and efficiencies found by ombudsman work. A comprehensive review of English-language literature on the subject of evaluating ombudsman impact turned up very little. That is because the ombudsman’s work focuses on something that is inherently difficult to measure: fairness in the way that government treats its citizens. This study breaks new ground by establishing how the Toronto Ombudsman’s office has, in the past five years, led to a more efficient and responsive city administration.   Part I of this innovative project is an independent, in-depth, interview-based case study of the observed impacts of ombudsman investigations in the Toronto Public Service. Investigations are at the centre of ombudsman work: they involve complex and conflicting information, in-depth analytical work, and issues that often generate public interest and media attention. The investigations are frequently systemic or system-wide, allowing ombudsman to have a meaningful impact on many people at once.  This report provides ombudsman with a set of tools that can be used to evaluate the impact of their work. Part research report and part evaluation guide, this publication leads practitioners through an evaluation process with a particular focus on the impact of ombudsman investigations on public administration.  This has been a collaborative effort between researchers from Ryerson University and the Toronto Ombudsman’s office. It was funded with the help of a generous contribution from the International Ombudsman Institute. The work would not have been possible without the advice and guidance of an advisory group consisting of experts in the field from across North America."</p