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Your Media Release appears to be about accountability and transparency with income and expenses; we by all means endorse the concept; a concept that is not widely promoted within social sectors within society on a social or economic level.
One of our concerns is the extent of accountability and transparency, which may lead to micromanagement by complaint or cultural perception, autonomy and independence in decision-making may be in jeopardy. There are the issues of client confidentiality, which may be an issue.
In having conversations with individuals isolated from each other in the Poverty Class, many are interested in becoming a member, one constant question keeps arising; the question is who is going to protect our identity? Which is not an unfounded question; as people who have stood up against Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program have came under severe attack by the system
Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program, we have more than enough documents to support this fact.
< For example, I was an advocate in dealing with issues with the City, at this point I had no contact with an organization for about two years, yet in their documentation I was mentioned as being a member. How city staff obtained this information I do not know, odds are I will never know. I asked the question of the how and never received a response, accountability and transparency? Should they not answer this question, as under the Charter we all have “FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS:” So why are they tracking the movements of a private citizen, is this a charter violation? So we know there are valid concerns to the question being posed.
FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) Freedom of association.
As we have not been a part of the process up to this point we request the following information or any other information that pertains to this matter to bring us up to speed. Once this is done we may be more aware to make comment to the proposed changes.
There is mention within the e-mail the word “audit,” what is meant by audit? Not that we do not understand the meaning to the word or related steps to be taken, we would like explicit explanation to the perception from your point of view of the word audit.
The process of setting up a proper filing system and a set of books; which, will travel from the present back through the years to the inception of Canada; the main reason is accountability and transparency, and the books and filing system will be open to anyone interested in viewing the books, and the filing system. This by no means is to discredit people who have been attending to the bookkeeping, as it is realized the amount of work that has been done, has taken a lot of time and effort, and all who participated is appreciated.
Added to this income and expenses reflects the social behaviour to the various mandates of people down through time; added to this we have been conducting an audit on the GOVERNMENT`, which once again is insight to the evolution of the different subgroups mandates down thorough time; this is being done for no other reason than to gain insight to the history and evolution of the current system for such understanding has its value.
One of our main fields is research, as without knowledge of value one is basically living in the dark ages and floundering; for example politicians and other related threads know very well what is taking place within the Poverty Class, but refuse to take action to make correction, the document below attest to this very fact. We often consider, well educated people, who generate substantial incomes are punitive towards people within the Poverty Class, then turn a blind eye to the misery; yourself, others and I think in terms of accountability and transparency, we but ponder why when people within the Institutions and the general public that become aware do not take issue with accountability to the harsh punitive measures against people within the Poverty Class or any other sector of society for that matter. It is odd to think accountability and transparency is for the most part a top down process, where from the very top layers down, the consecutive layers below are constantly demanding accountability and transparency for their actions, yet from the bottom up accountability and transparency in a meaningful way is not demanded.
Two documents are listed below may be of interest to you and by means share with others. This is a sliver of the type of research we conduct; the two documents are from our collective databases.
Child hunger: semi-starvation study repeated in Canada
C. Laird Birmingham
Dr. Birmingham is Director of the Division of Internal Medicine, St. Paul's Hospital, and Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC . He is also British Columbia Provincial Director of Eating Disorders.
Correspondence to: Dr. C. Laird Birmingham, Director, Division of Internal Medicine, St. Paul's Hospital, 1081 Burrard St., Vancouver BC V6Z 1Y6; fax 604 806-8338; clbirm@interchange.ubc.ca
Starvation results from inadequate intake of macronutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates). It may be partial or complete. In fasting, all food energy is excluded, whereas in semi-starvation insufficient energy and protein are ingested. Human starvation and semi-starvation result from deprivation of food, not specific nutrients, so both micronutrient and macronutrient deficiencies result, causing clinical disease. The body defends against these deficiencies by triggering hunger, a cognitive state in which there is motivation to eat food.
Preliminary results of the long-term effects of semi-starvation were presented at the 9th International Congress on Eating Disorders, held in New York City on May 4-7, 2000.1 Elke Eckert and Scott Crow presented details from the landmark study of Ancel Keys, carried out at the University of Minnesota in the 1930s, and a 50-year follow-up of most of the volunteers alive today. Keys wanted to establish the best way of re-feeding people who had starved in Europe as a result of World War II. One hundred men volunteered for his study, in which the effects of a 24-week period of semi-starvation were examined. All of the men had been screened for exceptional physical and psychological health. Of the 40 chosen, 4 dropped out because they could not tolerate semi-starvation: 3 developed binge-eating, 2 began to steal food, 1 suffered severe depression, and 2 were admitted to hospital because of symptoms of psychosis. In the 50-year follow-up, abnormal eating behaviours (although less severe than those just described) and ruminations persisted in all of the 25 volunteers who consented to interview. Eckert and Crow concluded that the effects of hunger are powerful and long-lasting.
In this issue (page 961) Lynn McIntyre and colleagues review data from the 1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY).2 The data were collected from more than 13 000 families with children up to 11 years of age. Of these families, 206 (representing 57 000 Canadian families) reported that their children had experienced hunger because they had run out of food or money to buy food. The authors found that hunger was experienced most often in single-parent families, families that relied on social assistance and Aboriginal families living off-reserve.
Inadequate government assistance to poor people has resulted in what could be thought of as a naturalistic study. This "study" is too costly and will give no new data. Keys' study of malnutrition already showed that people who undergo semi-starvation will experience hunger, weakness, lack of drive, decreased ability to feel happiness, osteoporosis, hypo albuminemia, dependent edema, decreased muscle mass, alopecia, hypotension, poor wound healing and depression.3 "Children of hunger" will be less productive, will learn more slowly and are more likely to have behavioural problems.4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 Canadian health care costs will also be greatly increased owing to health problems, including complications during pregnancy and birth, in malnourished mothers who attempt to offset the hunger of their children by depriving themselves of food.
Ending the semi-starvation of Canadian children, a starvation that is implicitly endorsed by all Canadians who collectively have a mean income that is almost higher than any other country, will require a multilevel and multifaceted approach. Physicians and other health care professionals, the media, the education system, families and all levels of government must be involved.
First, CMAJ, in conjunction with television, radio and other media, should make public the NLSCY results as broadly as possible.
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