There are over 200 thousand people who speak an Aboriginal language in Canada according to the 2016 Census |photo by Sean Kilpatrick-Canadian Press
Data Visualization
Bárbara d’Oro Pereira
JOUR 5206
March 18, 3018
Visualizations:
1)Most spoken Aboriginal languages in Canada
Cree , Inuktitut and Ojibway are the Aboriginal languages most frequently spoken in Canada. Tlicho is 14th most common Aboriginal language. This is a high position in the rank, since Canada has more than 60 Aboriginal languages. Tlicho is also one of the 11 official languages of the Northwest Territories. Since 1988, Canada has established the importance of promoting and preserving the Aboriginal languages in the Northwest Territories through the “Officials Languages Act”. Even though the constitution and the Languages Act guarantee the access to the languages, there is a large gap in the services offered in Aboriginal languages in the country. A recent example is the story of Chris Dryneck. He speaks Tlicho and went on trial without the support of an interpreter, which is a right guaranteed by the Languages Act.
Tlicho is one of the nine official Aboriginal languages in the Northwest Territories.
2)Number of people who speak an Aboriginal language
According to the 2016 Census by Statistics Canada, the number of Aboriginal people who can speak an Aboriginal language is actually higher than the number of people who have declared having an Aboriginal language as their mother tongue. The 2016 report concluded that “this suggests that many people, especially young people, are learning Aboriginal languages as second languages”. In the Northwest Territories, where Chris Dryneck is from, a three-year action plan has been developed to promote the language revitalization and its access. One of the ways of achieving reconciliation with the indigenous community is to preserve and promote the Aboriginal languages in the country.
Whether it is for the increase of its value or even its effectiveness, the minimum wage has been a matter of discussion since it was introduced in Ontario over 50 years ago.
In Canada, the minimum hourly rate was first established in 1918, in British Columbia, with the Women’s Minimum Wage Act. The law was a way of protecting against the exploitation of women and children who worked in the factories and industry. In an article published by the Globe and Mail, the president of the Ontario Federation of Labor at that time, David Archer, called the Act a “welfare measure.”
The day the minimum wage became official in Ontario. Men were then included and were paid more than women. | The Globe and Mail historical archives
In 1963 the Ontario government introduced a new minimum wage law that included men. The minimum wage was proposed by the Labor Minister Leslie Rowntree. Its establishment in Ontario was a recommendation of a report drafted by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Association. The idea was to protect workers from exploitation.
The new law was celebrated by the Ontario Federation of Labor. David Archer said to the Globe and Mail on the day of the announcement that they had been fighting for a minimum wage for a long time and for him the new Act a great victory.
One of the initial downsides was that the minimum wage was considered too low by Labor. Initially, the Ontario Federation of Labor had asked for a rate of $1.25 per hour, but the government set the minimum wage at $1. The rate was considered by union representatives to be insufficient even if an employee worked 40 hours per week.
The different rates paid by gender was one of the main topics of discussion in the new law. During the votes regarding the minimum wage in the beginning of that year, Liberals had tried to push the rate for $1.25 and had voted against the creation of different rates per gender, but they had lost their bid.
Dressmakers during a strike in 1931. Women in Canada were the first ones to get paid by a minimum wage | Ontario Jewish Archives
The vice-president of the Toronto and District Labor Council, Donald Montgomery told the Globe and Mail in 1963: “It [minimum wage] recognizes the established practice of less pay for women, who do the same work as men in spite of legislation establishing equal pay for equal work.” As a response, Labor Minister Rowntree said that to achieve parity the government needed to take step by step.
The Provincial Council of Women accused the government of Ontario of discrimination. At that time, the explanation for the different rates was that men were usually married and had a family to support, while women might be single. The representative of the Council, Mary Wood, responded to that excuse in an article published by the Globe and Mail in 1963: “plenty of single women have dependents.”
Meanwhile, employers were not pleased with the Minimum Wage Act. According to an article published by the Globe and Mail, restaurant owners said that with the new law they would need to raise the cost of meals, otherwise they would go out of business.
University of Ottawa’s economics professor Mario Seccareccia said that at that time, “it became deeply engraved this idea that minimum wages were not good for the economy in a sense that they created unemployment,” even tough there was no evidence of negative impact in the other provinces that had the minimum wage established in previous years.
According to Seccareccia, studies from the last twenty years have proven that the minimum wage increases the productivity other than creating unemployment.
In 2017 Ontario increased the minimum wage from $11.40 per hour to $14. In 2019 the province plans to make another increase to $15 an hour. This will be the highest growth of the minimum wage rate in the last 40 years.
*The spelling of the word “labour” in 1963 was “labor” in every newspaper article found.
The graphic shows the estimates and projections for children from zero to four years old in the next ten years in Canada. This age group is the main one that requires child care through the Early Childhood Education and Care program in the country. Families throughout Canada have been struggling to find availability in child care programs in the publicly-funded education system. A recent report about Early Childhood education in Canada showed that the highest investment in the program made by a province was three per cent. According to the late estimate made in 2016 by Statistics Canada, in ten years the population who needs child care will be nine percent larger in the country. That represents almost 177,000 more children from zero to four years old. The numbers call attention to the need of an increase in the investment in the program by the provinces since today none of them are able to offer child care to all the families who need it.
The visualization shows the top five countries in Canada with the largest population from zero to four years old. Alberta is in the top of the list with an estimate of increase of 15 per cent in the next ten years.Ontario is the province with the largest number of children from zero to four years old with an estimate of increase of eleven per cent in the next twenty years. In 2017 Ontario has announced an investment of over $200 million for 2017-18 to promote more accessibility and affordability of licence child care. The numbers show the need of more investment in most provinces based on the estimate of population increase in the next ten years.
The map shows the number of children from 0 to 4 years old in 2016 and the estimate for the next ten years in the five provinces with the largest number of children in this age group. Persons x 1,000. Source: Statistics Canada
Why it is important to talk about this subject now?
The access to child care is still limited throughout the country. A report published this month called attention to the need of expansion for the service in the public education system.
The reality today shows a very uneven system. Some provinces offer child care for over 70% of the children from 2 to 4 years old and in other provinces only 37% have this access.
My idea with the visualization is to show the need of dealing with the lack of child care now, since the numbers show that the population who uses the service tends to increase in the next ten years in almost the whole country.
As public records I have selected a recent report that shows that the budget spent in early childhood education by most provinces did not reach 2 percent. The second public record is the latest study by Child Care Canada that gives detailed information about how early childhood education works in each province. The third public record is a press release from the Ontario government that talks about the commitment the province has made to expand the child care service.
Arthur is 3-years-old and took his first steps at the family centre | Photo by: Nathalia Padovani
The city has lost over 8 million dollars of provincial funding for the Early Child program this year. To be able to qualify for the funding again the municipality will have to fulfill a list of requirements, such as the inclusion of children with special needs in the activities provided by the program.
Nathalia Padavoni has two small children and has taken them to a playgroup since 2016. She goes to a family centre that is part of the Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres program at least three times a week. “They have many toys that the kids can play with, they teach music, offer gym time, and I see my children developing new skills. Arthur took his first steps there”, she says.
Padovani decided to stay home while her husband works because paying for a daycare would take most of her salary. “We did the math and figured out it was better for me to stay with the kids. I do not know what I would do if the playgroup did not exist, especially during the winter”.
Other than playgroups for children up to 6-years-old, Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres offers workshops for parents and caregivers. The program is free of charge and the idea is to provide an environment where families can do activities together. Some of the subjects discussed in the workshops are early child development, parenting skills and pregnancy. At the moment, not all the centres offer the same services, but that is about to change.
In 2016, Education Minister Mitzi Hunter, announced the creation of a new system, which will unify all the services provided. This way, all available services will be accessible in any community family centre.
Before deciding to merge the services, the city organized a series of engagement sessions held with communities around the province to identify priority areas for action. Community representatives pointed, for example, to the lack of public awareness about the Ontario early and child care system and the need to make the services more accessible.
From that point, the city was able to make a list of requirements for the municipalities to follow. They emphasized public awareness, by creating an online system where parents can access information, services and tools. They also developed an approach that will guarantee that culture sensitivity and diversity are built in the activities offered in the program.
To guarantee Ottawa will fulfill the requirements for the new system, the city will now be fully responsible for funding the program and will also be in charge of running it. In the past, most of the funding came from the province. This change represents a 700 per cent increase in the amount of money the city will spend with the program in 2018 in comparison to the previous year. Once the city makes the changes requested by the province they will be eligible for provincial funding again.
None of the councilors in the Social Services committee, in charge for the program, were available to comment on the transition phase or the budget increase. According to the City of Ottawa media relations, the municipality is making all the adjustments this year in order to qualify for provincial funding in 2019.
Media relations forwarded a short email from Jason Sabourin, manager of Children’s Services. “This transition plan has ensured that local service providers will continue to offer the same programming in 2018, while the city continues to work with community partners to develop the new integrated Early ON system in 2019”, Sabourin said.
Padovani says that she feels insecure hearing that changes will be made and not knowing what type of changes are coming. “I hope they will not cut any service,” she said.
In June, the city will present a report to Council with an update on the transition phase.
