Environment Canada and the pursuit of administrative decentralization

Abstract: Administrative decentralization has suddenly become a major concern with respect to the operations of the national government in Canada. The specific catalyst has been a perceived need for greater responsiveness, and a belief that devolution of decision-making power to officials in the field is a way to achieve it. It is nevertheless problematic whether the requisite decentralization can be achieved. For one thing, headquarters-field relationships within the Canadian government reflect a powerful centralist orthodoxy. For another, it is difficult to find the right balance between centralization and decentralization in the delivery of services to the public. These problems in administrative decentralization have nowhere been etched more clearly than in the case of Environment Canada, a complex, physically decentralized department established in 1971 to prevent pollution and the degradation of the renewable resource base. It was recognized within Environment Canada at the outset that special initiatives were required to ensure both corporate coordination in the regions and a regional voice in decision-making at the centre. These initiatives took early form as a consensus-seeking regional board of managers, but reached their greatest maturity in an Office of the Regional Director General, a corporate official who sat on the departmental Senior Management Committee and reported directly to the deputy minister. Neither the regional board nor the RDGS fully met their mandate, however, in part because of the complexity of the environmental mission but more so because of the strength of centralist orthodoxy in departmental management structures and processes. As a result, the future of administrative decentralization within this department is now very much in doubt. Environment Canada's experience thus offers one approach to, and a compelling illustration of the difficulties to be overcome in, the pursuit of administrative decentralization in Canada. Sommaire: La déconcentration administrative est brusquement devenue une préocupation majeure en rapport avec le fonctionnement du gouvernement du Canada. Le catalyseur en a été précisément le besoin perçu dune réponse plus rapide et plus souple de la part du gouvernement, ainsi que la croyance selon laquelle le transfert du pouvoir décisionnel aux fonctionnaires régionaux serait l'un des moyens permettant d'y parvenir. Néanmoins, il n'est guère certain que l'on puisse réaliser la déconcentration nécessaire. Dune part, les rapports entre l'administration centrale et les bureaux régionaux, au sein du gouvernement canadien, reflètent une puissante orthodoxie centralisatrice. D'autre part, il est difficile de trouver le juste équilibre entre concentration et déconcentration pour ce qui est de la prestation de services au public. C'est au sein d'Environment Canada que ces problèmes de déconcentration administrative se sont produits de la manière la plus visible; il s'agit d'un ministère complexe, géographiquement déncentré, établi en 1971 pour lutter contre la pollution et contre la degradation des resources renouvelables. Dès le début, Environnement Canada savait qu'il fallait des initiatives spéciales pour assurer la coordination d'ensemble dans les régions, ainsi qu'une voix régionale dans la prise de décisions au centre administratif. Ces initiatives ont rapidernent menéà l'établissement d'un Conseil régional de gestionnaires chargé d'établir le consensus, et ont été couronnées par la mise sur pied des bureaux des directeurs généraux régionaux, fonctionnaires centraux membres du Comité supérieur de gestion du ministère et relevant directernent du sousministre. Ni le Conseil régional, ni les directeurs généraux régionaux n'ont cependant réussi à complètement remplir leur mandat, en partie à cause de la complexité de la mission environnementale, mais plus encore à cause de la force de l'orthodoxie centralisatrice dans les structures et les processus de gestion ministérielle. Par conséquent, l'avenir de la dézoncentration administrative au sein de ce ministère est aujourd'hui très incertain. L'expérience d'Environnement Canada présente ainsi l'une des démarches en matières de déconcentration administrative au Canada; elle illustre bien les difficultés qu'il faudra surmonter.     

Some Children See Him...: Political Participation and the Black Christ

This paper explores the role that membership in a politicized church and believing in a black Christ have on the political mobilization and participation of African Americans. Using data from the 1993–94 National Black Politics Study (NBPS), the authors conclude that imagining a black Christ is a radicalizing force on political participation. Hearing politicizing messages in a place of worship and believing that Christ is black appears to shift African Americans from relatively conservative or traditional forms of political participation, such as contacting officials, to more non-traditional political protest. Further, it appears that imagining a black Christ is distinct from other aspects of a racial belief system and while it has political implications, it clearly has religious roots that separate it from other racial beliefs.

Commercialisation of regenerative human tissue: regulation and reform in Australia and England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The commercialisation of therapeutic products containing regenerative human tissue is regulated by the common law, statute and ethical guidelines in Australia and England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This article examines the regulatory regimes in these jurisdictions and considers whether reform is required to both support scientific research and ensure conformity with modern social views on medical research and the use of human tissue. The authors consider the crucial role of informed consent in striking the balance between the interests of researchers and the interests of the public.     

Citrate Content of Bone as a Measure of Postmortem Interval: An External Validation Study

The postmortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is a crucial piece of information that can help establish the time dimension in criminal cases. Unfortunately, the accurate and reliable determination of PMI from bone continues to evade forensic investigators despite concerted efforts over the past decades to develop suitable qualitative and quantitative methods. A relatively new PMI method based on the analysis of citrate content of bone was developed by Schwarcz et al. The main objective of our research was to determine whether this work could be externally validated. Thirty‐one bone samples were obtained from the Forensic Anthropology Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office. Results from analyzing samples with PMI greater than 2 years suggest that the hypothetical relationship between the citrate content of bone and PMI is much weaker than reported. It was also observed that the average absolute error between the PMI value estimated using the equation proposed by Schwarcz et al. and the actual (“true”) PMI of the sample was negative indicating an underestimation in PMI. These findings are identical to those reported by Kanz et al. Despite these results this method may still serve as a technique to sort ancient from more recent skeletal cases, after further, similar validation studies have been conducted.     

Working with Misspecified Regression Models

Objectives

Conventional statistical modeling in criminology assumes proper model specification. Very strong and unrebutted criticisms have existed for decades. Some respond that although the criticisms are correct, there is for observational data no alternative. In this paper, we provide an alternative.

Methods

We draw on work in econometrics and statistics from several decades ago, updated with the most recent thinking to provide a way to properly work with misspecified models.

Results

We show how asymptotically, unbiased regression estimates can be obtained along with valid standard errors. Conventional statistical inference can follow.

Conclusions

If one is prepared to work with explicit approximations of a “true” model, defensible analyses can be obtained. The alternative is working with models about which all of the usual criticisms hold.

     

A step towards improving workflow practices for volume crime investigations: outcomes of a 90-day trial in South Australia

The provision of forensic science services in volume crime investigations works most successfully as a partnership between police agencies and external forensic laboratories as opposed to a client/provider model where unlimited demand ignores finite resources. The principles of Lean Six Sigma have been applied in various laboratories to improve workflow through identification of wasteful work practices. These strategies are aimed at process optimisation through the application of triaging, a concept that has rarely been studied yet referenced strongly in the literature. The South Australia End to End 90-Day Trial: facilitating quicker justice through timely evidence processing, is a collaborative approach between South Australia Police and Forensic Science South Australia. This trial applied evidence-based policing principles, a law enforcement philosophy that uses research undertaken with scientific processes to inform law-enforcement decision-making. The results demonstrate how a review of processes and the removal of non-value adding activities can improve service delivery while not exhausting those ‘finite resources’.     

The multidimensionality of peer pressure in adolescence

A sample of 689 adolescents (grades 7–12) from two Midwestern communities who had been identified by peers as members of one of three major peer groups responded to a self-report survey measuring perceptions of peer pressure in five areas of behavior: involvement with peers, school involvement, family involvement, conformity to peer norms, and misconduct. Perceived pressures toward peer involvement were particularly strong, whereas peer pressures concerning misconduct were relatively ambivalent. Perceived pressures toward misconduct increased across grade levels and pressures to conform to peer norms diminished; grade differences in perceived peer pressures concerning family involvement were community specific. Compared to druggie-toughs, jock-populars perceived stronger peer pressures toward school and family involvement, and less pressure toward (stronger pressure against) misconduct; patterns of perceived pressure among loners were more variable across communities. Results elaborated the process of peer influence in adolescent socialization and identity development.A version of this paper was presented at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Toronto, April 1985. The study was supported by a grant to the second author from the Spencer Foundation, Chicago, Illinois.She received her Ph.D. in 1982 from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests: adolescent peer groups and peer pressure, and implications of various instructional strategies for gifted students.He received his Ph.D. in 1979 from the University of Chicago. His research interests: effects of peer pressure and peer-group affiliation on adolescent self-concept and identity development, and social development in high school.