The impact of the Charter of Rights on public administration

Abstract: It is generally accepted that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and in particular its section 15 “equality rights,” will significantly affect Canadian public policy and administration. We argue that the principal change wrought by the Charter will be that judges, applying judicial methods of reasoning, will have the final say on many policy problems formerly managed exclusively by administrative institutions, applying administrative methods of reasoning. The article compares these “institutional logics” through close examination of two documents, both addressing the issue of sex discrimination in maternity benefits under the Unemployment Insurance Act (UI). The first document, obtained through the Access to Information Act, is a 1978 briefing memorandum to the Canadian Employment and Immigration Commission advising on the likely outcomes of the impending Supreme Court decision on the Bliss case. The female plaintiff in Bliss alleged that UI maternity benefits violated the Canadian Bill of Rights equality provisions. The second document is an influential law review article on the Bliss case by Professor Marc Gold. Addressing the same policy problem, the documents come to very different conclusions. By using these documents as examples of administrative and judicial reasoning, we demonstrate how different assumptions about the nature of “discrimination,” sources of authority, the weight of financial considerations, the relevant facts and institutional mandates will tend to lead to conflicts between the courts and administrators. Sommaire: Il est un fait généralement reconnu que la Charte des droits et libertés, en particulier I'article 15 intitulé“Droits à I‘égalité”, aura un effet considérable sur la politique et I'administration publique au Canada. Selon les auteurs, le principal changement introduit par la Charte sera que les juges, suivant un rai-sonnement judiciaire, auront le dernier mot sur de nombreuses questions politiques auparavant réglées exclusivement par des institutions administratives, suivant une logique administrative. L'article compare ces “bgiques institutionnelles” en examinant de près deux documents sur la discrimination sexuelle dans les prestations de maternité prévues par la Loi sur I'assurance-chômage. Le premier document, obtenu en vertu de la Loi sur l'accès à I'information, est une note d'information datant de 1978, destinée à la Commission de I'Emploi et de l'Immigration du Canada, et exposant dans quel sens la Cour supréme allait probablement rendre son jugement dans l'affaire Bliss. Dans cette affaire, la plaignante alléguait que les prestations de maternité versées par l'assurance-chômage n‘étaient pas conformes aux dispositions de la Déclaration canadienne des droits concernant l’égalité. Le second document est une importante analyse critique du jugement rendu dans l'affaire Bliiss, faite par le professeur Marc Gold. Les deux documents, qui traitent du même problème de politique, parviennent à des conclusions très différentes. Utilisant ces documents comme exemples de logiques administrative et judiciaire, les auteurs montrent comment des situations conflictuelles entre tribunaux et adrninistrateurs pourraient résulter des diverses hypothèses sur la nature de la “discrimination ”, les sources d'autorité, l'irnportance des considérations d'ordre financier, les faits pertinents et les mandats institutionnels.     

Production goes global,compliance stays local: Private regulation in the global electronics industry

Poor working conditions in global supply chains have led to private initiatives that seek to regulate labor practices in developing countries. But how effective are these regulatory programs? We investigate the effects of transnational private regulation by studying Hewlett‐Packard's (HP) supplier responsibility program. Using analysis of factory audits, interviews with buyer and supplier management, and field research at production facilities across seven countries, we find that national context – not repeated audits, capability building, or supply chain power – is the key predictor of workplace compliance. Quantitative analysis shows that factories in China are markedly less compliant than those in countries with stronger civil society and regulatory institutions. Comparative field research then illustrates how these local institutions complement transnational private regulation. Although these findings imply limits to private regulation in institutionally poor settings, they also highlight opportunities for productive linkages between transnational actors and local state and society.     

Alcohol dependence and criminal behavior: preliminary results of an association study of environmental and genetic factors in an italian male population

The aim of this study is to propose an innovative approach evaluating the connection between alcohol use disorders and criminal behavior. The research, structured as a case–control study, was based on the analysis of environmental (social variables) and genetic factors (single nucleotide polymorphisms of glutamic acid decarboxylase) in a population (N = 173) of Italian alcohol‐dependent men. Group 1 (N = 47, convicted subjects) was compared with Group 2 (N = 126, no previous criminal conduct). Grade repetition, work problems, and drug problems were statistically associated with criminal behavior. Having daily family meals together and having children were inversely related to convictions. The genotype distribution of the two groups was similar. The association between environmental factors and antisocial behavior confirms previous findings in the literature. The lack of genetic association does not exclude the role of the gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) system in determining antisocial behavior; further studies with larger samples are needed, together with investigation of other components of the GABA pathway.     

Competing paradigms in policy discourse: The case of international human rights

This article analyzes the different paradigms of human rights policy discourse that characterize non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments. Focusing on Canadian-based human rights NGOs and the Canadian government, it uses a five-fold classification scheme to make sense of these competing paradigms of discourse: (1) process: how actors define themselves, and how they define their roles within the international human rights machinery; (2) objectives: perceptions of the purpose of the international human rights system and goals to be pursued therein; (3) scope: the breadth of issue definition and consequent action; (4) evidence: the standards whereby empirical claims are filtered, constructed and judged; and (5) action strategies: the enduring patterns of practical action founded upon the preceding categories. The article shows that despite shared objectives and a common commitment to human rights, NGO and government discourses differ sharply and yield markedly different action strategies. Progress in international human rights will continue to depend on NGO-government collaboration, however, and the article ends with some observations on how these differences in discourse might be addressed.     

The Public Sector Reform Movement: Mapping the Global Policy Network

Public sector reform in both developed and developing countries has now become a routine matter of public policy—reform is almost continuous, if not always successful. While the role of international transfer agents such as the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in promoting reforms has often been noted, there has been no comprehensive mapping of the global network on public sector reform. This article makes a first attempt to map the close to 100 organizations that make up a loose global network around public administration and governance. It then provides a brief history of the evolution of the network, and the key events that encouraged a substantial degree of coherence among its members. It examines the practices and tools that are specific to this global public policy network, and concludes with some observations on policy transfer models. The article shows that in trying to understand the dynamics of public administration reform, we need to pay greater attention to this network, its members, and its influence over national policy priorities.     

GABA Receptors,Alcohol Dependence and Criminal Behavior

The aim of this study was to analyze the connection between alcohol dependence and criminal behavior by an integrated genetic–environmental approach. The research, structured as a case–control study, examined 186 alcohol‐dependent males; group 1 (N = 47 convicted subjects) was compared with group 2 (N = 139 no previous criminal records). Genetic results were innovative, highlighting differences in genotype distribution (p = 0.0067) in group 1 for single‐nucleotide polymorphism rs 3780428, located in the intronic region of subunit 2 of the GABA B receptor gene (GABBR2). Some environmental factors (e.g., grade repetition) were associated with criminal behavior; others (e.g., attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous) were inversely related to convictions. The concomitant presence of the genetic and environmental factors found to be associated with the condition of alcohol‐dependent inmate showed a 4‐fold increase in the risk of antisocial behavior. The results need to be replicated on a larger population to develop new preventive and therapeutic proposals.     

Using morphometric and analytical techniques to characterize elephant ivory

There is a need to characterize Asian elephant ivory and compare with African ivory for controlling illegal trade and implementation of national and international laws. In this paper, we characterize ivory of Asian and African elephants using Schreger angle measurements, elemental analysis {X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS)} and isotopic analysis. We recorded Schreger angle characteristics of elephant ivory at three different zones in ivory samples of African (n=12) and Asian (n=28) elephants. The Schreger angle ranged from 32 degrees to 145 degrees and 30 degrees to 153 degrees in Asian and African ivory, respectively. Elemental analysis (for Asian and African ivory) by XRF, ICP-AES and ICP-MS provided preliminary data. We attempted to ascertain source of origin of Asian elephant ivory similarly as in African ivory based on isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and strontium. We determined isotopic ratios of carbon (n=31) and nitrogen (n=31) corresponding to diet and rainfall, respectively. Reference ivory samples from five areas within India were analyzed using collagen and powder sample and the latter was found more suitable for forensic analysis. During our preliminary analysis, the range of delta13C values (-13.6+/-0.15 per thousand and -25.6+/-0.15 per thousand) and delta15N values (10.2+/-0.15 per thousand and 3.5+/-0.15 per thousand) were noted.     

Understanding Poverty among the Elderly in India: Implications for Social Pension Policy

Since 1995, cash transfers to the poor elderly or ‘social pensions’ have been one of the most important anti-poverty programmes in India. On the assumption that elderly poverty rates are higher than the general population, the minimum eligibility condition is set for 60 + in most states. Our analysis using 52nd and 60th round household-level National Sample Survey data, however, suggests that households with targeted elderly members 60 + do not necessarily have higher poverty rates than non-elderly households. Further analysis suggests that there is an expenditure-mortality link so that the poor tend to die younger and are therefore under-represented among those aged 60 + in most states.     

Taking sustainability from policy to practice: Bringing poverty concerns into the project cycle

The concept of sustainability has evolved and expanded to include more than just environmental issues. Development practitioners now address questions linking sustainability to population and, in particular, to poverty alleviation. Environmentally sustainable development cannot be achieved, let alone maintained, unless poverty is reduced. Thus, the connection between sustainability and poverty reduction must be properly understood if economic assistance for the poor is to be successful. These questions can be confusing and difficult to address satisfactorily in practice. How can poverty reduction programmes and projects be designed for sustainability? How can the elements of sustainable poverty reduction be built into all stages of the project cycle? These issues are examined and a set of guidelines and minimum standards proposed. Relevant examples are cited to illustrate how the inclusion of poverty alleviation concerns into the project cycle can be achieved.