Economist's team finds casual work `toxic' to society and to employees
Part-time, casual and contract employment is "toxic" to workers' health and has broader societal costs we ignore at our peril, says a McMaster University economist who is writing a book on the subject. "These jobs are really about insecurity," said Wayne Lewchuk, who leads a team of researchers examining the impact of insecure employment on health. He's found it's not just immigrants and low-skilled workers who suffer.

March 21, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

City lacks affordable housing, report says
Affordable housing in Toronto is becoming desperately hard to find, two housing groups said yesterday after a statistical report showed the number of rental units in the city and the province has been in decline over the past decade. The report, titled Where's Home?

Contract job workers left without hope
A pizza deliveryman is told he is a "contract driver," not an employee, then his franchise boss assigns him to work 10 hours straight with no overtime pay. A home-care worker, on 24-hour shifts looking after a man with Alzheimer's disease, signs a contract with a temp agency saying she is "self-employed" and therefore not entitled to the minimum wage. And then there's Boen Hauw Tjoa.

The Canadian Social Economy Hub would like to thank everyone who participated in our most recent telelearning session! A special thank you is extended to our Food Security experts, Dr. Heather Myers and Debbie Field, for their insightful contributions. For further information on this event and background readings, please visit the main Telelearning Session 3 page:

LUNCHBOX SPEAKERS’ SERIES
The Social Economy Centre (OISE/UT) Presents

AN ABORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE
SOCIAL ECONOMY
PANEL: ALICE CORBIERE, ROSALIND JOHNSTON AND JOSE A. REYES

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT)
252 Bloor St. West, Toronto
Room 12-199

Northern Ontario native receives business award
Darcy Kejick, a member of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, has received an award for his recent business plan.

New youth program could be a good fit for schools, groups
After being at Muskoka Futures for three and a half months I still get the question from my friends “So what is it that you do?” I think about it for a second then rhyme off a huge list of different things we do at Muskoka Futures, leaving them more confused than ever. So for you, the reading public, I want to clear up the confusion and give you a good snapshot of what we do at Muskoka Futures. In short, we do a lot.

Don't sweat it: Fashion and fairness can go together, even when time and budget are limited
The woman next to me digs her hand down the back of my shirt, trying to find the label. We are in a No Sweat workshop, part of an ethical purchasing forum at the University of Victoria last weekend. Our first exercise is to find out where our own clothes were made and mark it on a map at the front of the room.

The Canadian Social Economy Hub and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network are pleased to be hosting two upcoming events featuring Dr. Yves Vaillancourt of the University of Québec in Montréal.

On March 8th, Dr.