Insights into the Human Face of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot: Fragments of a Shattered Social Experiment in Thunder Bay, Canada

Researches on the factors on earthquake survivors’ quality of life (QOL) focused on the demographic variables or the impact of mental illness on QOL. This study intends to study the relationships between trust in government and survivors’ QOL. The data derived from a sample survey in five counties of Sichuan (Wenchuan, Qingchuan, Mianzhu, Lushan, Dujiangyan) in 2013 (N = 2000). Reliability tests are conducted for the brief version of World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) and trust in government scale (TGS). Results show that the two scales have good reliability. Then we use confirmatory factor analysis to study the relationships between the items and domains of WHOQOL-BREF, as well the relationships between each domain and QOL. Finally, we employ structural equation modeling to explore the effect of ten items of TGS on the four domains of WHOQOL-BREF. Our main findings are: (1) survivors’ QOL is relatively poor. (2) Survivors do not fully trust governmental work and each level of government. Trust increases as the levels of government grow. (3) Trust in governmental work has greater effects on the QOL compared with trust in each level of the government. (4) Trust in government has more significant effect on physical health and social relationship than on the psychological health and environment. The phenomenon of “disparity of Chinese trust in government” might be attributed to the political interpretation and mechanism of institutional design. The importance of effective governmental work to enhance the QOL of survivors is emphasized.

ABSTRACT: The Canadian Shift, a change‐in‐progress that is affecting the lax vowel subsystem of Canadian English, has been found to be active in a number of cities across Canada. Very little is known about the geolinguistic history and spread of the shift, however. Combining apparent time data from Thunder Bay, Ontario, with a comparison of lax vowel pronunciation in the speech of young people from both Thunder Bay and Toronto, the current study presents evidence against the hypothesis that the Canadian Shift has spread to Thunder Bay by way of a gravity model of diffusion. Although not identical, the vowel configurations are quite similar in the speech of young people from the two cities, and the apparent time findings suggest that the shift in Thunder Bay has not lagged behind the shift in Toronto. Results support the proposal that the English of Thunder Bay and Toronto share a common source and that the low back vowel merger, the pre‐cursor for the shift, was brought westward with the settlers to Thunder Bay in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Subsequently, the Canadian Shift occurred simultaneously in both areas. Evidence of more urban features in the pronunciation of several Thunder Bay teenagers also raises questions about the future impact of mobility on the local dialect.

Objective. Social mobility plays an important role in stabilizing the political order. This article leverages China’s hukou (household registration) reforms to examine the effects of state-engineered social mobility on individuals’ trust in the government. Methods. Using China General Social Survey data for 2010 and entropy balancing for causal effects, this article provides empirical evidence for the attitudinal effects of social mobility at the individual level. Results. It finds that, first, individuals with the rural-to-urban hukou change are more likely to experience upward mobility, while individuals with the nonlocal-to-local hukou change are more pessimistic about their prospects of upward mobility; second, the rural-to-urban hukou change increases beneficiaries’ trust in the central government, while the nonlocal-to-local hukou change increases beneficiaries’ trust in the local government. Conclusion. The Chinese authoritarian regime’s co-optation tactic of engineering upward social mobility via the hukou reforms contributes to its performance-based political legitimacy as it effectively bolsters individuals’ trust in government.

ObjectivesIndigenous peoples have a disproportionately high prevalence of incarceration in the Canadian justice system. However, there is limited Indigenous-driven research examining colonialism and the justice system, specifically associations between racism, externally imposed family disruptions, and history of ever being incarcerated. Therefore, this study examined the association between the proportion of previous incarceration and family disruption, experiences of racism, and victimization for Indigenous adults in London, Thunder Bay, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The three communities expressed that they did not want comparison between the communities; rather, they wanted analysis of their community to understand where more supports were needed.MethodsIndigenous community partners used respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to collect data from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (FNIM) peoples in London, Thunder Bay, and Toronto. Prevalence estimates, 95% confidence intervals, and relative risk were reported using unweighted Poisson models and RDS-adjusted proportions.ResultsProportions of ever being incarcerated ranged from 43.0% in London to 54.0% in Toronto and 72.0% in Thunder Bay. In all three cities, history of child protection involvement and experiencing racism was associated with an approximate 25.0% increase in risk for previous incarceration. In Toronto and London, victimization was associated with increased risk for incarceration.ConclusionThis research highlights disproportionately high prevalence of ever being incarcerated among FNIM living in three Ontario cities. Experiencing racism, family disruption, and victimization are associated with incarceration. Decreasing the rates of family disruption, experiences of racism, and victimization should inform future policy and services to reduce the disproportionately high prevalence of incarceration for FNIM people living in urban settings.

Public trust in government influences public attitudes toward the development of new technology. However, research conducted to assess the relationship has been done primarily in Western-style democracies. This research examines how public trust in the Chinese government is related, directly and indirectly, to public attitudes toward shale gas development. An online survey of a large convenience sample of Chinese residents (n = 1361) was conducted in 2022 in five provinces where shale gas extraction and/or exploration are occurring. We found that trust in central government has a direct positive association with the perceived benefits and risks of shale gas development. Respondents with higher trust in central and provincial government are more likely to express support shale gas development. There is also a statistically significant indirect positive association with support for shale gas development via greater perceived benefits, yet we did not find a statistically significant indirect effect of trust on support for shale gas development through perceived risks. The results are interesting because in China the government and the shale gas industry are more closely connected than they are in Western-style democracies and the environmental movement in China is at an early stage of development. Future research should examine how attitudes in China evolve as the scale of the shale gas industry grows and the environmental movement grows.

<p>Objective: This research attempts to explore systematically factors that influence public reactions during COVID-19 pandemic, including different measures of risk perceptions, public trust in different levels of governments, and attention to news.</p><p>Methods: This research uses a national stratified random sample of Chinese population and multiple linear regressions to explore the potential predictors of public reactions to coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).</p><p>Results: This research found that the effects of attentions to news, provincial experience, trust in government, demographics, and political cultures on risk perceptions depend on measures of risk perceptions, risk judgments vs. cognitive vs. affective risk perceptions. Moreover, the effect of culture on trust in government is consistent across different levels of government, trust in local, provincial, and central governments; living in the epicenter of COVID-19 in China decreases trust in local/provincial government but not trust in central government; public attention to news can bring both positive (trust in government) and negative (negative affect) outcomes. Finally, it confirmed positive associations among risk perception, subjective knowledge, and attention to news.</p><p>Conclusion: The findings suggest challenges for risk communication.</p>

Several risk factors have been implicated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) leukemogenesis. However, the epidemiologic distribution and precise triggers for AML in Canada remain poorly understood. In this study, demographic data for AML patients in Canada from 1992 to 2010 were analyzed using 3 independent population-based cancer registries. The AML incidence and mortality rates were examined at the levels of province/territory, city, and forward sortation area (FSA) postal code. In total, 18,085 patients were identified. AML incidence was documented to be 30.61 cases per million individuals per year (95% confidence interval [CI], 30.17-31.06) from 1992 to 2010. Five industrial cities in Ontario were identified where incidence rates were significantly higher than the national average: Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, St. Catharines, and Hamilton. Analysis at the FSA postal code level identified significant patient clusters of AML in these cities. Specifically, FSA N7V in Sarnia, Ontario had an incidence of 106.81 (95% CI, 70.96-161.86) cases per million individuals per year, which is >3 times higher than the national average. The pollution from local oil refineries and chemical plants in Sarnia may be implicated as a risk factor for AML in that city. Analysis of mortality rates at the province and city levels corroborated the findings from the incidence data. These results provide a comprehensive analysis of AML burden in Canada and reveal striking geographic case clustering in industrial Ontario cities and potentially implicate exposure to materials/pollution from these plants as an important risk factor for developing AML in Canada.

Public trust in government is crucial for good governance, encompassing economic and social development of the region in a representative democratic setup. This study uses India Human Development Survey (2004–2005 and 2011–2012) data to examine the changing pattern of household confidence in state governments in India. Using a logit model analysis, we examine how the level of household confidence in the state government changes with households’ socioeconomic status, personal experiences, and benefits received from government programs and direct social benefit schemes. We find that households with a low socioeconomic status (such as Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, and low-income and less educated households) are more likely to trust the state government. In addition, households that have had a positive experience or have received benefits from a government program and/or social scheme are more likely to exhibit high levels of trust in the state government. We also find that residents of less developed states are more likely to have high levels of trust in their state government than residents of highly developed states.

Background: Amid Ontario’s growing opioid crisis, heroin abuse remains widespread in select urban areas and contributes to a large proportion of opioid overdoses provincially. Compared to prescription opioids (POs), heroin is especially hazardous to abuse since it is illicitly manufactured and frequently consumed by injection. PO abuse can also transition to heroin if access to preferred POs is impacted via diversion, dispensing or prescribing. However, the dynamics between preferences for heroin and local PO saturation (in this case, dispensing) are not well understood.
 Methods: Heroin abuse data were gathered from PHAC’s I-Track surveillance system while PO dispensing data were from the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) claims database. Using an unmatched repeated cross-sectional design, datasets spanning 2003 to 2011 were merged. The hierarchical structure consisted of individual-level I-Track responses nested within year and again within five city-level (Kingston, London, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Toronto) dispensing rates. Mixed-effects multilevel logistic regressions were used to examine relationships.
 Results: Almost one third (30.5%) of I-Track respondents abused heroin in the previous six months with marked variation by city, from roughly half of Toronto participants (51.0%) to about one in twenty (5.2%) in Thunder Bay. The final multivariate model for heroin abuse contained morphine dispensing (OR=1.04, p=0.011), present age (OR=0.99, p=0.045) and age of first injection (OR=0.97, p≤0.001). That is, considering age and age of first injection, heroin abuse was 4.4% more likely among IDU with each increase in annual morphine dispensing rates in their respective cities.
 Implications: The connection between heroin abuse and dispensing rates of chemically similar morphine, but not other POs, reflects a substitution effect for specific opioid types regardless of whether illicit or prescription. Precautions should be taken to prevent heroin abuse and establish harm reduction strategies before expected interference to local dispensing levels of any chemically analogous POs (particularly morphine).

Chronic physical and mental health conditions account for a rising proportion of morbidity, mortality, and disability in the Americas region. Household food insecurity (HFI) has been linked to chronic disease in US and Canadian women but it is uncertain if the same is true for low- and middle-income Latin American countries in epidemiologic transition. We conducted a survey to investigate the association of HFI with the physical and mental health of 794 women with children living in low-income Quito, Ecuador, neighborhoods. Data were collected on HFI and health indicators including self-reported health (SF-1), mental health (MHI-5), blood pressure, and self-reported mental and physical health complaints. Fasting blood glucose and lipids were measured in a subsample. The multivariate analyses revealed that HFI was associated with poorer self-rated health, low MHI-5 scores, and mental health complaints including stress, depression, and ethnospecific illnesses. It was also associated with chest tightness/discomfort/pain, dental disease, and gastrointestinal illness but not other conditions. The findings suggest that improving food security in low-income households may help reduce the burden of mental distress in women with children. The hypothesized link with diabetes and hypertension may become more apparent as Ecuador moves further along in the epidemiologic transition.

BackgroundEconomic inequity systematically affects Black emerging adults (BEA), aged 18–24, and their healthy trajectory into adulthood. Guaranteed income (GI)–temporary, unconditional cash payments–is gaining traction as a policy solution to address the inequitable distribution of resources sewn by decades of structural racism and disinvestment. GI provides recipients with security, time, and support to enable their transition into adulthood and shows promise for improving mental and physical health outcomes. To date, few GI pilots have targeted emerging adults. The BEEM trial seeks to determine whether providing GI to BEA improves financial wellbeing, mental and physical health as a means to address health disparities.Methods/designUsing a randomized controlled crossover trial design, 300 low-income BEA from San Francisco and Oakland, California, are randomized to receive a $500/month GI either during the first 12-months of follow-up (Phase I) or during the second 12-months of a total of 24-months follow-up (Phase II). All participants are offered enrollment in optional peer discussion groups and financial mentoring to bolster financial capability. Primary intention-to-treat analyzes will evaluate the impact of GI at 12 months among Phase I GI recipients compared to waitlist arm participants using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). Primary outcomes include: (a) financial well-being (investing in education/training); (b) mental health status (depressive symptoms); and (c) unmet need for mental health and sexual and reproductive health services. Secondary analyzes will examine effects of optional financial capability components using GEE with causal inference methods to adjust for differences across sub-strata. We will also explore the degree to which GI impacts dissipate after payments end. Study outcomes will be collected via surveys every 3 months throughout the study. A nested longitudinal qualitative cohort of 36 participants will further clarify how GI impacts these outcomes. We also discuss how anti-racism praxis guided the intervention design, evaluation design, and implementation.DiscussionFindings will provide the first experimental evidence of whether targeted GI paired with complementary financial programming improves the financial well-being, mental health, and unmet health service needs of urban BEA. Results will contribute timely evidence for utilizing GI as a policy tool to reduce health disparities.Clinical trial registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT05609188.

Purpose Responding to the needs of homeless and marginally housed persons has been a major component of the Canadian federal and provincial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, smaller, less-resourced cities and rural regions have been left competing for limited resources (Schiff et al., 2020). The purpose of this paper is to use a case study to examine and highlight information about the capacities and needs of service hub cities during pandemics. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on the experience of Thunder Bay – a small city in Northern Ontario, Canada which experienced a serious outbreak of COVID-19 amongst homeless persons and shelter staff in the community. The authors catalogued the series of events leading to this outbreak through information tracked by two of the authors who hold key funding and planning positions within the Thunder Bay homeless sector. Findings Several lessons may be useful for other cities nationally and internationally of similar size, geography and socio-economic position. The authors suggest a need for increased supports to the homeless sector in small service–hub cities (and particularly those with large Indigenous populations) to aid in the creation of pandemic plans and more broadly to ending chronic homelessness in those regions. Originality/value Small hub cities such as Thunder Bay serve vast rural areas and may have high rates of homelessness. This case study points to some important factors for consideration related to pandemic planning in these contexts.

Thunder Bay, a medium-sized city in Northern Ontario, has a twin downtown core model, arising from the merging of two former cities in 1970. Its north core, designated as the City’s Entertainment District has received considerable investment, notably a major waterfront renewal project undertaken in 2009 as part of an overall strategy towards downtown revitalization. Greater diversity of commercial functions and increasing residential capacity in downtowns are considered positive steps towards sustainable urban development. It is hoped the leadership taken by the City in its downtown capital investments can stimulate others (corporations and individuals) to re-invest in both living and working in more central locations to the benefit of environmental sustainability indicators like journey-to-work (distance and mode selected) and residential density. This article tracks changes in business composition and residential capacity during a five year period via the development of an intensive database of business and institutional activities. Urban sustainability metrics developed include residential capacity and density, business vacancy rates and business composition and turnover, which complement an existing measure of land-use diversity developed in earlier research. While major capital investments in downtown revitalization (such as the waterfront project) have fairly long-term impact horizons, data suggest some positive trends in the developed metrics in the downtown north core since 2009. In particular, there have been notable investments in waterfront condos and downtown lofts and some diversification in the food retailing and restaurant sectors. However, overall trends in downtown commerce are currently flat, indicative of a struggling local economy and a continued suburbanization of key commercial sectors.

Access to cultural activities and culturally relevant healthcare has always been significant for achieving holistic Indigenous health and continues to be a key factor in shaping the health journey of Indigenous individuals and communities. Previous research has indicated the importance of cultural practices and services in sustaining cultural identity for Indigenous peoples, which is a major influence on their wellbeing. This study marks the first phase in a project aimed at establishing an Indigenous healing program and uses a qualitative research approach to understand the health and cultural services that Indigenous women want and require in Thunder Bay, Ontario. During interviews, participants (n = 22) answered questions around their understandings of health and wellbeing, and how they are able to incorporate cultural practices into their circle of care. Thematic analysis was performed on interview transcripts, and 4 key themes were identified: ‘independence and self-care’, ‘external barriers to accessing services’, ‘finding comfort in the familiar’ and ‘sense of community’. Together these themes illustrate how Indigenous women feel a strong sense of personal responsibility for maintaining their health despite the multiple environmental factors that may act as barriers or supports. Furthermore, the necessity of embedding cultural practices into Indigenous women’s circle of care is highlighted by the participants as they describe the mental, spiritual, social, and emotional health benefits of engaging in cultural activities within their community. The findings demonstrate the need for current modes of care to look beyond the individual and consider the impacts that socio-environmental factors have on Indigenous women. To accomplish this, we hope to increase access to health and cultural services through the creation of an Indigenous healing program that can be adequately incorporated into Indigenous women’s circle of care if they wish to do so.

Objective: This research attempts to explore systematically factors that influence public reactions during COVID-19 pandemic, including different measures of risk perceptions, public trust in different levels of governments, and attention to news.Methods: This research uses a national stratified random sample of Chinese population and multiple linear regressions to explore the potential predictors of public reactions to coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).Results: This research found that the effects of attentions to news, provincial experience, trust in government, demographics, and political cultures on risk perceptions depend on measures of risk perceptions, risk judgments vs. cognitive vs. affective risk perceptions. Moreover, the effect of culture on trust in government is consistent across different levels of government, trust in local, provincial, and central governments; living in the epicenter of COVID-19 in China decreases trust in local/provincial government but not trust in central government; public attention to news can bring both positive (trust in government) and negative (negative affect) outcomes. Finally, it confirmed positive associations among risk perception, subjective knowledge, and attention to news.Conclusion: The findings suggest challenges for risk communication.