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Purpose: Due to ongoing inequities in the social determinants of health and systemic barriers, homelessness continues to be a significant concern that disproportionately impacts racialized communities. Despite constituting a small proportion of the population, Black individuals are over-represented among people experiencing homelessness in many Canadian cities. However, although Black homelessness in Canada is a pressing issue, it has received limited attention in the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reported prevalence of Black homelessness across Canada. Design/methodology/approach: By consulting enumerations from 61 designated communities that participated in the 2018 Nationally Coordinated Point-in-Time Count and two regional repositories – one for homeless counts supported by the government of British Columbia and another from the Rural Development Network – this paper reports on the scale and scope of Black homelessness across Canada. Findings: Significantly, these reports demonstrate that Black people are over-represented among those experiencing homelessness compared to local and national populations. These enumerations also demonstrate significant gaps in the reporting of Black homelessness and inadequate nuance in data collection methods, which limit the ability of respondents to describe their identity beyond "Black." Originality/value: This research provides an unprecedented examination of Black homelessness across Canada and concludes with recommendations to expand knowledge on this important and under-researched issue, provide suggestions for future iterations of homeless enumerations and facilitate the development of inclusive housing policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Over the years, many upstream health policies have sought to reduce smoking across populations. While smoking has been substantially reduced, the effects of these policies on education-smoking gradient remain unclear. The present paper compares the education-smoking gradient among the Generation X and the millennials, who grew up with different types of upstream policies. Design/methodology/approach: The study relies on regression analysis. The data are from the Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey of 2017, with the sample restricted to those born between 1965 and 1995. Findings: At the zero-order, the education-smoking gradient has not significantly flattened from Generation X to millennials. And, accounting for the channels of impact of education on smoking does not substantially change this pattern. Social implications: The implications for health inequalities associated with socioeconomic status, and tobacco consumption reduction policies, are discussed. Originality/value: This paper is the first study of the kind using Canadian data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Health systems are progressively stressed by health spending, which is partially explained by the increase in the cost of health technologies. Countries have defined processes to prioritize interventions to be covered. This study aims to compare for the first time health technology assessment (HTA) processes in Canada and Chile, to explain the factors driving these decisions. Design/methodology/approach: This is a health policy analysis comparing HTA processes in Canada and Chile. An analysis of publicly available documents in Canada (for CADTH) and Chile (for the Ministry of Health (MoH)) was carried out. A recognized political science framework (the 3-I framework) was used to explain the similarities and differences in both countries. The comparison of processes was disaggregated into eligibility and evaluation processes. Findings: CADTH has different programmes for different types of drugs (with two separate expert committees), whereas the MoH has a unified process. Although CADTH's recommendations have a federal scope, the final coverage is a provincial decision. In Chile, the recommendation has a national scope. In both cases, past recommendations influence the scope of the evaluation. Pharmaceutical companies and patient associations are important interest groups in both countries. Whereas manufacturers and tumour groups are able to submit applications to CADTH, the Chilean MoH prioritizes applications submitted by patient associations. Originality/value: Institutions, interests and ideas play important roles in driving HTA decisions in Canada and Chile, which is demonstrated in this novel analysis. This paper provides a unique comparison to highly relevant policy processes in HTA, which is often a research area dominated by effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the relationship among measures of resource and service usage and other features of academic libraries in the USA and Canada. Design/methodology/approach – Through the use of a self-organizing map, academic library data were clustered and visualized. Analysis of the library data was conducted through the computation of a "library performance metric" that was applied to the resulting map. Findings – Two areas of high-performing academic libraries emerged on the map. One area included libraries with large numbers of resources, while another area included libraries that had low resources but gave greater numbers of presentations to groups, offered greater numbers of public service hours, and had greater numbers of staffed service points. Research limitations/implications – The metrics chosen as a measure of library performance offer only a partial picture of how libraries are being used. Future research might involve the use of a self-organizing map to cluster library data within certain parameters and the identification of high-performing libraries within these clusters. Practical implications – This study suggests that libraries can improve their performance not only by acquiring greater resources but also by putting greater emphasis on the services that they provide to their users. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates how a self-organizing map can be used in the analysis of large data sets to facilitate library comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to report on a census of high-level sustainability initiatives at all accredited post-secondary institutions in Canada by documenting the institutions that have undertaken sustainability assessments, have signed one or more sustainability declarations, have sustainability offices or officers or have sustainability policies. The aim was to better understand the broad-scale patterns of commitments by post-secondary institutions to these sustainability initiatives by exploring the interrelationships among them, and with geographic and institutional characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected on existing high-level sustainability initiatives at Canada’s 220 accredited post-secondary institutions. Patterns in the data were analyzed using exploratory statistical techniques. This paper proposes a sustainability initiative score to help understand the diversity and patterns of sustainability initiative uptake. Findings – Institutions located in larger communities, and in British Columbia and Québec, tended to have higher sustainability initiative scores. Institutions in Saskatchewan and the territories had the lowest sustainability initiative scores. It was found that sustainability office(r)s, assessments and policies co-occurred disproportionately, potentially suggesting positive reinforcement mechanisms. On the other hand, having signed a declaration was not strongly linked to other sustainability initiatives. Terminological preference had shifted from “environment” and “sustainable development” to “sustainability”. Research limitations/implications – The scope was limited to a discrete set of high-level sustainability initiatives appropriate for a nation-wide census, at a moment in time, and is therefore not exhaustive in subject or temporal extent. This broad-scale comparative analysis compels further study into the relationship between the sustainability policy environment and sustainability practices on the ground, as well as implications for how post-secondary institutions engage with sustainability. The patterns and interrelationships this paper discovered help to structure future critical and comparative in-depth analyses of sustainability policies and practices within post-secondary education. Originality/value – Almost no extensive, comparative empirical studies of sustainability policy and practice in post-secondary institutions exist. This void is addressed by documenting and analyzing high-level sustainability initiatives across all accredited post-secondary institutions in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the ways in which the Supreme Court of Canada has shifted away from transcendent/religious to nonreligious conceptualizations of assisted dying. Design/methodology/approach - A discourse analysis of a Supreme Court of Canada case on assisted dying and the facta of the 26 associated interveners. Findings - The research points to a shift away from religious to nonreligious understandings in the way the Court conceptualizes suffering, pain, illness and assisted dying. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the understanding of nonreligion as a social phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to conduct the first cross-sectional survey on depression, Resilience, well-being, depression symptoms and concussion levels in equestrian athletes and to assess whether past concussion rates were associated with depression, resilience and well-being. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 511 participants from Canada, Republic of Ireland, UK, Australia and USA took part in an international cross-sectional, online survey evaluating concussion history, depression symptoms, resilience and well-being. Findings: In total, 27.1% of athletes met clinically relevant symptoms of major depressive disorder. Significant differences were shown in the well-being and resilience scores between countries. Significant relationships were observed between reported history of concussion and both high depression scores and low well-being scores. Practical implications: Findings highlight the need for mental health promotion and support in equestrian sport. Social implications: Results support previous research suggesting a need for enhanced mental health support for equestrians. There is reason to believe that mental illness could still be present in riders with normal levels of resilience and well-being. Originality/value: This study examined an understudied athlete group: equestrian athletes and presents important findings with implications for the physical and mental health of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of assertiveness in determining negotiation outcomes in two different cultures and thus to help understand the cultural differences in the relationship between assertiveness and negotiation outcomes in the West and East, where assertiveness is often viewed quite differently. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from four simulated negotiations of varying degrees of complexity ranging from the most distributive to the most integrative. Over 400 business students were recruited as subjects from a Western culture and an Eastern culture, namely Canada and China, to participate in the simulations in order to test the cultural differences in the relationship between assertiveness and negotiation outcomes. Findings - The results provide support for the effects of assertiveness on both economic outcome and affective outcome, and thus confirm the importance of assertiveness as a negotiator trait; the relationship between assertiveness and negotiation outcomes is found to be culture dependent whereby assertiveness is associated with economic outcome and affective outcome for Canadians, but only with affective outcome for the Chinese. Practical implications - This study provides important guidelines for negotiation practitioners. Relevant training and development programs could be designed for international managers to improve their effectiveness when they negotiate with the Chinese who often place more emphasis on affective outcome and on negotiation process. Originality/value - Negotiation skills become more important in the increasingly globalized world market and research on negotiation needs to provide more knowledge for scholars and negotiation practitioners. This paper attempts to enrich our understanding of negotiation in two different cultures and to provide insights on cross-cultural differences in negotiation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to explore how neo-liberalism shapes income support policy and lone mothers' experiences in Canada and the USA. Design/methodology/approach - A critical comparative analysis is undertaken of how Canadian and US governments take up sociological concepts of risk, market citizenship, and individualization, whether explicitly or implicitly, in the design and administration of neo-liberal income support policies directed at lone mothers. Specifically, the contradictory life circumstances that Canadian and American lone mothers experience when they access income supports that are designed ostensibly to construct/reconstruct them as citizens capable of risk taking in their search for employment and selfsufficiency are compared. Findings - The paper finds that the realities for poor lone mothers are remarkably similar in the two countries and therefore argue that income support policies, particularly welfare-to-work initiatives, underpinned by neo-liberal tenets, can act in a counter-intuitive manner exposing lone mothers to greater rather than lesser economic and social insecurity/inequality, and constructing them as risk aversive and dependent. Research limitations/implications - The economic and social implications/contradictions of neoliberal restructuring of income support policies for lone mothers is revealed. Originality/value - This paper contributes to broader scholarship on the gendered dimensions of neo-liberal restructuring of welfare states in late modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the risks associated with online voting and to compare them with more traditional voting modes. Design/methodology/approach - A modified version of the Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE) approach from the CERT Coordination Center® at Carnegie-Mellon University is used for developing a framework for comparing threats for different stakeholders. In addition, these risks and threats are quantified, offering an opportunity to conduct a multi-mode risk analysis in a manner independent of the underlying voting modes. The framework is exemplified using data from officials who had been involved in an actual municipal election, in which registered voters were given the option of voting through the Internet. Findings - What is instructive in the context of this study is that the "low-tech" threats such as large-scale mail theft of election notifications and family member coercion may in fact be significant for Internet voting, and the sensationalized threats mentioned by the media may pale in comparison in terms of vulnerabilities. Research limitations/implications - Conclusions drawn from applying the methods may be very sensitive to parameters chosen for quantification, especially since estimates of probabilities of threats may vary in order of magnitude. Originality/value - This paper demonstrates a quantitative and comparative analysis for Internet voting, something which does not seem to be adequately addressed in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of mindfulness awareness practice (MAP) on mid-level health-care managers' leadership.Design/methodology/approach: In total, 11 mid-level health-care managers in eastern Canada took part in an intensive weekend retreat and a follow-up webinar on mindfulness awareness. Perceived stress and leadership effectiveness were assessed pre- and post-intervention (i.e. four and eight weeks). A control group (n=10) also completed the same measures twice. Additionally, informants (n=28) provided assessments of participants' leadership pre- and post-intervention. Follow-up interviews were carried out with eight participants 12-16 weeks post-intervention.Findings: In comparison to controls, retreat participants showed significant increases in mindfulness and corresponding decreases in stress that were sustained across eight weeks post-retreat; retreat participants reported significant positive changes in their leadership effectiveness that were corroborated by informants. Qualitative data, however, suggest that sustaining a mindfulness practice presents significant challenges to middle managers in a health care setting.Research Limitations/implications: The findings are useful to management working in health services that are plagued by increasing demands and changes. Despite the small sample and lack of random assignment, the pilot data support the efficacy of MAP in improving leadership.Originality/value: Little empirical research supports the claim that MAP enhances leadership. The present study employed a mixed methods approach to address this gap and demonstrates the potential benefits of MAP among mid-level managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the supply chain strategy, flexibility, and performance relationships in the context of SMEs in Canada and Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey from a total of 170 small and medium-sized Pakistani manufacturing companies. The current study draws upon the earlier work of Fantazy et al. (2009) for comparative purpose and employs path analysis technique. Findings – The results partially confirm the findings of previous study on Canadian SMEs with regard to the relationships among strategy, flexibility, and performance in the context of supply chain. The survey results revealed that SMEs in Pakistan adopt followers strategy in order to achieve financial and non-financial performance. Whereas in the previous study, Canadian SMEs adopted innovative strategy and customer-oriented strategy in order to enhance their performance. Originality/value – The literature did not reveal any study which attempted to compare supply chain strategy, flexibility, and performance of SMEs in developed and developing countries. The current study fills this important gap in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to provide comparative data from a two-country study; specifically, into the internationalisation strategies of Canadian and UK high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises. Design/methodology/approach — The methodology employed involves 24 in-depth interviews, 12 in each country. Findings — These suggest that the differences between the firms in the two countries were limited; more similarities were identifiable. Specifically, strategy formation is not as systematic as some previous studies, notably those that focus on the ‘stage’ models, suggest. Entrepreneurs and management teams recognise and exploit opportunities in different ways, ranging from planned strategy formation through to opportunistic behaviour; as such, no single theory could fully explain international entrepreneurial decisions. Research limitations/implications — The implication of the findings is to offer support to the literature that has suggested a more holistic view should be undertaken in international entrepreneurship research. Originality/value — The main aspect of originality outside of the comparative data involves accounting for the role of serendipity in unplanned overseas market ventures, an issue lacking in much of the earlier literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]