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Using data from the 1996 Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) on individuals, this paper examines labour force activity of women in Canada, focussing on the effects of familial status and household structure to determine whether these factors have similar elasticities among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women. We found that labour force activity varied greatly by Aboriginal Status. In general, Registered Indians were less likely to be employed but more likely to be unemployed than Other Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. While lower educational attainment, presence of minor children and lone parenthood were found to be associated with a lower likelihood of being employed, significant differences by Aboriginal Status were found. The effect of educational attainment on employment was found to be higher among Registered Indians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses three questions: 1) Why study intra-Aboriginal inequality? 2) What is the gap in wages and income between the general Canadian population and the different Aboriginal peoples? and 3) How much inequality exists within the Aboriginal groups and between Aboriginal groups and the non-Aboriginal population? The article points to a general pattern of increase in measured disparity and polarization in income for all Aboriginal groups in comparison to the non-Aboriginal population. In terms of intra-Aboriginal inequality, Aboriginal groups rank from Inuit at the high end, through Status Indians, to non-status Indians and, finally, to Métis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A number of researchers have argued that crude rates of crime and delinquency are a function of a population's age pyramid. That is, given constant age-specific rates, the overall or crude rate will fluctuate in concert with the proportion of individuals in age groups with differing age-specific rates. Richard Easterlin, however, has suggested that it is unreasonable to expect age-specific rates to remain constant in the face of fluctuating population distributions. Specifically, it is suggested that many social phenomena, such as crime rates, will fluctuate according to the relative size of the age cohort considered. This hypothesis is tested using official delinquency statistics from the Province of Ontario, Canada, for the years 1952-81. The data suggest that Easterlin's hypothesis is, in fact, a credible one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Gottfredson and Hirschi proposed a general theory of crime. Central to the theory is the assumption that most criminal behavior is impulsive and reflects a lack of self-control. Thus criminals are seen as risk takers who are less restrained than noncriminals from illegal activities. In a secondary analysis of data from a roadside traffic survey, this study attempts to test Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory by examining the relationship between self-control and driving under the influence of alcohol. Using several indicators of self-control the results support the existence of a relationship for both men and women between low self-control and driving under the influence of alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the relationship between gender, age, and four principal causes of violent death - homicide, suicide, motor vehicle accidents, and 'other' accidents. It has been argued that these four causes of violent death result from a predilection to excessive risk-taking behaviour. It has also been suggested by convergence theorists that although risk-taking is traditionally a male dominated activity, with the increase in the proportion of women in the labour force, and increasing egalitarianism, the gap between male and female risk-taking should narrow. Using Canadian data to test this assumption, our findings reveal continuing differences between male and female rates of violent death, and little support for convergence theory. Significant changes are also noted in the pattern of age-specific mortality rates over the period of investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Illicit production of marijuana on residential properties creates significant health and safety problems. Health Canada grants licences to individuals to produce medicinal marijuana for personal use, conditional on their compliance with all appropriate regulations. Health Canada does not inspect licensees' activities to monitor regulatory compliance, and privacy legislation prevents Health Canada from sharing licence holders' details with third parties. This research examines how effective this administrative structure is at preventing medicinal marijuana from being produced in residential buildings by licence holders. Methods: The indoor production of marijuana requires substantial amounts of electricity. From 2005, addresses in Surrey, British Columbia, with exceptionally high power consumption have been provided to the municipal government for the purposes of undertaking fire safety inspections. This paper examines the outcome of inspections at 1,204 marijuanaproduction sites (n = 252 medicinal, n = 952 illicit) to see whether the licensing process prevents marijuana production in residential buildings. The illicit-production sites inspected by the city are used as a non-random comparison group for the medicinal sites. Findings: This inspection process has identified an increasing number of medicinal- (relative to illicit-) production sites in recent years. Medicinal-production operations were significantly less likely to be located in residential buildings. However, the medicinal residential sites that were detected were located in equivalent parts of the city to the illicit residential operations. Residential medicinal-production sites presented fewer electrical and biological safety problems relative to illicit-production sites, but all residential medicinal-production sites breached zoning and legislative requirements relating to land use, building safety, and structural integrity. Conclusions: The current administrative structure for licensing medicinal marijuana production does not prevent residential buildings from being used as marijuana-production sites. Routine activity theory is used as a platform to explain how additional situational prevention mechanisms can be used to prevent licensed medicinal marijuana production from creating building-related health and safety problems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian assessments of First Nation and Aboriginal education lack any real modelling of reasons for the particular patterns of attainment — it is this void that we wish to fill. This paper examines educational attainment in First Nations communities using combined data from the 1996 Census and Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Education Survey for the school year 1995/1996, aggregated to the band level, for registered and non-registered Indian and Inuit students who live on reserve in Canada. Multiple sequential regression analysis is used to model the educational success of grade 12 and 13 students with community level characteristics, including an isolation variable, school type variable, demographic variables, economic variables, and human capital variables. We use three measures of educational success: the age appropriate rate, graduate rate, and withdrawal rate. It is shown that the community level variables are similar in their explanatory power of educational success; however, the effects of variables within blocks on measures of educational success differ. The demography and human capital blocks play a particularly important role for all three measures of educational success. Additional analysis includes an examination of standardized regression weights. The paper discusses research and policy implications and articulates future avenues for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labour market outcomes of Aboriginal postsecondary graduates have received very little attention in the research literature. The purpose of this paper is to build on the existing research in the area by investigating the early earnings and employment outcomes of male and female Aboriginals with various postsecondary credentials (i.e., trades, college, and university), and compare their outcomes with those of visible minorities and the rest of the population. The results of this study show that visible-minority postsecondary graduates earn more than do Aboriginals and non-minorities. However, when controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and type of postsecondary attainment (i.e., level of schooling and field of study), Aboriginals earn more than both non-minorities and visible minorities. The extent of these earnings differences depends on both gender and level of schooling. Despite their relatively favourable earnings outcomes, Aboriginal postsecondary graduates generally experience poorer employment prospects. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]