Link: http://victoria.tc.ca/~reed

Even as our local economy sputters, the "feel good" headlines continue with predictable regularity in our local media. Yesterday’s Times Colonist, for example, (Carla Wilson, September 11, 2010) proclaimed: “Region bucks national trend as unemployment rate slips.”

It is true that the unemployment rate dropped from 5.8% in July 2010, to 5.5% in August 2010, and year-on-year the rate dipped -0.2%. Things are looking up—right?

Well, maybe not. From the Statistics Canada data series, other measures of the health of our labour force suggest that there is much less reason for optimism. In August 2009, there were 181,400 employed persons in Victoria; there are now 177,100: A net loss of 4,300 jobs (-2.4%, all data seasonally adjusted). For comparison, over the same period, the employed labour force in Vancouver gained 24,600 jobs (+2.0%), and in Toronto a net gain of 121,300. Ken Stratford (Business Victoria CEO) is quoted in the same article, saying: “I think we are doing okay—could be doing better—but we are better off than most of the country.” Within the very narrow context of the official unemployment rate, he is correct; but one simple metric cannot capture the complex dynamics of the labour force.

Our labour force is shrinking. The size of our total labour force (TLF) plummeted by 4,800 in the past year. In February 2010 it peaked at 198,200 (CRD data); in August 2010, it was 187,600: our labour force has actually contracted by 10,600 in six short months: where did these people go? Some undoubtedly retired, but it is a well-documented fact that in a weakening economy many people quite simply give up looking for work (discouraged workers: those who according to Statistics Canada are neither employed nor unemployed). It is also a fact that this withdrawal from the labour force artificially depresses the unemployment rate. We are one of the few census metropolitan areas (CMA) in Canada with a shrinking TLF, a net loss of jobs, and a lower unemployment rate (Abbotsford, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Windsor share this dubious distinction).

The Statistics Canada labour force survey (LFS) also identified that in July 2010 there were 178,800 employed in Victoria; in August 2010 there were 177,100 employed: we have lost 1,700 jobs in the last month alone (Last year there was no change between the number of employed in July and August, so we can effectively discount student employment dynamics as a cause).

Simply utilizing the "unemployment rate" as a measure and comparison of our economic fitness does not capture the reality of the labour market(s). When other metrics are included, the results can seem counterintuitive; for example, we are experiencing a declining rate of unemployment (promoted by some as evidence that our economy is recovering), yet there are fewer people employed. If this paradox can be attributed to a deflationary cycle, then why are most other markets in Canada not experiencing similar declines in their employed labour force?

Irrespective of the unemployment rate, Victoria's economy is listless and faltering; an objective and more rigorous analysis of the data would have revealed this.

Link: http://victoria.tc.ca/~reed

50 Fresh Starts and Counting

Life-altering transformations take place here. A former rooming house, Cool Aid Society's Next Steps Transitional Shelter provides the opportunity for 15 emergency shelter clients to access the resources they need to make the transition from a state of homelessness to stabilized housing.

Funded by BC Housing and the United Way of Greater Victoria, and fully supported by the community through a Good Neighbour Agreement, Next Steps is fundamentally different than most shelters. While emergency shelters such as Streetlink and Sandy Merriman House meet the basic needs of temporary shelter, hygiene services and meals, Next Steps provides a vital bridge between these much-needed emergency shelters and permanent housing. Residents find a longer-term, more stable home at Next Steps, staying between 30 and 90 days. This is in contrast to emergency stays at Streetlink that are usually a result of short-term crises.

During their stay at Next Steps, the three unique core elements of the transition program are actively developed: income, long-term housing, and the development of community within the shelter. At present, four of the residents work, while two volunteer at the Mustard Seed and the Immigration Centre. Employment services that are available include assistance in preparing resumes and covering letters, online job searches facilitated by Project Literacy, and mock interviews. Training in Foodsafe is available on-site, while WHMIS and Industrial First Aid training is available through the John Howard Society. The REES network also provides a pool of prospective employers.

The majority of Next Steps clients move into housing provided by Pacifica and BC Housing. In instances where only market-based housing is available, the United Way provides vital top-up. According to one of the client services workers, “independent living is preferable, as sharing can be destabilizing if one person decides to leave.”

Promoting a sense of community, responsibility and interaction with others is an integral part of this program. Various rotating chores (cooking, cleaning, and landscaping), movie and pizza nights, a survival cooking program and an art group develop these important life skills. The “ambiance of a home setting fosters personal ingenuity and creativity,” while the one-on-one counselling allows the individuals the get “more in touch with their personal needs.”

In addition to the three core elements, Next Steps also provides medical and dental services, follow-ups every 3 to 6 months after departure, the opportunity to reconnect with family, assertiveness training, and relaxation exercises.

Next Steps focuses on supporting individuals who have elected to move forward in their lives after a crisis. In this smaller community setting of only 15 residents, there is a much greater emphasis on individual growth and how they interact with others, something that is not possible in an emergency shelter of 95 beds. Making the transition to a more promising future is a complex process that requires not only commitment by client services and outreach workers, but by each individual who takes ownership of the process by constructing a personal action plan.

After only one year of operation, fifty individuals have moved through this program and are now living independently.

The Myth of Consumer Power

or, How I Learned to Stop Selecting Properly

James Bay Culture Blog #14

(Is fourteen a Blogger's Dozen???)

I confess! I confess a terrible thing -- that I have been unmotivated to post ever since I heard the news that this very website may soon be undergoing a radical graceful change of management. The puts my whole project under the sign of the Dark Question Mark. My article about the implied critique of James Bay that virtually screams off the new metalwork statues in front of Serious Coffee? Nope -- not gonna write it. In its place I present a small essay which could easily be my last...

The Way of Extreme Capitalism has failed!!!

Shop accordingly.

That's right -- we are not just consumers. We are, first and foremost, citizens. So we must always keep this firmly in mind while we are making our shopping decisions.

Recently, my friend Derek said to me "I don't vote, but I vote with my dollars." Do you think he meant it? Do you think the most tiny and necessary form of mass political action is -- in Derek's mind -- adequately replaced by slight shifts in his buying patterns???

If so, I expect to see "Girls Gone Wild - Miami Beach" be elected as Prime Minister.

It is all well and good to be informed, more conscientious. Fine. Obviously. But we must guard against the notion that personal preferences are the primary site of ethical social action. It seems very likely that all inept Owners and Social Administrators would like to relinquish their responsibility the cells at the very end-tips of Society's tentacles.

An ignorant war? An evil product? Mass scale devastation of terrestrial life? Don't blame us -- it was the People who empowered us. THEY should have known better. Don't make the effort to change the system -- the only real change is when THEY magically all start choosing differently.

Easy to see why we would get the blame, but why do we accept this blame? Why agree to the idea that decades of mismanagement of energy technologies must be blamed on OUR wrong pleasures and needs? Well, I guess, when you think about it... there is a certain flattery in this notion.

After all -- we can't be responsible without being imagined as POWERFUL.

Think about the sheer vanity involved in the idea that our little personal decisions about what to encourage or discourage is the central key to controlling reality! Pure Narcissism & Megalomania.

European intellectuals on the leading Left often complain that no one truly believes in an alternative to liberal-capital-democracy, that we have all become content to simply tinker with the existing system rather than entertain any hope of transformation. They claim our social force has vanished, but they don't say where it has gone.

I suspect it is squandered daily in countless grocery aisles and catalogs, viewing choices, purchasing preferences, strategies for customization.

Consider Victoria's water supply.

While the end-level users, the water-receiving citizens, are busy shutting off their taps as quickly as possible & debating whether or not to water their lawns during the expected Water Shortage Period hardly a voice gets raised against the primitive and ridiculous organization of our water system. Our reservoirs and pipelines are basically a giant bucket that we hope will fill with rain each season. We sit next to the unlimited expanse of the Ocean and wring our hands about the Coming Water Crisis! All the while we can't must the time, energy, cash or belief to produce a limitless surplus of fresh water.

The truly scarce commodity is the willingness of people to demand the intelligent upgrade of the socio-technological system in which we are embedded. What do we do instead of demanding change? We are cleaning bottles for recycling, wondering where to dispose of lightbulbs most efffectively, what toys are safe, which sneaker companies support atrocity -- we leak away our social potency when we remember to shut off that leaking tap.

We are like little children playing a game of peekabo -- thinking that the world ceases to exist when we are not inspecting and affirming it.

Laughing at exploding cow (in a film) causes animal cruelty!
Viewing degrading pornography leads to more abuse.
Turning off the lights, or not, determines the Environment's future.

Deciding between the tuna sandwich and the potato soup determines whether or not countless dolphins will be uselessly clubbed to death today.

Yikes!

On all fronts -- your decisions and attention have the power to control reality so you must take every tiny decision so seriously as the primary site at which you play a moral role in the future of society.

Shop wisely, sure. And you don't have to view what you hate. But be careful you don't start thinking that every one of your precious little choices is the critical ethical bond. Efforts toward real and benevolent social change can render countless tiny practices obsolete overnight.

Here are my photochops for week eight of the James Bay Photo Project. Enjoy...

See the originals of these photographs, as well as the rest of my snaps from the past week on my flickr page. As always comments and inspiration are always welcome. Feel free to leave comments below, or with the images on my flickr page.

Click an image to see a larger version.

To see the original image on flickr click here

Read on to see the rest of my edited images from Week Nine of the James Bay Photography Project.

Read more

Here are my photochops for week eight of the James Bay Photo Project. Enjoy...

See the originals of these photographs, as well as the rest of my snaps from the past week on my flickr page. As always comments and inspiration are always welcome. Feel free to leave comments below, or with the images on my flickr page.

Click an image to see a larger version.

To see the original image on flickr click here

Read on to see the rest of my edited images from Week Eight of the James Bay Photography Project.

Read more