Belanger, Yale

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    Lethbridge housing needs assessment, spring 2007
    (City of Lethbridge, 2007-06-25) Belanger, Yale D.; Petryshyn, Suzanne V. M.
    With municipal population numbers rising, our knowledge and understanding of the existing and anticipated immigration trends of immigration, maintenance of birth and fertility rates and increasing university and college enrolment, it is clear that increased pressure on an already taxed housing for rental and ownership structure will result. Pressure will also come to bear on the social service sector in Lethbridge as increasingly the municipality is forced to deal with like issues. Those who participated in this study indicated that they want to and will work toward improving local community dynamics. Adopting a proactive approach will generate pride and goodwill in their neighbourhoods. The goal: to compliment and enhance community morale. Community based projects that demonstrate the concepts of affordable, available, attainable and accessible housing, embedded within an integrated approach within neighbourhoods offers community members, government officials, and politicians an opportunity to address the rising housing crisis in Lethbridge. Planning is required to improve the existing housing situation. This requires a strong financial foundation, and policy makers need to remain cognizant that city tax dollars will be required to deal with this and related issues. In this study, as many respondents indicated, they see the municipal government adopting a leadership role to assist in improving tenuous housing conditions. The City of Lethbridge must develop municipal policies to ensure the well-being of not only low-income wage-earners but all municipal residents.
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    Housing and aboriginal people in urban centres: a quantitative evaluation
    (University of Alberta, 2012) Belanger, Yale D.; Weasel Head, Gabrielle; Awosoga, Olu A.
    This paper explores the current state of urban Aboriginal housing in Canada, by providing an up-to-date mapping of national urban Aboriginal housing conditions. This paper demonstrates that home ownership helps to reduce the gap between mainstream and Aboriginal rates of core housing need, for Aboriginal renters are substantially worse off than their non-Aboriginal counterparts in terms of core housing need and overcrowding. Métis and Non-Status Indians are also more likely to become homeowners than Status Indians and Inuit. A cyclical process is identified that hinders urban Aboriginal homeownership, and home rental advancement is also discussed. Existing federal housing programs are inadequate to address the housing and homeless issues identified. We highlight the need to establish proactive policies, the goal being to facilitate individual transition into urban centres, thereby helping to ameliorate existing housing disparities.
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    Homelessness, urban Aboriginal people, and the need for a national enumeration
    (University of Alberta, 2013) Belanger, Yale D.; Awosoga, Olu A.; Weasel Head, Gabrielle
    The growing rate of urban Aboriginal homelessness is a concern in Canada, yet, to date, no national enumeration of the homeless community has been attempted. Consequently, policies implemented to guarantee vulnerable populations access to housing are being struck in the absence of reliable data. Obtaining good data on the prevalence of this homeless community is one step in improving our collective understanding and response to urban Aboriginal homelessness. According to our calculations, that homelessness is staggering: on any one night, 6.97 percent of the urban Aboriginal population in Canada is homeless, as compared to a national average of .78 percent. This paper highlights the academic and bureaucratic construction of homelessness while urging academics and front-line agencies to align their research agendas in order to help combat the issues that create homelessness in what is a uniquely challenging environment for urban Aboriginal individuals seeking services. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations that will assist in this matter.
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    Are Canadian First Nations casinos providing maximum benefits? appraising First Nations Casinos in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, 2006-2010
    (University of Nevada, Las Vegas. International Gaming Institute, 2014) Belanger, Yale D.
    To date a dearth of data has made it difficult to evaluate the success of First Nations casinos in Canada. This paper helps remedy this situation by presenting a three-province overview (Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta) of First Nations gaming models. Two key findings are offered that First Nations seeking gaming market entry and provincial officials should genuinely consider. First, while each province has adopted a unique approach to First Nations gaming policy they have each opted to direct substantial revenues out of First Nations communities and into their own treasuries. Second, the evidence suggests that larger gaming properties located nearby a significant market provide more benefits versus smaller properties situated in more isolated areas. The subsequent discussion elaborates each provincial model’s revenue generating power, how the revenue in question is being allocated and its corresponding socio-economic impact, whether increased problem gambling and crime have resulted as predicted, while exploring employment trends to determine whether they have developed as anticipated.
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    Gambling and problem gambling in Canada in 2018: prevalence and changes since 2002
    (Sage, 2020) Williams, Robert J.; Leonard, Carrie A.; Belanger, Yale D.; Christensen, Darren R.; el-Guebaly, Nady; Hodgins, David C.; McGrath, Daniel S.; Nicoll, Fiona; Stevens, Rhys M. G.
    Objective The purpose of this study was to provide an updated profile of gambling and problem gambling in Canada and to examine how the rates and pattern of participation compare to 2002. Method An assessment of gambling and problem gambling was included in the 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey and administered to 24,982 individuals aged 15 and older. The present analyses selected for adults (18+). Results A total of 66.2% of people reported engaging in some type of gambling in 2018, primarily lottery and/or raffle tickets, the only type in which the majority of Canadians participate. There are some significant inter-provincial differences, with perhaps the most important one being the higher rate of electronic gambling machine (EGM) participation in Manitoba and Saskatchewan The overall pattern of gambling in 2018 is very similar to 2002, although participation is generally much lower in 2018, particularly for EGMs and bingo. Only 0.6% of the population were identified as problem gamblers in 2018, with an additional 2.7% being at-risk gamblers. There is no significant inter-provincial variation in problem gambling rates. The inter-provincial pattern of problem gambling in 2018 is also very similar to what was found in 2002 with the main difference being a 45% decrease in the overall prevalence of problem gambling. Conclusions Gambling and problem gambling have both decreased in Canada from 2002 to 2018, although the provincial patterns are quite similar between the two time periods. Several mechanisms have likely collectively contributed to these declines. Decreases have also been reported in several other western countries in recent years and have occurred despite the expansion of legal gambling opportunities, suggesting a degree of inoculation or adaptation in the population.
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    Predictors of gambling and problem gambling in Canada
    (Springer, 2021) Williams, Robert J.; Leonard, Carrie A.; Belanger, Yale D.; Christensen, Darren R.; el-Guebaly, Nady; Hodgins, David C.; McGrath, Daniel S.; Nicoll, Fiona; Smith, Garry J.; Stevens, Rhys M. G.
    Objectives:The purpose of this study is to provide an updated profile of gamblers and problem gamblers in Canada and to identify characteristics most strongly associated with problem gambling. Methods: An assessment of gambling participation and problem gambling was included in the 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey and administered to 23,952 individuals 18 years and older. Descriptive statistics provided a demographic profile for each type of gambling involvement as well as category of gambler (non-gambler, non-problem gambler, at-risk gambler,problem gambler). A logistic regression identified characteristics that best distinguished problem from non-problem gamblers. Results: Gambling participation and problem gambling both varied as a function of gender, income, educational attainment, and race/ethnicity. However, multivariate analysis identified electronic gambling machine (EGM) participation to be the primary predictor of problem gambling status, with race/ethnicity, presence of a mood disorder, male gender, casino table game participation, older age, a greater level of smoking, participation in speculative financial activity, instant lottery participation, lower household income, and lottery or raffle ticket participation providing additional predictive power. Provincial EGM density and EGM participation rates are also very strong predictors of provincial rates of at-risk and problem gambling. Conclusion: Problem gambling has a biopsychosocial etiology, determined by personal vulnerability factors combined with the presence of riskier types of gambling such as EGMs. Effective prevention requires a multifaceted approach, but constraints on the availability and operation of EGMs would likely have the greatest single public health benefit.