Paper Example on Dementia: A Global Crisis - Canadian Strategy for Action

Introduction

Dementia is simply not just a Canadian issue, but it is a problem across the globe. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands, have also had the problem and drafted different mechanisms to handle it. The Canadian national strategy on dementia encompasses several key elements that would be used to address the rising problem. The proposed strategy seeks to increase investment in research in the key aspects of dementia inclusive of prevention, its treatment, and how to improve the quality of life. Also, the strategy urges for increased support directed towards caregivers (Canadian Medical Association, 2013). Another essential aspect of the strategy is increased emphasis on mental health and risk mitigation of brain illnesses. Integration of care and case management as well as a strengthened workforce that improves diagnosis and creates a frontline for diagnosis and treatment cap the framework for handling dementia.

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The strategies proposed to contain dementia in Canada have been successfully used on other developed economies to address the social problem that comes with the condition in the UK and Netherlands. The most excellent course of the problem, as identified, is age. Old age is highly affiliated with the development of dementia and related conditions. With an increasing rate of old people in Canada, the necessity of the strategies is undoubted. By 2031, the nation expects that at least 1.4 million will be living with dementia. The management of the condition is also expected to shoot to a horrifying $293 billion annually (Canadian Medical Association, 2013). Therefore, the policy for dementia was inevitable. The outlined policy effectively addresses the problem since it addresses the prevention, management, and support of the affected individuals excellently.

As a social worker, however, I feel that more needs to be done on the policy. One is that the policy ought to delve more into the integration of social work in the management of dementia. Social workers should be more engaged, and their duties well-articulated in the policy. For instance, the system would seek to ensure that there are more caregivers. An increased number of caregivers being funded by the government to offer to people with dementia would ensure that they receive more critical concern after they have been diagnosed. The deterioration of the problem with increased and harnessed caregiving would be lower. Increased adoption of more caregivers would also help in the identification of the current cases of people in dementia or who are at risk of development and probably help them if possible.

Truth and Reconciliation- A Path Forward

The truth and reconciliation process is an inevitable process that is deeply rooted in the history of Canada and needs to be taken with the utmost seriousness. The procedure seeks to unearth the injustices that were meted upon the aboriginals by the government in unison with the church. There was such widespread mistreatment, most of it being meted on children. Separation of children from their parents for long spells and who were placed in residential schools for many only shows that the government had little concern for the culture and the identity of the indigenous communities. They wanted them to change their culture, but they were a wrong path to take in all aspects. The suffering that was incurred by the aboriginals, the survivors and their parents must also be made known if a candid and clear reconciliation path will be adopted.

For both groups, aboriginals, and non-aboriginals, the truth and reconciliation processes create a new understanding. It creates an understanding of the past. It makes focuses on the mistreatment of people, which was instituted by the government because of a negative view of ethnicity. The government of the day sponsored hate, which is not a value in the Canadian environment. Strict policies were also made to see that the aboriginal people were oppressed without turning to the law for help. The net effect of the truth and reconciliation process is that it sponsors such a great understanding of the differences in culture and the state of poverty and societal differentiation between the aboriginals and the rest of the society. The understanding created by the process, between the aboriginals and the non-aboriginals, gives way for the creation of a more progressive Canadian society where hatred is not spewed on the basis of culture and identity.

In the same way, there is such a huge understanding of the aboriginal children in the Canadian welfare system. Before the truth and reconciliation process was formally adopted, the need to protect these children was instrumental in that the social welfare system concentrated on them. There was a need to ensure that these children accessed modern education without having to be discriminated against or being stripped of their culture and identity. Their overrepresentation in the welfare system today only indicates the view of many people concerning the treatment of the aboriginals in Canada. With the adoption of the truth and reconciliation process that is clear and concise, a new understanding will be made between aboriginals and non-aboriginals, ensuring a safer livelihood for the aboriginals and non-aboriginals.

Social Policy in Action - A Review of a Child and Youth Representative report

The report, "Alone and Afraid Lessons learned from the ordeal of a child with special needs and his family," written in 2018 by the Representative for Children and Youth, a story of a child named Charlie and the oppression he passed through is explained. The child who is offered the pseudonym Charlie and who was only 12 years old in 2016 weighed only 65 pounds. He had a terrible childhood as he had endured malnutrition and inadequate of proper and necessary services that should be given to a child (Representative For Children and Youth, 2018). The child only had little education and never socialized. He was unable even to walk, and regardless of him having the autism spectrum disorder, he was not taken to hospital for treatment. He also lived in an almost inhabitable room with his mother, and it was filled with garbage and even human waste.

But the story of Charlie is that of a broken family. The structural setting of the child welfare system was not good enough to notice and help a child who was in need-is that a single mother was raising Charlie. She was also fighting some mental issues and was trying to work on her substance use and addiction. Despite having all these issues, Charlie's mother never once received the services of the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) (Representative For Children and Youth, 2018). She was expected to handle all her bills and ensure that Charlie went to the hospital whenever he had to, but because of her situation, it did not happen.

Based on the structural oppression of the child and his deteriorating medical condition, it was only advisable for him to have been taken to a foster home. The boy can no longer see his parents, but he is back in school and is well nourished and healthy, unlike in the past when he was always sick (Blackstock, C. & Trocme, 2004). The net consequence of the social policy was the separation of a child from his family. While it could seem like it was a wrong measure to take from one perspective, with a single mother on drugs and who had failed to offer Charlie the critical support that he needed as a child and protection, it was the only decision that was best since at best today, Charlie enjoys good health which comes primarily before even access to family.

Canada's Changing Immigration Policy and Discrimination

Canada has over the past few years witnessed a changing immigration policy to the extent that some of the aspects of the changes seem to be discriminatory. Changes in policy have been witnessed in both permanent and temporary entry into Canada. In the permanent entry changes in the economy, family, refugee, and citizenship classes have been introduced. For instance, changes in the economic class have been tuned to only incorporate people who have vast experience or who have wider knowledge in different areas. In the family class, more changes have been made that limit the people that a person can hold as a family in Canada, the longer they can hold them and some other aspects (Alboim & Cohl, 2012). These have been limiting the abilities of immigrants who want to live in Canada to bring along some of their family members into the nation. Refugees have also been limited to countries where they originated as well as having to go through private sponsorship of government-assisted refugee programs. Acquiring citizenship as a refugee in Canada has also been more stringent, and test marks for the same have been increased by the government.

Fundamentally, Canada's immigration policy changes seek to make a nation that is more secure, where the borders are regulated and where the resources of the nation are directed towards serving the people of Canada alone. But unlike in the past, most of these have been provided as adequate grounds for discrimination and mistreatment of persons. While not all of them are discriminatory, systemic racism arises. Refugees or people coming from other nations that appear to be majorly owned by whites are more likely to be welcomed in Canada (Alboim & Cohl, 2012). This is based on the fact that their education levels are higher and they are better placed. Other than that, receiving services from the nation under the instituted policies will be harder for those who are considered illegal immigrants.

Generally, the changes in the law have been administered to address important aspects of the nation. For instance, they seek to ensure that Canada accepts as many immigrants who are aggressively experienced and may help to turn around the economy of the nation. They also seek to bring in talent from different fields and introduce stable families in the nation that do not cause social issues later as well as enhancing the wellness of the whole population. However, these modeled changes have been effective ways of introducing undue mistreatment of people from some of the races that are considered inferior. Their treatment by law enforcement as well as in employment is proof enough that the immigration policy needs to be revised to make it more accommodating of the discriminated groups.

The linkage between Policq3y and Experience for people with disabilities

The United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities seeking to create a habitable environment for disabled people. Article 1 of the convention is the most important of all. The article aims to promote, protect, and ensure that people who are disabled enjoy full and equal fundamental human rights and freedoms. Further, it seeks to ensure that persons with disabilities are treated as an integral part of society such that they are respected and are not discriminated against (Marton, Polk & Fiala, 2013). The article also spells who people with disabilities are, and they are inclusive of people with long-term physical, mental, intellectual, and sensory impairments that could affect their participation in society on the same basis as the rest of the community.

The protection of people with disabilities, as presented in the article, has had an instrumental effect on the way that people with disabilities are treated in Canada. The right to participate in societal matters, as expressed in the article, is one of the most operationalized activities in the Canadian workspace. More than ever before, Canada is absorbing people with disabilities more and more in their workplaces. Organizations are also seeking to make plans that ensure that people with disabil...