Halton Region Issues Request for Proposals for Assisted Housing
Halton Region has issued a Request for Proposals for 120 units of assisted rental housing. Under the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation – Ontario New Affordable Housing Program Agreement, Halton Region has been allocated $8.4 million to provide capital assistance of up to $70,000 per unit for the development of these units. Halton Region will also provide grant assistance under the program.

$52.8 million to develop the social economy - Launch of the Chantier de l'économie sociale Trust
The Chantier de l'économie sociale Trust will administer a $52.8 million patient capital fund for Québec's social economy enterprises. The Chantier de l'économie sociale and investors made the announcement in Québec City today.

Rich-poor gap becomes a chasm
Churning out cogent new studies on poverty wouldn't work, the research team decided. Canadians already knew how bad the problem was. Making the case for fair wages, affordable housing, decent welfare rates and universal child care wouldn't turn the tide, they agreed. Dozens of advocacy groups were doing that with negligible success. What was needed was a catalyst to turn awareness into action. It was the summer of 2006.

$4,000 will help Harewood crisis centre get off ground
The proposed Harewood Crisis Walk-In Centre has received a grant from the City of Nanaimo for renovations, all it needs now is a place to renovate. “We had a place but it fell through,” said Ian Gartshore, Shore Counselling’s executive director.

Strongeagle a role model
Education is number one in Herb Strongeagle’s world. A keen mind and a curious nature edge out sports — especially hockey — as the main passion of the hard-working Cowichan Bay resident who earned the Saskatchewan First Nations lifetime achievement award Nov. 9. “This award gives me a really good feeling. It means a lot in recognizing hard work,” the Pasqua First Nation’s elder says of his honour.

Technology to improve senior life
Two Markham organizations are part of a new program to improve the lives of seniors and the disabled. The Intelligent Computational Assistive Science and Technology network, launched earlier this month at York University, is a Canadawide initiative sponsored by Precarn Incorporated, a non-profit company in York and Ottawa that supports the development of commercially viable technologies.

Bethune housing co-op faces brighter future
The situation at the leaking Norman Bethune Housing Cooperative in North Burnaby is looking brighter after city council agreed to consider a rezoning application to allow the housing project to be rebuilt. The co-op, at 8750 Centaurus Circle, was built in 1977 and has 24 units of subsidized housing for low and moderate income families.

Wind turbine operating in Digby County
Digby County has its first independently owned commercial wind turbine at Mount Pleasant. The turbine has started generating electricity and selling energy to Nova Scotia Power under a long-term contract, Bay Wind Field Inc. said Tuesday. The energy generated from the turbine is expected to provide enough power for about 300 to 350 homes and will largely be consumed within areas around the installation of the turbine.

Co-op la Maison Verte is dreaming of a green Christmas
For Bing Crosby, a white Christmas was all he could dream about, but for Jason Hughes, the holidays have a different hue. Hughes, the general co-ordinator of Co-op la Maison Verte, would like to encourage people to think about the holidays in a different light. Think green! “We are trying get people to think about other ways to approach the holidays,” said Hughes.

Make the world a better place and make money at the same time with Citizens Bank of Canada's Shared World Term Deposit
Nayima Umaru, a widowed mother of seven in Uganda, borrowed the equivalent of Cdn $65 to start a roadside food stall which, after eight years, grew into a small restaurant and catering business employing eight people.