Measurement invariance of English and French Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ) empowerment scales validated for cancer

PURPOSE: If measurement invariance (MI) is demonstrated for a scale completed by respondents from two different language groups, it means that the scale measures the same construct in the same way in both groups. We assessed MI of the French- and English-language versions of the five Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ) empowerment scales validated for the cancer setting. METHODS: Data came from two cross-sectional studies of Canadian cancer survivors (704 English, 520 French). Single-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test whether the hypothesized factor structure of the French-language heiQ empowerment scales fit the data. Multi-group CFAs were conducted to assess different levels of MI conditions (configural, metric, scalar, strict, as well as MI of factor variances, covariances, and latent means) of the French- and English-language heiQ empowerment scales. RESULTS: The correlated five-factor model showed good fit in both language groups (goodness-of-fit indices: CFI ≥ .97; RMSEA ≤ .07). Goodness-of-fit indices and tests of differences in fit between models supported MI of the five-factor model across the two language groups (∆CFI ≤ -.010 combined with ∆RMSEA ≤ .015). CONCLUSIONS: The French- and English-language heiQ empowerment scales measure the same five dimensions of empowerment in the same way across both language groups. Thus, any observed similarities or differences between French- and English-speaking respondents completing these scales are valid and reflect similarities or differences in empowerment across language groups, not measurement artifact. Consequently, heiQ empowerment data from English- and French-speaking respondents can be directly pooled or contrasted in data analyses.

Moral rights: a brief excursion into Canadian history

In 1931, Canada was the first of the copyright countries to adopt a moral rights provision, closely modeled on Article 6bis of the Berne Convention, into its legislation. But this was not the first step that Canada had taken towards the legislative protection of moral rights. Not only had certain provisions protective of the non-economic interests of authors been included in the federal Criminal Code and in the legislation of Quebec prior to 1920, but during the 1920s a sustained effort had been made to give these interests more explicit and systematic protection under the Copyright Act. The present article focuses on a series of bills put to the Canadian Parliament from 1924 onwards. Not only would they have provided increased protection for the non-economic interests of authors but they would have given a legislative definition to the term "moral right". These bills, framed in the absence of any influence from Article 6bis, provide a glimpse of what "moral rights" might have been. They support the view that Canada was moving towards the express legislative protection of these rights significantly earlier that is commonly thought.

A legacy of assimilation : abuse in Canadian native residential schools

Unlike the position in Australia, Canada has appropriately responded to the revelations of forced removal of indigenous children by apologising to those persons who suffered through the Native Residential Schools - Canada has also sought to facilitate settlements with many of these persons with validated claims.

To hold up prisms: Australian and Canadian indigenous publishing for children

Bradford discusses Thomas King's exhortation to writers that is directed specifically to Canadian First Nations writers, which captures the importance of language as the primary means by which individual and group identities are formed. He mentions the important contribution that Indigenous publishers make to children's literature.

Selection, exclusion and assimilation: the project lambert of 1931 on the reform of French immigration policy

The unemployment crisis of 1926-7 focused attention onto the question of immigration. Historians of this period have generally focused on the crisis of public policy and popular antipathies towards foreigners; more recently historians have become attuned to voices of racism. Less attention has been paid to attempts to redress the policy weaknesses through a new legislative regime on immigration. This paper reviews one such proposal, made by Charles Lambert, a deputy from the Rhone, in 1931. Instrumental in a revision of the naturalization law in 1927 to encourage the assimilation of foreigners through the acquisition of French citizenship, Lambert proposed a comprehensive statute on immigration to select “desirable” foreigners and exclude the “undesirables” to promote the assimilation of the “better” elements. The paper argues that his rationale betrays a profound fear of mounting French weakness in the face of economic and demographic decline, and grave anxieties for the future health of the French nation.

Of personalities and personae: a French victory for film producers and authors

The international medium of film poses many challenges for authors and copyright owners. So do the practices of the advertising industry. Each jurisdiction approaches these challenges differently. In a recent French decision three issues that are of interest in Australia were discussed – the copyright status of a literary or dramatic character, the use of such a persona in character merchandising, and the moral right of film directors to control the exploitation of the persona. This article examines the 2004 decision of the Paris Court of Appeal in the matter of the film “The Fifth Element”. It compares the protection offered to author and copyright owner under French law with the protection offered by Australian legislation and common law.

"To GAAR or not to GAAR-that is the question:" Canadian and Australian attempts to combat tax avoidance

In both Canada and Australia the relevant governments found their initial legislative attempts to combat tax avoidance to be ineffective. In time in each country it was concluded that the respective general avoidance provisions were of limited application and avoidance provisions were of limited application and ineffective to combat the sophisticated tax avoidance schemes promoted by tax advisers. In Canada it was determined that Income Tax Act, R.S.C 1985, s. 245(1) would be repealed and replaced with a general anti-avoidance rule ('GAAR') contained in a new s. 245 ITA. The Australian government similarly decided to replace Income Tax Assessment Act, Cth. 1936, s. 260 with a new general anti-avoidance measure, Part IVA ITAA. This article compares and contrasts the Canadian and Australian GAARs. Through the evaluation of each regime the article seeks to identify which model is most effective. It will be sen which model is most effective. It will be seen that both regimes have some features that are preferable to the other and thus both GAARs might be improved by incorporating aspects of the other anti-avoidance model.

Human resource practices, unionization and the organizational efficiency of French industry

Organizational performance improves through several channels, including changes in efficiency, innovation and technological change. Most of the extant research has focused on overall performance, often measured by partial measures of productivity, with little attention given to the components of performance. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of HR practices and unionization on one important channel - organization efficiency - as measured by technical and scale efficiency. Using French industry survey data, the paper shows that HR practices do influence efficiency, but this is moderated by the existence of unions. The results show a rather complex set of associations. We find robust results that show that in France, HR practices have a positive effect on scale efficiency but this effect is dampened in the presence of unions. On their own, HRpractices have no effect on technical efficiency. However, some of the results suggest that HR practices can exert a positive influence when combined with unions.

Exchange rate exposure, foreign currency derivatives and the introduction of the euro: French evidence

We investigate the impact of the introduction of the Euro on exchange rate exposures for French corporations and examine the corporate use of foreign currency derivatives to hedge exchange rate exposure post-Euro. Our findings indicate that the introduction of the Euro is associated with both a reduction in the number of firms that have significant exchange rate exposure and the absolute size of exposure. Consistent with these reduced exposures, French firms use foreign currency derivatives less intensively. Furthermore, the use of foreign currency derivatives is found to be associated with lower exchange rate exposure but there is insufficient evidence that these instruments are more effective in the post-Euro environment.