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Canada Assistance Plan - Federal legislation, passed in 1966 and considered by many as a keystone of the Canadian welfare state. The legislation required the federal government to fund half the cost of social programs undertaken by the provinces.

Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) - Federal legislation which combines federal funding for health, postsecondary education and welfare and transfers a designated amount of money based on population size to each province rather than transferring a percentage of actual costs. It replaced both the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) and Established Program Financing (EPF).

Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work (CASSW) - A voluntary, national charitable association of university faculties, schools and departments offering professional education in social work at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. Established in 1967, CASSW is the successor to the National Committee of Schools of Social Work, which, since 1948, had been the forum for programs offering professional education in social work.

Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) - founded in the 1926 to promote the profession of social work in Canada, to monitor employment conditions and to establish standards of practice within the profession. As a federation of the 10 provincial and one territorial social work organizations, the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) provides a national leadership role in strengthening and advancing the social work profession in Canada.

Canadian census - A full census of the Canadian population is taken every four years by Statistics Canada. The census is used to develop social policy. For the first time, the 2001 Canadian Census will ask Canadians if they live in same-sex relationships.

Casework - In social work, casework refers to using systematic methods of investigation, assessment and decision making. It is often associated with a psychosocial or generalist approach to clinical practice.

Charity Organization Society - Social welfare agencies established in the latter part of the 1800s that utilized a scientific charity approach to studying the needs of individuals and families. Originated in London, England in the 1860s by upper and professional men and women because of urban chaos and the indiscriminate giving of relief by uncontrolled charities. It differentiated between the deserving and undeserving poor, believing that indiscriminate material relief would cause pauperism.

Charter of Rights and Freedoms - The Canadian constitution was patriated in 1982; that is, it was brought under Canadian control. The first section of the Constitution Act, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, describes the fundamental individual and group rights of citizens, including freedom of religion, voting rights, and equality rights. The government of Quebec did not endorse the act on the grounds that it failed to recognize the Quebec's distinctness.

Child Abuse - The physical, psychological, social, emotional and sexual maltreatment of a child whereby the survival, safety, self-esteem, growth and development of the person are endangered. Separate categories include: physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and emotional abuse.

Code of Ethics - A profession's set of standards concerning the ethical behavior of its members. All members are expected to be guided by this code in their professional activities. The CASW has a code of ethics, which is a set of principles to guide a social worker as he or she deals with issues arising in the workplace.

Colonialism - Political domination of one nation over another that is institutionalized in direct political administration by the colonial power, control of all economic relationships and a systematic attempt to transform the culture of the subject nation.

Coming out - Coming out, the political act and strategy of gay and lesbian liberation of the 1970s, is now regarded as an important psycho-social developmental process. It has become the unique challenge for every gay man and lesbian, a task deemed necessary for self-acceptance and relationship development.

Community - A group of people having common ties or interests and/or living in the same locality or district. It may be a geographic community or a group of people with similar interests or problems.

Community health centres - In the 1970s, the federal government recommended the establishment of community health centres (CHCs) with the intention of providing primary care, health promotion and prevention services using salaried primary health care professionals. Studies have found that CHCs provide better primary care, decrease the costs of patient care and decrease hospitalization rates.

Community work - A social work method practised with communities. It involves six steps: entry, data collection and analysis, goal setting, action planning, action taking and termination.

Comprehensiveness - Each provincial medical insurance plan must cover insured services provided by hospitals, private medical practitioners and other related health care services provided on the request of a physician. This varies from province to province according to what services are listed as essential.

Confidentiality - The use of client records raises concerns about the confidentiality of sensitive information: what constitutes the ethical disclosure of information about a client? A social worker is obligated to follow the guidelines of the agency or organization employing them and obey legislation and association policy. The CASW Code of Ethics stipulates, at length, the requirements for collecting, recording, storing and accessibility of client records.

Consciousness-raising - The process by which an individual or group comes to be aware of and understand that other people share with them common experiences, that others too are restricted and damaged by certain practices, patterns of relations, beliefs, stereotypes, myths, expectations, and social structures. It is the process by which people begin to understand the relationships between their own biographies, other people as biographies, history, and the social infrastructure.

Contracting out - The practice of hiring private for-profit companies to implement specified public social welfare activities and deliver certain services in return for payment from public funds.

Cost containment - Medical care costs in Canada have been rising steadily because of the ageing of the Canadian population, the emphasis on curative and high technology medicine, the increasing demand for hospital services and for expensive equipment, and the increasing fees of medical personnel. Cost containment has become an area of major concern.

Court order - A directive from a child welfare court - court order options include the placement of the child with some other person subject to the agency's provision, child welfare agency wardship, Crown wardship, or consecutive child welfare agency wardship and supervision order.

Criminal Code of Canada - Criminal law is distinguished from what is known as civil law. Criminal law governs actions and relationships that are deemed to harm society as a whole. These are defined in the Criminal Code of Canada.

Cultural competence - This model means that the workers develop the ability to acknowledge different perceptions and experiences and incorporate this into practice applications. In other words, the worker must take this knowledge of the other culture, and combine it with an analysis of how one's own culture affects their social work interventions.

Culture - The generally shared knowledge, beliefs and values of members of society. Culture is conveyed from generation to generation through the process of socialization.

Cycle of violence theory - This theory seeks to explain what happens in individual relationships that causes violence against women in a three-step process: tension-building, acute battering and honeymoon period.

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