The delivery of youth protection services by indigenous social workers in native communities is a fairly recent development in Quebec. This research project is a qualitative study of the practice experience of Inuit community workers located on the Ungava Bay coast of Arctic Quebec. Using participant observation and dialogue as methods of inquiry, an attempt is made to render an account of the workers' day-to-day experience of youth protection work. The findings suggest that their conditions of work encourage a passive subordination to the bureaucratic organization of practice. This tendency emerges in response to the difficulties workers encounter while trying to conform to the requirements of the Youth Protection Act and, at the same time, to the norms and realities of Inuit village life. The resultant tension is central to the Inuit workers' experience and not amenable to any simple resolution. Implications for social work practice, policy and research are examined in light of these findings.

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Before 1920, the deaf of Montreal share with their counterparts elsewhere a common experience of residential schooling and training in manual trades, which introduced them to other deaf people and led to their socialising. In countries such as France and the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the deaf were encouraged to be active members of political and social movements. There was no such activism evident in the deaf of Montreal. At the end of the nineteenth century, a deaf culture was visible in the U.S. and France, but despite the presence of three schools for the deaf in Montreal, no such culture seems to have existed at that time. / Deaf education in Montreal was carried out according to recognised teaching methods, and its teachers were part of a network of educators of the deaf abroad. Local influences unique to Montreal, such as religion and budding national and linguistic pride, however, changed the experience of both educators and the deaf. The bilingual character of the city, as well as the existence of two main Christian religions gave deaf life a different flavour. Historical narratives of deaf oppression at the hands of hearing educators common in France and the United States do not apply to the Montreal experience. / In many ways, deaf associative life in Montreal depended on the involvement of hearing educators. Experiences were different for Catholics and for Protestants, as well as for men and for women. The most prominent deaf association was made up of Catholic men, who joined an alumni association, the Cercle Saint-Francois-de-Sales, and started a newspaper destined not only for deaf Catholic men and women, but also for a readership consisting of the hearing. Their association also developed support networks for those deaf who suffered from economic and social disadvantage. / This association took on much of the ideological character of French-Canadian society, and was supported by the Catholic clergy. Its national and religious character was paramount and welcomed all members of the deaf family, which extended beyond audiological deafness to anyone interested in the deaf. Rather than participating in the deaf discourse in the United States or France, this association took on characteristics of the greater French-Canadian Catholic cultural group of which it was a part. / This thesis examines the conditions that led to these differences in the Montreal deaf experience between 1880 and 1920. It is concerned with the emergence of deaf networks of sociability and solidarity connected with Montreal's schools for the deaf and how such networks were made possible by the involvement of their educators. By examining the intellectual, religious, and national elements that gave rise to these deaf networks, this work aims at understanding the social dynamics steering Quebec society at the turn of the twentieth century.

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This study explores the complex issues in culturally sensitive social services in the context of ethnic polities. We examine the reasons why the social service sector fails to provide equitable services to minorities. We explore the concept of ethnic match, services delivered by ethnic personnel, in an ethnic agency and using ethnic practice, as an attainable solution to the problems, by comparing with a Chinese and a Jewish ethno-specific family service agency in Montreal. The ways they deliver sensitive services to communities members and the challenges they face are documented. The dynamic of the ethnic polities in which these two agencies operate is also examined. We argue the formation and functioning of these agencies are shaped by a set of internal factors (within the communities) and external factors (in Quebec society). Culture plays a vital role in service delivery and help seeking, and also in the organization of these ethnic communities. Policy implications are discussed, and future research is suggested.

This study describes the factors influencing user satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the quality and delivery of services at by the Montreal Association for the Blind (MAB). It involved the development of a 119-item questionnaire which was administered to a stratified sample of 60 users served by four organizational multidisciplinary teams. The data were collected through users' records via the MAB computer data base and face-to-face structured interviews. High levels of satisfaction were reported, both overall and for individual aspects of services; highest for the Early Intervention Program and lowest for User Empowerment. Older respondents were significantly more satisfied than younger respondents with general services. Younger and better educated users were found to be the least satisfied with the attention given to their questions and overall needs, and with the information provided. Low User Empowerment scores suggest that the Users' Committee may wish to explore various ways to communicate information.

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