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This paper presents an analysis of how health intersects with the experience of housing insecurity and homelessness, specifically for migrant women. The authors argue that it is important to understand the specificities of the interplay of these different factors to continue the advancement of our understanding and practice as advocates for health and housing security.

An exploratory, qualitative, methodological approach was adopted, using a broad definition of housing insecurity: from absolute homelessness (e.g. residing rough) to invisible homelessness (e.g. couch surfing) to those at risk of homelessness. In total, 26 newcomer (foreign-born women who came to live in Canada during the previous ten years, regardless of their immigration status) women were recruited in Montreal, Canada. Participants were recruited directly through advertisements in public places and in collaboration with community organizations (women’s centers, homeless shelters, crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, immigrant settlement agencies and ethnic associations) and they self-identified as having experienced housing insecurity. Efforts were made to include a diversity of immigrant statuses as well as diversity in ethnicity, race, country of origin, family composition, sexual orientation, age and range of physical and mental ability. Women were engaged in semi-structured, open-ended interviews lasting approximately 1 h. Interviews were conducted in English or French in a location and time of participants’ choosing.

The findings are presented around three themes: how health problems instigate and maintain migrant women’s housing insecurity and homelessness; ways in which women’s immigration trajectories and legal status may influence their health experiences; and particular coping strategies that migrant women employ in efforts to maintain or manage their health. The authors conclude with implications of these findings for both policy and practice in relation to migrant women who experience or are at risk of housing insecurity and homelessness.

Intersections of women experiencing migration and housing insecurity in Canadian contexts have rarely been examined. This paper addresses a gap in the literature in terms of topic and context, but also in terms of sharing the voices of migrant women with direct experience with housing insecurity.

Purpose – Child sponsorship programs have been accused of representing children from the developing world in a manner described as “development porn” in their marketing communications, and of operating in such a way as to reinforce beliefs that people in the global South are powerless, dependent on help from the developed North. This research takes a critical, historical approach to investigating the marketing practices of Plan Canada, a subsidiary of one of the oldest and largest child sponsorship-based development agencies, in order to evaluate outcomes of charitable giving at the social and ideological level.

Methodology – We adopted a consumer storytelling theoretical lens to conduct narrative analysis of letters written by donors upon their return from visiting their sponsor children.

Findings – We reveal how even if aid recipients are treated with respect in marketing communications, ideological outcomes which reinforce Northern hegemony may still result.

Social implications – Although charitable acts by individuals are commonly encouraged and lauded, marketers may play a role in perpetuating negative outcomes that result from this consumer action, such as reinforcing notions of cultural difference and superiority.

Originality/value of paper – Only a few researchers have investigated the social and ideological outcomes of charitable giving. We investigate the outcome of charitable giving on the donor and recipient communities and relationship between these communities. Models of charitable giving need to be revised to include these outcomes.

This paper aims to report on a study of wine regions in five countries that assessed whether and how wineries use their web sites to provide information to and attract wine tourists.

Content analysis of winery web sites from wine regions in five countries (Australia, Canada, Chile, France, USA) was conducted.

While the majority of wineries in the study utilized web sites to provide information to consumers, there were significant differences in the effectiveness with which they did so. Wineries desiring to attract tourist visitors should ensure that basic information content is present (e.g. hours of operation, directions to the winery). Although some wineries have begun to engage consumers on mobile platforms, more can be done to ensure access to information at all stages of the tourist visit process.

Due to time and budget constraints, the study evaluated the web sites in only some wine regions of five wine-producing countries. Future researchers can build on this study by evaluating winery web sites in additional wine regions and countries.

The authors identify practical ways in which wineries can enhance the information they provide via their web sites to attract winery visitors and augment cellar door sales.

Previous research has examined winery web sites at the level of the destination marketing organization or individual winery within a country; the authors look at individual winery web sites in international comparison. Wineries seeking to attract tourists to their cellar door operations can thus evaluate their online communications in comparison with national and international competitors and best practices.