The recently approved City of Toronto budget, which nearly doubled funding to the Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS), is a welcome step to better support people experiencing crisis. TCCS is a non-police-led mental health crisis response that some consider the city’s fourth emergency service. Vulnerable people experiencing a mental health crisis too often face coercive […]
Health systems and Health equity
Federal budget 2024: COVID highlights need for health equity
Wellesley Institute’s Pre-Budget Written Submission Canada has significant inequities in the social determinants of health, including housing, income, education, discrimination and access to health and social care. We also continue to see these inequities played out through the ongoing disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and long COVID on Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities, low-income […]
Continue ReadingFederal budget 2024: COVID highlights need for health equity
A Black Health Plan for Ontario
The Black Health Plan was developed jointly by Ontario Health, the Wellesley Institute and the Black Health Alliance as a call to action to reduce disparities and advance equity in Ontario. It provides a template to inform planning and action for other populations facing systemic disadvantages. The plan is built along three pillars: the development […]
Continue ReadingA Black Health Plan for Ontario Download PublicationA Black Health Plan for Ontario
2023 Ontario budget
In advance of last year’s provincial budget, we called for important, necessary public strategies to build a New Normal in Ontario. Our focus was around poverty, homelessness, race, healthcare, mental health and well-being, while leading the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, we have not seen the progress we hoped to on those measures. […]
Moving forward on a national health data system
Canada’s federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments agree that we need to rebuild and improve our health systems. The dream of access to high quality comprehensive effective health systems is alive and well in Canada, but only for the minority. Today, timely preventative care, barrier-free access to necessary tests, short surgery wait times and after […]
Continue ReadingMoving forward on a national health data system
The delayed response to long COVID: Prioritizing equity
We are in the midst of a 7th wave of COVID-19. We are seeing infections, hospitalizations and deaths rise. Our communities, services and economy are strained because of burnout and the number of people off sick. But these early impacts are not the final story. We now know that a portion of people who […]
Continue ReadingThe delayed response to long COVID: Prioritizing equity
Ontario budget 2022: A more equitable future, an equitable now
Wellesley Institute research has long demonstrated significant health disparities for low-income and racialized people. Like past crises, the COVID-19 pandemic intensified these disparities. Our pandemic response did not focus on equity – on helping the Ontarians who needed help the most. We must not make continue to make the same mistake. We need to ensure […]
Continue ReadingOntario budget 2022: A more equitable future, an equitable now
COVID-19 and racialized communities: Impacts on mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant inequities in terms of health and social outcomes, and magnified stressors such as increased risk of exposure to and illness from COVID-19, job loss, and housing and food insecurity. These stressors have been particularly felt by already marginalized groups, including those from racialized communities, and there is evidence […]
Continue ReadingCOVID-19 and racialized communities: Impacts on mental health Download PublicationThe Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Well-being A Focus on Racialized Communities in the GTA
Resilience through equitable action
Ontario may be turning the corner with the COVID-19 Omicron variant, but we have seen this virus mutate and we could face another challenge. As we approach a potential lull this spring and summer, we must focus on actions government can take to build our resilience as a society that will save lives, decrease the toll […]
It’s time for trust and transparency
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Ontario in 2020, it was an emergency. It was a poorly understood and potentially catastrophic threat and we accepted that governments needed the latitude to use all of their powers to help us survive. We generally went along with what was needed from us. We understood that in such a […]