Toronto will get a $12.3 million holiday gift from the province – partial repayment, for one year only, of $21 million in housing and homelessness funding cutsthat took effect on January 1st. The Ontario government rushed out its announcement of $42 million in transitional housing and homelessness funds to municipalities in the middle of the holiday season, just […]
How much OLG money is enough to harm the health and well-being of Torontonians?
News emerged today that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is promising a special deal to provide Toronto with a larger slice of the proceeds if a casino is built in the city. The OLG figures suggest that Toronto would receive somewhere in the range of $50 to $100 million per year in hosting fees. […]
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Toronto City Council Debates Equitable Access to Good Health and Health Care for Uninsured Residents
City Council will be considering recommendations from the Toronto Board of Health regarding health care for uninsured residents of Toronto. We and a number of progressive health care providers and researchers had appeared before the Board to support a Toronto Public Health Report. Uninsured populations currently face serious and damaging barriers to good health and […]
Accessible Recreation For Better Health For All
As we start a debate about scrapping recreation fees there are lots of things to consider. Getting rid of the fees would cost the City $30 million per year, but the question that we need to ask is, what are we willing to spend for a better, more participatory, and healthier city? Alternately, what does […]
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Building On A Good Start: LHINs Community Engagement
Directions and options for LHINs to continue to build relationships with their communities and involve consumers and service providers.
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Advancing Health Equity In Tough Times
There is a serious chill within governments at all levels as the economy has declined and public finances have become constrained. This policy briefing sets out how to keep equity high on the agenda in the current fiscal climate.
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Community Health Impacts Of A Toronto Casino
The Wellesley Institute deputed to the Board of Health in November 2012 about the population health impacts of problem gambling. Our health equity impact assessment of the proposal to build a casino in the GTA and found that a casino would likely result in poorer health for those living in poverty, seniors, new Canadians, and […]
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First Workshop of the Season
Yesterday we had our first workshop in our conference room at the new location (45 Charles St. East). I’m pleased to report that it went great. It’s a great room for the kind of workshops we put on as it fosters interactivity. Hopefully you’ll see it sometime soon as the majority of our workshops will […]
Community Consultations and LHINs
One of the major challenges of community engagement processes such as the recent consultation undertaken by the Toronto Central LHIN is ensuring that the full diversity of voices and perspectives are heard. Access Alliance, a Toronto Community Health Centre focussing on the health needs of immigrant and refugee communities, was concerned that these communites had […]
Health Disparities & Neighbourhoods
The Canadian Institute for Health Information released a major research report documenting health disparities by urban neighbourhood which: documents pervasive health differences between affluent and poor neighbourhoods; reviews consistent research findings on the adverse health impact of poor housing, environment, lack of access to heath and social; services, adequate food, transportation and recreational facilities;