The Ontario government plans to conduct reviews of provincial spending. This both responds to the Drummond report call for more efficient and innovative government delivery and aims to more proactively identify room for improving effectiveness and impact before problems are uncovered – and publicized – by the Auditor General. The Minister of Finance has identified three critical […]
Community Health Centres Of Greater Toronto Health Equity Plan Executive Summary
Leading LHINs (Local Health Integration Networks) in Ontario and Regional Health Authorities across the country have prioritized reducing systemic health inequities. They have encouraged and enabled comprehensive local health equity strategies and health care providers and institutions to develop equity plans. In a unique innovative example of sectoral coordination, Community Health Centres of Greater Toronto have developed a […]
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Community Health Centres Of Greater Toronto Health Equity Plan
Leading LHINs (Local Health Integration Networks) in Ontario and Regional Health Authorities across the country have prioritized reducing systemic health inequities. They have encouraged and enabled comprehensive local health equity strategies and health care providers and institutions to develop equity plans. In a unique innovative example of sectoral coordination, Community Health Centres of Greater Toronto […]
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Public Health is a Key Driver for Health Equity
Public health have long been leaders in advancing health equity: whether developing comprehensive equity strategies, conducting local research on the roots of health inequities, providing innovative programs and support to health disadvantaged populations, working in broad collaborations to create and sustain the social and infrastructural foundations of healthy communities, or creative initiatives to shift the […]
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Breaking down the barriers to employment
This morning’s Toronto Star includes a front page story about how Ontario’s employment training programs shut out half of the province’s unemployed. The problem is that strict eligibility criteria mean that Employment Ontario’s job training supports are only available to people who are receiving employment insurance benefits, and this excludes a large number of unemployed […]
One size user fees don’t fit all
Today’s edition of the Globe and Mail reports about community anger about new user fees for the use of Toronto’s municipal playing fields. The health promoting benefits of staying fit and active are well-established, but one-size-fits-all user fees can mean that people with low incomes are unable to access community recreation facilities, which can lead […]
PhDs for Fair Taxation? Sign Me Up
A group of leading community medicine and public health doctors have founded Doctors for Fair Taxation. They argue that physicians have become increasingly concerned about growing income inequality after seeing the consequences of poor and inequitable health daily in their practices. The response has been quick: over 200 doctors have already signed their petition calling […]
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Equity
Chronic disease prevention and management is a key health priority for the Ontario government, as evidenced by a chronic disease framework and disease-specific strategies. And as the government looks to reign in health spending, we can expect an even greater focus on health promotion initiatives that reduce health care costs. A new report released yesterday […]
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Health care for the uninsured: why it’s important and next steps
Recently, the Wellesley Institute participated in the Seeking Solutions Symposium, a conference that addressed access to health care for people living in Canada without health insurance. Even though we in Canada like to think that everyone has access to free health care, this is not the case. The fact is, people who lack documentation do […]
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Review of Social Assistance in Ontario: Health & Health Equity Overview
In 2010, the province of Ontario established the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario, led by Commissioners Francis Lankin and Munir A. Sheikh. The Commission’s Terms of Reference are to: Establish an appropriate benefit structure that reduces barriers and supports people’s transition into, and attachment within, the labour market. Place reasonable expectations on, and provide […]
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