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Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Blog Housing Both private and non-profit enterprises fall short in pandemic planning

Michael Shapcott

Both private and non-profit enterprises fall short in pandemic planning

Both private companies and non-profit enterprises are struggling to deal with the current recession, and many don’t have proper pandemic flu plans in place, warns Wellesley Instititute CEO Rick Blickstead in a front page article in today’s Toronto Star. “Many organizations have not done proper risk management to prepare for the inevitability of people being away from work,” said Blickstead. “There are some really large business and social issues that people have not put pen to paper in terms of developing plans.” The Wellesley Institute has been urging governments to ensure that their pandemic flu plans have an equity focus – and we have published a series of research and policy papers. Standard advice – such as ‘home quarantines’ and stockpiling of 72-hours of food – are simply not possible for significant parts of the population.

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Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott is Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation at Wellesley Institute. Michael has worked extensively in Toronto, in many parts of Canada, nationally and internationally on social innovation, the non-profit sector, civic engagement, housing and housing rights, poverty, social exclusion, urban health and health equity. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading community-based housing and homelessness experts. He is currently on secondment to the Princes' Charities Canada.

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.