Wellesley Institute

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

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Michael Shapcott

Happy Pride Week, Toronto

We're at the start of Pride Week in Toronto – the fun and fabulous arts and culture festival that celebrates TO's diverse sexual and gender identities, histories, cultures, families, friends and lives (to use the words from the official Pride organization). Hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million or more, people will crowd into our neighbourhood in the coming days – including the huge Pride Parade on Sunday.
At the Wellesley Institute, our offices are located just a few minutes away from the heart of the festivities (the intersection of Wellesley and Church Streets).

Pride Week is more than just partying. It's a chance to reflect on our history and to look ahead to build a more dynamic and inclusive city. At the Wellesley Institute, we are proud to work with the gay, lesbian, trans and bi peoples of Toronto – plus all the other wonderful people and communities of our city – in advancing urban health.

Happy Pride 2007!

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Michael Shapcott

About 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.

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Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We would like to acknowledge this sacred land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. It has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.

Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory.

Revised by the Elders Circle (Council of Aboriginal Initiatives) on November 6, 2014

In the spirit of equity and inclusion, if we can improve on this statement, please contact us. Thank you.