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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.

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Michael Shapcott

Housing bill of rights introduced in Canadian Parliament

Just days after Canada was criticized at the United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva for failing to meet its international housing obligations, a new National Housing Bill of Rights has been introduced in Canada's House of Commons by MP Libby Davies (NDP – Vancouver East). Bill C-304 , a Private Member's Bill, seeks to re-engage the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, along with the community and private sectors in a comprehensive national housing strategy. It's a powerful and comprehensive piece of legislation that would re-establish a national housing plan that Canada has lost after two decades of funding cuts, downloading and an increasingly fraying patchwork of funding and programs. 

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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.