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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Policy Briefs

Wellesley Institute’s Policy Briefs draw on our research and expertise to succinctly highlight pressing policy issues and identify practical courses of action to address them. They can be a useful resource for anyone who is interested in transforming the research evidence on health equity and the social determinants of health into policy action.

 

The Real Cost of Bill 47: Potential Health Impact of ESA Changes

Malaika Hill and Rebecca Cheff |

Wellesley Institute draws on the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) tool to identify the potential health and health equity impacts that the proposed changes made by the Making Ontario Open for Business Act (Bill 47) will make to the Employment Standards Act. This report focuses on the potential health […]

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Supporting Healthy Lives for Accident Victims

Malaika Hill |

If you are injured in an accident in Ontario, you may face barriers in getting the supports you need. This is because the mix of private and public programs and insurance leads to variation in what you get depending on your income, employment, and how or where you were injured. Our patchwork of coverage falls […]

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Expanding Language Interpretation Services in Health Care: Policy Brief

Anjum Sultana, Anjana Aery |

Medical professionals and family members around a person in a hospital bed

This policy brief highlights that Ontarians need access to health care in a language that they can understand. People in Ontario who do not speak English or French fluently have barriers when they try to access health care. Without adequate language support, the quality of their health care may be severely compromised. Access to trained […]

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Sustaining Ontario Social Housing

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Social housing tower

Housing that is affordable and in good condition is important for health and well-being. Non-profit, public, and co-operative housing provides this for disadvantaged people who cannot afford market rental. A first step is to preserve our existing affordable housing. Ontario needs an action plan, with ongoing provincial funding, to keep this housing affordable and in […]

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Healthy Rental Housing

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Apartment for Rent sign

The number of Ontario households with significant repair issues is growing and Wellesley Institute is concerned about the impact of housing disrepair on tenants’ health and well-being. The province can mitigate the increasing state of disrepair in private rental housing through a comprehensive policy approach that invests in repair and prevents further deterioration. By clarifying […]

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Ontario Supportive Housing Policy Brief

Greg Suttor |

Homeless Adult Seen On A City Street

Ontario has set a goal of ending chronic homelessness. A significant proportion of those who are homeless either have mental health problems, are youth or are Indigenous. Ending chronic homelessness requires action on these groups. This policy brief focuses on the 2 to 3 percent of the population that lives with a severe mental illness […]

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The OHIP Three Month Wait – Policy Brief

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Dr. checking his watch

New permanent residents are unable to receive public coverage for essential health care (OHIP) within their first three months in Ontario. This policy brief brings together research evidence on the impacts of the three-month wait and identifies options to improve access to health care for new Ontarians. Wellesley Institute’s Policy Briefs draw on our research […]

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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.