Community engagement is a crucial element in health reform.

The fourteen newly established Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) in Ontario are key to the transformation of health care in the province. The LHINS undertook extensive consultations as they were beginning to identify their initial priorities.

The LHINs now face the challenge of how to incorporate community participation in planning and priority setting on an ongoing basis. Public engagement is central to the province's new strategy for the health care system.

Community engagement processes will need to:

• reflect the full diversity of the Ontario population;
• include the voices and interests of marginalized, poor and other communities that are not normally heard in public policy debates;
• provide systemic and significant public input to planning and priority setting;
• include a range of effective and responsive methods and forums;
• be adaptable depending on the goal (for example, whether the engagement is a consultation or involves communities in planning and decision making. )

The Wellesley Institute promotes and facilitates community engagement at many levels in its program areas. In addition, we focus on what community engagement can mean in the context of health reform generally, as well as specifically in terms of what is happening in Ontario.

This page includes a number of policy challenge papers, backgrounders, and resources from other jurisdictions or researchers , all pertaining to effective community engagement in health.

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