Almost 17,000 of Ontario’s children are in the care of Children’s Aid Societies: one out of every 182 children. Only 44 percent of youth in care graduate from high school. In Ontario, Aboriginal people make up two percent of the population, but 22 percent of Crown Wards. Whichever way you look at it, Ontario’s child […]
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Local Collaboration On Immigrant Health Equity: Waterloo Region
One of the challenges in figuring out how to act on complex problems such as systemic health and other inequalities is identifying the key pathways where change in policy, programs or community resources will have a significant impact and then identifying the most effective policy levers for moving that change forward. In general, this will […]
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Measuring equity: what we heard from the field and next steps
Over the past few months Longwoods has been publishing a blog series about health equity with contributions from a range of health and health equity thought leaders. In this week’s blog, the Wellesley Institute’s Steve Barnes reflects on what we heard at a recent roundtable that we hosted with the Equity MAgIC group to discuss how to […]
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Ontario’s community legal clinics: Agents for building stronger, healthier communities
Ontario’s community legal clinics have a long and successful history of effective work with individual clients and on broader law reform / advocacy issues that has helped to create stronger and healthier communities. Michael Shapcott, the Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, delivered a keynote presentation to the annual meeting of the Association of […]
Housing + income + food = health: Wellesley Institute submission to UN food expert
Housing, income, food and health are all strongly linked. It is important to understand the interconnections, the vicious and virtuous cycles that feed each other, and the impact policy and program interventions can have on those cycles. Those are some of the key messages that the Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, Michael Shapcott, […]
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Mental health for all – Promising directions in Canada’s first-ever mental health strategy
Yesterday, the Mental Health Commission released Canada’s first-ever mental health strategy. The strategy has been warmly welcomed by many working in mental health fields, including the Canadian Mental Health Association, who is celebrating Mental Health Week under the banner “mental health for all.” The mental health strategy offers some promising directions for achieving good mental […]
Wilkinson says that equality is still better for everyone, and it’s time to act
Many of us today at the Wellesley Institute were fortunate to catch Richard Wilkinson’s lecture, courtesy of MASS LBP and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. It reminded us of several things, including why the project of solving income inequality is so important, not only socially and economically, but […]
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Migrant workers, two-tiered employment, and health inequities
The federal government has introduced changes to rules governing temporary foreign workers, speeding up the process, and allowing these workers to be paid less. Working with a number of partners, the Wellesley Institute put forward a suite of policies to support the creation of good jobs Ontario. Better protection for migrant workers was a big […]
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Oral health in Ontario is full of holes
A new report by Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Arlene King, has highlighted some of the barriers that low income people face in receiving oral health care in our province. Dr. King found that: Ontario has the lowest rate of public funding for dental care in Canada. 71% of Ontarians visited a dentist […]
Toronto’s affordable housing wait list continues to set stunning new records
Toronto’s affordable housing wait list continues to set stunning new records month after month. The list stands at an all-time high of 83,681 households in March – up a staggering 7% in the past year. The March number beat the previous record set in February, and that beat the previous record set in January. The wait list […]
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