Happy Pride 2022 and a Call to Action for Two Spirit and Trans Rights and Services

Friday, June 24, 2022

Happy Pride. Before all else, we wish everyone who is or will be celebrating in the days and weeks ahead a happy, safe, joyful, inspiring and mindful Pride. To all the 2SLGBTQ+ communities who are gathering, demonstrating, marching, parading and partying together, we stand and celebrate with you. With all Alliance members who continue to help lead the way creating safe spaces and health and social services for 2SLGBTQ+ people of all ages, we stand in solidarity with you -- against violence, against oppression, against exclusion, against hate and discrimination in all its forms.

Last year at this time, we noted in our Pride statement that concern was rising among 2SLGBTQ+ communities and allies about violence and the increased risks people face, even in spaces that had been considered safe from homophobia and transphobia. This year, we join others, including the Green Party Leader Amita Kuttner, who is Canada's first transgender federal party leader, in demanding action to protect 2SLGBTQ+ people, and in particular, to create protections for transgender folks. The changes we need must be, as the Mental Health Commission of Canada says, about a “right to dignity” and inclusion, as much as protections from violence.

Transphobia and trans hate continues to get a place in media coverage as a “side of the issue”; transphobia continues to be acceptable fodder for celebrity comedians’ attention-starved rants, continues to dominate decisions on policies of exclusion and discrimination, and continues to make trans people feel unsafe throughout our societies, including in spaces of education and health and wellbeing. This is unacceptable.

To foster more understanding, both of transgender, Indigenous and intersectional experiences, as well as the supports that matter the most, especially for youth, we invited Teddy Syrette to speak at our conference.

Teddy Syrette (Ozhawa Anung Kwe/Yellow Star Woman) is a 2-Spirit Anishnabe from Rankin Reserve of Batchewana First Nation of the Anishnabek. Teddy has a background in social justice for First Nation and 2Spirit and LGBTQ+ people and communities. Their background also includes community theatre and bingo. Teddy has a diploma in Social Service Work – Indigenous Specialization from Sault College, and Teddy uses they/them as their pronouns. As a brown, First Nation queer person, there were many barriers and challenges that Teddy faced growing up on Rankin Reserve and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. These acts of discrimination and bullying led Teddy to a path of self-destruction and isolation. However, they did manage to find support in a high school guidance counsellor, an LGBT+ youth group of Algoma and affirming family and friends.

In their talk, Teddy talks about the need for more helpers, and more safe spaces, and more opportunities for young 2SLGBTQ+ people to connect, particularly for those also facing marginalization and exclusion due to racism, geographic isolation, family abuse and violence, homelessness and low incomes. You can follow Teddy via Instagram.

The Alliance and our members, Ontario and Canada need to do better. It’s why in 2021-22, the Alliance and its staff committed to full completion of the Rainbow Health Ontario LGBT2SQ Foundations Training. It’s why the Alliance and its members are committed to the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council’s Indigenous Cultural Safety Training as well, in addition to advocating for the training for all of Ontario’s public service. It’s only with collective action that we can achieve solidarity for health equity.

What’s possible when community health organizations work together for action on health equity for trans and other 2SLGBTQ+ communities? Quite simply a transformed health system based on principles of inclusion, safety, respect and trust that can truly support the needs of 2SLGBTQ+ people.

Here’s an example from the 2022 Transformative Change Award recipients that the Alliance and our sector are particularly proud of this year, the Southwestern Ontario Youth Gender Diversity Clinic delivered via Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres and Windsor-Essex Community Health Centre in partnership with local pediatrician Dr. Ian Johnston.

Congratulations and Happy Pride to everyone who’s working every day to improve and expand access to safe, inclusive health and social services for 2SLGBTQ+ communities. You are literally saving lives and helping people thrive with every encounter!

 

Énoncé de politique sur le définancement de la police

Date: 
Thursday, May 5, 2022

Pour mettre fin à la violence policière et aux meurtres des personnes noires, autochtones et racialisées aux mains des services policiers, nous devons en réduire le financement et investir dans les services communautaires. Le présent énoncé explique le raisonnement de l’Alliance pour des communautés en santé et des 110 organisations de soins de santé qui en sont membres pour en arriver à cette position, les raisons pour lesquelles nous devons revendiquer pour des changements structurels aux pratiques policières au Canada, et ce que nous devons faire pour la suite des choses en ce sens.  

Les expériences quant aux services policiers au Canada ne sont pas uniformes; les interactions des gens avec les services policiers sont profondément influencées par leur race et des facteurs sociaux et économiques. En Ontario, les personnes noires et autochtones sont victimes dans une mesure disproportionnée de préjudices et de violence de la part des services policiers. Cette réalité est mise en évidence par le nombre croissant de vies perdues et blessées; parmi les victimes, nommons Regis Korchinski-Paquet, D’Andre Campbell, Rodney Levi, Randy Cochrane, Chantel Moore, Sammy Yatim, Greg Ritchie, Dafonte Miller, Chadd Facey, et Orlando Brown. Et bien qu’il y ait eu une plus grande sensibilisation à cette réalité au cours des dernières années au Canada, la violence policière porte toujours préjudice aux populations racialisées, les structures de surveillance faillissent encore à la tâche, et les budgets des services policiers ne cessent d’augmenter.   

Les personnes autochtones sont presque 10 fois plus susceptibles d’être tuées par les services policiers que celles de race blanche. Bien qu’elles comptent pour 5 % de la population canadienne, les personnes autochtones représentent un pourcentage disproportionné de la population carcérale au pays, soit près de 30 %[1]. De plus, une étude axée sur la ville de Toronto a révélé que les Noirs sont 20 % plus susceptibles d’être abattus par les services de l’ordre que les personnes de race blanche.[2] 

[1] Morin B. The indigenous people killed by Canada's police. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/3/24/the-indigenous-people-killed-by-canadas-police. Publié le 25 mars 2021. Repéré le 29 novembre 2021.

[2] Cecco L. Black Toronto residents 20 times more likely to be shot dead by police, study says. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/10/toronto-black-residents-more-likely-shot-dead-ontario-human-rights-commission-report. Publié le 10 décembre 2018. Repéré le 29 novembre 2021. 

Policy Statement on Defunding the Police

Date: 
Thursday, May 5, 2022

To end police violence and killing of Black, Indigenous and other racialized people in Canada, we must defund the police and resource communities. The following statement traces how the Alliance for Healthier Communities and the 110 community-governed primary health care organizations that make up the Alliance arrived at this position, why, and what our next steps are to advocate for structural changes to policing in Canada. 

Experiences with policing in Canada are not uniform; the experiences people have when interacting with police forces are deeply influenced by race, social and economic factors. In Ontario, Indigenous and Black people experience disproportionate harm and violence through policing. This is a fact evident in the growing number of lives lost and lives harmed through police violence -- including but not limited to Regis Korchinski- Paquet, D’Andre Campbell, Rodney Levi, Randy Cochrane, Chantel Moore, Sammy Yatim, Greg Ritchie, Dafonte Miller, Chadd Facey, and Orlando Brown. Even as awareness has risen in the last several years in Canada, police violence continues to harm racialized populations, oversight structures continue to fail, and police budgets continue to grow.

We know Indigenous people are nearly 10 times more likely to be killed by police than white people. While making up five per cent of Canada’s population, Indigenous people account for a massively disproportionate number of the national prisoner count at nearly 30 per cent[1]. Similarly, a study focused on Toronto found that Black people are cited as being 20 per cent more likely to be shot and killed by police than white people in the city[2]. 

These statistics are stark. Ending police violence, saving lives and changing these statistics will require changing the structures that embed systemic racism, discrimination and violence against racialized people into Canada’s methods and institutions of policing. Supporting communities, systemically combatting racism, and addressing root causes of discrimination – social, economic and otherwise – must play larger roles than they do now in community safety and wellbeing.

The Alliance for Healthier Communities will advocate for defunding the police and investing resources into community-run initiatives and Black and Indigenous-led community programs. The Alliance for Healthier Communities and the Alliance’s members, which provide comprehensive primary health care, hold collective commitments to address structural and systemic factors that contribute to the oppression of Indigenous and Black people, as expressed in our Health Equity Charter. We seek the most effective and equitable solutions to police violence from a community perspective. 

We advocate for all levels of government to reduce funding for police budgets, and call for the reallocation of these funds to community-run programs that communities themselves design, lead and manage. As our first point of action, we champion reductions to municipal budgets for police services -- especially in advance of the Ontario provincial election in June, and municipal elections in October.

We recognize some Alliance members are already embarking on community programs to support safe crisis responses such as the Community Crisis Support Service pilot co-led by TAIBU Community Health Centre (CHC), and supported by Black Creek CHC and Regent Park CHC. These programs will help support health equity for Black, Indigenous and other and marginalized communities in Canada by interrupting the structures, policies and procedures that lead to police violence. The Alliance commits to advocate for more innovative and community-led safe crisis response programs across Ontario with funding reallocated from police services budgets.

At the Alliance, work is underway to address health inequities and barriers to wellbeing through commitments to tackling Anti-Black Racism. This will include training for Alliance members’ staff, and a commitment to address how a lack of decent work, access to healthy food, and adequate and safe housing impact the health of Black people, among other systemic determinants of health. To bring this work together and connect it overall to Black health, the Alliance is dedicating resources to work with the Black Health Committee to implement the Black Health Strategy to address the impacts of racism and discrimination on the health of Black communities. The Alliance provides education to members on the issue of police violence and its impact on Black, Indigenous and marginalized populations. We also commit to sharing information regarding the impact of policing on marginalized communities through policy statements and social media posts. Lastly, we commit to working with our partners in the health and social services sectors to advance alternatives to policing wherever possible, and to supporting defunding police advocacy.

[1] Morin B. The indigenous people killed by Canada's police. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/3/24/the-indigenous-people-kille.... Published March 25, 2021. Accessed November 29, 2021.

[2] Cecco L. Black Toronto residents 20 times more likely to be shot dead by police, study says. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/10/toronto-black-residents-mo.... Published December 10, 2018. Accessed November 29, 2021. 

En cette Journée internationale de la prescription sociale, une prescription contre la solitude : une approche holistique pour lutter contre l’isolement et améliorer le sentiment d’appartenance

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Bien que la plupart d’entre nous aient éprouvé de l’isolement social à divers degrés au cours des deux dernières années vu les mesures prises pour ralentir la propagation de la COVID-19, pour de nombreux aînés, ces sentiments étaient ressentis bien avant le début de la pandémie en mars 2020.

Pour lutter de manière durable contre l’isolement social, particulièrement au sein des populations marginalisées, l’Alliance pour des communautés en santé et ses membres, des organisations de santé communautaire des quatre coins de l’Ontario, s’efforcent d’établir un pont entre les soins cliniques et les services sociaux par une intervention, la prescription sociale.

Qu’est-ce que la prescription sociale?

La prescription sociale, un terme utilisé pour la première fois à la fin des années 90 au Royaume-Uni, est une approche holistique pour la prestation des soins de santé. La pratique fait appel à la démarche éprouvée et de confiance qui est la rédaction d’une ordonnance par un fournisseur de soins de santé en vue d’aiguiller des personnes vers des activités et des possibilités d’engagement social. Qui plus est, la prescription sociale élimine les obstacles auxquels font face les clients pour tirer parti de services non cliniques locaux qui les aident à découvrir leurs champs d’intérêt, à établir des objectifs et à développer leurs talents tout en nouant des liens au sein de leur communauté.   

La prescription sociale permet aux fournisseurs de soins de santé d’aiguiller formellement des patients vers des programmes communautaires, que ce soit pour suivre un cours d’art ou de danse ou se joindre à un réseau de soutien pour personnes en deuil, et elle offre un cadre pour suivre le progrès des patients vers l’atteinte de leurs objectifs en matière de santé.

Comme l’explique Jennifer Rayner, directrice de la recherche et de l’évaluation pour l’Alliance pour des communautés en santé, « Par l’intégration de soutien et de soins sociaux dans l’ensemble du système de santé, nous pouvons aider les personnes à renouer des liens avec leur communauté et à renverser certains des effets négatifs de la pandémie. La prescription sociale a le potentiel de changer la donne en vue d’améliorer le sentiment d’appartenance des personnes, et elle pourrait être un outil important pour les fournisseurs de services sociaux partout au Canada. »

Selon une étude menée par le Nova Scotia Centre on Aging et le Département des études familiales et de gérontologie de l’Université Mount Saint Vincent, environ 30 % des aînés au Canada, soit des millions de personnes d’un océan à l’autre, courent le risque de se trouver isolés socialement. Il s’agit d’un problème répandu et systémique, et c’est la raison pour laquelle il faut une solution systémique comme la prescription sociale.  

De premiers résultats prometteurs

Si nous choisissons de ne pas lutter contre l’isolement social de manière systémique, nous en ressentirons les effets à long terme sur nos systèmes de soins de santé et de services sociaux. Selon l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), l’impact de l’isolement social sur la mortalité est comparable à celui d’autres facteurs de risque bien établis comme le tabagisme, l’obésité et l’inactivité physique.

Les résultats du projet pilote mené de 2018 à 2020 par l’Alliance pour des communautés en santé, Rx : Communauté – La prescription sociale, le premier projet pilote au Canada sur la prescription sociale, sont très prometteurs. Les clients participants ont rapporté une réduction de 49 % de leur sentiment de solitude. Ceux-ci ont également rapporté une augmentation de 19 % de leur participation à des activités sociales et une amélioration de 12 % de leur santé mentale.

La prescription sociale pour les aînés isolés

Linda, une participante au projet Links2Wellbeing de prescription sociale de l’Alliance pour des communautés en santé et de l’Association des centres pour aînés de l’Ontario (ACAO), avait fait part de problèmes de mobilité et de préoccupations quant à sa santé mentale engendrées par un certain isolement social après avoir pris sa retraite. Pendant la pandémie, elle s’est sentie de plus en plus isolée.

Après de l’encouragement de sa famille et des informations fournies par son médecin, Linda a obtenu une prescription sociale l’aiguillant vers des programmes communautaires à Windsor, là où elle habite, offerts par le Life After Fifty Seniors Active Living Centre, un membre de l’ACAO.

La possibilité de participer à des activités communautaires a permis à Linda de redécouvrir sa raison d’être. Aujourd’hui, elle est active dans sa communauté et tricote régulièrement des bonnets de bébé et des linges à vaisselle pour des évènements caritatifs. Elle encourage aussi ses amis qui éprouvent de l’isolement social à participer à des activités communautaires.

« La prescription sociale fait une énorme différence pour les patients qui vivent seuls ou qui sont incapables de participer à des activités sociales, et les patients qui ne peuvent sortir de la maison, particulièrement en ce qui a trait à leur isolement et leur solitude. Une prescription sociale pour des activités de groupe leur donne quelque chose de positif à prévoir dans leur vie, » explique Nicole, une infirmière qui a pu constater personnellement les effets positifs de la prescription sociale sur les aînés isolés dans sa communauté rurale.

La prescription sociale fait son chemin au Canada parmi les fournisseurs de soins de santé, les partenaires communautaires, les chercheurs, les bailleurs de fonds, les décideurs et les planificateurs en matière de santé.

L’Alliance pour des communautés en santé, en collaboration avec Centraide Colombie-Britannique, l’Association des centres pour aînés de l’Ontario et d’autres acteurs clés, a mis sur pied une communauté de pratique pour des professionnels issus de divers secteurs, dont les arts, la promotion des soins de santé, et les milieux universitaires. Cette communauté de pratique a pour but d’aider à renforcer les connaissances sur la prescription sociale et à déterminer des moyens de mettre en œuvre des initiatives de prescription sociale. Elle permettra aux membres de ce mouvement grandissant d’apprendre les uns des autres, de faire de la sensibilisation et de créer des stratégies à l’échelle provinciale et nationale.

« Nous sommes confiantes quant à l’impact qu’aura cette approche holistique des soins de santé sur les aînés et sur nos systèmes de soins de santé et de services sociaux en général, » affirme Sarah Hobbs, DG de l’Alliance pour des communautés en santé. « La prescription sociale peut être un élément important d’une solution systémique dans la lutte contre l’isolement social et la solitude et la promotion de l’équité en santé par une plus grande connectivité sociale et un sentiment accru d’appartenance à la communauté. »

Pour de plus amples renseignements sur la prescription sociale, visitez : allianceon.org/fr/La-prescription-sociale.

On International Social Prescribing Day, a prescription to cure loneliness: Celebrating a holistic approach to addressing isolation and increasing belonging

Thursday, March 10, 2022
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While most of us have experienced some degree of social isolation over the past couple of years due to the steps taken to slow the spread of COVID-19, for many older adults, these feelings existed long before the pandemic began in March 2020.

To sustainably address social isolation, especially among marginalized populations, the Alliance for Healthier Communities and its members -- community health organizations across Ontario – are working to bridge the gap between clinical and social care through an intervention called social prescribing.

Social Prescribing? What’s that?

First coined as a term in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, social prescribing is a holistic approach to healthcare. The practice uses the trusted process of receiving a prescription from a health provider to connect people to activities and opportunities for social engagement. Importantly, social prescribing removes barriers for clients to take advantage of local, non-clinical services that help them to develop their interests, goals and gifts while connecting with their communities.

Related Story: Social Prescribing Community Quilt Shares More Stories of Connection

Social prescribing allows health providers to formally refer patients to community-based programs – which could be anything from an art class or dance lesson to an introduction to a local bereavement network – and then also provides a structure within which to follow up and track patients’ progress at meeting their own health goals.

“By integrating social support and care across the health system, we can help people safely reconnect to their communities and reverse some of the health impacts of the pandemic,” says Jennifer Rayner, Director of Research and Evaluation at the Alliance for Healthier Communities. “Social prescribing has the potential to be a game-changer for increasing people’s belonging, and could be a key tool for health and social care providers throughout Canada.”

According to research from the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging and Department of Family Studies and Gerontology Mount Saint Vincent University, approximately 30 per cent of older adults living in Canada – meaning millions of people from coast to coast – are at risk of becoming socially isolated. This is a problem that is widespread and systemic in nature, and that’s why a systems-based solution like social prescribing is needed.

Building on Promising Early Results

If we choose not to address social isolation at the systemic level, we will experience the long-term effects on our health and social systems in other ways. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the effect of social isolation on mortality is comparable to that of other well-established risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity.

Results from the Alliance for Healthier Communities’ research pilot Rx: Community – Social Prescribing, a first-in-Canada social prescribing research project that ran from 2018 to 2020, are very promising. Participating clients reported their sense of loneliness decreased by 49 per cent. They also reported an increase of 19 per cent in social involvement and a 12 per cent increase in mental health.

Bringing Social Prescribing to Isolated Seniors

One participant in the Links2Wellbeing: Social Prescribing project through the Alliance for Healthier Communities and the Older Adults Centres’ Association of Ontario (OACAO), Linda, initially noted mobility issues and mental health concerns due to social isolation following her retirement. During the pandemic, she felt increasingly disconnected.

With some encouragement from family and information from her doctor, Linda was given a social prescription that referred her to community-based programs in Windsor where she lives, offered through the Life After Fifty Seniors Active Living Centre, a member of OACAO.

The opportunity to take part in community-based activities reinvigorated Linda’s sense of purpose. Now, she is a thriving member of the community who regularly knits baby hats and dishcloths for charity events. She also regularly encourages her friends experiencing social isolation to get connected as well.

“Social prescribing makes a big difference for patients during the pandemic who live alone, [are] unable to participate in social activities, and home-bound patients, especially with their isolation and loneliness. A social prescription to group activities gives them something to look forward to,” says Nicole, a nurse who has seen first-hand the positive impacts social prescribing on isolated seniors in her rural community.

Across Canada, social prescribing is gaining momentum among healthcare providers, community partners, researchers, funders, policymakers and health planners.

Together with the United Way B.C. and the Older Adult Centres Association of Ontario, and other key stakeholders the Alliance for Healthier Communities is convening a community of practice for professionals in academia, the arts, health care and more. This community of practice will help deepen understanding of social prescribing, and ways of implementing social prescribing initiatives. It will also provide this growing movement towards social prescribing with a way to learn from one another, raise awareness and develop provincial and national strategies.

“We are confident about the impact this holistic approach to healthcare will have for seniors and our health and social systems overall,” says Sarah Hobbs, CEO of the Alliance for Healthier Communities. “Social prescribing can be an important piece of the systemic solution to address social isolation, loneliness and to promote health equity through increased connectedness and belonging.”

Find out more about social prescribing at allianceon.org/Social-Prescribing.