AOHC Site Feed | Page 76 | Alliance for Healthier Communities

Statement on Islamophobic attack on London family and actions we need to address racism and hate in Canada

Statement on Islamophobic attack on London family and actions needed on hate and racism in Canada

Date:

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

We express our sadness, grief and solidarity with the Muslim communities of London, Ontario, and Canada after the white supremacist, Islamophobic-fueled killing of a four family members and the serious injuring of another in London on the evening of June 6. We remember and we grieve Salman Afzaal, Madiha Afzaal, Yumna Afzaal, and Salman's mother. We hold young Fayaz Afzaal in our thoughts and hearts as he is treated for serious injuries from this attack.

This is a moment of great sorrow and fear for this family, for the wider Muslim community, and for all those who have experienced and continue to experience hate and threats of violence due to racism. It’s also a moment of collective anger, and of intolerance to the actions and inactions that have led us to this moment. We do not see this as a moment for “disbelief” or “shock” – for those who do, we would say: It’s past the time to wake up to the reality that this country, this province, and the communities around you, are rooted in histories of white supremacy, slavery, and genocide. It’s past time to wake up to the violence, hatred, intolerance of Islamophobia, of anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism and colonialism, and all other forms of intolerance that we continue to see every day in Canada’s systems, culture, rhetoric, and inaction at all levels of governments, from the police, in our streets, regularly. Now is the time to face hard facts about the history and the present, and take actions that can change the future. Step one is for people with privilege and power everywhere in Canada to recognize and agree on the basic facts of racism in Canada.

Frustration and anger abound in a time like this. Anger can and needs to be expressed alongside grief. Ultimately, meeting hate with hate will not get us to a place of healing. We must find ways to turn anger into resolve, and resolve into action for sustainable and real change – in policies, in systems and in attitudes and cultures across our society. All of this is imperative to our individual and collective health and wellbeing.

As Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, professor of Global Health at the University of Toronto, points out in this essay published just days ago: “Hatred can be conceptualized as an infectious disease, a determinant of health and a public health issue spreading violence, fear and ignorance. Hatred is contagious and crosses barriers and borders, and no one is immune to its risks” and “Hatred is a public health issue because it often engenders widespread physical, psychological or political violence.” Dr. Abuelaish goes on to lay out that we must “recognize hatred as a public health issue in order to move from the management of hatred to the active prevention of its root causes through promotion, education and awareness.”

The Alliance and its members could not agree more strongly. We will, alongside our allies and partners, continue to call for:

racism to be addressed as a public health crisis and work towards those approaches ourselves;
violence in communities to be addressed with public health approaches and by resourcing communities;
harms related to policing to be addressed by reallocating funds to resource communities to create safer, healthier environments for all.

There are no words adequate to express the grief we feel in this moment for the Afzaal family and their loved ones. But to simply say “This isn’t what Canada is about” or “These are the actions of extremists” or to otherwise excuse or explain away the toxic environments this hate is fueled and spread by is to invite the next instance of violence and grief. To honour this family’s memory, we must do better, we must take specific actions to address racism and not rest on a few days of soundbites. We must change the future by acting today and in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

We're marking Indigenous History Month, both in grieving and solidarity with Indigenous communities and in celebrating Indigenous ways of knowing and being

Thursday, June 3, 2021

Text graphic that reads: Marking Indigenous History Month 2021

We start Indigenous History Month in a sombre way – grieving the discovery of 215 children’s bodies, alongside residential school survivors, their families and all Indigenous peoples and communities across Turtle Island.

As outlined in our statement on discovery of mass grave on the site of the former Kamloops, B.C. residential school, this is not part of a “dark chapter”, as if it were a story told long ago and now just remembered or with surprise. These children, along with the hundreds of thousands of others, were violently ripped from families, from their communities, their cultures, their languages, their lands. This discovery is further evidence of this country’s ongoing genocide against Indigenous peoples and nations, symbols of Canada’s lack of commitment to the healing and reconciliation it claims to desire and work towards. This isn’t so much a wake-up call (those have happened, and you can see them laid out in media over the last 30 years), or a reckoning. This is a siren, an alarm that’s been going off for years that we can all hear again, while Indigenous people have heard it blaring throughout their lives.

Read our full statement here.

Take Action Here are areas where we – as settlers, immigrants, and people whose ancestors were enslaved across the Americas and the Caribbean - can take action and to do the work to understand the history, its roots in genocide, and the ongoing impacts of anti-Indigenous racism throughout society. You can find additional resources from On Canada Project: Settlers Take Action.

The following are adapted from the Ontario Non-Profit Network (ONN)’s statement on five ways for nonprofit can take action now to support Indigenous communities.

Read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and commit to ways you and your organization will be accountable. In addition to the calls to action, you can find all the reports from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation here.
Learn more about residential schools and g impact on communities and generations of Indigenous Peoples or take a free course on Indigenous histories and contemporary issues through University of Alberta (via coursera).
Advocate to the federal government and your MP to ensure the Calls to Action are implemented. Currently only 8 out of 94 calls have been completed. Read analysis from the Yellowhead Institute about the lack of action.
Advocate to the Ontario government and your MPP to work with First Nations to survey sites for unmarked graves at Ontario’s former residential schools.
Advocate for Indigenous Health in Indigenous Hands and direct funding to Indigenous-led organizations and to issues Indigenous Peoples have identified need to be funded.
Listen to Indigenous voices. This week the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) released its own action plan in response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, after stepping away from the federal government's action plan process relating to the MMIWG report, calling it 'toxic and dysfunctional'

Further calls to action can be found in the statement released by our colleagues at the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC). You can read it here.

This month while we make space for grief, anger and mourning, we must also remember to create space for celebrations of Indigenous people, culture, language and life. Shared understandings are a path forward, and this month spotlights some of the ways that non-Indigenous folks can walk those paths.

Below we've collected a few starting points for people to learn about Indigenous artists, stories and ways of knowing:

Videos / Film
- National Arts Centre – honouring the distinct perspectives and cultures of Indigenous artists through storytelling and performance.
- CBC Gem - Celebrate with this collection that honours the history, heritage, and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada
Books
- CBC - 35 books to read for National Indigenous History Month
- Goodreads - Indigenous Books
- New release: Nishga by Jordan Abel
Music

Reclaimed (CBC Radio) with Jarett Martineau

As the month goes on, let's all try to be mindful -- of the hard truths of Canada's colonial history, of genocide in residential schools, of the steps non-Indigenous people and organizations and governments have yet to take (and how we can influence each other to take them), and of the rich histories of Indigenous peoples in these lands.

Statement on discovery of mass grave on the site of the former Kamloops residential school

Date:

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Two hundred and fifteen. Two hundred and fifteen lives taken. Not a footnote for Canada’s history books. Not part of a “dark chapter”, as if it were a story told long ago and now just remembered or revealed to the original authors with surprise. No, 215 lives, the lives of children violently ripped from families, from their communities, their cultures, their languages, their lands. Children whose ruptured and denied histories transmitted trauma out for generations of their loved ones. Two hundred and fifteen that stand now as symbols of this country’s ongoing genocide against Indigenous peoples and nations, symbols of Canada’s lack of commitment to the healing and reconciliation it claims to desire and work towards.

Alongside Indigenous colleagues, and Indigenous communities, we mourn. We share in your grief and anger.

These 215 children were denied their voices, their potentials, their cultures and futures as human beings, and ultimately their lives. We cannot deny the ongoing racism, overt, systemic and deeply embedded in Canada’s politics and culture; to do so is to re-erase these children, rubbing out the destruction of them and their families.

Erasure has long been a key feature of Canada’s ongoing denials of anti-Indigenous racism – and it perpetuates a status quo that ignores that this “history” continues in the present day, is omnipresent in the lives of Indigenous people and communities, where a health system allows Joyce Echaquan to be killed by racism in the hands of those with a responsibility and duty to care; where politicians accuse Indigenous leaders of vaccine queue-jumping; where the very Prime Minister of Canada, whose government presides over the creation of pipelines through Indigenous lands, and who has not met commitments to end boil water advisories in Indigenous communities, attempts to erase the connection between the lives of the 215 children in Kamloops and the ongoing systemic racism in every single Canadian province and territory that continues to this day, and who doesn’t help lead people in public mourning until asked to in a letter.

The destruction of these 215 lives, and tens of thousands of others by residential schools, the Sixties scoop, a broken foster care system, and subsequent government programs at all levels, designed to remove Indigenous people from their cultures and communities, is abhorrent, murderous and hideous. The reaction, and lack of reaction, to these facts, the lack of action to address the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is shameful, and deeply connected to Canada’s need to deny and erase its role in hatred and violence against Indigenous people, and to “move on” without addressing the trauma that continues to this day. These are not “scars to heal”, they are open wounds – untended, ignored, and complete with gaslit narratives from all corners of the political spectrum, including until recently from the Senate of Canada.

What the discovery in Kamloops shows most clearly is the violence of colonialism, its ongoing impacts on Indigenous lives and communities, and the culture of the entire society of Canada that perpetuates it, while placing the burden for reconciliation on Indigenous people. This isn’t so much a wake-up call (those have happened, and you can see them laid out in media over the last 30 years), or a reckoning. This is a siren, an alarm that’s been going off for years, that we can all hear again, while Indigenous people have heard it blaring throughout their lives.

The time is NOW to recognize we, settlers, and settler organizations, the leaders of settler governments, must chart new paths that lead head on into hard and difficult truths, about white supremacy, about the ongoing effects of colonialism in policies that impact Indigenous health, lands, languages, and ways of knowing and being throughout the lands that we call Canada.

What’s needed? The same things that called for for years and years. For settlers and white people to do the work to understand their history, its roots in genocide, and the ongoing impacts of anti-Indigenous racism throughout society. For a full, whole country approach to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action, all 94 of them. And not just by governments – but organizations at all levels, by businesses, by individuals. Wondering where you fit into that? Visit the On Canada Project’s Settlers Take Action webpage to learn more. Perhaps you’re a health care provider, policy-maker or planner, or a manager in health or social care services. Learn more about the Indigenous Cultural Safety program here in Ontario through the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC). This training is one of the first steps towards more understanding, less division and hate and risk for Indigenous people living in Canada today, and it’s made up of steps for non-Indigenous people to take. The Ontario program is built off of a similar program in British Columbia, the San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training. Further calls to action can be found in the IPHCC’s statement on the discovery of the mass grave in Kamloops.

More than anything, though, we all must realize that 215 lives taken, among thousands of others, and those destroyed and traumatized, require an urgent response, a sustainable course of action, and the engagement of all citizens to set a new path. We cannot and must not just “move on” when the atrocities of history are present and alive in our country today.

Submissions to Standing Committees regarding Bill 276 and 283

Date:

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

The Alliance has provided written submissions this week for the following bills that are tabled at the Ontario Legislative Assembly:

#Bill 276, Supporting Recovery and Competitiveness Act, 2021 relating to Schedule 9 – French Language Services Act

The Alliance supports the proposed amendment to the definition of “government agency” in the French Language Services Act to permit the designation of municipal homes and joint homes as public service agencies, welcoming this expansion of the eligibility for designation under the French Languages Services Act to include municipally run long-term care homes. This will help improve equitable access for aging Francophones who must most often make the difficult decision of finding a LTC home that can meet linguistic and cultural needs or one that is close to home.

Read the Alliance’s submission to the Standing Committee on General Government.

#Bill 283, Advancing Oversight and Planning in Ontario's Health System Act, 2021 relating to Schedule 1 - Covid-19 Vaccination Reporting Act, 2021

The Alliance is calling on the Ontario government to mandate the collection of race-based and sociodemographic data including:

Ensuring mandatory data collection of not only the individual’s name/and or alias, contact information, date of birth, sex and OHIP number (if provided); but expanding this to include a more fulsome race-based and socio-demographic data to include Race, Income, Household Size, and Preferred Language
Ensuring a health equity lens is applied to data governance in consultation with diverse and racialized communities and experts. This includes aligning with recommendations of frameworks such as EGAP: ENGAGEMENT, GOVERNANCE, ACCESS, AND PROTECTION: A Data Governance Framework for Health Data Collected from Black Communities in Ontario

Read the Alliance’s submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

Here’s how service providers can support immigrants and newcomers during COVID-19

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Community Health Approaches for Ontario immigrants and newcomers during COVID-19 title screen for webinar embedded in this post.

By Meghan Perrin and Christopher Hoy

This April 2021, the Alliance for Healthier Communities and CATIE hosted a webinar on community health approaches to supporting immigrants and newcomers in Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our speakers explored how inequities have a pronounced impact on immigrants and newcomers during the pandemic, and what frontline workers can do to mitigate these impacts.

Here are five key takeaways shared during the webinar that service providers can implement now.

1. Share clear, accessible and multilingual information about COVID-19

Information is constantly changing throughout the pandemic. Clear and accessible information can enable people to keep themselves and their communities safe. This includes making information available in multiple languages and using clear and simple vocabulary. Some agencies held virtual events or “town halls” with health experts and interpreters to answer questions. Other approaches included leveraging multilingual TV, radio and social media channels and creating easy-to-understand visual information for video and print.

2. Acknowledge and address fear and stigma in the community

Communities may be afraid about disclosing or seeking care for COVID-19 due to the stigma around the illness. They may also mistrust or feel stigmatized by healthcare and public health institutions due to structural inequities which have deep roots in historical and current systems of power. They also face precarious housing, employment and immigration statuses, and face real and perceived risks around lost work, unsafe work conditions, eviction and deportation. Education to dispel myths about illness and promoting their rights as patients, workers and tenants can help to reduce fear and stigma in communities.

3. Make services community-led and community-embedded

Health services and education must reach people in the community with faces and places that are familiar to them. In the webinar, we featured programs that delivered outreach in settings as diverse as places of worship, ethnic grocery stores and local workplaces. Service providers also consulted with community leaders to better understand the issues, and they worked with community ambassadors to build trust and credibility in the community.

4. Provide wrap-around care and support beyond just health care

While healthcare is vitally important, many community health settings are also supporting communities by addressing other social determinants of health, meeting basic needs such as transportation, hot meals, groceries and support for safe isolation. Digital inequities, including a lack of access to computers, smartphones and the Internet, can also prevent people from obtaining health information and services. Mental health supports are also key for individuals who may be feeling isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as specific supports for LGBTQ communities and referrals for legal or settlement issues.

5. Support vaccine uptake to protect immigrant communities

In Ontario, many immigrants and newcomers are living in COVID-19 “hot spots”. When you factor in the increased risks many of them face, such as crowded workplaces or larger households, it becomes apparent that immigrants and newcomers should be prioritized for vaccination. Programs are supporting individuals to help them navigate complex and confusing systems for vaccine roll-out, including for people without government identification. Service providers are also providing education to help to dispel myths and fight vaccine hesitancy. Some agencies are also advocating for their clients to ensure equitable access to vaccine supply.

To gain more insight into the programs covered in the webinar, watch the full recording below.

Community Health Approaches for Ontario Immigrants and Newcomers during COVID-19 from CATIEInfo on Vimeo.

Thank you to our panelists: Paula Day from the Ottawa Newcomer Health Clinic, Manvir Bhangu from Punjabi Community Health Services, Cliff Ledwos from Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services and Giovanni Rico from Toronto South Local Immigration Partnership.

Meghan Perrin is the francophone and resource policy lead at the Alliance for Healthier Communities.

Christopher Hoy is the manager of hepatitis C community programming at CATIE.

As first published on the CATIE Blog.

Ontario government’s paid sick leave legislation doesn’t go far enough and too many workplaces remain open: Workers need protection that provides flexible paid sick leave for illnesses, to self-isolate and to get vaccinated

Primary Care Collaborative Logos: Alliance for Healthier Communities, Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, Indigenous Primary Health Care Council, Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics Association, Ontario College of Family Physicians, Section on General and Family Practice, OMA

Date:

Friday, April 30, 2021

TORONTO – April 30 – Simply put, this just isn’t enough. As well, far too many workplaces are still classified as “essential” in Ontario, putting workers, their families, and the stability of our health system at risk.

While we are pleased to see the Ontario government finally recognized paid sick leave is important to the health and safety of Ontario’s essential workers, the Primary Care Collaborative remains concerned that the legislation passed, which gives up to three paid sick days through employers, does not go far enough to protect employees, and may create new barriers to accessing income support benefits. Pressuring people to return to work too soon, and keeping too many businesses “essential” will continue to pressure our health system and lengthen the time it takes to control this wave of infections.

Workers need sufficient time to support and recover from COVID-19-related illness, to self-isolate and to get themselves and their families vaccinated. We concur with the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table’s Science Brief on the Benefits of Paid Sick Leave from April 28 that lays out the parameters for what paid sick leave can do to support people to be able to follow public health measures and to get vaccinated. “Paid sick leave can support essential workers in following public health measures. This includes paid time off for essential workers … with guaranteed salary payment regardless of duration of absence (minimum 2 hours, maximum 2 workweeks).”

The temporary sickness benefit the Ontario government has legislated will only be available until September 25, 2021, to align with the expiry of the federal Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB). As we have advocated publicly for months alongside our health system partners, we are still asking that paid sick leave legislation be made PERMANENT, universal and accessible. Never again should people have to make the difficult choice between having to go to work while sick and being unable to pay bills, support their families or risk losing their jobs.

An important first step is recognition of the critical need for paid sick time. However, we can and need to do better for all workers in Ontario. We need a more fulsome plan that will protect everyone, especially essential workers, during this pandemic and beyond as we build back the province stronger than before. And right now, Ontario also needs a narrower definition of “essential workplace” that is limited enough to break chains of transmission and stop further outbreaks.

Both limiting this definition of essential and putting in place a comprehensive paid sick leave program are the keys to slowing the spread, lowering the number of illnesses and deaths, and supporting our health system and health care workers.

For comment, interviews, please contact: Jason Rehel, jason.rehel@allianceon.org; 416-817-9518

Primary Care Collaborative calls for more supports for essential workers and workplaces, more robust community vaccination rollout & isolation supports

Date:

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Toronto – April 17, 2021 – The organizations of the Primary Care Collaborative echo the alarms being sounded by our healthcare and public health colleagues since Friday. There was no doubt given the modelling from the Ontario COVID-19 Science Table Advisory Board on Friday afternoon that additional measures were and are necessary to help slow the spread of the virus in our province, particularly the spread of the more contagious and deadly Variants of Concern. Some of the measures taken by the Ontario government yesterday – notably limiting non-essential travel, extending the stay at home order, and expanding the number of vaccines available to hotspot areas – will indeed help reduce transmission and ultimately lower the burden on our health system.

However, we are deeply concerned that these measures are not nearly enough to stop outbreaks from happening in the highest risk environments – essential workplaces and congregate settings. We are seeking immediate action on the following:

• robust paid sick day supports; the temporary, retroactive federal sickness benefit maxes out at $450 a week after tax and cannot be used immediately by a worker who may be experiencing COVID symptoms; we need emergency sick day supports that allow anyone who is experiencing symptoms to stay home without fear of losing their job;

• access to adequate PPE, including N95 masks for all congregate settings and essential workplaces, including long-term care and retirement homes;

• expansion of rapid testing, and connections to local community supports for people who test positive and need to isolate immediately;

• defining “essential” workplaces more narrowly, including high risk workplaces that continue to be sources of outbreaks.

Without these decisive actions, more lives will be lost. Also, our healthcare workers and the health system will continue toward catastrophic scenarios. Collectively, primary care providers will continue to step up and do what we can to keep essential services in place, to encourage cancer screening, to keep people healthy and out of hospitals, and to continue vaccinating, but we need help. Primary care also continues to play key roles directly in COVID-19 supports, helping people isolate, get tested in community, and by rolling out the vaccination and vaccine information in hotspots and meeting people where they’re at.

Primary care providers will continue to step up and support public health in mass vaccination clinics, however there are also many options beyond pharmacy and mass vaccination sites needed to ensure we reach all Ontarians, including those who are vulnerable, hesitant and homebound. We must use the full potential of family physicians, nurse practitioners and primary care to ensure an efficient and equitable rollout. Support for us to continue doing this work and to scale it up across the province is essential to slowing the spread and flattening the curve of the third wave in every community.

Workplace enforcement measures alone are not enough to keep people safe in essential workplaces. Paid time off must be in place so people can book and get vaccinated and stay home when not feeling well, minimizing the risk of spread. These are proven, evidence-based interventions that can help get us through this wave of the pandemic sooner, with less suffering.

Without every possible measure being taken to protect the people working in in essential workplaces – many of whom are marginalized and from racialized and newcomer communities – these places will also eventually be forced to close, as there is further spread and more and more people get sick and die from COVID-19. And workers will bring more spread back into their already devastated families and communities.

We also remain deeply concerned that yesterday’s modelling has led to a closure of outdoor activities, and an emphasis on enforcement of the stay at home order through policing, “carding” and ticketing of people out in public. These are actions that are known to harm mental health of people while not measurably reducing the risk of COVID-19 spreading. These measures will also cause disproportionate harm to racialized and other marginalized communities. We need to approach people at the most risk with support, empathy and effective ways to stay safe. At a time when we need to further build trust to support our vaccination rollout, these enforcement measures, especially those taken heavy-handedly, will only push us further from where we need to be. It’s in that spirit that we acknowledge and support the enforcement agencies and police forces who’ve gone on the record saying they will not be stopping people in public.

The voices of our hospitals and others on frontlines of care, and especially among the people and families facing the worst -- the loss of loved ones to the virus – must be heard. The exhaustion, frustration and anger of our front-line health workers, our doctors, nurses, therapists and others who are desperately battling the virus 24/7, must be heeded. Half-measures will not get us out of this pandemic – the right decisions driven by the evidence will. As noted by Dr. Adalsteinn Brown on Friday: “There is little point to looking back at hypotheticals or what was or wasn’t done in the weeks and months past. We must notice what needs to be done now, and act swiftly to protect lives and our health system.”

About the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC):

We are a coalition of primary care organizations collectively representing 14,000 family doctors, 1,000+ primary care nurse practitioners, 286 primary care teams, 28 Indigenous primary care teams, including northern, rural, and remote teams in Ontario. This alliance of comprehensive primary care organizations joined together by common purpose to build on the collaborative work during the COVID-19 pandemic as we move towards recovery in a time of health system transformation. The PCC provides a collective and cohesive voice with the purpose of advancing equitable person-centred primary care in Ontario and is focused on influencing policy by creating a unified voice towards resolving barriers or challenges that prevent comprehensive primary care from being the foundation of the health system.

Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à l’Alliance pour des communautés en santé : Notre nouveau programme communautaire des promoteurs de l’équité en santé donne aux individus et aux organisations accès à des ressources relatives à l’équité en santé

Date:

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

TORONTO – 13 avril 2021 – Tout au long de la pandémie de la COVID-19, nous avons été témoin des ravages dans les communautés marginalisées causés par les obstacles à la santé et les inégalités en santé, comme le racisme systémique, la pauvreté, l’isolement, le manque de logements et l’itinérance. De nombreuses personnes se demandent ce qu’elles peuvent faire pour contribuer au changement et ce que sont les mesures qu’elles peuvent prendre pour commencer. C’est pour cette raison que nous sommes fiers de vous inviter à vous joindre à un mouvement en plein essor contribuant à des personnes et des communautés plus en santé ainsi qu’à une société plus inclusive et à un système de soins de santé plus durable. Maintenant plus que jamais, nous devons renforcer la voix de l’équité en santé, ici en Ontario, mais aussi ailleurs, et nous avons besoin de vous pour le faire.

«Le mouvement pour l'équité en santé est mené par la communauté et par des personnes de nombreux secteurs de la société qui se réunissent pour demander et concevoir de véritables changements et des solutions systémiques qui améliorent la santé et le bien-être en s'attaquant aux obstacles auxquels sont confrontées les populations marginalisées», a déclaré Sarah Hobbs, Directrice générale de l'Alliance. «En devenant un promoteur communautaire de l'équité en santé, vous vous engagez aux côtés de l'Alliance et de ses membres à œuvrer en faveur des changements de politiques et de systèmes nécessaires pour assurer la meilleure santé et le mieux-être possible pour tous.»

L’adhésion au programme communautaire des promoteurs de l’équité en santé est un moyen de faire partie d’un mouvement grandissant pour l’équité en santé en Ontario et ailleurs dans le monde. Il est à l’intention des organisations et des individus qui partagent notre mission, notre vision et nos valeurs, mais qui ne répondent pas aux critères d’admissibilité pour devenir membres de l’Alliance. Ce programme est ouvert aux organismes à but non lucratif (OBNL), aux réseaux et aux individus qui mènent leurs activités, travaillent ou habitent n’importe où dans le monde. Bien entendu, à titre de promoteur communautaire de l’équité en santé, vous jouirez d’un accès à toute une gamme d’avantages et de services, et vous ferez partie d’un mouvement grandissant pour faire avancer l’équité en santé.

Parmi les avantages de devenir promoteur de l’équité en santé, on compte :

l’accès en temps opportun aux avancées, tendances et analyses relativement au système de santé par des bulletins, des webinaires et d’autres moyens de communication;
le partage de pratiques exemplaires, d’outils et de ressources par l’entremise de webinaires et de communautés de pratique;
l’accès au portail interactif de l’Alliance qui contient des ressources utiles et des façons de communiquer avec des leaders en santé communautaire en Ontario et ailleurs;
un rabais pour l’affichage de postes à pourvoir sur le site d’emplois en ligne de l’Alliance (pour les organisations et les réseaux);
des tarifs réduits pour participer au congrès annuel de l’Alliance et à ses activités de perfectionnement professionnel et pour accéder à des ressources de renforcement des capacités conçues par l’Alliance;
l’accès aux ressources de la Charte pour l’équité en santé et du Modèle de santé et de bien-être;
l’accès aux plus récentes études et évaluations sur les soins de santé primaires grâce au bulletin EPIC (ACTE);
des possibilités de réseautage pour les professionnels en début de carrière, les chercheurs et les étudiants.

La démarche d’adhésion est simple, mais il faut s’engager envers l’objectif d’assurer la meilleure santé et le meilleur bien-être qui soient pour les personnes et les communautés qui font face à des obstacles.

Nous espérons que vous songerez à vous joindre à nous dans vos prochaines étapes pour faire avancer l’équité en santé. Apprenez-en davantage dès aujourd’hui sur la possibilité de devenir un promoteur communautaire de l’équité en santé.

À propos de nous: L’Alliance pour des communautés en santé est la voix d’un réseau dynamique d’organisations de soins primaires régies par la communauté. Nos membres servent des communautés diversifiées à travers la province, et ils sont enracinés dans les communautés qu’ils servent. Ils partagent leur engagement à faire progresser l’équité en santé grâce à la prestation de soins de santé primaires complets. Nous sommes une organisation et un mouvement engagé à apporter des changements transformateurs dans le système de santé en Ontario. Notre raison d’être : améliorer l’état de santé et le bien- être des personnes et des communautés qui se heurtent à des obstacles à l’atteinte d’une bonne santé.

Pour des demandes d’entrevue ou des questions, veuillez contacter : Jason Rehel, jason.rehel@allianceon.org, 416-817-9518

We’re inviting you to join the Alliance for Healthier Communities: Our new Community Health Equity Builder Program gives individuals and organizations access to health equity resources and a concrete way to help advance equity

Date:

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

TORONTO – April 13, 2020 – Throughout COVID-19, we’ve seen the devastation in marginalized communities caused by health inequities and barriers, including systemic racism, poverty, isolation, lack of housing and homelessness, precarious work, as well as other factors related to the determinants of health. Many people wonder what they can do to help effect change, and what steps they can take to begin. That’s why we’re excited to invite you to join the Alliance for Healthier Communities and help grow the movement towards healthier people, healthier communities, a more inclusive society, and a more sustainable health care system. Now more than ever,we need to broaden the voice of health equity in Ontario and more widely.And we need you to do it.

“The movement for health equity is driven by community, and by people from many areas of society coming together to demand and design real change and systemic solutions that improve health and wellbeing by addressing barriers faced by marginalized populations,” said Sarah Hobbs, CEO of the Alliance. “By becoming a Community Health Equity Builder, you’re making the commitment alongside the Alliance and its members to work towards the policy and system changes needed to ensure the best possible health and wellbeing for everyone.”

The Community Health Equity Builder Program is a path to becoming part of the growing movement for health equity in Ontario and around the world. It’s for organizations and individuals who share our mission, vision and values, but do not meet the criteria for membership in the Alliance. This program is open to non-profit organizations, networks, and individuals who operate, work or live anywhere in the world. As a Community Health Equity Builder, you will enjoy access to a range of benefits and services, and be part of a growing movement to advance health equity.

Some of the benefits of becoming a Builder include: Timely access to health system developments, trends and analysis via bulletin, webinars and other communications; sharing best practices and resources through webinars and communities of practice; access to the Alliance’s interactive portal, filled with useful resources and ways to connect with community health leaders across Ontario and beyond; discounted postings on the job board on the Alliance’s website (for organizations and networks); reduced rates for the Alliance’s annual conference, our professional learning events and capacity building resources developed by the Alliance; access to the Health Equity Charter and Model of Health and Wellbeing resources; access to the latest primary health care research and evaluation via the EPIC Learning Health System bulletin; and networking opportunities for early career professionals, researchers, and students. As well, students and seniors pay reduced rates to become Builders.

Joining is straightforward, but does involve making the commitment to: advancing the best possible health and wellbeing for people and communities facing barriers.

We hope you’ll consider taking your next steps towards health equity alongside us. Learn more about becoming a Community Health Equity Builder today.

ABOUT US: The Alliance for Healthier Communities is the voice of a vibrant network of more than 100 community-governed comprehensive primary health care organizations all across Ontario. Alliance members serve diverse communities in the province, and each organization is deeply rooted in the communities they serve. Alliance members share commitments to advancing health equity through the delivery of comprehensive primary health care. The Alliance and its members are committed to working towards transformative change to the health system in Ontario. We exist to improve the health and wellbeing of people and communities facing barriers.

For interviews or questions about the program, please contact:

Jason Rehel, Media Relations: jason.rehel@allianceon.org, 416-817-9518

Primary Care Collaborative welcomes the Ontario government’s stay at home order, mobile clinics, calls for more measures to protect marginalized populations

Date:

Thursday, April 8, 2021

The Primary Care Collaborative welcomes the Ontario government’s announcement of new provincial measures to stop the alarming spread of COVID-19. While the vaccine rollout continues across the province, we are in a race against the variants, and bold action was needed to protect all Ontarians, particularly those most marginalized. We recognize the collective exhaustion with COVID-19 restrictions, including among primary care providers, yet the stay-at-home order is necessary if we are to turn the tide on the pandemic.

A further step needed to slow the spread and halt the devastation of COVID-19 is provincial support for paid sick days, which would support staying home when ill. As well, we echo the Ontario Medical Association in urging those who are able to support their local restaurants and other small businesses by ordering food and other goods through delivery or curbside pickup.

This pandemic has shown time and again that COVID-19 will affect the most vulnerable among us. Primary care will continue to step up by providing care, staffing assessment centres, and now integrally involved in the vaccine rollout. We will do our part to ensure equity is front and centre in our response and we will work together with the Ontario Government and Public Health to end COVID-19.

About the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC):

We are a coalition of primary care organizations collectively representing 14,000 family doctors, 1,000+ primary care nurse practitioners, 286 primary care teams, 28 Indigenous primary care teams, including northern, rural, and remote teams. This alliance of comprehensive primary care organizations joined together by common purpose to build on the collaborative work during the COVID-19 pandemic as we move towards recovery in a time of health system transformation. The PCC provides a collective and cohesive voice with the purpose of advancing equitable person-centred primary care in Ontario and is focused on influencing policy by creating a unified voice towards resolving barriers or challenges that prevent comprehensive primary care from being the foundation of the health system.