Dennis - yet another encouraging sign in the province.  I spent the morning
yesterday with the Peel Coalition against Peverty, which has strong
representation from agencies and those affected directly by the issue.
Leadership comes from the Social Planning Council and Peel Health.  They
have held community forums to assist with strategic direction setting and
are involved in a deputation to Regional council in the next few months and
a public "Vigil" involving a mass funeral procession to gain the attention
of political leaders who had promised to "eradicate child poverty" by the
year 2000.

This past week, we were working towards the policy and social changes that
need to be the focus of the collective work, while individual agencies
continue on about their programming and service delivery business.  The DOH
were tantamount to this discussion as the real need was determined to be
getting at the "root causes" rather than the "bandaids".

A ray of hope!

Nancy Dubois
Health Communication Unit
-----Original Message-----
From: Lorraine Telford <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: September 10, 1999 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: Canadian Public Health Responses to Economic Inequality


>Dennis - I just had this discussion with Peter Elson (Exec. Director) and
Brian
>Hyndman (Pres.) of the Ontarip Public Health Association yesterday. The
silence
>is not too silent:
>
>Ottawa and Waterloo Region have officially held events related to poverty
and the
>broad determinants of health (respectfully) - the latter was called
"Where's
>Welldo" and featured a "Welldo" character with visual images of the DOH  -
eg a
>HOUSE for a hat - on its person.  The OPHA has a very successful Food
Security
>initiative, and although provincial, it is funded by the Feds.  The OPHA
has also
>collaborated with a local food bank on some initiatives.  As you know, it
is a
>stretch to find a mandate for working with the DOH in the Ontario Mandatory
>Programs - but some health units are more successful than others. Peel
Region has
>used a DOH approach to Violence Prevention, and the OPHA is working on a
Position
>Paper for violence prevention, apparently taking a DOH approach.  That's
all I
>know, as of yesterday.
>
>"d.raphael" wrote:
>I would appreciate hearing from any CANADIAN public health departments or
>
>> provincial health ministries that have specifically addressed economic
>> inequality (EI) as a determinant of health. Focus on the CAUSES of
poverty
>> would also be of interest.
>
>--
>
>
>
>Lorraine Telford
>The Health Communication Unit
>at the Centre for Health Promotion
>University of Toronto, The Banting Institute
>100 College Street, Rm 213
>Toronto, ON  M5G 1L5
>Tel: 416-978-1188
>Fax: 416-971-2443
>[log in to unmask]
>www.utoronto.ca/chp/hcu
>