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A judge’s ruling focuses attention on the homeless crisis
Monday, February 6th, 2023
A court ruling that Waterloo cannot dismantle an encampment may oblige governments to do a better job of ensuring that people have shelter… Clearing encampments is traumatizing for those being moved, costly for taxpayers and ultimately counter-productive, since it only serves to displace unhoused individuals rather than provide lasting accommodation.
Tags: Health, homelessness, ideology, poverty, rights
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
Federal healthcare funding should have strings attached
Saturday, December 17th, 2022
Simply dumping health care dollars in provincial capitals is not a solution. Tossing money at Doug Ford, who has chosen license rebates and gas tax cuts (extended for another year) over more health spending is a particularly bad idea. It would offer a bandage when triage is required. Without a strategy and targets, there would be no assurance the extra federal funds would be going to healthcare…
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Prescription for a broken health care system can’t be more politics
Sunday, November 13th, 2022
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos arrived promising an increase in health care transfers to the provinces in return for agreement on national health care indicators and creation of a health care data system. Duclos left Vancouver blaming premiers for undercutting the work of their health ministers by issuing a statement that the Vancouver meeting was a failure, even as the meeting was ongoing.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Don’t delay federal disability benefit
Saturday, November 12th, 2022
Ten per cent of able-bodied working age adults live below the poverty line, compared with 14 per cent of those with mild disabilities and 28 per cent of those whose disabilities are severe… The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance highlights other problems with the bill… It doesn’t detail “the size of the benefit, when it will start, how much if any will it be increased due to inflation, and who is eligible for it.”
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
A catalyst to mend child welfare
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022
… youth transitioned out of Ontario’s child protection system… experience low academic achievement, unemployment or underemployment, homelessness or housing insecurity, criminal justice system involvement, early parenthood, poor health and deep loneliness… The inquest presented the opportunity to change that approach, as it focused on the flaws in the system… and suggested how they could be fixed.
Tags: Indigenous, jurisdiction, mental Health, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
The toll of police work
Monday, October 24th, 2022
Due to tears in the social safety net, many vulnerable people fall through the cracks, and it then falls to police to pick them up. Police therefore become, by default, de facto doctors, nurses and social workers, as they have to deal with issues for which they’re neither qualified nor equipped: homelessness, addictions and mental illness. This adds enormously to operational stress — and to trauma — for overpoliced, vulnerable people who need care, not cops.
Tags: crime prevention, homelessness, ideology, mental Health, poverty
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Tackling the opioid crisis
Tuesday, October 11th, 2022
… statistics point us to two solutions: First, we need to regulate, rather than criminalize, all psychoactive drugs, and second, we ought to provide a safe supply of drugs to users. Those two solutions were, respectively, the “core” and “urgent” priorities identified by an expert task force last year, but so far, Ottawa has done relatively little toward making them a reality.
Tags: corrections, Health, homelessness, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario science table details plan to improve primary care
Wednesday, October 5th, 2022
… family doctors want to work as part of a primary care team, with other healthcare professionals such as nurses, pharmacists and social workers. The brief urges a comprehensive strategy to deal with some of these concerns, suggesting primary care delivery is currently a patchwork. And it urges action to develop primary care teams.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Seeking clarity on Ontario’s autism therapy
Monday, October 3rd, 2022
According to the government’s own statistics, more than 56,000 kids are now registered with the program, and the vast majority have not received funding for core clinical services… Given the understandable lack of trust families have in the program, it’s important the government seek to repair the relationship by increasing, rather than decreasing, transparency and outreach.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Boost social assistance
Thursday, September 22nd, 2022
The Doug Ford government raised ODSP payments by five per cent this month… and will index them to inflation. There was no increase to Ontario Works payments… It’s painfully clear that the base amounts for both programs are simply inadequate given the sharp rise in housing and food costs over the last year… More financial help is needed.
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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