Tools for an Inclusive Ontario

Go to the list of papers              Next paper >

1: Brief Project Description

Developing a Social and Economic Inclusion Toolkit for Ontario Communities was a project of the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse (now Health Nexus Santé), in partnership with the Laidlaw Foundation, funded by Health Canada. The Laidlaw Foundation is also providing financial support.

The Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse (OPC) is a charitable, non-profit health promotion and population health organization. OPC's mission is to facilitate and empower individuals, groups, and communities to work towards the realization of their social, emotional, physical and environmental health and well-being.

In 2000 the Laidlaw Foundation began to bring social and economic inclusion into the policy discourse in Canada by sponsoring a series of working papers, as well as national roundtable meetings. Social and economic inclusion is becoming an important instrument in closing the distance between sub-groups and society at large.

The Laidlaw Foundation focuses on five critical dimensions of social inclusion: valued recognition, human development, involvement and engagement, proximity, and material well being.

In this new initiative, OPC will develop the capacity of Ontarians to use social and economic inclusion concepts, apply indicators to analyze the social and economic inclusion status of their communities, and to advocate for healthy public policies, especially at the local delivery level, based on that analysis. There will be a strong focus on children and families.

The project will create a toolkit of social and economic inclusion indicators, test the toolkit in four demonstration communities, and publish the results. The Laidlaw Foundation hopes to bring the toolkit to communities across Canada, and the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse hopes to support the use of the toolkit through its Health Promotion Resource Centre by providing related consultation and information services.

A Provincial Advisory Group will lead the project, representing sectors pertinent to the investigation in the health, social, and human services; with geographic, gender and ethno-racial balance. A technical support team, led by the Project Coordinator, will support the group.

The Provincial Advisory Group will meet five times, beginning in May, 2003, during the course of the year long project to:

1. Determine the scope and content of the social and economic inclusion indicators
2. Determine the relationship between social and economic indicators and public policy
3. Consider community engagement options for the projects
4. Monitor projects in demonstration communities
5. Analyze and reconcile the findings of the demonstration communities
6. Prepare and approve a Final Report.

Local Working Groups will test the indicators in four communities. Technical support teams, led by the Local Agent, will support the groups. The Local Working Groups will:

1. Determine specific community engagement strategies
2. Test the social and economic inclusion indicators through local application, using the selected community engagement strategies
3. Using the results of the findings, identify gaps, strengths and weaknesses in policy that influence social and economic inclusion within their community
4. Assess the effectiveness of the draft indicators and methodology, using the selected community engagement strategy, as measures of social and economic inclusion and as tools to identify areas for policy-related interventions
5. Refine the draft indicators and methodology; make recommendations for improvement to the Provincial Advisory Group.

The members of the Provincial Advisory Group and Local Working Groups will receive honoraria and expenses.

Selection Criteria for Demonstration Communities

Demonstration communities will be selected by the project partners using the following criteria:

• impact on the selected community;
• impact on the project's partners;
• potential impact on municipal, provincial and federal policy;
• diversity/comparability of locations (size, urban-rural, ethno-racial, cultural, etc.);
• readiness/willingness/capacity to participate;
• official languages status.

The selection criteria are the result of extensive discussions between OPC, the Laidlaw Foundation, Health Canada, and the Social Planning Network of Ontario.

Indicator Development Starting Point

The Laidlaw Foundation and Health Canada have supported projects to begin to define social inclusion as an instrument to influence healthy public policy in Canada. The Laidlaw Foundation, in collaboration with the Canadian Council on Social Development and the Roeher Institute, is also creating a consortium of partners who are working on the development of social and economic indicators in Canada. As well, the experience of developing indicators for Healthy Cities and Healthy Communities will be useful guides. These efforts will be the place to start in developing indicators of social inclusion for the project. To mention a few recent papers in the area:

Social Inclusion through Early Childhood Education and Care by Dr. Donna Lero and Martha Friendly, developed for the Laidlaw Foundation, poses questions about early childhood education and care which may be useful in defining inclusion in the context of childrens' services

An Inclusion Lens: Workbook for Looking at Social and Economic Exclusion/Inclusion, developed by Health Canada's Atlantic Region Population and Public Health Branch, provides guidance on the elements and dimensions of exclusion and inclusion and will be useful in relation to barriers to access and the denial or affirmation of human rights.

Does Work Include Children? The Effects of the Labour Market on Family Income, Time and Stress by Andrew Jackson and Katherine Scott, also developed by the Laidlaw Foundation, examines the impact of work and the workplace and will be useful in that area.

June 1, 2003

The opinions expressed in this project do not necessarily reflect the official views of Health Canada, Population Public Health Branch, now the Public Health Agency of Canada, or the Laidlaw Foundation.

Go to the list of papers              Next paper >

Back to top

Some documents in this section are PDFs, which require Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Address: 180 Dundas Street West, Suite 1900 Toronto, Ontario Canada M5G 1Z8          Contact Us          Website Policy