Background
This survey is being carried out as part of the project Building Capacity for Equity in Health Promotion, being led by Health Nexus and the Health Equity Council, and funded through the Healthy Communities Grant of the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion.
The project will work with health promoters and managers / decision makers in public health, community health centres and community organizations who work with racialized groups, especially those living in low income communities, to build capacity for equity in the areas of healthy eating, physical activity and mental health promotion.
Key activities will be the convening of 5-6 conferences in all four regions of the province (3-4 in English and 1-2 in French) in the fall of 2010. The project will undertake an environmental scan, develop a literature review and resources, and a directory of promising practices in Ontario and elsewhere. Building a province wide health equity network will be one of the results of the project. The project envisages a strong role for an advisory committee and other partners.
Purpose
The purpose of this survey is to collect data that will inform an environmental scan and promising practice directory that will be produced as part of the project. The survey is divided into two parts:
Part 1: Environmental scan – “who is doing what”
This scan seeks to discover who is doing what in relation to health equity for racialized communities in Ontario. This information will help inform the project, specifically the literature review, promising practice directory, and contribute to the building of a health equity network in the province.
Part 2: Promising Practice Directory
This directory will highlight promising practices related to health equity for racialized communities in Ontario. These practices will inform workshop content, case studies and other aspects of project development. A directory will be of use to organizations, groups and individuals to support integration of a health equity approach into planning in order to reduce health disparities.
The term “practice” is broadly defined to include programs and services, broader initiatives, interventions, strategies, policies, advocacy, resources, tools, reports, practices, websites, etc. We do not wish to limit the nature of items that you may submit, so that we are able to assess the range of practices available.
Note on Terminology
Health equity concerns those differences in population health that can be traced to unequal economic and social conditions and are systemic and avoidable – and thus inherently unjust and unfair. Health equity research shows that taking an exclusive aggregate or whole of population approach to health promotion and health education runs the risk of widening inequities, because advantaged groups are in a better position to access and take advantage of information, incentives and programs.
Racialized groups refers to the populations that are identified by Statistics Canada as “visible minorities”( see box below)
The Ontario Human Rights Commission: Policy and guidelines on racism and racial discrimination states:
The term “racialized person” or “racialized group” is preferred over "racial minority,” "visible minority," "person of colour" or “non-White” as it expresses race as a social construct rather than as a description based on perceived biological traits. Furthermore, these other terms treat “White” as the norm to which racialized persons are to be compared and have a tendency to group all racialized persons in one category, as if they are all the same.
Understanding racial groups as socially constructed means that which groups experience stereotyping, social exclusion, racism, under-representation, different treatment, etc. vary by place or community and social context. For example in some communities or situations, having a name or an accent or what one wears can generate forms of discrimination, racism, etc. regardless of one’s actual ethnoracial identity with one or more of the groups included in the Statistics Canada populations listed here. So while recognizing racism as a determinant of health is at the heart of this initiative, we want to be inclusive of the varying ways that this may occur in communities across Ontario based on the unique ethnic mosaic in each local community.
Racialized groups can be newcomers, particularly those who have migrated to Canada in the last 10-15 years from non-European countries, established immigrant as well as Canadian- born communities. It is necessary to clarify this, as the terms “immigrant”, “newcomer” and “racialized communities” or “people of colour” are often used interchangeably. Because of the complex nature of inequalities, issues facing newcomers can be compounded by the fact that they may also belong to racialized communities. Conversely, members of racialized communities may face continued inequalities, despite being Canadian residents or citizens of long standing.
Aboriginal Groups/First Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, Metis) are included separately in recognition of their unique situation as original peoples while the rest of the population are immigrants or descendants of immigrants. This project does not specifically include First Peoples out of respect for self-determination, that projects for First Peoples should be led by First Peoples, but the project will connect with, share information and hopes to learn from the work of First Peoples in this area.
Statistics Canada’s’s category of “Visible minority” is based on the Employment Equity Act which defines visible minorities as “persons”, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in color.' Categories include: Chinese, South Asian (East Indian, Pakistani, Sri-Lankan, etc.), Black (e.g. African, Haitian, Jamaican, Somali), Filipino, Latin American, Southeast Asian (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Malaysian, Laotian, etc.), Arab, West Asian (e.g. Iranian, Afghan), Korean, Japanese, Visible minority, n.i.e. ('n.i.e.' means 'not included elsewhere'), and Multiple visible minority.
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Who should complete this survey?
Any group or organization who works with, or whose work has an impact on racialized communities in Ontario and their health. You may in fact be involved in a health equity related initiative, even if you do not use the term. We encourage you to look at your work to see if you should be responding to this survey.
Specific focus around project priorities of healthy eating, physical activity and mental health promotion is preferable, but not necessary.
If you work in public health, community health centres or community organizations this survey is meant for you. However, given the fact that health inequities are created and maintained by intersecting factors, we actively welcome submissions from other audiences.
If your work involves policy, planning, direction setting, we would like to hear from you What we know about inequities tells us that addressing these issues best begins by setting the right policy directions, in addition to how programs and services are delivered.
We especially wish to encourage submissions from smaller community groups and agencies, including those run by volunteers, as these initiatives are not often included in more formal promising practice or “best practice” directories and inventories. We hope this project will be an opportunity to highlight the wealth of initiatives that we know are happening in the community.
Instructions for completing survey
We request one response per organization for Part I, the environmental scan. In the case of large entities such as public health or community health centres, you may wish to submit multiple responses (from different teams, programs or departments).
If your organization runs/coordinates a network, submit one response for your organization, and another for the network.
For Part II, we request an individual submission for every practice. You may submit as many as you like.
You can answer Part I alone, or both Part I and Part II.
Click here for Part I
Click here for Part II
Thank you for completing this survey. This survey will remain open until March 22, 2010. Please forward this email widely to those you think may be interested.
We would like to hear from as many groups as possible. If you are unable to access the electronic survey, please let us know. We would be happy to call you and complete the survey over the phone.
For this, or any other questions related to the survey, please contact Subha Sankaran at:
Email: s.sankaran@healthnexus.ca
Tel: 416-408-6915
Toll free: 1-800-397-9567 ext 2245
