Programs / Centre for Urban Health Solutions / Resources and Reports / Evidence for a healthy city: informing healthy municipal policy

In the lead-up to the 2014 municipal election in Toronto, the Centre for Research on Inner City Health (CRICH) is introducing a new resource, ‘Evidence for a healthy city: informing healthy municipal policy’ (download here). Please note: this is not a comprehensive municipal platform, and is not meant to address all issues related to community health. Rather, it is a survey of recent research from CRICH, which generated five points of key importance to the health and wellbeing of Toronto residents:

• Inter-related factors like racism, discrimination* and the historical and contemporary effects of colonization deeply impact the health and wellbeing of Toronto residents.
• Access to quality, stable housing for every resident would dramatically improve population health in Toronto.
• Toronto residents are looking for services that are stably-resourced, welcoming, responsive and barrier-free.
• Healthy cities don’t work in silos – but see collaboration across sectors, City Departments and different levels of government.
• Healthy cities require flourishing, independent grassroots groups and movements.

We share details on these key points, along with a rich array of related research here
. We encourage you to ask candidates running for Mayor and City Council about where they stand based on the evidence presented, and to explore applying these findings to policy and practice. For more information, related resources, or to sign up for our email newsletter, please contact us at CRICHlist@smh.ca

* This includes but is not limited to discrimination on the basis of class, neighbourhood, housing status, receipt of social assistance, immigration status, perceived ability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, religion, physical health status and/or mental health status.