Ontario Health Policy: LGBT Inclusive or Exclusive?
Presenters:
Nick Mulé, Associate Professor, School of Social Work York University, Toronto
Loralee Gillis, Research & Policy Coordinator, Rainbow Health Ontario, Toronto
Miriam Smith, Professor, Department of Social Science, York University, Toronto
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people have not been officially defined as a distinctive stakeholder in Canadian health policy. LGBT people have typically been ignored and invisible in health policy making. Most discussions of health and of the Ontario health care system are based on heteronormative and gendered assumptions about the family lives of citizens. These assumptions have a real impact on the lives of LGBT people in the province. For instance, LGBT people in Ontario have poor health outcomes compared to straight and non-trans citizens. This workshop will map out the structural landscape of health policy in Ontario, highlighting the current transformation from a centralized approach to one of regionalization via the Local Health Integrative Networks (LHINs) approach. The move in Ontario to fund health care through Local Health Integration Networks poses both challenges and opportunities for LGBTs in Ontario’s political health policy structure. This workshop will present recommendations for creating greater inclusion of LGBTs in policy design and implementation in Ontario. One of the most positive steps toward greater inclusion of LGBT health issues in Ontario’s health policy has been the establishment of Rainbow Health Ontario. The workshop will share the policy initiatives that RHO has been involved in since its inception and discuss the impact that RHO has on government of Ontario health decisions in its first 2 years of existence. Half of the workshop time will be devoted to small group discussion which will be focused on identifying the building blocks for a LGBT health policy agenda for Ontario.
