Government of Canada helps to address health and social inequities in Saskatchewan

Press Release

The Intersectoral Action Fund addresses complex public health challenges

September 21, 2022 | Ottawa, Ontario | Public Health Agency of Canada

Canada is one of the healthiest countries in the world, and everyone in Canada deserves opportunities to thrive and lead a healthy life. The Government of Canada is taking action to address systemic health challenges and barriers so that every individual has the resources and opportunities for good health and wellbeing.

Health inequities are the systematic, unfair and avoidable differences in health outcomes. Health inequities have long existed in Canada, but have been even more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic disproportionately affected the mental and physical wellbeing of many groups in society, including Indigenous peoples, Black and racialized communities, as well as people from lower income households, children, youth, and seniors.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, announced an investment of $190,925 through the new Intersectoral Action Fund (ISAF) for a Saskatoon-based project focusing on how poverty and racism affect people’s health and well-being.

This funding will help address how poverty and racism are interconnected and ultimately affect the health of various communities in Saskatchewan. To do this, the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership will engage with community partners and representatives, including individuals with lived/living experience about how racism can be the root cause of poverty. By strengthening relationships and building capacity with other partners, such as the Saskatoon Anti-Racism Network, this project will aim to improve the core competencies regarding equity for government and system policy makers, sector practitioners and community members both in Saskatoon and across Saskatchewan. These core competencies will increase the capacity to address poverty and ultimately improve the health and well-being of members of communities.

The Public Health Agency of Canada, through the ISAF, is funding projects across the country to improve the conditions for health and the systems and structures that shape them, and to help everyone in Canada reach their full health potential.

Quotes

“Everyone deserves a healthy life that is why our government is addressing the root causes of complex public health challenges. We are supporting community organizations across the country, to work together towards the reduction of health and social inequities. I look forward to seeing how the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership will help drive poverty reduction and improve health outcomes for economically and socially marginalized communities in Saskatoon.”

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Health

“We are grateful for this investment to build capacity in the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership (SPRP) to look deeply at the intersection of poverty and racism. Sustainable authentic change can only be achieved through a focus on equity. Applying an anti-racist methodology provides an analysis to expose racism, the structures that sustain it and the ways it perpetuates poverty in Canada.”

Colleen Christopherson-Cote
SPRP Coordinator

Quick facts

The ISAF launched in May 2021 to support action on social determinants of health. The Fund helps build capacity in communities to advance intersectoral action on social determinants of health, particularly as they move towards the difficult work of recovering from the pandemic.
Social determinants of health refer to the broad range of social, economic and environmental factors that relate to an individual’s place in society (such as gender, race, income, education, or employment) and that determine individual and population health. These determinants are shaped by the distribution of wealth, power, and opportunities within and between populations.
Intersectoral action refers to the ways that different groups and sectors of society work together to enhance the health of our communities. The ISAF supports communities to build capacity for such action, and helps ensure that the social determinants of health and health inequities are understood and addressed.
Fourteen projects were selected for funding through the ISAF. These projects will address the root causes of long-standing community health challenges or those heightened by COVID-19, or proposed activities that build on or advance intersectoral initiatives to expand their reach or impact.

Associated links

Contacts

Marie-France Proulx
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Health
613-957-0200

Media Relations
Public Health Agency of Canada
613-957-2983
[email protected]

Public Inquiries:
613-957-2991
1-866-225-0709

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1-833-784-4397

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