Intersectoral Action Fund (ISAF)

The Government of Canada is funding projects to address systemic health challenges and barriers. Five Ontario-based initiatives are receiving funding totalling more than $790,000 to build capacity to advance collective action on a range of health inequalities.

September 2022

The Government of Canada is funding projects to address systemic health challenges and barriers. Five Ontario-based initiatives are receiving funding totalling more than $790,000 to build capacity to advance collective action on a range of health inequalities.

List of funded projects

Egale Canada, based in Toronto, will receive $176,090 in funding to address some of the ways that Lesbian, Bi and Queer (LBQ) communities across Canada experience health, taking into consideration the long-standing barriers these communities have faced. This project will seek to improve health equity, fairness and justice for LBQ women and non-binary people.

The Ontario Employment Education and Research Centre, based in Toronto, will receive $69,983 in funding to help address working conditions as social determinants of health in Ontario. Working conditions, such as wages, access to paid sick days and job stability, unequally and unfairly impact the health of people from racialized communities, immigrants, migrants and women. This project will build the capacity of health partners so they can actively contribute to improving working conditions as a social determinant of health.

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, based in Vaughan, will receive $117,315 in funding to help increase equitable access to healthy built and natural environments, food security, healthy behaviours, social inclusion, and skills training in two low-income tower communities in the Greater Toronto Area. The goal of the Growing Healthy Towers project is to collectively address built environments in low-income tower communities, where community health and built environment issues intersect. Community-based programs and projects will include green infrastructure, urban agriculture, and active living. These communities, which include racialized and newcomer populations, have been greatly impacted by the social, economic and health impacts of COVID-19.

STEPS Public Art, based in Toronto, will receive $199,804 in funding to help address barriers to accessing public spaces. This will include how to improve the design and programming of public spaces that reflect the perspectives of equity-seeking or marginalized communities. To do this, the project will create learning opportunities by bringing together community members and partners from different parts of society. The end result will be to promote safe and culturally responsive public spaces across Canada.

Unity Health Toronto will receive $226,166 in funding to create new approaches for women and gender diverse peoples to increase their economic security and independence. The project is focused on those who experienced intimate partner violence in Hamilton. This project will include partners from the violence against women sector and will build capacity with other sectors that support women fleeing violence, such as housing, children's services, settlement, justice, and labour sectors. Unity Health Toronto will use an approach that helps to challenge gender norms and address power imbalances that create inequities for women and gender diverse peoples.