Item - 2016.HL16.1

The Board of Health forwards the Item to City Council without recommendation.

The Board of Health:  

1.  Requested the Acting Medical Officer of Health, in coordination with the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration and the General Manager, Transportation Services, to develop a City of Toronto public education campaign to address Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), to address societal norms, gender and economic inequality, discrimination, and other factors that perpetuate IPV identified in Goal 3 of the Action Plan, and to include: consideration of partnerships with community organizations, unique and intersecting issues and vulnerabilities faced by LGBTQ2S and Indigenous communities, campaign language to encourage bystander intervention, campaign advertising opportunities through City-owned street furniture and infrastructure, and the funding required to implement the campaign; and report back to the March 20, 2017 meeting of the Board of Health.

2.  Requested the Ontario government to:

a.  Provide dedicated funding to increase access to culturally safe and appropriate supports and services for those affected by IPV in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two spirit, gender diverse, and queer (LGBTQ2S) communities in Toronto.

b.  In developing the Legal Aid Ontario domestic violence strategy, include:

i.    exploring the establishment of a LGBTQ2S family law clinic in Toronto,

ii.   providing LGBTQ2S, anti-racist, anti-oppression training for legal  professionals, and

iii.  implementing specific policies that speak to practices that are inclusive of all those with marginalized identities.

3.  Requested the Toronto Police Services Board to build upon work underway to develop relationships with marginalized communities, including LGBTQ2S and racialized communities, and explore how to further enhance Toronto Police Service capacity for effective, appropriate response to Intimate Partner Violence incidents that involve people from marginalized communities.

4.  Requested the federal government to include dedicated funding to prevent and respond to Intimate Partner Violence in LGBTQ2S communities within the national strategy against gender-based violence currently being developed.

5.  Forwarded the report (November 24, 2016) from the Acting Medical Officer of Health to the following:  all City divisions and agencies; the City's Occupational Health and Safety Coordinating Committee; the four Toronto School Boards; Legal Aid Ontario; Law Society of Upper Canada; Ontario Human Rights Commission; and government ministries that provide programs or services to groups who are vulnerable and more likely to experience violence including the:

-        Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs

-        Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

-        Ministry of Children and Youth Services

-        Ministry Responsible for Women's Issues

-        Ministry of the Attorney General

-        Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

-        Ontario Women’s Directorate

-        Department of Justice Canada

-        Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

-        Ministry of Status of Women Canada.

The Acting Medical Officer of Health gave a presentation on Progress in Implementing the Intimate Partner Violence Action Plan, 2016 - 2019.

In Canada, one in three women has experienced abuse at some point in her life, and every six days, a woman is killed by her partner. On November 30, 2015 the Board of Health endorsed the Toronto Public Health (TPH) Action Plan on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) against Women and unanimously approved its recommendations for advocacy to other orders of government and for collaboration with other City divisions and agencies to identify opportunities to implement the IPV Action Plan. The Board directed the Medical Officer of Health to report on the progress in implementing the Action Plan in the fall of 2016. This report responds to that request.

The IPV Action Plan, 2016-2019, consists of 10 goals and a series of actions to enhance TPH's capacity to prevent, identify early, and respond to those affected by IPV. Within the first year of implementation of the Action Plan, progress has been made in addressing actions in all three areas of intervention and the report highlights some accomplishments to date. Toronto Public Health staff have initiated engagement with relevant City divisions in Cluster A to look for opportunities to implement the Action Plan. Structures are being established to facilitate long-term implementation in TPH and all relevant City divisions and agencies.

Early in the implementation process, TPH identified the need to enhance the plan to address the unique issues faced by vulnerable groups, beginning with Indigenous and LGBTQ2S communities, and continuing with other vulnerable groups in the future. This report identifies how TPH will address issues faced by these two communities.