ACF SPOTLIGHT ON PARTNERSHIPS: TAKING THE NEXT STEPS ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & MEDICARE

SPOTLIGHT ON PARTNERSHIPS: Community Building and Medicare

ACF Partnerships for Inclusion and Community Building

The Foundation has a rich track record of partnerships geared towards advancing our mission of promoting social and economic justice.  Much of our work has promoted the principle of inclusion, meaning that we try to pay close attention to more than just our policy destinations but who is along for the journey as partners and mentors to our work.  It means that we recognize that process shapes outcomes, and that in some ways, the process is the “product”. 
 
As part of ACF's commitment to inclusion, the Foundation sponsors community development projects where the process and outcomes are interwoven.  We understand that low-income people need to drive income security changes.  That parents and students are the best advocates for stronger early learning programs and a better education system. That newcomer groups need support and capacity in order to more fully participate in shaping the wellbeing of their communities.  And that contingent workers themselves must be at the forefront of efforts for better jobs and labour standards that are actually enforced. 
 
Three recent ACF Board-approved partnerships illustrate these principles.  ACF is proud to extend its partnership with the Workers Action Centre, a grassroots organization of, by and for contingent workers, to work for changes to improve working conditions in Ontario. And we are pleased to partner with the dynamic Maytree Foundation in supporting this work. 

We have also added two new exciting partners in the community sector. Acorn Canada is a member-driven, national non-profit organization that represents low- and moderate-income Canadians on the critical issues of social and economic justice.  And Voices From the Street: The Toronto Speakers Bureau is a project led by people and communities who have experienced poverty who want to contribute to more inclusive and effective anti-poverty policies and programs.
 
The Foundation recognizes that inclusion and economic justice are inseparable.  While we have achieved a great deal in this area, we want to explore other ways in which we can increase our impact and effectiveness.  In 2007, ACF will strike an Inclusion Task Force to advise the Foundation on how it can better align words with action and resources, act as partners for change, and be the change we seek in the world.  More details in upcoming bulletins.

ACF Partnerships for Medicare

Joseph E. Atkinson fought for medicare on the basis that the poor should not get sick worrying about getting sick.  Canada’s Medicare system--built on the five principles of universality, comprehensiveness, portability, accessibility and public administration-remains one the most significant enablers of our nation’s commitment to equality, social justice and fairness.  
 
The Foundation’s continued support for health-related projects and activities is a recognition of the central role that Medicare plays in our mission to seek greater social and economic justice.  We know that Medicare is about basic Canadian values like equity and fairness for all citizens. In a recent report entitled “Getting Better Health Care: Lessons from (and for) Canada”, former Economic Justice Fellow Armine Yalnizyan writes that “international experience shows that universal access to quality care is a critical way forward for societies, rich and poor, to develop the potential of individuals and communities alike.  Nothing is less costly to provide on such a scale than a publicly-insured system.  Nothing is more powerful than a single-payer system to control costs and allocate funding so that treatments provide the greatest benefits to those in the greatest need.”

In fact, Medicare remains the foundational cornerstone for all the work that’s yet to be done in advancing Atkinsonian values for greater social and economic justice: early learning and child care, income security, living wages, post-secondary education and housing.  These all remain fragmented, piece-meal programs, that fall short of achieving the five principles that underpin Medicare’s success.
 
To be sure, we need health care renewal to happen much faster.  Serious challenges remain which demand concerted attention and action and the debate on Medicare is far from finished.  There are those high in ideology and resources and low on evidence who continue to seek the two-tiering of Medicare.  In fact, because Medicare is such a significant bastion for a progressive Canada, it will always be open to its challengers. 

But while Canada still has a long way to go in terms of consolidating needed reforms to gain even greater support for this program, there is some slow, but significant progress.  And public opinion remains on the side on Medicare, along with evidence and a solid network of defenders of universal health care, backed by nurses, citizens’ organizations, economists, employers, and labour unions.
 
In the coming year, ACF will bolster its commitment to Medicare by supporting the work of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, a new, physician-based voice for Medicare that will enable networking among health care professionals who understand the evidence in support of a renewed universal model.