Underserviced suburbs
A new report being released today is the latest to sound the alarm on the troubling inequalities between neighbourhoods in Toronto, and especially in poorer areas in the city's outer suburbs.
Compared to poor areas downtown, the outer suburbs in the city's northwest and eastern areas face an ongoing shortage of community centres, grocery stores, family physicians and other important necessities. These are among the 13 poorest and most underserviced neighbourhoods that the United Way targeted in 2003 for investment.
The study by the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences, which monitors health policy, found that poverty is a dominant factor in why residents in some neighbourhoods are less healthy, more obese and prone to illness than in other areas. But it also noted that the worst results were found in suburbs made up largely of isolated highrises on wide, busy streets and which have few parks and recreational facilities and inadequate public transit.
The report should act as a reminder to city and provincial politicians that they must work to improve conditions and tackle poverty in poor neighbourhoods in both the downtown area and outer suburbs.
This is especially true in the outer suburbs, which have the highest rates of immigration and unemployment and the lowest education levels in the city. That includes providing more income supports, better skills upgrading and job retraining programs and investing more time and effort in reducing troubling high-school dropout rates.
In addition, politicians should work toward providing more parks and services that make these areas more livable.
Safe and good schools, recreation programs and accessible services all contribute to the health of our communities. The longer these areas struggle, the more people will be left behind and the more all Torontonians will pay the long-term social, economic and health costs.
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