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Families Together
238 Queen St. West
Toronto, ON
M5V 1Z7
Phone: 416-840-7898
Info@Lift.to
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St. Jamestown in early spring
The St. Jamestown L.E.A.D. Project:
Local Empowerment and Access to Democracy
A project for Human Rights
and a Healthy Community
Initiated by Low Income Families with Ryerson University
With funding from Wellesley Institute
Human Rights and Healthy Communities
The St. James Town L.E.A.D. Project is a joint effort by LIFT (Low Income Families Together) and Ryerson University. The aim of L.E.A.D. is to engage St. James Town residents in human rights education and a collective process to create a safer and healthier community. Using the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as a guide, L.E.A.D will train community residents to facilitate focus groups with other residents to explore our human rights and identify the changes needed for a healthy community. This is a community-based action research project because it involves the whole community in researching, assessing and reporting its needs, as well as developing strategies to create desired changes.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
In 1976, Canada signed a declaration known as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR). The ICESCR recognizes that all human beings have the right to security of healthy food, safe housing, fair work and wages, social security, health services, education and other necessities of a healthy life. In signing this international, legally-binding treaty, Canada made a promise to ensure that every person has equal access to these basic human rights. The St. Jamestown L.E.A.D. Project is about making the connection between Economic, social and cultural human rights and the health of the community. In Canada, the “social determinants of health” indicators used by various levels of government, closely reflect the articles of the ESCR covenant, so we intend to use these “determinants” as well. One outcome of the LEAD project was a special report to the UN committee reviewing Canada’s compliance with the ICESCR (spring 2006), another outcome will be “state of the community” reports complete with recommendations submitted to all levels of government.
Why St. James Town?
We have chosen St. James Town because this community is likely the most diverse neighborhood in the world, has been damaged by years of government cutbacks to social services and housing and because many of us live here. In the past two decades, LIFT has hosted popular education and community economic development workshops, held all candidates meetings, helped in the struggle for school food and breakfast programs and the new community centre, and hosted community dinners in St. Jamestown.
L.E.A.D. Project Goals:
- To collectively assess quality of life in the St. Jamestown community through resident participation and action
- To develop and strengthen relationships between community members, community-based organizations and local service agencies
- To develop democracy and leadership within the community through participation
- To further public education about how respecting social and economic human rights can foster healthy communities
- To empower residents to hold governments accountable for public policies that impact on their communities and individual/collective human rights
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