Our AcknowledgementWe at Stonegate Community Health Centre reflect on and acknowledge the mistakes and traumas of the past through authenticity and support for truth and reconciliation. We come from a place of respect and gratitude to know where we work, live, and learn in traditional indigenous lands. The centre supports the principle of Indigenous Health in Indigenous Hands. The land Stonegate sits on is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples and many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis. This land is home to Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island, including status, non-status, Inuit and Metis- alongside immigrants, refugees and settlers who have come here by choice, by force, or otherwise as a result of colonial and imperial processes. Stonegate is mindful of broken covenants and commits to peaceably sharing and caring, working in allyship, as well as, upholding responsibilities to all who now live on these lands, the land itself, and the resources that make our lives possible. |
Stonegate Community
Stonegate serves the Stonegate-Queensway community (see map) providing easy access to health services and healthy living programs for residents in the South East Etobicoke.
In 1970 the Stonegate Community was solidly middle class. Both the apartment dwellers and home owners had an income that was within 20% above or below the average income for the City of Toronto. By the year 2000 that picture has changed dramatically.
Today the Stonegate Community is unique in its contrasts, serving two census tracks that are different in terms of income and need. The area immediately surrounding the Stonegate CHC has 75 private for profit low-rise apartment buildings housing almost 6,000 people. These building have historically housed a large population of immigrants from Eastern Europe, significant percentage of female lone parent families, families of which at least 42% are living below the poverty line, and a 25% child poverty rate. What is most striking is the income gap between families in the community which is almost $70,000. The catchment includes the population in both these census tracks and small fractions of two others; the focus of the centre is those in greatest need that face disparities in access to services. For more information on the demographics of the Stonegate Queensway Neighbourhood and the health equity demographics of Stonegate clients click here.
West Toronto has been identified as having one of the top five highest rates of people without a primary care provider (e.g. doctor or nurse practitioner) in Ontario at about 16%. In the Stonegate-Queensway area it was identified in 2021 that the service capacity for primary care was 19% short of the need for health care services. It is forecast that by 2026 this gap will increase to 29%.
Stonegate continues to engage the community (see community engagement policy) to identify community needs and to work collaborative on providing needed services and programs. In 2022 we gathered community feedback to inform our Strategic Directions identifying the need for increased access to primary care, the need for more mental health supports, concerns around food insecurity. The rising cost of food and growing unemployment in our community has resulted in increasing requests for assistance in accessing food.
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