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By Melanie Redman




Count Me In! (a project of the Laidlaw Foundation and Health Canada) was developed over the course of a year through a Provincial Advisory Group and three Demonstration Sites across Ontario. The project developed inclusion tools for various groups, using the determinants of health as a way of analyzing inclusion. The project defined inclusion, as follows:

*A society where everyone belongs creates both the feeling and reality of belonging and helps each of us reach our potential.

*The feeling of belonging comes through caring, cooperation, and trust. The feeling http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifflows from attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. We build the feeling of belonging together and for each other.

*The reality of belonging comes through equity and fairness, social and economic justice, and cultural as well as spiritual respect. The reality flows from missions, mandates, policies, and programs. We build the reality of belonging by engaging our society to ensure it.

Count Me In! analyzes inclusion through the determinants of health. The feeling and reality of belonging play differently through the various determinants of health and among groups in a diverse society. For example, racialized communities seeking inclusion in employment or education face language barriers, ethno-racial differences, racism, immigration status, and settlement/adjustment problems. These barriers must be identified and indicators, strategies, and targets to promote inclusion must be developed for these communities to reach full potential. An inclusion toolkit can be downloaded for free here.