Fair Share for Peel Task Force

Inequity Hurts Us All

Provincial funding for social services has not kept pace with the growth of regions in the 905 area or with increasing ethno cultural diversity, which have both contributed to significant increases in needs. Indeed, Peel receives less than half of what some municipalities received when viewed on a per capita funding basis for the province.

Inadequate funding means inadequate service levels for people from all socio economic and cultural groups, who require social services. In Peel, it means waiting lists of 1 ½ years for mental health counselling for 6-7 year olds, a year for family therapy, half a year for respite care for families needing relief from the daily challenges of caring for someone with an intellectual disability. In some cases, waiting lists for counselling victims of abuse are so long that the women return to their abusers or can't get the services needed to leave. In other cases, it means that children - at least one a month - come into the care of Peel Children's Aid who wouldn't need to if there were sufficient services in the community.

And the impacts are also felt far and wide through the community. They include: increased bullying in the schools because children cannot get counselling, increased absenteeism in local businesses because working parents cannot get the services they need and increased pressure on hospitals, police and child welfare agencies which pick up the pieces of family violence and neglect.