Seminar at UoT on Good Governance

On March 2, David Noble will host Dr. David Mowat and Peter MacLeod in an interactive panel discussion titled Good Governance for Local Environment and Health Decision-Making. The event, which is to be held at the University of Toronto, is the latest in a seminar series organized by the university’s Centre for Urban Health Initiatives.

The seminar explores the innovative work on strengthening local governance that was initiated by David Noble and Dr. Cory Neudorf, Saskatoon Health Region,  in 2007. David will present insights from two case communities - Owen Sound, ON and Saskatoon, SK. Public Health has an important role in ensuring that municipalities account for public health implications in their decision-making. However, there is no systematic way to ensure public health is considered in municipal decision-making. This is true in respect to many health issues, but especially in the case of policy decisions that have environmental impacts. This project examined the institutional context for environment and health decision-making at the local level, including the challenges to effective public health participation in decision-making, and means and practices for improving public health engagement.

Dr. David Mowat, Peel Region Health and Peter MacLeod, MASS LBP will respond with a critique of governance in urban health practice. David Mowat is the Medical Officer of Health in the Region of Peel, and formerly Deputy Chief Public Health Officer with the Public Health Agency of Canada. Peter MacLeod is the principal and co-founder of MASS LBP, and a fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen’s University.

The two case communities were part of the project “Bridging the gap: Good governance for local environment and health decision-making”, co-led by David Noble and Dr. Cory Neudorf, with funding from the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives, the University of Saskatchewan, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Event details
Monday March 2nd, 2009   1:15 – 2:45
University College, Room 163, 15 King’s College Circle, University of Toronto St. George Campus

The event is free to attend; please RSVP