ACCESS TO SERVICES & UTILIZATION OF AVAILABLE SERVICES

Access refers to the ability for Indigenous, Black and diverse Racialized community members to have opportunities to receive services that meet their needs. This involves the cost of services, the costs of getting to and from those services, as well as language accessibility, and other barriers that may prevent or limit the ability or willingness to use services.

In conversations with Indigenous, Black and diverse Racialized community members, several challenges and opportunities were identified to make services more accessible and increase the likelihood of them being used.

Many described difficulty in finding and learning about existing City services, and awareness of the services that do exist, in addition to difficulty in navigating and understanding how to use them. Others described feeling like they could not trust or access services as they were not designed for their needs. As well, people talked about word of mouth being an important factor in utilization especially when learning from family, friends, neighbours etc. in their communities about whether a service was inclusive or not.

Overall, people described a need for a stronger focus on the different needs of individuals within communities and that City services needed to be more inclusive of different peoples needs, wants, and cultures.

WHAT WE HEARD SUMMARY

• Service awareness: some community members said they were not aware of what services were available to them.
• How to share complaints and ideas: Others talked about neighbourhood problems and not knowing who to contact with their complaints.

• Language barriers: Many City services are only available in English, and for people with limited or no English fluency, this means that they can’t access many services.
• Technology barriers: Since the pandemic, most services have moved online, which has created new barriers. In particular, seniors, low income households, non-English speakers, and individuals with disabilities.

• Where services are delivered: Often information, services, and resources could only be accessed in one specific place in the city, or only accessed at specific government offices. This creates barriers to accessing this information for some people.
• Complex: people spoke a lot about how complicated City municipal processes are - such as numerous steps to follow, complex eligibility requirements, or requirements for government identification - which limited their ability to navigate and engage with services.
• Long wait for services: A key theme identified across consultations was that certain services require long wait times to access. Delays in access to affordable housing and transit were mentioned as examples that impact an individual’s social wellbeing and livelihood.

• Harmful experiences: Community members spoke about being treated or perceived negatively or with prejudice, both in passive/direct ways (displayed through signage or way in which services were structured) or more active/direct ways (treatment by staff). Across several consultations, community members - especially those who were unhoused or undocumented - spoke about being treated unfairly and being subjected to racist remarks or prejudice.
• Unresponsive services: Similarly, access is limited when a community member contacts a City service, but their concern is invalidated or not taken seriously. This had serious implications for ongoing utilization as communities ultimately lost trust that an issue would be addressed.

• Lack of cultural appropriateness and safety: Services often did not fit cultural expectations or people felt unsafe accessing services.
• Inequitable distribution / physical access to services: Community members shared the challenges of living in the Northeast and parts of the Southeast and Northwest, where they felt access to transit, affordable housing, City services, and recreation opportunities were noticeably less in comparison to the downtown core or other parts of the city.
• Ableism: Challenges to accessing services in a manner that is disability friendly was a major concern.

Service-specific challenges mentioned were:

Affordable housing:

• Long waitlists and reduced resources, lack of seniors’ subsidized housing in the NE
• No rent control/limited options for rent controlled housing and often the community indicated they faced discrimination in the search for housing.

Public Transit:

• Disability challenges were a major concern: lack of disability infrastructure, low-income access of disability equipment, lack of knowledge about how to handle this equipment during transportation
• Safety on the C-train stations and on the transit was a key concern for many communities

Civic Infrastructure:

• Snow removal was a high concern issue for many community members as it impacted their ability to go to their jobs, schools, and access services.

Recreation:

• Community members spoke about the challenges for finding recreational activities that were affordable, culturally relevant, and in their neighbourhood
• Often when Indigenous, Black, and diverse Racialized individuals did access these services they faced racism.