Health Promotion Ontario

2008 Conference Update

Hello, this is just a quick update to HPO members regarding our successful conference that was held earlier this week in Toronto. It was great to meet so many members, both new and familiar faces!

About 50 HPO members and other guests including representatives from public health departments from Nova Scotia and Manitoba (sponsored by the Public Health Agency of Canada) gathered for the event, which was titled Poverty, Politics and Public Health.

The agenda was packed with sessions and speakers based around health promotion and the role of health promoters in developing health public policy.

The conference was opened with greetings from myself as chair, as well as remarks from Gayle Bursey on behalf of Peel Health as our host health department. A letter of greeting from Minister of Health Promotion Margarett Best was read.

Pegeen Walsh of the Ministry of Health Promotion provided an informative update on MHP activities, and a summary of progress as well as key goals and future opportunities for HPO to work together with the Ministry.

Grace-Edward Galabuzi of Ryerson gave the first presentation with a provocative overview of poverty and the racialization of poverty, providing important insight into the specific issues affecting diverse populations, and policy levers.

Bob Gardner of the Wellesley Centre followed with an informative and insightful presentation on framing policy, gave pointers for writing a policy brief and navigating policy through political channels. Participants worked through lunch and honed their skills by crafting "elevator speeches" designed to pitch a policy idea to a policy maker (in 30 seconds or less!). The afternoon program included resource sharing, and the Annual General Meeting. Reports were given from the constituent society representatives, and the elections and nominations process was also held.

On Wednesday May 14, Alycia Fridkin, of the Public Health Agency of Canada provided an update on the Core Competencies and discipline-specific competencies.

The 2008 recipient was Gayle Bursey.

The following is quoted from the nomination:

As a registered dietitian, Gayle’s Bursey’s (Mackenzie) early health promotion work took her into remote northern first nations communities. From there she took a position as nutritionist with the Lambton Health Unit in 1990. In 1993, she was promoted to Manager of Family Health. Gayle has been active in many provincial initiatives, including technical reviews of the Mandatory Programs and Services Guidelines and more recently the proposed Ontario Public Health Standards. Gayle has demonstrated leadership in many areas at the local level, including tobacco control with local bylaws, trail development and she also managed the development of an award winning injury prevention video, “Be a House Detective”. In 2002, Gayle became the Director of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention for Peel Health. In that role, she has been instrumental in leading health promotion work in the areas of social marketing, land use planning, and the built environment. Gayle is well known for her mentorship of others, and at has consistently worked to advance the practice of health promotion and increase the profile of health promoters as a discipline. Gayle has played a key role in the development of discipline-specific competencies for health promoters, working with the Public Health Agency of Canada. Gayle has also been a strong member and supporter of Health Promotion Ontario since 1992, and has served as ALPHA rep. Vice-Chair, and Chair among other functions over the years, and has represented HPO at many levels and many consultations throughout her tenure. As a Director at Peel Health she continues to support HPO by encouraging her staff to participate and supporting their active participation in HPO activities as members and executive positions. 

Lori's husband David and daughters Sarah and Stephanie were in attendance and participated in the award presentation.

Please click here for Conference Presentations.