The Canadian Poverty, Health Equity, and Climate Change knowledge mobilization initiative started in 2022 with funding from the McConnell Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. This initiative aims to improve Canada’s climate change mitigation and adaptation responses as they relate to individuals, families, and communities that are experiencing poverty.

This initiative has established networks of experts, policymakers, and community organizations and provides research, policy, education, and service direction based on the best available evidence on the climate change-poverty-health nexus in Canada.

Through a co-designed process, these networks are engaged in an array of activities, including literature reviews, think tanks, and participatory lived experience engagement. An intersectional lens is applied with specific emphases on the experiences of women, children and youth, older adults, and populations experiencing homelessness and housing precarity. Connecting and aligning this work with Indigenous communities, racialized communities, and other key points of intersection is a priority in this effort.

Meet the Team

  • Sean Kidd

    Dr. Sean A. Kidd is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and is the Division Chief of Psychology at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. His work has concentrated upon research with marginalized populations, including trials of community-based interventions for individuals with schizophrenia and youth who have experienced homelessness.

  • Mariya Bezgrebelna

    Mariya Bezgrebelna is a research analyst at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, working on the Canadian Poverty, Health Equity, and Climate Change initiative.

  • Leanne Lacap

    Leanne Lacap is a research analyst at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, supporting the Facing Climate Change in Poverty project. In addition to her research role, she is involved in community organizing within the Filipino community, focusing on advocacy for issues relevant both in the Philippines and among Filipinos in Canada.

  • Jolly Noor

    Jolly Noor is a research trainee at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, supporting the Canadian Poverty, Health Equity, and Climate Change initiative. She is pursuing a Master of Public Health degree at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health, specializing in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences with a focus on Health Promotion.

  • Mariam Farooq

    Mariam Farooq is a research trainee at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, contributing to the Canadian Poverty, Health Equity, and Climate Change initiative. Concurrently, she is pursuing a Master of Public Health degree at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health, focusing on Social and Behavioural Health Sciences, with a specialization in Global Health.

Experts engaged to date:

  • Tsion Berie - University of Calgary

  • Anabela Bonada - University of Waterloo

  • Céline Campagna - Université Laval

  • Nathalie Chalifour - University of Ottawa

  • Robin S. Cox - Royal Roads University

  • Runa Das - Royal Roads University

  • Erin Dobbelsteyn - University of Ottawa

  • Julie Drolet - University of Calgary

  • Blair Feltmate - University of Waterloo

  • Amber Fletcher - University of Regina

  • Cheryl Forchuk - Western University

  • Bonnie Fournier - Thompson Rivers University

  • Gregor Wolbring - University of Calgary

  • Britt Wray - Stanford University

  • Haorui Wu - Dalhousie University

  • Shelby Yamamoto - University of Alberta

  • Liv Yoon - University of British Columbia

  • Maya Gislason - Simon Fraser University

  • Sherilee Harper - University of Alberta

  • Christina Hoicka - University of Victoria

  • Glen Kenny - University of Ottawa

  • Anna Kopec - Carleton University

  • Robert Meade - University of Ottawa

  • Caroline Metz - University of Waterloo

  • Dianne Oickle - St. Francis Xavier University

  • Ellie Perkins - York University

  • Joanna Petrasek MacDonald - University of Guelph

  • Kristen Pue - Employment and Social Development Canada

  • Rebekka Schnitter - BC Ministry of Health

  • Pranita Bhushan Udas - UBC Okanagan

  • Pierre Valois - Université Laval

  • Liette Vasseur - Brock University