The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction has partnered with an outside organization (Argyle) to facilitate a small online group discussion on how to make progress on poverty reduction in BC and update TogetherBC – BC’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

DABC is bringing together our network to support and host this focus group discussion.

We have a goal of continuing to reduce poverty in our province and we want your advice on how to make sure future actions support those who need it most. Whether you have ideas about how to make more progress on poverty throughout BC, or suggestions about how legislation could be changed to better serve British Columbians, we want to hear from you.

Argyle is facilitating many meetings with the general public and smaller, more focused sessions with targeted populations that are disproportionately affected by poverty. This small group discussion will be led by Argyle and staff from DABC will be present.

This small group discussion will be completely confidential (see privacy statement below).

This session will take place online over Zoom on February 21, 2023 at 1pm for 1 hour.

DABC will be requiring participants’ names and email addresses in order to send the meeting link for the online focus group discussion. This information will not be shared with Argyle or the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction.

After attending the focus group discussion, each participant will receive a $100 honourarium. DABC will be handling the distribution of honoraria and participants can choose to pick up their honourarium in cash at DABC’s office in downtown Vancouver or have the amount mailed to them as a cheque.

If you are interested in participating in this focus group discussion, please send an email to feedback@disabilityalliancebc.org with the subject line: “Poverty Reduction Focus Group” as soon as possible. Please provide your name and how you would like to receive your honourarium.

A maximum of 12 participants will be selected to join this focus group discussion. We anticipate there may be a high volume of interested participants, and so only selected participants will be contacted for further details.

In your email, please identify any accommodation requests you may have for the online focus group discussion.

Privacy Statement

Focus group participants must understand and agree to the following privacy statement:

  *   Participating in a small group meeting means your responses will be collected for the purposes of informing TogetherBC, B.C.’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. Please note that questions in this small group are optional and your responses are confidential. Information gathered will be anonymous and analyzed as a group. Please do not include any personally identifiable information about yourself or others in your responses.

  *   If you have any questions about the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, please contact: Director, Partnerships and Engagement: citizenengagement@gov.bc.ca.

  *   This information is being collected by the Ministry Social Development and Poverty Reduction under the authority of section 26(c) and 26(e) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FOIPPA”).

The Long COVID Patient Experience Project was developed to connect people living with long COVID and health scientists so that they can learn together about the impact of long COVID and use this information to guide research to solve the puzzle of long COVID.

Have or had Long COVID? Want to share your story? Take the survey here: https://patientscientist.ca/long-covid-survey

The website is a partnership between the BC SUPPORT Unit, the Post-COVID Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network, Arthritis Research Canada, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and Population Data BC.

Who is eligible?

You may be eligible if you:

• Identify or may be identified as having a disability
• Identify as a woman, trans, or non-binary person
• Are 18 years or older
• Live and receive health care in Canada

What will you be doing?

• You have the option of completing a 20-minute survey and/or a 1-hour interview about your reproductive health and the health care services you received since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• You can do the study, or not do the study. The choice you make will not impact the services you use now or later.

How will it work?

• The survey can be done by you online, by telephone or Zoom with a researcher at a time that works for you.
• The interview can also be done by telephone or Zoom.
• You are welcome to do both the survey and the interview.
• If you need any supports or accommodations to participate, please let us know.

What are the benefits of participating?

What you share about your reproductive health experiences during COVID-19 will help make services better for other people during and beyond the pandemic. You will receive a $15 gift card for the survey and a $40 gift card for the interview, to thank you.

Contact us Email wiresearch.utsc@utoronto.ca or call 647-601-4519. Visit our website for more information: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/disabilitySRH

Notes

“Reproductive health” includes experiences related to contraception, abortion, sexually transmitted infections, cervical cancer screening, violence, pregnancy, postpartum health, and the health of your children.

“Disability” comprises a range of disabilities, including those who self-identify as disabled and/or d/Deaf. This definition is inclusive of those who have yet to receive an official diagnosis. We have chosen to be as inclusive as possible, consistent with our commitment to include those with disabilities who remain invisible and uncounted.

This study has been reviewed and approved by the University of Toronto Research Ethics Board #42194.

Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough have partnered with the Disabled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada to design and run this study. This study is funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research.