about us
mission
Planned Parenthood Toronto is a youth-driven, anti-racist, culturally-responsive community health centre
that advances reproductive justice, health and overall well-being for young people through primary,
sexual and mental health care, community programs, research and values-based advocacy.
vision
Healthy, supportive and equitable communities that promote youth’s autonomy in building their lives.
principles
PPT affirms its commitment to:
Being youth-driven: Young people are at the centre of all of PPT’s work. Youth voices and perspectives
drive decisions about how programs, services and community-based research are designed, delivered,
monitored and evaluated. Young people are supported to meaningfully engage in decision-making and
demonstrate their leadership.
Anti-oppression and anti-racism: We acknowledge that the early Planned Parenthood movement has a
complicated history rooted in racism and ableism. Through our work, we address systemic barriers that
impact racialized queer youth while actively identifying and removing oppressive practices within our
organization.
Sex-positivity: Sex is a part of life that can be fun and pleasurable. We respect people’s consensual
sexual choices and are supportive and non-judgemental about people’s sexual identities, activities, and
experiences. We support youth on their journey to self-define, discover and explore their sexuality.
Centring 2SLGBTQIA+: We honour, centre and celebrate all sexual orientations and gender identities.
These include two-spirit, lesbian, gay, trans, queer, bisexual, intersex and asexual youth and provide
gender-affirming spaces, care and programming.
Bodily autonomy: We are pro-choice and support abortion access. We believe that all youth should be
able to decide what happens to their body and should be supported to make informed choices.
Reproductive justice: We recognize that the ability to control one’s reproductive destiny is directly linked
to the conditions that are present in youth’s communities. Sexual and reproductive justice exists when all
people have the power, information and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies, sexuality
and reproduction regardless of race, income, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, immigration status,
ability, geography or other factors. It includes the right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have
children, not have children and parent children in safe and sustainable communities. Through our
services and our advocacy, we strive to help make choices safer, more affordable and more accessible.
Collaboration: We listen and evolve together, helping, trusting and supporting each other in pursuit of
our common goals.
Accountability: We are committed to ongoing self-reflection, examination and holding ourselves
accountable to the communities we serve. We acknowledge the deep and lasting harm done to Black and
Indigenous communities and commit to repair and reconciliation. We strive to centre the voice and
experiences of the most marginalized including Indigenous, Black, racialized and two-spirit, lesbian, gay,
bisexual, trans, queer and disabled communities who face many barriers when it comes to their health
and well-being.
equity vision
PPT will be responsive to the changing needs of youth in Toronto and the many people and communities that create the vitality and resiliency of our city. We acknowledge that systemic barriers to equity exist and that PPT can also perpetuate systemic barriers within our organization.
Equity can only be achieved by actively pursuing it as a goal and understanding that it is an ongoing process with no completion date. We strive to ensure we are supporting and creating inclusive and equitable environments. We value diversity and inclusion and are committed to working towards equity. We recognize that treating all groups equally will not result in equity. Doing equity work must include a willingness to embrace discomfort, we commit to engaging with discomfort and see it as a good guide that we are on the right track in achieving justice and liberation for all.
We will continue and increase our work to make meaningful, respectful and equitable connections with marginalized communities and individuals, through sharing resources, creating more opportunities to collaborate, making authentic connections, co-designing goals, and engaging leaders with lived experience to ensure all communities in Toronto see themselves reflected at Planned Parenthood Toronto.
One important way to help achieve equity is to amplify the voice and power of marginalized communities. We want to ensure that people can thrive and reach their full potential by amplifying the voices and power of the community. We commit to reporting back and communicating about our successes and challenges in our equity and inclusion journey.
You can read our full equity statement and the associated action items by clicking here.
land acknowledgement
Planned Parenthood Toronto is located on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabe, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the Haudenosaunee, and the Huron-Wendat. Indigenous peoples have lived on and cared for this land for time immemorial. This territory is covered by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Treaty. Today, Toronto is still home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island. We acknowledge that settlers on the land directly benefit from the process of colonization. As an agency, we are committed to an ongoing process of increasing our capacity to provide culturally safe health care that meets the diverse needs of Indigenous peoples.
we believe that sex work is real, valid work.
And we advocate for rights and protections of those working in this field. We believe that sex workers and folks who perform sex work, including youth, deserve sexual and reproductive health services that are inclusive and non-judgmental, empowering them to make choices that are right for them and relevant to their needs.
PPT is a scent-free place to be
Scented products like perfumes and body sprays can cause:
- headache, skin irritation
- dizziness, lightheadedness
- nausea, fatigue
- weakness, insomnia
- difficulty concentrating
- malaise, confusion
- allergies, loss of appetite
- depression, anxiety
- numbness
- shortness of breath
- upper respiratory symptoms
Please respect each other by not wearing scented products at PPT.
client and participant rights
As a client of Planned Parenthood Toronto, you have the right to:
- be treated with respect and dignity regardless of age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, citizenship, health insurance status, education, physical and/or mental abilities;
- health care even if you do not have a health card;
- be referred to by the name and pronoun that you use;
- share only the information you want with the people serving you and be confident that your information will be kept confidential within the limits of the law;
- bring a friend or support person with you to an appointment and/or into the exam room;
- refuse the presence of an observer or student;
- refuse any care, services, or treatment;
- be presented with all the information you need, where you feel comfortable making your own decisions and be supported in your decision making;
- easily accessible health care services that are provided in a safe, comfortable, respectful, and confidential environment within legal limits;
- a fair, safe, and clear process of complaint;
- know the names, roles, and positions of the people serving you, and
- know the experience and qualifications of the people serving you.
accountability
Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure
The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996 (the act) makes Ontario’s public sector more open and accountable to taxpayers. The act requires organizations that receive public funding from the Province of Ontario to disclose annually the names, positions, salaries, and total taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year.
The act applies to organizations such as the Government of Ontario, crown agencies, municipalities, hospitals, Boards of Public Health, school boards, universities, colleges, Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation, and other public sector employers who receive a significant level of funding from the provincial government.
quality improvement
Planned Parenthood Toronto is committed to continuously improving our quality of services and programs.
Read our 2019/2020 Health Quality Ontario quality improvement plan below:
Progress Report
Narrative
Workplan
Collaboration Report
our history: the cadbury family legacy
Barbara Cadbury moved from London, England to Regina, Saskatchewan in 1940. With her, she brought not only her husband George and two daughters, but also a wealth of experience garnered from being the youngest borough councilor in the City of London. Barbara quickly integrated herself into the Canadian political arena, becoming the first woman elected to a cooperative board in Canada.
Barbara’s vision of bringing people together to shore up support for family planning and women’s health caused her to leave her duties in the Saskatchewan Cooperative Movement. In 1951, Barbara refocused her energies and began advocating for birth control and women’s health as the editor of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s magazine. In 1954, Barbara and her husband, George Cadbury, began revolutionizing the field of family planning at an international level. With the support of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the Cadburys succeeded in helping organize a Family Planning Association of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and assisted in founding the Family Planning Association of Jamaica. In recognition of the Cadburys’ boundless passion and inspirational achievements, in 1960 the IPPF appointed both Barbara and George as special representatives of the president and governing body.
In 1961, outraged by the arrest of Toronto pharmacist Harold Fine (who had been arrested for providing information on contraception), the Cadburys organized the first meeting of the Planned Parenthood Association of Toronto.
The Cadburys led a massive media campaign to amend the criminal code and, in 1969, the dissemination of birth control became legal. Following this success, PPT became a registered charitable organization and began to create programs that provided direct sexual health services.
and after…
In 1975, PPT’s partnership with the Bay Centre for Birth Control began. Today, the partnership still exists as the satellite office of PPT’s Women’s Programming. In 1983, The House Teen Health Centre for youth ages 13 to 25 opened it doors. It became a licensed Community Health Centre in 1990. Now, as Planned Parenthood Toronto Health Services, we offer a full range of health services including primary health, sexual and reproductive health, and mental health services for youth ages 13 to 29. In 1993, the Teen Sex InfoLine accepted its first phone call on its peer-based information support line. In 2001, the TSI expanded its services with the launch of a new website for teens, Spiderbytes.ca, providing 24-hour a day answers to frequently asked questions about sexual health for youth. In 1998, PPT adopted the Teens Educating and Confronting Homophobia (T.E.A.C.H.) program, a small, peer-led anti-homophobia project from East End Community Health Centre. The program is now very well-known in Toronto, having won a number of awards and distinctions. In the last few years, PPT has undertaken a number of consultations to further our knowledge of the state of sexual health in Toronto, and we have initiated new programs to increase our capacity to provide programming to meet the needs of the people of Toronto.
address
36B Prince Arthur Avenue
Toronto, ON M5R 1A9
Canada
hours (by appointment only)
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 9:30am-8pm
Wednesday: 9:30am-12pm and 4pm-8pm
Friday: 9:30am-4pm
Saturdays: 10am-2pm (sexual and reproductive health walk-ins only [except on long weekends])