Peel Profile: Gurpreet Malhotra Q & A

Gurpreet Malhotra, CEO, Indus Community Services

By Arianne Robinson

As it approaches its 40th anniversary, Indus Community Services (originally, the India Rainbow Club of Peel) has much to celebrate. Most importantly, their commitment to providing culturally appropriate services to newcomers, families, women, and seniors in Mississauga and Brampton. Hooray for Indus!

How did you come to this work?

I’ve always been interested in helping people. I’m probably not great at teaching English. I’m probably not great at the counseling of a family going through stress, but I feel I’m pretty good at the administrative part of things: setting stuff up, designing programs, getting feedback. That’s what I love doing. Empowering others to be able to help the community.

What’s your favourite thing about Indus?

The services the organization provides sit next to each other. Someone may come in looking for language classes, and after a certain point, as they learn English, they move to one of our job search workshops. We’re very often the first social service or health system that a newcomer may come across.  Over the decades we have gotten countless newcomers off to a good start in Canada

What are the unique ingredients for successful program design in Peel?

We have six locations, three Mississauga, three in Brampton. We are fiercely multicultural, but we are also proud to be experts in serving the 560,000 plus South Asians living in Peel. That’s like two Windsors or three Barries. Program design needs to be culturally responsive – not just available in the language, but ultimately, culturally responsive. Imagine a senior who has lost their second or third language because of dementia and has regressed to their mother tongue. A culturally responsive system allows you to engage with that person.

What does culturally responsive programming look like beyond language? 

In cases of frailty or dementia in an older person, especially for those who come from one of the South Asian communities, we’re able to reach people through food. For example lunch today might be a vegetarian South Asian meal that may be low sodium. We also have Carrom boards available for people who play, sort of a version of billiards, using your fingers. Whether it be movies or entertainment or other things that are spoken in their language that can help them stay engaged, and keep their mind as sharp as possible. Adding those culturally responsive pieces is what makes someone comfortable and able to engage.

How does Indus prioritize a ‘people first’ or ‘bottom up’ approach?

The term I tend to use is ‘grassroots’, because if we didn’t our programs wouldn’t connect to the average resident. We spend a significant amount of time and resources on web advertising, radio, print and other media to reach people, but over and over, we find word of mouth is what works. Where someone is essentially giving us, what I call, ‘a warm transfer of trust’. We also do something called a net promoter score, where we ask if you would recommend our service to a friend or family member if they needed it. And the answer has been resoundingly positive. That tells us that we’re doing it right.

Describe a few snapshots of your clients 

We’ve been in Cooksville, now, for 40 years, and we’ve been in this location at Highway 10 and Dundas for all that time. This neighborhood is a classic receiver neighborhood, so we end up with newcomers coming in. Ukrainian people fleeing the violence in their homeland, Afghani and prior to them, Syrian refugees. We’ve seen this trend in our classrooms going back to the Vietnamese arrivals in the 70s and 80s. Many leave, but some stay. We keep seeing that cycle. Another group comes, whether they be from South Asia or from another part of the world.

What does that first day in an English class look like?

Our teachers really know how to engage someone who hasn’t been a student for years, or is new to participating in a multicultural classroom environment; sitting with someone who is from quote, unquote, the other side of whatever the conflict that may be occuring in the country you are from. Our English teachers are extraordinary diplomats. They’re able to focus the class on what it means to be a Canadian, what it means to put down roots here, and what It means to celebrate each other’s cultures, and move ahead as a community, together.

What is something that would surprise people about Indus?

We have about 140 staff, and we continue to grow in three big areas – whether it be newcomers, seniors or health promotion, or family counseling. I think what might surprise people is the sheer number of things that we do. Even our new employees don’t realize the volume of services that we offer until they are about 6 months into the job. We’ve been growing every year since inception.

Why did you get involved in the recent efforts of Metamorphosis?

When the Region of Peel was under threat of dissolution and the idea that systems – like Ontario Works or funding that support agencies directly – would switch to be administered by the lower tier municipalities overnight was preposterous. We were so pleased that the province changed its mind regarding human and health services, and kept us in the current system. This has allowed us to go through the exercise of saying, ‘Hey Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, before someone sells you a 50 year old used car, you might want to look under the hood, kick some of the tires, look at the stats and see exactly how much money each of these programs are getting’. When we did that financial analysis of funding of services, we found that the population in Peel was receiving only half the health services of the average Ontarian. This translated to a dearth of supports, including: a lack of long term care, insufficient mental health and particularly youth mental health supports, not enough diabetes prevention or cancer screening. This is inequitable because everyone in the province is paying the same provincial taxes. And yet, Peel doesn’t have the same resources as comparable regions. So, in all the areas that we’re doing poorly, it’s putting much more pressure on other systems.

Where do things stand now?

The provincial government is beginning to recognize the problem, but I was disappointed that the budget this month didn’t have a down payment for Peel. In the meantime, being short $868 million every year is a lot of pain in the community, a lot of gaps that families fall through. Our residents pay tax dollars and it should result in a proportionate amount of services. We’re not asking for anything more or above what anyone else gets, we’re just asking to receive something closer to the average.

How much of a ‘down payment’ are you hoping to see from the Province?

We wanted to see an amount for Peel in the provincial budget. Funding for social and health services comes from different pockets all over the provincial government and we are looking for a recognition that every ministry funder needs to figure out how they are treating Peel proportionately, and what they should do to correct. So, instead of having eight funding ministries or departments overnight balance that all out, it is easier to commit $100 million that would go to health, home and community care, mental health supports for young people, and support a lack of support funding for child welfare. So start forging pathways to correct the imbalance. As agencies also have a responsibility; we should expect it will come and we should start planning for where it should go. The goal is that we feel less and less like an abused colony that only gets visited during elections, and more like what we are – a major engine that is over 11% of the province’s population.

Are you hopeful that the Ford government will announce $100 million for social services in Peel?

Yes. I felt that Minister Bethlenfalvy was really listening when we did the presentation at the pre-Budget Consultations in January at Queen’s Park. I think he could see the downpayment as a mechanism that could work, and I think we need to be able to help the government undo the problem that this government and previous governments have created. We are a unified voice, along with our local politicians, and making a clear ask. The funding shortfall should be corrected. We hope that over the next three to four years the down payment turns into a fair distribution, and that Peel gets the new deal it deserves.

If they did commit the money, how should it be allocated in the sector?

The provincial government is responsible for distributing tax dollars through investments in services and infrastructure. Blame clearly rests at the provincial level for why we’re so underfunded in so many areas. They are responsible for correcting the imbalance. While there are a few areas where a more recent formula has been used, that is more equitable for resources for the people who live in Peel – it’s not enough change. Peel has 1.5 million people. I started in this field over 35 years ago and since the beginning then we’ve been growing fast and always multicultural. Our population relies on robust social infrastructure to survive and thrive. Underfunding can’t be ignored any longer.

Why should non-profit agencies become a member of Metamorphosis?

The best way for agencies to support their clients, our communities, and our families, is to become a member of the Metamorphosis Network. We recognize that, on the one hand, agencies want to speak out, but many are so short funded, and almost hand to mouth in their own right. Many non-profits don’t have the ability to look at a 35 year pattern of funding, or don’t have the ability to take the time away from their organization to volunteer. By becoming a member of the Metamorphosis Network, you’re saying ‘this is good work that needs to happen’. Vote at a membership meeting, elect a leadership team that can make the case alongside our municipal politicians who have been very supportive. Join us to say, ‘Hey, you know what? The funding shortfall puts pressure on our hospitals, on our police department, on our rec systems, on whatever it is that we have here, and we need the province to make sure that it’s distributed fairly across the province, and that means getting a new deal for Peel.’ So, by becoming a member, you endorse that. Hopefully, as you get a better handle on what’s going on in your programs, you step up and help us pitch the case, become part of the leadership team, and you help the rest of the agencies get the resources they need to do good work to build a stronger community.

The Peel Profile is a weekly newsletter by the Metamorphosis Network. We represent over 100 non-profit agencies in Peel, and advocate to ensure that social services meet the needs of our communities. We look forward to connecting with you! https://communitymetamorphosis.ca/contact/