Important Milestone for Social Assistance Announced

November 2010 | Income Security Advocacy Centre

The Ontario government’s announcements today on the social assistance review and special diet allowance program are both welcome steps forward on the road to improved income security for Ontarians.

“This is the bold and broad review that we’ve been looking for, led by two credible commissioners who we have confidence will lead an independent and thoughtful review process,” says Mary Marrone, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services for the Income Security Advocacy Centre.

Government appointed Council recommends bold vision for social assistance reform

June 2010 | Canada News Wire

TORONTO, June 14 /CNW/ – The province urgently requires a more effective system of income security programs that meet the needs of Ontarians in a rapidly shifting economy, says a new report by the Social Assistance Review Advisory Council (SARAC).

Ontario Auditor General’s Report Underlines Need for Social Assistance Reform

December 2009 | Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)

Whether he meant to or not, the auditor general’s December 7th analysis of OW/ODSP let a dysfunctional social assistance system off the hook, instead laying blame with the people who have nowhere else to turn to for basic support.

The ensuing debate risks losing sight of the simple fact that when it comes to social assistance, it’s not the people who are the problem.

Advisers aim to fix Ontario’s welfare ‘quagmire’

December 2009 | Laurie Monsebraaten The Toronto Star

Ontario has appointed the head of Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank to head a panel of anti-poverty advocates to advise the government on a long-awaited review of its welfare system, the Star has learned. “If this group can’t make the proper recommendations, then nobody can,” said food bank executive director Gail Nyberg.

Welfare reform creeps at snail's pace

November 2009 | Laurie Monsebraaten The Toronto Star

Bronwen Sims calls it Ontario’s “work disincentive program.” The 35-year-old woman, who suffers from bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia, has been living in poverty on Ontario’s disability support program for the past 10 years while doctors help her battle alcoholism, depression and severe panic attacks related to her mental illness.

Five benchmarks for social assistance

October 2009 | Pat Capponi and Jennefer Laidley The Toronto Star

Times of crisis are also times for tough decisions, as Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said in his economic statement last week. The province has already made the tough but smart decision to stick with its economic stimulus plan. Standing firm on the commitment to early learning is another tough but smart choice.

The next bold move the government must make is to stick to its guns on a comprehensive review of Ontario’s broken social assistance system.

ISARC on ISAC's "Bold Review" Forum

August 2009 | ISARC

On June 23, 2009, the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) held a forum on the government’s upcoming review of the provincial social assistance system. This review is part of Ontario’s new Poverty Reduction Strategy and was restated in the 2009 budget.

Bold Review Forum Kicks off the Conversation

June 2009 | ISAC

Crystal Chin knows well the problems associated with the current Social Assistance system. As a young adult with cerebral palsy, Crystal receives benefits from the Ontario Disability Support Program. But these benefits are inadequate, both financially and in terms of other supports. At a public forum hosted by the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) on [...]

Ontario Must Move on Social Assistance Reform: Budget 2009

March 2009 | Income Security Advocacy Centre

The McGuinty government’s budget has taken important steps to reduce poverty in Ontario. However, fundamental reform of social assistance remains a necessity, particularly as growing numbers of Ontarians lose their jobs.

Social assistance reform vital part of poverty reduction strategy

February 2009 | Sarah Blackstock, ISAC The Toronto Star

Ontario finally has a poverty reduction strategy. It’s about time.

For years, anti-poverty activists have been pleading with government to take poverty seriously. Teachers have talked about how poorly children do in school when they are hungry and distracted. Health practitioners have listed the ways poverty makes people sick and costs the health-care system millions of dollars. Low-income people have insisted that they should not be blamed for their poverty, but rather that the root causes of poverty such as low wages, lack of child care, discrimination and low levels of training and education should be addressed.

A Roundtable on Poverty

September 2011 | Willy Noiles The View

When Start Me Up Niagara (SMUN) and the Niagara North Community Legal Clinic (NNCLC) decided to host a roundtable discussion on social assistance reform, they were hoping to get about 35 people to show up; instead they got almost twice that. The discussion was held to give those living on social assistance a chance to have their voices heard through a report being tabled with the Commission on the Review of Social Assistance.

How the mayor could save $100 million

August 2011 | Carol Goar The Toronto Star

If Mayor Rob Ford really wants to “find efficiencies, not cut services,” he’ll welcome a proposal put forward by the City Service Review Group. It would save the city $100 million and make it a more humane place.

If he is bent on slashing spending and getting rid of civic employees, he’ll dismiss it out of hand.

The scheme was drafted by a coalition of mental health activists. It was costed by Sarah Shartal, a lawyer at Roach Schwartz and Associates who has spent 15 years fighting for Torontonians with disabilities. It calls on the city to move people with mental illness and addiction problems out of its homeless shelters. Civic workers would help them to apply for provincial disability support ($1,053 a month). This income would allow them to rent a private apartment.

Fiorito: Disabling effect of Ontario Disability Benefits

August 2011 | Joe Fiorito The Toronto Star

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has been transformed by the construction of many new buildings. I am interested in the architecture of another transformation.

It has been 20 years since anyone took a look at social assistance rates in this province, to which end a provincial commission has been on tour.

The commission held a community consultation at CAMH the other day. I bumped into a friend there. Her name is H. She’s on disability. She knows better than I do that no one in this city can live in dignity on disability.

Increasing minimum wage among social justice committee’s ideas

August 2011 | Danielle Vandenbrink The Standard Freeholder

A coalition of local residents have renewed their call for government to address social justice issues in the Cornwall and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. In its fifth year, the SD&G Coalition for Social Justice held elections for a new executive recently, and set out a mission statement to push the group forward. The coalition’s mission statement claims it “aims to enhance and advance the full spectrum of human rights for everyone in the community,” including on issues like poverty, women’s rights, gay rights, disability and accessibility to social assistance and employment.
Through activism, fundraising, raising awareness and discussing issues, the coalition’s vice-chair Jason Setnyk said the group hopes to fuel social change.

The case for a new housing benefit

August 2011 | Gail Nyberg, Vince Brescia and Sharad Kerur The Toronto Star

While Ontario continues to dig out from the severe recession of 2008, too many Ontarians are at risk of being left behind. In an uncertain recovery, the time has come to address the hard reality that many households are grappling with one of life’s basic of needs: the ability to keep a roof over their heads.

Broken system needs fixing

July 2011 | Lee Prokaska The Hamilton Spectator

“It is not a matter of small fixes.” — Dr. Munir Sheikh, commissioner, provincial social assistance review commission. As understatements go, Sheikh’s is a dramatic one. The 18-month review of social assistance in Ontario that he is undertaking with commissioner Frances Lankin will be the largest — and we hope most thorough — examination of [...]

Frances Lankin on CBC’s Metro Morning

July 2011 | CBC Radio

Frances Lankin, co-Commissioner of the Social Assistance Review Commission, was interviewed this morning (July 5) by Matt Galloway on Toronto’s Metro Morning radio program. You can listen to the interview on the CBC’s website by clicking here. Here is an unofficial transcript of the conversation: Matt Galloway (MG): How could Ontario’s social assistance programs better [...]

City, province eye social assistance issues in Hamilton

July 2011 | Danielle Wong The Hamilton Spectator

City council has approved a local push to reform Ontario’s social assistance system by setting rates that would meet basic needs. Economist Dr. Atif Kubursi and Hamilton Community Legal Clinic staff lawyer Craig Foye presented a report to council Monday about the economic impact of spending by Hamiltonians living on social assistance.

We invest in roads; why not people?

July 2011 | Peter Graefe The Hamilton Spectator

In sum, higher benefits, better training, accessible child care and affordable housing are all areas where making further investments would allow us to achieve the far greater and dynamic economic benefits made possible by our existing investments. Be it the Kubursi report or the story of the child-care system that pays for itself, it is clear that investing in people is like investing in roads. To treat it as money wasted is to ignore the evidence, and to forego our greater prosperity.

People on welfare boost local economy: study

July 2011 | Danielle Wong The Hamilton Spectator

Spending by Hamiltonians living on social assistance pumps back hundreds of millions of dollars into the city and provincial economies, a report by local researchers says. Dr. Atif Kubursi, a professor at McMaster University and economist for Econometric Research Limited, is speaking to city councillors Monday about the findings published in The Economic Impact of Social Assistance in Hamilton report. Commissioners who were appointed by the province to review social assistance, Frances Lankin and Munir Sheikh, are also in Hamilton Monday for public input on the programs.