The government has made a commitment to poverty reduction. And all of the political parties in the Ontario Legislature voted in favour of poverty reduction legislation. They can now demonstrate their commitment – by setting up a Review process that results in a social assistance system that actually helps to reduce poverty. Tell the decision-makers that the Social …
Policy Advocacy
Social assistance reform vital part of poverty reduction strategy
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.
Breaking the Cycle: Ontario’s First Five-Year Poverty Reduction Strategy
On December 4, 2008, the Ontario government released Breaking the Cycle: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. In this Strategy, the province has committed to reducing child and family poverty in Ontario by 25% in the next five years. The Strategy also outlines a number of steps that the government will take to meet that commitment. The …
Cuts Hurt Kids! Alert
Starting in 2008, the Back-to-school and Winter Clothing allowances provided through OW and ODSP will no longer be paid out in lump sum payments, as the provincial government starts to move benefits for children out of social assistance and into the monthly Ontario Child Benefit program. Families on OW and ODSP are expected to save …
Rethinking the role of Social Assistance within a Poverty Reduction Strategy
It’s time for a paradigm shift in how we think about social assistance, its objectives and its role. Social assistance programs must incorporate an explicit objective to move people out of poverty, by offering meaningful support opportunities for those who can work and ensuring that those who cannot are able to live with dignity.
Ontario Election 2007
ISAC used the Ontario election in 2007 to push all of the parties to make concrete commitments to reduce poverty across the province. We created a list of “key demands” and put together a kit called “Getting Poverty On the Agenda” for people across the province to use during the election. You can see both …
Matthews Review of OW and ODSP
In December 2004, Deb Matthews, the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Community and Social Services, released her long-awaited report on social assistance with several recommendations for improving the system in ways that actually work for low-income people. Read the . . Read ISAC’s Read ISAC’s detailed response to the Matthews’ Report:
Review of Social Union Framework Agreement
In February 1999, the Prime Minister of Canada and provincial/territorial Premiers (excluding the Premier of Quebec) signed on to the Social Union Framework Agreement, an agreement intended to guide intergovernmental cooperation on social policy in Canada. In late 2002, the Federal/ Provincial/ Territorial Council on Social Policy Renewal is now in the process of conducting …
