The Ontario Drug Benefit is an essential program that ensures that social assistance recipients and seniors can access the medications they need. However, the Ontario Drug Benefit does not cover the costs of all medications. ISAC is co-counselling with Mississauga Community Legal Services on a case about a medication that the Ontario Drug Benefit refused …
ODSP and the definition of “disability”: M.C. v. ODSP
ODSP is an essential program for persons with disabilities who have no or very limited sources of income. The way the program defines disability is very important. ISAC is co-counselling with Community Legal Services of Ottawa in a case that will argue that a person was wrongly denied ODSP benefits because the wrong definition of …
Discrimination against separated spouses: Smith v. ODSP and OW
The Income Security Advocacy Centre is intervening in an appeal that raises the issue of whether a man with a disability who lives with his separated spouse so he can get help with his day-to-day living should be treated as a “dependant spouse.” Because social assistance treats him as a “dependant spouse”, he is ineligible …
New Legal Challenge to ODSP’s Special Diet Allowance: Neuromyelitis Optica
Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recognize that some people with disabilities will have higher food costs because their medical conditions require them to eat a special diet. Both programs provide a “special diet allowance” to people who have one or more specific medical conditions that would allow them to qualify. The …
Employment and Human Rights Law: Discrimination and Wrongful Firing of Indigenous Elder
The Income Security Advocacy Centre and Lake Country Community Legal Clinic are jointly representing an Indigenous Elder in a legal challenge to the discrimination and wrongful termination he experienced while working as an Elder for the Correctional Service Canada. The Elder is Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) of Ohsweken (Six Nations) territory. He was hired to work as …
Employment Law: Right to Termination and Severance Pay
ISAC and West Scarborough Community Legal Services are working together to represent a worker who has been wrongfully denied termination and severance pay. This case had to do with a worker’s rights when it is clear that they can no longer work because of a disability. The worker in this case worked for over a …
S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing: Preserving Access to Social Assistance after Inheritance
Families often use a type of trust, called “Henson trusts”, as a way to support family members with serious disabilities. When money is in a Henson trust, the person in charge of the trust (the “trustee”) has control over when, how and if the money is paid out to the recipient. This kind of trust …
Privacy Rights and Access to Information: Toronto Star v. Ontario
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) requires that the Ontario government protect the personal information of individuals, and sets out a process whereby people and institutions can request access to government-held information. Under FIPPA, an individual’s personal information can only be disclosed with their consent or where that information does not …
Canadian Human Rights Commission v. Attorney General of Canada
Where can you go when government benefit programs discriminate against you? The Supreme Court of Canada will be hearing an important case about that issue on November 28, 2017. The Government of Canada is responsible for a number of very important programs and social benefits that people rely on in order to get by, including …
Reilly v. Ford Motor Company: Challenge to the deduction of CPP-D benefits from private disability insurance payments
Background on the Case Disability insurance plays a critical role in ensuring that those who are off work due to disability have access to the income they need to survive. Every worker contributes to the Canada Pension Plan and many also contribute to private long-term disability insurance plans through their workplace. However, payments from disability …
