Income Security Advocacy Centre

ISAC works to address issues of income security and poverty in Ontario

Media & Policy News: 20 January 2017

Top Stories

New book aims to teach children about painful history of residential schools:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/childrens-book-residential-schools-1.3933148?cmp=abfb

Two Canadian billionaires are as rich as nearly 1/3 of Canada: Oxfam:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/two-canadian-billionaires-are-as-rich-as-nearly-1-3-of-canada-report-1.3240681

Federal Disability Tax Credit not extended to those with mental illness:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/13/disability-tax-credit-not-extended-to-those-with-mental-illness.html

Only half of Canadians with disabilities have a full- or part-time job: CIBC poll:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/only-half-of-disabled-canadians-have-a-full-or-part-time-job-cibc-poll-1.3244080

How Ontario’s welfare system fails those in need:
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/amdur-how-ontarios-welfare-system-fails-those-in-need

Premier pledges more relief on hydro bills:
https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2017/01/18/premier-kathleen-wynne-pledges-more-relief-on-hydro-bills.html

Campaigners push Liberals for $15 minimum wage in Ontario:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/15-minimum-wage-ontario-1.3940676

Ontario eyes stronger protections for workers who get sick on the job:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/16/ontario-eyes-stronger-protections-for-workers-who-get-sick-on-the-job.html

Himelfarb and Romanow: We can end homelessness in Canada:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/we-can-end-homelessness-in-canada/article33632029/

 

Ontario

ISAC’s second pre-budget submission – Investments needed in employment standards enforcement:
http://incomesecurity.org/policy-advocacy/2017-pre-budget-submission-investments-needed-in-employment-standards-enforcement-il-faut-investir-dans-lapplication-des-normes-demploi/

OFL: Budget should commit to building Ontarians up:
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/ontario-federation-of-labour-budget-should-commit-to-building-ontarians-up-2189301.htm

Applications for hydro subsidy below expectations:
http://www.theobserver.ca/2017/01/12/applications-for-hydro-subsidy-below-expectations

Natural gas-fired hydro plant and its 11 lost jobs mourned as first victims of Ontario’s cap and trade program:
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/natural-gas-fired-hydro-plant-and-its-11-lost-jobs-mourned-as-first-victims-of-ontarios-cap-and-trade-program

Attorney General orders probe of Legal Aid Ontario:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/14/attorney-general-orders-probe-of-legal-aid-ontario-budget.html

Drug users say supervised injection sites address ills of substance abuse:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/13/drug-users-say-safe-injection-sites-address-ills-of-substance-abuse.html

Parents, early-childhood educators in Ottawa offer province suggestions to improve daycare:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/daycare-province-ece-kindergarten-1.3938434

Pain expert says Ontario opioid strategy demonizes people:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/ontario-western-university-high-stength-opioid-delist-1.3939068

Government release: New projects with Indigenous partners to tackle poverty across Ontario:
https://news.ontario.ca/prs/en/2017/01/new-projects-with-indigenous-partners-to-tackle-poverty-across-ontario.html

Government release: Ontario supporting 93 community projects across the province:
https://news.ontario.ca/mtc/en/2017/01/ontario-supporting-93-community-projects-across-the-province.html

Government release: Ontario making college and university more affordable for adult learners:
https://news.ontario.ca/maesd/en/2017/01/ontario-making-college-and-university-more-affordable-for-adult-learners.html

 

Reports, Events, Campaigns and Other Good Things

Steps to Justice: A new, first-of-its-kind website gives Ontarians step-by-step, comprehensive and reliable information about their legal problems:
http://stepstojustice.ca/

Wellesley Institute: Supportive Housing in Ontario: Estimating the need:
http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/publications/supportive-housing-in-ontario-estimating-the-need/

Launching the Canadian version of the Homelessness Vulnerability Assessment Tool Manual:
http://homelesshub.ca/blog/launching-canadian-version-vulnerability-assessment-tool-vat-manual

Stats Can: Employment Insurance, November 2016:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/170118/dq170118a-eng.htm

Smiles 4 Canada program offers free orthodontist services to kids under 14:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/nova-scotia/smiles-4-canada-free-orthodontist-care-need-for-patients-braces-1.3940828

CCPA-BC: Long Overdue: Why BC needs a poverty reduction plan:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/long-overdue

 

Around the Province

Kenora Chiefs Advisory gets $13 million in funding for life skills program:
http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/2017/01/17/kenora-chiefs-advisory-receives-13-million-in-funding-for-life-skills-program

New pilot project helps people who are homeless in Ottawa overcome the barrier of lost ID:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/identification-project-ottawa-homeless-1.3938102

Hamilton launches new strategy to improve supports for urban Indigenous people:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/city-launches-new-strategy-to-improve-supports-for-urban-indigenous-people-1.3937428

Chatham-Kent average household incomes sixth lowest in Ontario:
http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2017/01/18/chatham-kent-average-household-incomes-sixth-lowest-in-ontario

Chatham-Kent health board backs recommendation for subsidized dental care:
http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2017/01/18/health-board-backs-recommendation-for-subsidized-dental-care

Sudbury businesses question if labour law changes are necessary:
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/regional-news/sudbury/sudbury-businesses-question-if-labour-law-changes-are-necessary-510399

Ontario’s Labour Minister in Sudbury to tout changes to better protect mining workers:
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2017/01/12/labour-minister-touts-mining-changes

OCAP: Toronto Community Housing is boarding up homes as shelters are bursting at the seams:
https://ocaptoronto.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/tchboardinguphomes/

Budget cuts will widen health gaps in Toronto: Wellesley Institute:
http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/healthy-communities/city-budget-cuts-will-widen-health-gaps-in-toronto/

TDSB should be ashamed of how it balances budget: Keenan:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/16/tdsb-should-be-ashamed-of-how-it-balances-budget-keenan.html

 

Across the Country

Disability payments should be boosted in next BC budget, advocates and experts say:
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/disability-payments-should-be-boosted-in-next-b-c-budget-advocates-and-experts-say

B.C. needs an official poverty reduction plan, critics say:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-poverty-reduction-plan-1.3933706

BC organizations calling for minimum wage of $15:
https://www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/Provincial/17/01/12/B_C_organizations_calling_for_minimum_wage_of_15/

UNICEF Canada CEO speaks in Vancouver about high child poverty weeks before provincial budget:
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/unicef-canada-ceo-speaks-in-vancouver-about-high-child-poverty-weeks-before-provincial-budget

More people unemployed in Saskatchewan, Stats Can says:
http://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/more-people-unemployed-in-saskatchewan-statistics-canada-says

Latest Employment Insurance numbers show continued tough trend in Alberta:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/statistics-canada-alberta-employment-insurance-november-1.3941965

Quebec’s minimum wage will rise to $11.25 on May 1:
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-s-minimum-wage-will-rise-to-11-25-on-may-1-1.3247801

Brother of a man who was homeless in Montreal left with tangle of confusion after his violent death:
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/homeless-mans-brother-finds-tangle-of-confusion-after-death

Special Diet payments part of Nova Scotia department’s program review, says minister:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1431637-special-diet-payments-part-of-nova-scotia-department%E2%80%99s-program-review-minister

New Brunswick’s minimum wage to be tied to inflation starting in 2018:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-minimum-wage-1.3932426

 

National

Trudeau confronted by emotional Ontario woman upset over cost of hydro bill;
http://globalnews.ca/news/3179769/justin-trudeau-confronted-by-sobbing-ontario-woman-over-cost-of-hydro-bill/

Trudeau gets an earful from veteran, chiefs, disabled participant in London, ON:
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/trudeau-gets-an-earful-from-veteran-chiefs-disabled-participant-in-london-ont/ar-AAlRFZN?li=AAadgLE&ocid=spartanntp

Advocates call to stop exploitation of newcomer migrant workers:
http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2017/01/12/advocates-call-for-change-for-temporary-workers.html

Feds explore creation of a new housing benefit:
http://www.southwesternontario.ca/news-story/7062499-feds-explore-creation-of-new-housing-benefit/

Why Canadians can’t stop borrowing: Stagnating incomes:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/why-canadians-cant-stop-borrowing/article33627676/

Federal government fails on First Nations child health delivery, says advocate:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/federal-government-fails-on-first-nations-child-health-delivery-1.3939792

Common Frontiers: The Canadian government should replace NAFTA or scrap it:
http://psac-sjf.org/canadian-government-should-replace-nafta-or-scrap-it

Internal document raises possibility of “Netflix tax”:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/sales-tax-netflix-bell-rogers-digital-melanie-joly-bill-morneau-internet-1.3937955

Bank of Canada to keep interest rate unchanged in 2017:
http://www.econotimes.com/Bank-of-Canada-to-keep-interest-rate-unchanged-unlikely-to-hike-in-2017-493389

 

International

More than half of Americans reportedly have less than $1000 to their name:
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a41147/half-of-americans-less-than-1000/

Press release: Does Betsy Devos understand impact of poverty and trauma on children’s learning?:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/01/14/does-betsy-devos-understand-impact-poverty-and-trauma-childrens-learning

Massachusetts legislature to consider five anti-poverty bills:
http://wwlp.com/2017/01/19/legislature-to-consider-5-anti-poverty-bills/

Opinion: Why 21 states are wrong about minimum wage hikes:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/18/minimum-wage-hikes-unintended-consequences-commentary.html

Expanded tax credit would keep more working Americans from poverty:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/local-view/4199539-local-view-expanded-tax-credit-would-keep-more-working-americans-poverty

Japan’s rising child poverty exposes true cost of two decades of economic decline:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/japans-rising-child-poverty-exposes-truth-behind-two-decades-of-economic-decline

Japanese city officials sorry for offensive welfare team jackets:
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-38677729

Disabled and cold: Sandra is penalised in the UK for being poor. Fuel poverty is harsh:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/19/fuel-poverty-heating-disabled-cold-penalised-energy-tariff

Overwhelmed UK care worker makes emotional please for more than minimum wage:
http://metro.co.uk/2017/01/17/overwhelmed-care-workers-emotional-plea-for-carers-to-get-more-than-minimum-wage-6385592/

Future of Australia’s cashless welfare card remains uncertain after trial:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-16/cashless-welfare-card-future-remains-uncertain-after-trial/8182662

Opinion: Universal basic income is our best weapon against the rising far right:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/universal-basic-income_us_586d0ce3e4b0eb58648b5349

Slow world growth foiling UN plan to end poverty:
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2017/01/17/506636/Slow-world-growth-foiling-UN-plan-to-end-poverty

World is more than 450 years off target from meeting child poverty promise:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/world-is-more-than-450-years-off-target-from-meeting-child-poverty-promise-300390940.html