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Income Security Advocacy Centre

Income Security Advocacy Centre

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

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Media & Policy News: 5 June 2015

June 5, 2015

Top Stories

AFN chief Perry Bellegarde says reconciliation means closing the poverty gap and acknowledging cultural genocide:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/perry-bellegarde-afn-chief-says-reconciliation-means-closing-poverty-gap-1.3095407

  • “Reconciliation is not an aboriginal problem, it is a Canadian problem. It involves all of us”:http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.3096950/reconciliation-is-not-an-aboriginal-problem-it-is-a-canadian-problem-it-involves-all-of-us-1.3097253
  • Eleven facts about the disparity between indigenous peoples and other Canadians:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-rich-country-poor-nations-11-startling-statistics-about-the-disparity-between-indigenous-people-and-the-rest-of-canada/article22852873/
  • Over the last five years, Aboriginal Affairs has held back $1 billion in social services spending:http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/aboriginal-affairs-spending-shortfall-amounts-to-1b-internal-document-says-1.3100937?fb_action_ids=10153323581521061&fb_action_types=og.shares

Op-Ed: Government should put ODSP medical reviews on hold until promised new process is created:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/05/28/holding-on-to-disability-benefits-an-unfair-struggle.html

Ontario community legal clinics expanding access to justice efforts for vulnerable workers:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/31/legal-clinics-ramp-up-efforts-to-get-justice-for-vulnerable-workers.html

June 1 was Injured Workers Day – here’s some coverage:

  • Rally for better benefits and fair compensation: http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5655861-injured-workers-rally-for-better-benefits/
  • Injured workers bring awareness through eight day ride from Ottawa to Toronto: http://www.ohscanada.com/health-safety/injured-workers-campaign-for-awareness-with-intercity-bike-tour-2/1003347428/
  • Injured worker on hunger strike outside Queen’s Park for more than 18 days:http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/29/injured-worker-on-hunger-strike-for-compensation-hearing.html
  • Support for injured workers shouldn’t come in half-measures: http://rabble.ca/news/2015/06/injured-workers-day-support-shouldnt-come-half-measures

New rules will require bidders on public infrastructure projects in Ontario to set up Community Benefits Agreements:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/new-rules-require-ontario-megaproject-bidders-to-set-up-recruitment-programs/article24790446/

Nearly 40% of unemployed Canadians have given up looking for work – and blame themselves:
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/06/03/4-in-10-jobless-have-given-up-survey

Letters to the editor on solutions to precarious work:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2015/05/31/solutions-to-precarious-work.html

Reports, Events, Campaigns

How to participate in Ontario’s consultations around improving provincial labour laws:
http://yourlegalrights.on.ca/news/public-consultations-announced-review-ontarios-labour-laws-0

Duelling pension reports:

  • CIBC report says expanding the CPP is essential as millions of Canadians are headed for trouble in retirement:http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/millions-of-canadians-headed-for-trouble-in-retirement-cibc-report-1.2403317
  • CD Howe Institute report says Canadians are reasonably well prepared for retirement:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/canadians-reasonably-well-prepared-for-retirement-cd-howe-report-says/article24795207/

UVic’s Poverty Law Club report on why BC’s Coroners Service should investigate poverty as a cause of deaths:
http://canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty_and_death_%20in_%20bc_may_2015.pdf

The OECD’s 2015 Forum, on “People, Planet, and Prosperity”, has just wrapped up. Check these comparative figures that illustrate income inequality across OECD nations:
http://www.oecd.org/forum/issues/OECD-Forum-2015-Income-Inequality-in-Figures.htm

Ontario

Legal Aid Ontario lawyers file Charter challenge on right to collectively bargain with LAO:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1549789/legal-aid-ontario-failing-to-respect-lawyers-charter-rights

Around the Province

Low-income leaders offer a prescription for poverty reduction as Toronto prepares its own report:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/06/02/crafting-a-plan-to-tackle-poverty-from-the-ground-up.html

  • Here are the Commitment 2 Community Action Papers: http://www.povertyreductionto.ca/priority-action-papers.html

Moving Forward event in Cobourg to spur Northumberland County action on poverty:
http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/2015/06/03/county-moving-forward-on-poverty

Paris not-for-profit gives training and employment to people on social assistance:
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2015/05/29/yes-soup-for-you

Niagara health and information fair for migrant workers:
http://www.niagaraadvance.ca/2015/06/04/health-fair-for-migrant-workers

Hamilton trusteeship program losing funding:
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5660055-program-that-helps-keep-vulnerable-off-hamilton-s-streets-losing-its-funding/

Sarnia groups hear from Dignity for All campaign on the need for a National Anti-Poverty Plan:
http://www.theobserver.ca/2015/05/28/sarnians-hear-from-group-that-wants-to-see-canada-wide-anti-poverty-plan

McMaster Children’s Hospital now helps people access legal services through local legal clinic referrals:
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5650184-mcmaster-hospital-helping-families-get-legal-aid/

Across the Country

Saskatoon hotel room closure deepens housing crisis for family on social assistance:
http://ckom.com/story/saskatoon-family-crisis-after-hotel-room-closure/557807

  • Update: Family finds new housing with help from social workers:http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Family+evicted+from+Saskatoon+Northwoods+finds+home/11099362/story.html

Nova Scotia’s minimum wage would have to nearly double to make it a living wage:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1290247-study-minimum-wage-only-half-of-what-it-needs-to-be#.VWwxKSFGr3Q.facebook

Edmonton mayor Don Iveson says evidence is “overwhelming” for Basic Income Guarantee:
http://leadersandlegacies.com/2015/06/01/edmonton-mayor-don-iveson-speaks-out-in-favour-of-a-basic-income-guarantee/

Letter demonstrates difficulties with BC’s requirements for online social assistance access:
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/social-assistance-clients-need-one-point-of-access-1.1952239

BC Premier Christy Clark rallies her troops with social assistance policy changes:
http://www.vancouversun.com/Premier+rallies+party+faithful+midway+point+Liberals+build+chest/11103749/story.html

National

Cohn: The continuing hypocrisy of a medicare system that doesn’t include pharmacare:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/06/01/our-canadian-hypocrisy-of-medicare-without-pharmacare-cohn.html

Federally funded rent support for co-operative housing ends soon; crisis imminent:
http://www.news1130.com/2015/06/03/people-living-in-co-op-housing-to-lose-federal-rental-support-co-op-group/

The injustice of the Temporary Foreign Worker program’s “4 and 4” rule:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/beyondslavery/stephanie-j-silverman/at-any-cost-injustice-of-%E2%80%9C4-and-4-rule%E2%80%9D-in-canada

As parties feud over CPP expansion, one constant is that Canadians are not saving enough:
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5650685-as-parties-feud-over-canada-pension-plan-one-constant-we-re-not-saving-enough/

Jim Stanford calculates the odds that the economy will be in recession during the federal election:
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2015/06/04/judging-the-odds-for-an-election-recession/

Some ideas for how to facilitate redistribution to end poverty:
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2015/06/its-counterintuitive-tax-rich-not-poor

This could be “the mother of all elections”:
http://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2015/06/01/next-federal-election-mother-of-all-elections/42368?mcl=&muid=

International

Using behavioural science to impact positively on poverty:
http://gawker.com/behavioral-science-and-poverty-1708157808

Barely 1 in 4 people in the global workforce has a stable, secure job:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rise-of-the-precariat-the-global-scourge-of-precarious-jobs-1.3093319

People with disabilities in Scotland “live in fear” of welfare cuts:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/health/disabled-scots-live-in-fear-of-welfare-cuts-1-3788511

African-American women living in poverty have highest risk of heart-related illness:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/05/28/poverty-linked-heart-risks-greatest-for-poor-black-women-younger-adults/

Number of people in Japan receiving social assistance benefits hits a record high:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/06/03/national/social-issues/number-welfare-recipients-japan-hits-record-high/#.VXGncUb-lJN

Government memo says UK welfare benefits cap could mean 40,000 more kids living in poverty:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/leaked-memo-claims-benefits-cut-could-plunge-another-40000-children-into-poverty-10286303.html

UK welfare benefits cap could be the “killer blow” to social housing:
http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2015/jun/02/benefit-cap-london-killer-blow-social-housing?CMP=share_btn_fb

Kansas welfare reform: “The idea of not being able to feed your kids because of a change in law, that is horrifying”:
http://cjonline.com/news/state/2015-05-31/kansas-welfare-reform-cuts-deep-disenfranchised

New American reality TV show profits from hardships of poor American families:
http://mic.com/articles/119760/new-cbs-show-pits-struggling-families-in-competition-for-101-000

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This site contains general legal information for people in Ontario, Canada. It is not intended to be used as legal advice for a specific legal problem. ISAC is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization. ISAC is funded by Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). The funding for this website is also provided by LAO. The views expressed in any of ISAC’s publications (including written, oral, or visual) are the views of the clinic and do not necessarily reflect those of LAO.