Income Security Advocacy Centre

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

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Litigation

Test-case and appellate litigation are key tools that we use to advance our strategic plan. We work closely with caseworkers in community legal clinics across the province to identify issues and potential legal cases, and apply an equity framework and a human rights lens to guide our decision-making around which cases to take on and which legal arguments to make. Our litigation efforts focus on resolving systemic problems in provincial and federal income security programs.

Click on the links below for information about the cases we are currently working on and have worked on in the past. Our Case Selection Criteria is available here. Our policy advocacy and community organizing pages have information on other areas of our work.

  • Take Action! Community Legal Clinic Services Under Threat May 1, 2019 - The provincial government’s recent budget made cuts to a number of public programs and services, which will hurt low-income people in Ontario. This includes cuts to social assistance, public health, library services, prescription coverage for children and youth, public education, and many others. It also includes a massive 30% cut to legal aid funding. And ...
  • Human Rights Tribunal ruling on insurance companies and CPP-D: Reilly v. Ford February 11, 2019 - In a disappointing decision released on January 18, 2019, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruled that insurance companies do not discriminate when they deduct benefits received from a Canada Pension Plan Disability pension from long-term disability insurance payments. Background on the Case Disability insurance plays a critical role in ensuring that those who are ...
  • Improving access to justice for Indigenous people: New inter-regional Gladue Briefs Project January 29, 2019 - Community legal clinics in the south-west region of Ontario, along with Thunder Bay’s Kinna’aweya legal clinic and the Income Security Advocacy Centre, have joined together in a Gladue Briefs Project with the aim of ensuring that administrative tribunals make decisions that better take into account the circumstances of Indigenous people who appear before them. Background ...
  • S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing: Supreme Court Decision Preserves Access to Social Programs after Inheritance January 28, 2019 - In an important decision released on January 25, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that families can make arrangements to ensure that, after their death, their loved ones with disabilities will be financially supported while at the same time maintaining access to much-needed social services and housing. Background on the Case Families often ...
  • Supreme Court strikes down “cruel and unusual” mandatory victim surcharge December 14, 2018 - In a landmark group of cases, the Supreme Court today struck down the mandatory victim surcharge, finding that it was cruel and unusual in its effects on people living in poverty. The mandatory victim surcharge requires every person who is convicted of a criminal offence in Canada to pay a fine as part of their ...
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