Download this letter in PDF format. Téléchargez cette lettre au format PDF. – Français ci-dessous – Income Security in the Time of COVID-19 Dear Minister Smith, We are an umbrella group of low-income Ontarians, health care providers, and other organizations. We call on you to ensure the most vulnerable members of our Province have meaningful …
Social Assistance Rates
OW and ODSP Rates and the OCB March 2020 / Les taux d’OT, du POSPH et de la POE Mars 2020
– la version française suit dessous – Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates have not increased this year. However, the Ontario Child Benefit (OCB), for people who have children, has been increased slightly with inflation. The increase to OCB came into effect in July 2019. As in past years, we have …
Have your say on Ontario’s 2020 Budget / donnez votre avis sur le budget de l’Ontario 2020
** Français ci-dessous ** Time for Justice: Have your say on Ontario’s 2020 Budget Ontario’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs is conducting Pre-Budget Consultations. ISAC appeared at the Standing Committee’s hearings and provided a . Informed by ongoing consultation with our community partners on issues relevant to our mandate, we make the following recommendations for the 2020 budget: …
ODSP expenditures have increased because the program is better meeting the needs of Ontarians with disabilities: ISAC responds to the Auditor General’s Report
On December 4, 2019, the Auditor General released an audit of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). ODSP is a critical program that provides monthly income supports and health benefits to low-income persons with disabilities who have no other means to pay for their basic necessities such as food and shelter. The focus of the …
Ontario Budget 2019 Announces $1 Billion in OW and ODSP Cuts
– Massive Cuts to Legal Aid Funding Also Announced – The 2019/2020 Ontario Budget was announced today, and creates even more uncertainty for people who receive benefits from the Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) system. While the Budget is short on details about changes to social assistance, it confirms many of …
Ontario 2019 Pre-Budget Consultations: Have your say!
The provincial government has asked for input into the upcoming 2019 provincial Budget. There are currently two pre-budget consultation processes that you can plug into: The Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs is conducting hearings across the province and accepting written submissions until 5:00pm on January 29. The Minister of Finance is hosting …
Open Letter to Minister MacLeod: Five Principles for the 100-day Review
More than 1100 people and nearly 100 organizations from across Ontario have signed this letter to Minister Lisa MacLeod, which we sent today to her office and the offices of all Ontario’s MPPs. If you missed signing this letter and want to take action, please send an email to Minister MacLeod voicing your support for …
OW and ODSP Rates and the OCB 2018 / Les taux d’OT, du POSPH et de la POE 2018
– la version française suit dessous – Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates are being increased later this month, as announced on July 31, 2018. As in past years, we have created a rates sheet to let people on social assistance, and people who work with them, know what these increases mean. …
Ontario’s Social Assistance System: 100 days to fix it or to break it?
This post, by Jennefer Laidley at ISAC, originally appeared on the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) blog on Thursday, August 16, 2018 Eleven years ago, I started work at the Income Security Advocacy Centre, a legal clinic advocating for improvements to the income benefit programs available to low-income Ontarians, with social assistance as a …
There is nothing compassionate about Minister MacLeod’s announcement: Ontario’s cuts to social assistance will hurt the most vulnerable in Ontario
Minister MacLeod’s announcement to cut social assistance rates by 1.5 per cent will take approximately $150 million out of the hands of people who are among the most vulnerable in Ontario. “People on social assistance continue to live well below the poverty line and would have used the additional much-needed money to pay for basic …
