Income Security Advocacy Centre

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

Updates

100 Days: Take Action Before November 8!

The new Ontario government recently announced that they will reveal a new direction for social assistance, based in part on “compassion for people in need,” after a 100-day review. Take action now to help ensure their November 8 announcement moves Ontario’s social assistance programs – Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) …

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. …

Helping people with mental health disabilities access ODSP: An expert report on the complexity of mental health treatment in Ontario

– la version française suit dessous – People with mental health disabilities face particular barriers in accessing Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) benefits. A new report by a group of medical experts from University of Toronto’s Collaborative Mental Health Care Working Group will help applicants establish their eligibility for ODSP benefits. To qualify as a …

Ontario jobs numbers contradict fears about raising the minimum wage

This Labour Day weekend marks eight months since Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, came into effect. Bill 148 increased the minimum wage from $11.60 to $14.00 an hour, gave all workers access to ten job-protected personal emergency leave days (the first two of which are paid), legislated equal pay for equal work …

Federal government releases national Poverty Reduction Strategy

On Tuesday, August 21, the federal government released Canada’s first-ever national Poverty Reduction Strategy. Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (CPRS), entitled Opportunity for All, sets targets and timelines for reducing poverty, puts in place a new National Advisory Council on Poverty, and establishes an official national poverty line. The CPRS also commits to public reporting on …

Work With Us! Joignez-vous à notre équipe!

ISAC has an opening for a permanent full-time staff lawyer. We’re seeking a person with exceptional skills to undertake strategic litigation, as well as contribute to policy advocacy and community development, aimed at expanding the legal rights, remedies and benefits available to low income workers and people relying on income security programs. As a specialty …

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 …

Future of OW/ODSP Changes Uncertain: Take Action!

– la version française suit dessous –  A few weeks ago, we circulated information about changes that are slated to take effect in Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program starting this fall, and others that are already in place. Since then, over 7,100 of you have downloaded this information, showing us that these changes are …