ISAC staff members Claudia Calabro and Asif Khan recently co-authored a piece published on the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives‘ website entitled Time for a real poverty reduction strategy in Ontario. In it, Claudia and…
As of July 2025, Ontario Works (OW) rates remain frozen for the seventh year, with no adjustment for inflation. As household costs continue to rise, this marks yet another year where the real value of…
The Ontario government’s record high $232.5-billion 2025 Budget bills itself as “A Plan to Protect Ontario” from the threat and impacts of U.S. tariffs on the province’s economy. Ontarians struggling with low incomes and living…
TORONTO – The Ontario government has announced it will exempt the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) as income, which will allow people receiving social assistance to keep both provincial social assistance income and CDB income. This…
Note: This Guide was updated towards the end of March 2025 to include new information about Canadian Dental Care Plan eligibility. This new information was added to p. 22 of the Guide, and ‘Table 2.…
On Friday, January 24, 2025, ISAC was invited to provide a deputation on our priorities for the 2025 Ontario Budget at a Ministry of Finance budget consultation in North York. Members of the panel included…
The Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services (MCCSS) first launched Centralized Intake for Ontario Works in 2020 under the Social Assistance Renewal (SAR) plan, which is part of the government’s multi-year social assistance “modernization”…
The Ontario Government’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement (FES) has revealed that the province is in an improved fiscal position compared to earlier projections in the 2024 Budget. This is mainly due to an overall deficit…
ISAC is launching a survey on social assistance today, aimed at gathering data and stories from individuals who are receiving or who have recently received provincial social assistance (OW and ODSP specifically.) We intend to…
This op-ed piece was written by Robin Nobleman and Claudia Calabro Last week, Doug Ford told people living in homeless encampments to “get off your a-s-s and start working like everyone else”. Premier Ford was…
The Robinson Huron Treaty Settlement is a settlement agreement between different levels of government and several First Nations, which has come out of a unique and important court case on treaty obligations. The settlement agreement…

TORONTO, ON – Social assistance rates for Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipients will increase today, but Ontarians struggling to get by on Ontario Works (OW) will see no increase to their social assistance incomes…