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…
ISAC, together with the Workers Action Centre and Parkdale Community Legal Services, recently responded to a consultation held by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development (MLITSD) on potential changes to the Employment…
The Canada Disability Benefit Act was passed in the House of Commons in Spring 2023, but the details of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) are still being worked out by government staff. We are currently…
*September 10, 2024, Update: Our recommendations for improving the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) have changed slightly. To read the most up-to-date ISAC recommendations on the CDB, click here* Every federal budget cycle includes a period…
Appeal rights are a necessary component of income support programs, writes former ISAC public health student Abby Taher. What would the ideal appeals process look like for the CDB? Abby has shared some ideas in…
The federal government has announced the next step in the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) rollout. ISAC attended a public meeting on June 26, 2024, where Economic and Social Development Canada (ESDC) staff shared that they…
ISAC staff members Anu Bakshi and Asif Khan recently co-authored an article published in Policy Options, the digital magazine for the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), about a small change with big implications…
When we posted our last update in February 2024, we were waiting to hear more about what the government was going to include in the first draft of the detailed rules on how the law…
The Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development recently held a consultation on a proposal to include a new 27 week job-protected medical leave in the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). There are…
On Friday, April 26, ISAC sent the following letter to Minister Freeland and Minister Khera regarding the disappointing information announced about the Canada Disability Benefit in the 2024 Federal Budget. The letter was endorsed by…
Last week, the Ontario government tabled a $214 billion budget for 2024-25, the largest in the province’s history. But if you are among the hundreds of thousands of low income working age Ontarians struggling to…