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…
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…
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…
As of July 2024, Ontario Works (OW) sees no increase or inflation-based adjustment. For the sixth year and counting, OW rates have remained the same despite the ongoing impacts of high inflation on the cost…
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…
On November 2, the Ontario Government released the 2023 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, titled “Building a Strong Ontario Together”. Aside from a provision for low‐income seniors, the Review contains glaring omissions in recognizing…
TORONTO, ON – Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipients will see a slight increase to their July social assistance cheques due to an inflation-related increase to basic needs and maximum shelter allowances. The Income Security…
For the fifth year in a row, Ontario Works (OW) incomes remain stagnant and well below the official poverty line for every family type. The provincial government did not make any increases to OW benefit…
In a typical year, provincial budget season lasts from January to early Spring, and includes pre-budget and budget submission periods, meetings, and hearings. On February 13, 2023, ISAC’s Senior Policy Analyst, Devorah Kobluk, spoke at…
On November 14, 2022, the Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy, presented the Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review. While the proposed changes for people who rely on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and can work…
On November 14, 2022, the Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review proposed changes to how earned income will be deducted from benefit cheques of people on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) only. Note: These…