• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Income Security Advocacy Centre

Income Security Advocacy Centre

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

  • Our Work
    • Litigation
    • Policy
    • Community Organizing
    • Public Education
  • Publications
  • Updates
  • Campaigns
  • About Us
    • Mission, Vision & Mandate
    • Staff Members
    • Members
    • Board Members
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
  • Resources
  • Share Your Story
  • Twitter

ODSP & Ontario Works: Charter Challenge to OW/ODSP rules deeming income for sponsored immigrants in receipt of social assistance (VJ et al v. Attorney General of Ontario)

September 9, 2014

ISAC represented three individuals in a class action Charter challenge to the mandatory deduction of $100 each month from social assistance recipients who had been sponsored to come to Canada.

The challenge was to be based on the argument that the mandatory deductions denied all sponsored immigrants the equal benefit of the law, as guaranteed by section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because the regulations discriminated on the basis of national origin, race, and immigration status. The regulations violated the dignity and self-worth of sponsored immigrants, as they were based on negative stereotypes of immigrants, perpetuate negative attitudes towards immigrants, and did not correspond to the actual needs of sponsored immigrants who are forced to rely on social assistance. Indeed, one of the effects of the deductions was to force sponsored immigrants into utter poverty and deprivation, which demonstrated that the deductions could not be justified in a free and democratic society under section 1 of the Charter. Containing program costs through these mandatory deductions could not be upheld where it places the physical integrity and the sense of dignity of sponsored immigrants in such extreme jeopardy.

On December 15, 2004, Ontario changed the OW and ODSP rules that required the mandatory deductions.

– September 12, 2014

Primary Sidebar

Blog sidebar

Subscribe

"*" indicates required fields

Name

Income Security Advocacy Centre

Footer widget

1500 – 55 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5J 2H7
Tel: (416) 597-5820 • Toll Free: 1-866-245-4072 • Fax: (416) 597-5821

  • Contact

This site contains general legal information for people in Ontario, Canada. It is not intended to be used as legal advice for a specific legal problem. ISAC is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization. ISAC is funded by Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). The funding for this website is also provided by LAO. The views expressed in any of ISAC’s publications (including written, oral, or visual) are the views of the clinic and do not necessarily reflect those of LAO.