Top Stories
Elimination of the ODSP Work-Related Benefit “undercuts some of Ontario’s most determined and resourceful citizens”:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/03/31/welfare-recipients-treated-like-guinea-pigs-goar.html?fb_ref=Default
- Wondering what you can do to save the Work-Related Benefit? Check out the ODSP Action Coalition’s March campaign kit here: http://www.odspaction.ca/resource/march-action-kit-save-work-related-benefit
Ontario releases report on first year of second Poverty Reduction Strategy, as mandated by law:
- Press release: http://news.ontario.ca/prs/en/2015/03/improving-outcomes-for-ontarians-living-in-poverty.html
- Report: https://dr6j45jk9xcmk.cloudfront.net/documents/4315/poverty-report-2014-en.pdf
Op-Ed: People with disabilities deserve to be paid a legal wage:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/03/30/people-with-disabilities-deserve-to-be-paid-a-legal-wage.html
- How workers with disabilities give companies an edge: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/working-wisdom-how-workers-with-disabilities-give-companies-an-edge/article23236023/
Workers Action Centre report on precarious work “Still Working on the Edge”:
- Report shows 41% of workers are in precarious work and 33% have low wages: http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b32b33961fd1e65272919d8a6&id=aa048c9ea7&e=51059eb750
- Here’s the report: http://www.workersactioncentre.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2015/03/StillWorkingOnTheEdge-WorkersActionCentre.pdf
- Too many Ontario workers are exploited; law needs quick overhaul, says report:http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/31/too-many-ontario-workers-exploited-laws-need-quick-overhaul-study-urges.html
- Labour Minister pledges to crack down on employers: http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2015/03/31/labour-minister-vows-to-do-more-to-help-precariously-employed.html
Yussuff: How to help laid-off Future Shop workers and others like them:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/03/31/how-to-help-future-shop-workers-and-others-like-them.html
Thousands of temporary foreign workers leave Canada this week:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/temporary-foreign-workers-prepare-to-leave-the-country-1.3017194?cmp=fbtl
- Migrant Workers Alliance for Change actions against mass deportations:http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1508357/uprooting-migrants-is-bad-for-workers-and-economy
- Group in Guelph fighting expulsions: http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/5531054-group-fights-temporary-foreign-workers-expulsions/
- More on other groups across the country: http://rabble.ca/news/2015/03/migrant-advocacy-groups-fight-april-1-temporary-foreign-worker-deportations
Government raises the financial eligibility threshold again for legal aid services:
http://news.ontario.ca/mag/en/2015/04/ontario-raising-legal-aid-eligibility-threshold-another-6.html
Research, Reports, Events
Brock University offers two scholarship programs for local students, one to those receiving Ontario Works:
http://www.brocku.ca/news/28754
Faith Communities in Action for a Toronto poverty reduction strategy – petition and summit:
http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c0c9182dfb1d3ac43c8c61b32&id=e00474f6b1&e=4a525f6688
Caledon Institute issues Social Assistance Summaries 2014:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/Detail/?ID=1062
How did I miss this? John Stapleton and Houselink: “Welcome to the Financial Mainstream: The hazards facing low income people when navigating the financial world””
http://www.houselink.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Welcome-to-the-Financial-Mainstream.pdf
Citizens for Public Justice and Canadian Council of Churches’ Justice Tour 2015:
http://cpj.ca/justicetour2015
Ontario
Should poor seniors have to pay to volunteer?
http://www.ourwindsor.ca/opinion-story/5530878-should-poor-seniors-have-to-pay-to-volunteer-porter/
Interim consultants’ report on SAMS computer system says staff are overwhelmed with problems:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/04/01/problem-plagued-welfare-computer-system-has-overwhelmed-staff-report-says.html
Ontario deficit now $1.6 billion lower than previously projected:
http://globalnews.ca/news/1913863/ontarios-deficit-now-at-10-9b-lower-than-projected-12-5b/
Ontario staying the course on $587 million in homelessness funding:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/03/30/ontario-puts-587-million-toward-goal-of-ending-homelessness.html
- Advocate says funding is “a drop in the bucket”: http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/5532186-homeless-funding-a-drop-in-the-bucket-poverty-advocate-says/
Heating your home isn’t a privilege, it’s a necessity:
http://www.thepost.on.ca/2015/03/31/heat-through-winter-is-a-necessity-not-a-privilege
Around the Province
Waterloo legal clinic considering expanded services:
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5528905-community-legal-clinic-considers-expanding-services-in-cambridge/
Toronto community clinics reject merger plan, need more resources:
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/5529105-community-legal-aid-clinics-stll-short-of-resoures-after-rejecting-merger-plan/
New minimum wage won’t reach Waterloo’s needed $16 living wage:
http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news-story/5527586-no-decent-living-with-minimum-wage-bump/
Toronto eyes shelter openings in inner suburbs; people who are homeless fear losing supports:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/29/homeless-fear-toronto-plan-to-open-suburban-shelters.html
- Wellesley Institute’s Kwame MacKenzie on Toronto’s shelter system:http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/episodes/2015/03/31/toronto-shelters/
Toronto’s decaying public housing buildings:
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/29/torontos-decaying-tchc-buildings
- Toronto Community Housing needs $7.5 billion over 10 years for repairs:http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/30/toronto-community-housing-needs-75b-in-repairs-over-30-years-study-says.html
- Editorial: Fixing Toronto’s public housing would help us all:http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/03/31/fixing-torontos-broken-public-housing-system-would-help-us-all-editorial.html
Across the Country
Mi’kmaq Chiefs join fight against social assistance cuts to First Nations in the Maritimes:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1276967-mi%E2%80%99kmaq-join-fight-on-social-assistance-cuts
Auditor General slams BC’s social assistance computer system:
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Auditor+general+slams+troubled+social+welfare+computer+system/10934904/story.html
National
Parliamentary Budget Officer report shows families with no child care costs are getting the majority of the Harper government’s child care spending:
- CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/families-with-young-kids-get-less-than-half-of-federal-child-care-benefits-pbo-finds-1.3016355
- Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/03/31/families-without-child-care-costs-get-most-of-tories-child-care-spending-budget-officer-says.html
- Globe: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/new-family-tax-breaks-to-benefit-parents-with-no-childcare-expenses-pbo/article23703762/
Yalnizyan: Canada should emulate successful countries that spend on people, even if it means a deficit:
https://www.hilltimes.com/news/2015/03/28/federal-government-should-invest-in-its-people-even-if-it-means-deficits-says-economist/41600
More on the Stats Can study of food insecurity, which affects more than 1.1 million Canadian households:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/whats-for-dinner-not-enough-for-many-canadians-183041839.html
Here’s how good pensions support your community:
http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/retirement/2015/03/30/how-good-pensions-help-keep-your-community-afloat-mayers.html
Mulcair commits to close corporate stock options tax loophole, direct money to low income Canadians through enhanced WITB and NCBS:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/mulcair-announces-ndps-robin-hood-proposal-to-175448106.html
PSAC negotiators face government demands to remove current health benefits:
http://lethbridgeherald.com/news/local-news/2015/03/20/federal-workers-concerned-about-changes-to-sick-benefits/
International
UK Tories won’t reveal details of “dramatic” welfare cuts until after general election:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/29/tories-welfare-cuts-details-reveal-after-general-election
- And here’s why: http://www.businessinsider.com/conservative-welfare-cuts-democratic-deficit-ge2015-2015-3
- Report says 40 people have committed suicide in the UK because of problems with welfare payments:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mps-report-benefits-cuts-driving-5388705
- Report finds UK welfare reform has forced people to spend less on basic needs: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cr/casereport90.pdf
Report: What the poor and rich in the US spend their money on, and how that’s changed over time:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/04/how-the-rich-and-poor-spend-money-today-and-30-years-ago/360103/?utm_source=SFFB