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Income Security Advocacy Centre

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

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Media & Policy News: 2 April 2015

April 2, 2015

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

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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.