** Français ci-dessous ** Time for Justice: Have your say on Ontario’s 2020 Budget Ontario’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs is conducting Pre-Budget Consultations. ISAC appeared at the Standing Committee’s hearings and provided a . Informed by ongoing consultation with our community partners on issues relevant to our mandate, we make the following recommendations for the 2020 budget: …
Social Assistance General
ODSP expenditures have increased because the program is better meeting the needs of Ontarians with disabilities: ISAC responds to the Auditor General’s Report
On December 4, 2019, the Auditor General released an audit of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). ODSP is a critical program that provides monthly income supports and health benefits to low-income persons with disabilities who have no other means to pay for their basic necessities such as food and shelter. The focus of the …
Benefit for Children To Be Cut from OW/ODSP
We have recently learned that the Ontario government plans on eliminating a benefit that allows some parents on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Program to feed and clothe their children. The Transition Child Benefit provides up to $230 per child per month to parents on OW or ODSP who are not eligible for the …
Defend Disability!
In November of last year, Minister MacLeod announced her intention to change the definition of disability that her ministry uses to determine if a low-income person is eligible for ODSP benefits. This is just one of a number of other changes that were announced at that time. Minister MacLeod’s proposal would make the definition more …
S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing: Supreme Court Decision Preserves Access to Social Programs after Inheritance
In an important decision released on January 25, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that families can make arrangements to ensure that, after their death, their loved ones with disabilities will be financially supported while at the same time maintaining access to much-needed social services and housing. Background on the Case Families often …
100 Days: Take Action Before November 8!
The new Ontario government recently announced that they will reveal a new direction for social assistance, based in part on “compassion for people in need,” after a 100-day review. Take action now to help ensure their November 8 announcement moves Ontario’s social assistance programs – Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) …
Helping people with mental health disabilities access ODSP: An expert report on the complexity of mental health treatment in Ontario
– la version française suit dessous – People with mental health disabilities face particular barriers in accessing Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) benefits. A new report by a group of medical experts from University of Toronto’s Collaborative Mental Health Care Working Group will help applicants establish their eligibility for ODSP benefits. To qualify as a …
Ontario’s Social Assistance System: 100 days to fix it or to break it?
This post, by Jennefer Laidley at ISAC, originally appeared on the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) blog on Thursday, August 16, 2018 Eleven years ago, I started work at the Income Security Advocacy Centre, a legal clinic advocating for improvements to the income benefit programs available to low-income Ontarians, with social assistance as a …
There is nothing compassionate about Minister MacLeod’s announcement: Ontario’s cuts to social assistance will hurt the most vulnerable in Ontario
Minister MacLeod’s announcement to cut social assistance rates by 1.5 per cent will take approximately $150 million out of the hands of people who are among the most vulnerable in Ontario. “People on social assistance continue to live well below the poverty line and would have used the additional much-needed money to pay for basic …
Future of OW/ODSP Changes Uncertain: Take Action!
– la version française suit dessous – A few weeks ago, we circulated information about changes that are slated to take effect in Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program starting this fall, and others that are already in place. Since then, over 7,100 of you have downloaded this information, showing us that these changes are …
