In response to the unprecedented crisis brought on by the pandemic, the federal government instituted a number of reforms to Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) program in 2020. These reforms allowed greater access to EI, and…
Effective today, ODSP benefit rates will increase by 5%. This 5% applies to both basic needs and shelter amounts, board and lodge rates, and sponsored immigrants. Services provided in long-term care homes will also be…
ISAC’s Senior Policy Analyst Devorah Kobluk was interviewed on NOW with Dave Brown, an Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) podcast, about the Ontario government’s promise to increase ODSP rates by 5% and the Open Letter released…
ODSP rates increase On Tuesday, August, 9, 2022, and following the Speech from the Throne, the provincial government re-introduced the same pre-election Budget from April 28, 2022. It has a few additions. One is an…
Every year in the fall, ISAC reviews the new provincial social assistance rates and releases an updated “OW & ODSP Rates and the Ontario Child Benefit” rates sheet. Though the look of the rates sheets…
ISAC welcomes the Canada Disability Tax Credit (DTC) eligibility criteria expansion for mental functions and life-sustaining therapy. People living with mental disorders have long faced multiple barriers accessing the DTC. The DTC is a non-refundable…
On July 21, the Ontario government announced the extension of the Worker Income Protection Benefit (WIPB) to March 31, 2023. This is the second such extension of the WIPB since it was brought in on…
On Monday, July 25, ISAC and over 230 social service providers and community organizations called on Premier Ford to double social assistance rates ahead of the August 2022 Budget. Scroll down to read the full…
ISAC’s Senior Policy Analyst Devorah Kobluk was interviewed for a TVO.org article on the topic of the Canada Disability Benefit. Read the full story on TVO‘s website here: https://www.tvo.org/article/i-dont-know-how-long-i-can-do-this-disabled-ontarians-still-waiting-on-federal-disability-benefit
ISAC’s primary goal is to advance the systemic interests and rights of low-income Ontarians around income security programs and low-wage precarious employment. To reach our goals, we engage in various strategies: litigation, law and policy…
Social assistance recipients have a statutory right to appeal certain decisions about their benefits to the Social Benefits Tribunal. However, there are some decisions that they cannot appeal. For example, decisions about access to “discretionary…