* La version française suit * End Employment Insurance discrimination against women In the mid-1990s, Canada’s unemployment insurance system underwent a massive change. At that time, whether or not an unemployed worker qualified for payments was based on the number of weeks that they had worked before they lost their job. Although there were lots …
Updates
Changes Ontario is Proposing to OW and ODSP
Note: This information may now be out of date, as some of the announced changes have since been canceled. For an update, see this fact sheet. On November 22, 2018, Minister Lisa MacLeod announced a number of proposed changes to the Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) system. We have prepared several …
Ontario Court of Appeal ruling is a victory for Uber workers
In a ground breaking case, the Ontario Court of Appeal has decided that a clause in Uber’s contract with its drivers – which requires them to take legal disputes with the company to the Netherlands to be resolved – is “illegal” and “unconscionable”. This case offers workers some important protections where there may be unfair …
OW & ODSP: What is a “Health Spending Account”? / OT & POSPH : Qu’est-ce qu’un « compte gestion-santé »?
What a “Health Spending Account” might mean to people on OW & ODSP On November 22, the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services announced a number of proposed changes to the social assistance system in Ontario. Among these proposed changes is the creation of something called a Health Spending Account. While there are currently …
Improving access to justice for Indigenous people: New inter-regional Gladue Briefs Project
Community legal clinics in the south-west region of Ontario, along with Thunder Bay’s Kinna’aweya legal clinic and the Income Security Advocacy Centre, have joined together in a Gladue Briefs Project with the aim of ensuring that administrative tribunals make decisions that better take into account the circumstances of Indigenous people who appear before them. Background …
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 …
Ontario 2019 Pre-Budget Consultations: Have your say!
The provincial government has asked for input into the upcoming 2019 provincial Budget. There are currently two pre-budget consultation processes that you can plug into: The Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs is conducting hearings across the province and accepting written submissions until 5:00pm on January 29. The Minister of Finance is hosting …
Important Survey on How Canada Measures Poverty: Jan 31 deadline
An important consultation is happening right now on the way that Canada measures poverty. The federal government has said that it will make the Market Basket Measure (MBM) Canada’s official poverty line, and will use the MBM to measure its progress on meeting its poverty reduction goals. But if the MBM isn’t set up properly …
ISAC Annual Report / Rapport annuel 2017-2018
– la version française suit dessous – The past year has seen many development in the income security and employment landscape, with many more to come in the near future. Check out our annual report to see the key milestones of our work in 2017-2018, including: The release of Income Security: A Roadmap for Change …
A year of Bill 148: Not what the big business lobby predicted
A full year of big changes to labour law in Ontario has just passed. Newly released jobs numbers let us measure the impact of these changes, and gauge whether the nightmarish predictions of job losses and economic upheaval have come true. Last January, Bill 148 ushered in a sweeping set of labour law reforms in …
