Social Assistance

Fix welfare rules that hurt jobless
March 24, 2009 | Toronto Star Editorial

To get welfare, it’s not enough to have lost your job and run out of Employment Insurance (if you’re one of the 30 per cent of unemployed workers who managed to even qualify). You must be destitute.
Tagged with: Social Assistance
What Ontario has to do to fix the hole in welfare
March 18, 2009 | Toronto Star

Our welfare system provides Ontarians with a false sense of security. Many assume it has been designed to offer temporary protection to individuals who are ineligible for Employment Insurance, or no longer able to participate in this program. But this so-called safety net has some large holes.
Tagged with: John Stapleton • Social Assistance
Welfare’s lousy diet
February 23, 2009 | Toronto Star

“When people don’t have enough money to buy healthy food, they get sick,” says Toronto’s medical officer of health, David McKeown. “It’s that simple.”
Tagged with: Put Food in the Budget • Social Assistance

Charity may help Jean, but not our broken welfare system: Fiorito
February 15, 2013

Jean has cancer and can’t afford to eat properly. Many people want to help. But does individual charity mask the poverty of our welfare policy?

Jean has cancer. She is my age. She knows what the future holds. She shrugs.

It’s coming to us all.

You remember that her disability cheques cover her rent, her phone, her television, and not much else; for all her other needs, including food, she has maybe a hundred bucks a month.

In addition to her disability cheque, she gets a few crumbs of money as part of the special diet allowance, because she has hypertension and high cholesterol.

But she has not been getting a particular portion of the special diet allowance — the portion meant for those who have cancer — because of this cruel qualifier: she has the illness, but she is not losing weight.

Oh, well, then.

Read more here
$45M dental-care boost protects poorest children
October 1, 2010
Ontario is expanding free dental services for poor children to include preventative care such as check-ups, cleanings, X-rays and fillings, the Star has learned.

Health Minister Deb Matthews will announce Friday that the “healthy smiles” program — costing taxpayers $45 million annually — is designed to help 130,000 kids aged 17 and under.
Big bang for full-day learning buck
August 30, 2010
Ontario is missing out on a significant economic payoff by offering a scaled-down version of full-day learning this fall, says a report being released Monday. A new economic analysis of the initiative outlined by the premier’s early learning adviser last spring shows an immediate return of $2.02 for every dollar invested in operations and $1.47 for every dollar spent on new classrooms, says the report, obtained by the Star.
Funding shortages for home services are staggering
August 27, 2010
ARCH Disability Law Centre, dedicated to advancing the rights of people with disabilities, says its campaign was prompted by “an alarming and growing trend of adults with intellectual disabilities being unable to afford vital supports that would facilitate their development, independence and participation in the community. “This crisis is growing and we need your help,” ARCH says.
Radical change for Ont. mental health urged
August 26, 2010
A new report says a “radical transformation” of mental health and addiction care is needed in Ontario if people are to receive the help they need.

ISAC Update – April 2009
The April newsletter of the Income Security Advocacy Centre is online! Highlights include information on the special diet litigation, the Ending Poverty project, their revised case criteria and the impending social assistance review.

25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction
c/o CSPC-T
2 Carlton St., Suite 1001 | Toronto, ON M5B 1J3
ph. 416-351-0095 x.214 | fx. 416-351-0107
info@25in5.ca

Social Assistance

Fix welfare rules that hurt jobless

What Ontario has to do to fix the hole in welfare

Welfare’s lousy diet