Welfare Reform

Recent Posts

Welfare reform report released in a vacuum

By: |

By Deborah O’Connor

The Commission for the Review of Social Assistance finally released its long awaited report, “Brighter Prospects: Transforming Social Assistance In Ontario”, today following a one-month delay. Too bad nobody is home at the Ontario Legislature to act on it. It’s not likely to make much difference anyway since many activists aren’t expecting anything positive from it. While the reforms designed to cut the welfare rolls and save money will no doubt be eagerly embraced, those who would improve the system and the lives of those affected are not welcoming it, if past government behaviors are any indication. The facts are while the Liberal government in Ontario added about 130 million to the welfare budget this year, corresponding cutbacks clawed away half of the rolls. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Community Voices, Social Justice

Income security once and for all

By: |

By Deborah O’Connor

For Frances Lankin and Dr. Munir Sheikh, co-chairs of the Social Assistance Review Commission, the task of making final recommendations for the reform of Ontario’s welfare system has to be one of the hardest they’ve ever faced. With a generation of reports behind them from both in and outside government and a variety of ancillary programs that aren’t part of welfare but support welfare recipients, just absorbing all the information involved is a monumental job in itself. By next summer, they’re expected to come up with a road map for reform that will please Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, recipients and advocates alike; most especially the finance minister, who will have to find the money to make real change happen. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Community, Social Justice

Welfare reform: a long time coming

By: |

By Deborah O’Connor

After looking at the history of Ontario’s welfare system in last week’s column, it’s time to see where the goal of reforming it has led us. When Premier Dalton McGunity was first elected in 2003, he promised to overhaul what every recipient and most advocates knew was a dysfunctional, inadequate and punitive bureaucracy that served nobody well. Putting newcomer Deb Matthews in charge, she embarked on the exercise of producing a report that would lay the groundwork for real reform. In her role, she travelled all over the province, meeting with everybody from staff at welfare offices, social service agencies, legal clinics, municipal representatives and even a few low income groups. By 2004, the report was finished, put up on a shelf and forgotten. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Community Voices, Community, Social Justice

Reviewing the welfare system – again

By: |

By Deborah O’Connor

This year the Northumberland Community Legal Centre focused its Justice Forum event on the current incarnation of the ongoing review of Ontario’s welfare system. While speakers brought participants up to speed on some of the proposals for change, input was collected from people there who have experience with the Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works, the two separate programs that provide welfare in the province. For both advocates and system users, the latest review being conducted by the Social Assistance Review Commission is the last in a long line of reviews and reports that date back to the late 1980s. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Community Voices, Social Justice