[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: Poverty Watch Ontario

[Terrie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Poverty Watch Ontario <webmaster at povertywatchontario.ca>
Date: 2010/1/22
Subject: Poverty Watch Ontario
To: mocharebyl at gmail.com


   Poverty Watch Ontario <http://www.povertywatchontario.ca>
 <http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/PovertyWatchOntario>
------------------------------

PFIB Meets with Community and Social Services Minister
Meilleur<http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/PovertyWatchOntario/%7E3/U-Z0WtiVQH8/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 08:10 AM PST

A delegation from the Put Food in the Budget Advisory group met with the Hon.
Madeleine Meilleur<http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_detail.do?locale=en&ID=2134>,
Minister of Community and Social Services, on Wednesday, January 20. The
PFIB representatives were:

   - Michelle Gratton, Social Planning Council of Cornwall and Area
   - Nadia Edwards, volunteer at The Stop Community Food
Centre<http://www.thestop.org/>
   - Darren Nesbit, leader in poverty reduction from Sarnia
   - Deirdre Pike, organizer with the Social Planning and Research Council
   of Hamilton <http://www.sprc.hamilton.on.ca/> for the 25 in 5 Hamilton
   Network for Poverty Reduction <http://25in5hamilton.ca>
   - Peter Clutterbuck, Social Planning Network of Ontario<http://www.spno.ca>

Minister Meilleur listened intently to Nadia and Darren who spoke of their
experiences trying to live on current OW and ODSP benefit levels
respectively. Michelle presented the Minister with a French translation of
the SPNO’s report on Do the Math visits to
MPPs<http://www.povertywatchontario.ca/downloads/Do-the-Math-MPP-Visits-Report-Dec3-09.pdf>across
the province and summarized local action in support of poverty
reduction and the Healthy Food Supplement in Cornwall. Deirdre summarized
the results of the MPP visits and of more than 3,000 respondents to the
on-line version of the Do the Math survey
<http://dothemath.thestop.org>that show a difference in the range of
$700-800 between what survey
respondents calculate as needed for meeting basic monthly necessities and
what they would get at the current single employable OW rate.

Peter explained that the two aims of the Put Food in the Budget campaign
are:

   1. To urge the Government to act now to add a $100 a month Healthy Food
   Supplement to the Basic Needs Allowance of all OW and ODSP recipients so
   that they could eat more healthily and close the gap between the cost of
   monthly necessities and the amount they receive.
   2. To ensure that the Terms of Reference for the Social Assistance Review
   include a commitment to setting social assistance income support benefits at
   a level that meets the cost of living with health and dignity.

When asked if she would Do the Math survey, Minister Meilleur said that she
is familiar with the issues facing people on social assistance so that it is
not necessary for her to do the survey. The Minister indicated that she and
her Cabinet colleagues recognize the connection between poverty and poor
health. She also understands that recipients do not get enough and that she
“would love to add a $100 month” to their benefits. She said, however, that
it “is costly every time that we moved on requests like this”. All
Ministries are being asked to cut their budgets because of the huge deficit
brought on by the economic recession, which has meant a severe reduction in
tax revenues for the Government.

Minister Meilleur explained that the Government’s priorities remain health
and education and getting people back to work so that tax revenues would
increase and the demands of the first two priorities could be met. She felt
that people on social assistance get access to other supports such as dental
and drug benefits which other low income people do not receive. Furthermore,
the Government has provided 2% annual increases since 2003 to social
assistance recipients, although she acknowledged that this did not restore
the income loss enacted by the Harris Government “slash and burn cut” of 22%
in 1995.

The Minister made the point that public opinion surveys show support for the
Government’s health priority while social assistance is “not on their
radar”. The PFIB representatives replied that the Healthy Food Supplement is
completely consistent with the Government’s health priority since studies
show the clear link between poor health, low income and high costs to the
healthcare system. A 2008 University of Toronto study (*Poverty is Making Us
Sick*<http://www.socialwork.utoronto.ca/Assets/SANE/Poverty+making+us+sick.pdf>)
found that people in the bottom 20% of incomes in Ontario are more likely to
have two chronic health conditions and that a $1,000 change in annual income
in the bottom fifth of the population would produce 10,000 fewer chronic
conditions and 6,600 fewer disability days over a two week period.

PFIB offered to support the Minister in making these points to the public to
help build support for the Healthy Food Supplement.

The PFIB delegation also asked the Minister to support the inclusion of
income adequacy in the Terms of Reference for the Social Assistance Review.
The Minister’s staff suggested that PFIB should carry these recommendations
to the Advisory
Committee<http://www.news.ontario.ca/mcss/en/2010/01/council-appointed-to-shape-review-of-social-assistance.html>just
set up to define the Terms of Reference. The PFIB representatives
indicated that they would do so but also recognized that, in the end, it is
the Minister’s decision about what the Terms of Reference will include,
which Minister Meilleur strongly confirmed.

The Minister also said that the Social Assistance Review would include open
public consultations. When the PFIB delegates referred to the Social Audit
process being organized across the province by the Interfaith Social
Assistance Reform Coalition, the Minister and her staff indicated that this
information would also be taken into consideration in the Review.

The meeting concluded with the Minister’s agreement that she and her staff
will meet again with PFIB representatives to carry on the discussion.

Peter Clutterbuck
Social Planning Network of Ontario <http://www.spno.ca>
January 21, 2010
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-- 
Terrie ( mocharebyl at gmail.com )
“If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a
participant.” June Callwood
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and
renders the present inaccessible.  Maya Angelou
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