[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: ISAC Response to Budget 2010

[Terrie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) <isac at lao.on.ca>
Date: 25 March 2010 21:55
Subject: ISAC Response to Budget 2010
To: mocharebyl at gmail.com


 *25 March 2010*

*Special Diet Announcement Increases Insecurity for People on Social
Assistance*

*Toronto* – Ontarians on social assistance have every right to be concerned
about today’s provincial government decision to create a new “nutritional
supplementation” program to replace the current Special Diet Program.

“The government has given no hard evidence to justify replacing the entire
program,” said Mary Marrone, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services at the
Income Security Advocacy Centre. “People getting Special Diet are among the
sickest and most vulnerable Ontarians, and the stress caused by the
uncertainty this announcement creates will only put them at greater health
risk.”

The new program will be created in the Ministry of Health, but today’s
budget offers no timeline for its creation and no details on the new
program’s scope, which medical conditions will be covered, or what supports
it will offer.

“‘Nutritional supplementation’ could be very different from ‘medically
necessary diets’,” said Marrone. “The new program has to offer more than
supplements like Ensure, to make sure that Ontarians with conditions like
multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and heart disease, which require very
different dietary treatment, will continue to have their medically necessary
dietary needs met”.

A recent Human Rights Tribunal decision recognized that Special Diet has
supported substantive equality for people who have additional dietary costs
due to disability.

“The creation of a new program indicates government’s acknowledgement that
people with special dietary needs must have additional support,” said
Marrone. “We look forward to assisting people who are currently on Special
Diet to speak with the Minister of Health about their needs. The new program
needs to provide even better supports than the last.”

Marrone was also critical of the budget’s 1% increase to basic needs and
maximum shelter benefits.

“This government has set the bar low on increases to rates, previously
providing only cost-of-living increases of 2-3%,” said Marrone. “This budget
should have gone at least that far."

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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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