[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: 25 in 5 eBulletin for May 5
Terrie
mocharebyl at gmail.com
Thu May 6 10:50:27 EDT 2010
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) <isac at lao.on.ca>
Date: 6 May 2010 10:20
Subject: 25 in 5 eBulletin for May 5
To: mocharebyl at gmail.com
Hi all,
We usually restrict messages on this list to those describing ISAC-related
activities only - but yesterday's eBulletin from the 25 in 5 Network for
Poverty Reduction (of which ISAC is a founding member) is focused on social
assistance and the special diet allowance, and does feature some ISAC
activities, so I thought I'd pass it along.
If you want to subscribe to the eBulletin to receive 25 in 5's messages on a
regular basis, please send a request email to info at 25in5.ca.
Cheers,
Jennefer
ISAC
*25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction *
*For May 5, 2010: Special Diet and Social Assistance *
------------------------------
*In this week's eBulletin:*
1. Quote of the Week
2. Open Letter to Premier McGuinty: Social Assistance Decisions Call
Commitment into Question
3. Take Action: Contact your MPP about Special Diet!
4. Restraint Hits Poor the Hardest: Linda McQuaig on Special Diet in the
Toronto Star
5. Put Food in the Budget Meeting Draws a Crowd
6. Community Living Advocates ‘Stay Home'
7. Call for Nominations for 2010 Rosemarie Popham Family Advocacy Award
8. 25 in 5 Provincial Leadership Assembly May 17-18
------------------------------
*Quote of the Week:*
*"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of
those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too
little."*
*Who said it? *Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States
from 1933-1945. His words still ring true today.
------------------------------
*Open Letter to Premier McGuinty: *
**
*Budget Decisions on Social Assistance Call Commitment into Question *
**
*25 in 5 has sent the following letter to Premier McGuinty.* We'll let you
know when we receive a response.
--
*Dear Premier McGuinty,*
As organizations committed to the mission to reduce poverty, we write to
express our serious concern about recent moves your government has taken on
the poverty front.
More than a year into Ontario's efforts to reduce poverty by 25% by 2013,
your government has made the following moves that call into question your
government's commitment to meeting its own poverty reduction goals:
1) Ending the Special Diet Allowance Program without a previous and
clearly thought through replacement plan, which will result in a significant
drop in income for people on social assistance who have health-related
nutritional needs;
2) Allowing, for the first time since 2006, social assistance rate
increases to fall below the rate of inflation.
These actions are distressing, and - without adequate and commensurate
resolution - threaten the health and safety of many struggling individuals
in this province.
*Read the entire
letter.*<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/5eef5c22d2>
------------------------------
*Take Action: Contact your MPP about Special Diet!*
*The ODSP Action Coalition* is spearheading a campaign on its decision to
end Special Diet, and replace it with another program that we know nothing
about - except that government wants it to be a much smaller program that
supports fewer people.
*Take a moment to let government know* that the decision to end Special
Diet, and replace it with a more limited program, *will hurt many people on
social assistance*.
Template letters that you can use to send a letter to your MPP are posted
on *the ODSP Action Coalition's
website<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/ac227eec8b>
*, along with information about how to locate your MPP.
The decision to end Special Diet must be reversed.
*For more info, read the Income Security Advocacy Centre's analysis of the
government's decision<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/3840fbe6f9>
.*
------------------------------
*Restraint Hits Poor the Hardest: Linda McQuaig *
*Published in the Toronto Star, 5 May 2010*
**
One of the depressing aspects of the last few decades is the ease with which
seemingly normal people walk obliviously past the aching pools of humanity
spread out on our sidewalks.
At what point will people start looking up from their iPhones - at least
momentarily - and think: Something must be done.
That moment should have come with the recent axing of Ontario's "*special
diet allowance,*" in which Dalton McGuinty's government literally took food
out of the mouths of hungry people, in the name of deficit reduction.
The elimination of the allowance in the recent provincial budget is really
just the continuation of the assault on the incomes of the very poorest
citizens that began with former premier Mike Harris's 22 per cent cut in
provincial welfare rates in 1995.
*Read the entire
article<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/818c960307>.
*
------------------------------
*Put Food in the Budget Meeting Draws a Crowd*
*More than 80 people* from across the province attended a *Put Food in the
Budget* (PFIB) organizing meeting on April 14.
*The Income Security Advocacy Centre* (ISAC) joined *PFIB* to share
information on various aspects of the elimination of the Special Diet
program, what this will mean for people on Ontario Works and the Ontario
Disability Support Program - and what is being done about it.
ISAC talked about the legal work ongoing at the *Human Rights Tribunal of
Ontario *to ensure that everyone on social assistance gets the benefit of
the Tribunal's February 17 decision - more information is available on *the
ISAC website*<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/41875be7cd>.
*OCAP* (the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty) discussed plans for
their *April
15 Rally and March to Raise the Rates and Restore Special Diet* - more
information is available on *the OCAP
website*<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/e291c3712a>.
*Put Food in the
Budget*<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/083fdd225a>
has
been keeping the issue of the inadequate OW and ODSP incomes on the front
burner through its organizing around the province and through *The Stop's
innovative Do the Math
Campaign*<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/eaf4ec8242>.
------------------------------
*Community Living Advocates ‘Stay Home'*
*Press Release from Community Living Ontario: *
**
*Broken Promise by Ontario Government Leaves Families and People Who Have a
Disability at Risk and in Crisis; Leads to Cancelled Celebrations *
**
*Toronto, ON *- Community Living Ontario was scheduled to hold its annual* *
*Community Living**Day at the Legislature** on May 4*, an event that
typically celebrates the collaborative efforts and partnership between the
Ontario Government and Community Living associations in supporting people
who have a disability to live well in the community.
Instead, the provincial association, its local affiliates, families, and
people supported by Community Living, are ‘staying home this year.
Following recent budget announcements, and given the current crisis facing
developmental services in Ontario - with more than 19,000 people on waiting
lists for residential and other critical supports; and 1,500 parents
providing primary care to their children on waitlists for residential
services (80 % of these being parents over the age of 70) - Community Living
Ontario decided it would be inappropriate to hold a celebration this year
while so many lives are virtually hanging in the balance.
*Read the entire press
release<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/a081d05381>.
*
------------------------------
*Call for Nominations for the 2010 Rosemarie Popham Family Advocacy Award*
Created in 1999, this award is given by* Family Service
Toronto<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/51aeffceca>
* (FST) to an individual or organization for their outstanding contributions
in advocacy work for children and families in Canada.
*Rosemarie Popham* was a well-known child and family advocate who
campaigned for the eradication of child poverty. She was Director of Social
Action for FST for many years and the co-founder and national coordinator of
Campaign 2000.
This award honours her outstanding contribution to the well-being of
children and families in Canada. It recognizes exceptional contributions
made to advocacy and social policy development.
Deadline for the nominations/applications is: *Friday, May 21st, 2010*.
For more information and to obtain an Nomination and Application Form,
please contact Liyu Guo at *liyugu at familyservicetoronto.org*.
------------------------------
*25 in 5 Provincial Leadership Assembly May 17-18*
Spaces are filling up fast for the *25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction's
* *Provincial Leadership Assembly* on May 18. Representatives from across
Ontario will meet to mark the first anniversary of the Poverty Reduction Act
and to plan our next steps to tackle poverty in Ontario.
We will be taking stock of progress on and challenges to poverty reduction,
learning from the successes of local poverty reduction initiatives, and
identifying our short and long term priorities - including for the upcoming
municipal and provincial elections.
*If you're involved in poverty reduction work in your community, we hope
you will join us to contribute to the next phase in 25 in 5's work! *
**
Please *send us an e-mail <%20info at 25in5.ca>* if you would like more
information or are interested in attending the Leadership Forum.
* *
------------------------------
*About the 25 in 5 eBulletins*
The 25 in 5 Network is steered by a coalition of Ontario organizations
including Campaign 2000, The Income Security Advocacy Centre, The Social
Planning Network of Ontario, The Interfaith Social Assistance Reform
Coalition, The Colour of Poverty Project, the Ontario Coalition for Social
Justice, Voices >From the Street, among others.
This is a bulletin from 25 in 5 to its contact list of supporters and
interested parties across the province. The Bulletin is intended to keep you
up to date on the implementation of a poverty reduction plan for Ontario and
to let you know how you, your organizations and networks can help make it
happen.
For more information visit
www.25in5.ca<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/6b3d9176cf>
Follow us on Facebook<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/43cc96e47b/v--E-wall>and
Twitter<http://www.cleonet.ca/maillist/lt/t_go.php?i=141&e=MzI2Nw==&l=http://cts.vresp.com/c/--Q-SocialPlanningToront/75421ffb8e/461cc6c392/c54ba712e0>
.
Click here <info at 25in5.ca> to sign up for this e-Bulletin.
*The 25 in 5 Network runs exclusively on volunteer contributions from our
partners. * Any financial contribution that you or your organization is able
to provide to the Network would be most appreciated. *To make a financial
contribution* to 25 in 5, please contact John Campey at *
jcampey at socialplanningtoronto.org*.
**********************************************************
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clearinghouse for Community Legal Education in Ontario at:
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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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