City Tightens Screws On Welfare

The City of Toronto is preparing to save funds by making sure that people on Ontario Works (OW) are denied benefits they need on an even bigger scale than happens at present. In announcing that fees for renting sports facilities will "only" increase by 8%, City officials have made clear that they will stick it to poor people on social assistance as a way of saving money.

David Miller and the "progressive" majority on City Council were not going to lay a finger on the swollen $800 million cop budget so they settled for another round of attacks on poor people and families.

Despite the ominous indications of economic recession, projections for a monthly welfare caseload of 79,000 have been revised and they will be "managing caseload numbers" in a vicious attempt to keep it at only 77,000 for a savings of $4.2 million.

Just how will they ensure that 2,000 adults and kids a month are kept off welfare? They'll intensify what they already do. A wink and a nod will go down through the system and people in need will be turned away in violation of even the very meager rights they are supposed to have. It will become even less likely that desperate people will be informed of benefits they could be entitled to. The $30 million a year that is being allocated to families under the Special Diet will likely be a particular target. Already, many people are refused their special diet forms to apply for the benefit and their applications are being rejected on flagrantly improper grounds this will likely increase dramatically as the City tries to cut costs.

OCAP appeals to legal clinics and other advocacy bodies to document these kinds of abuses. We urge those who are the victim of such treatment to demand your rights. For our part, we pledge to step up our efforts to challenge the conduct of welfare offices and to hold the "progressives" on Council fully accountable for this shameful attack.