Time to fix Ontario’s mistreatment of social assistance recipients
After years of neglect, it’s time to finally address inadequate rates of support
COVID-19 could not have come at a worse time for Ontario people who live on social assistance. The onset of the pandemic followed a spike in the cost of food: it rose by 7.6 per cent, the highest in the past decade (Toronto Medical Officer of Health reporting to the Toronto Board of Health, Oct. 16, 2019). Last year was also the first time in 15 years that social assistance rates were not increased.
Single people who are not “handicapped” receive $733 per month from Ontario Works; government subsidies raise it to $825. The Hamilton Social Work Action Committee has been monitoring the downward slide in the buying power of social assistance rates since 1997. Our committee formed in response to the punitive cut of 21.6 per cent by Ontario’s last PC government in 1995. Premier Mike Harris told the electorate that the cut would get people “back to work” but no evidence was ever provided to support his claim.
The PC government kept social assistance rates at the 1995 level throughout their tenure. When the Liberals took over in 2003, they began to give a tiny annual cost of living raise — first 1 per cent, then 1.5 per cent. Their 2018 projected budget included a raise of 3 per cent. The victorious PCs cut the 3 per cent to 1.5 per cent, and single OW recipients have been stuck at $733 per month ever since.
The effect of high food costs combined with a 0 per cent raise was evident in the results of the Nutritious Food Basket (NFB) Report 2019 — an annual survey conducted by Hamilton’s Public Health Services on the affordability of nutrihad tious food for families of different kinds. The report showed that single recipients of Ontario Works in Hamilton were $236 short per month of being able to buy nutritious food, after paying an average rent for a bachelor apartment. This was a huge shortfall, especially compared with 2018, when they were only $101 short.
Our present government appeared to ignore social assistance recipients until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. On Dec. 5, 2019, 20 Hamilton advocates bused to Queen’s Park and attended Question Period. We heard Minister Todd Smith (Children, Community & Social Services) state, incorrectly, “Our government already increased rates by 1.5 per cent to those on social assistance earlier this year.”
In the generous spirit of COVID-19, Ontario has now given a one-time supplement of $50 to OW recipients and $100 to ODSP recipients. Needless to say, this does not make up for the losses described above.
Having people in our population struggling to access nutritious food is a danger to all of us, as they are more likely to succumb to COVID-19. Many of them have underlying health issues, as well as poor mental health, commonly associated with poverty. Readers of the Spectator will remember its exhaustive analysis of local poverty launched as Code Red, published in 2009 with a 10-year followup in 2019. An important finding was a difference of 21 years between the highest and lowest census tracts for average age at death, and a significant correlation between income and lifespan. A 10-year followup in 2019 showed that this difference increased to 23 years.
Another concern is that people living on minimal incomes may not take due precautions in this time of lockdown. We are learning that people in poor neighbourhoods are contracting and dying from COVID-19 in numbers beyond their representation in the general population. In addition, people who are desperate for food will take chances: they may ignore social distancing, thus contributing to the spread of the virus.
The answer is to give social assistance recipients a substantial increase, in advance of the delayed budget for 2020. The last government report studying social assistance, Road map for Change (2017), recommended that social assistance be increased by 22 per cent over the next three years. Attention to this recommendation would bring the 2020 rate for single recipients to $894 per month.
Many social agencies that reach out to people dependent on social assistance are pleading with the Government to raise the rates. On April 20, under the umbrella of the Income Security Advocacy Centre, 130 agencies sent a letter to Minister Todd Smith. In addition to raising the rates, they asked for social assistance recipients with parttime jobs to be included in the benefits from Employment Insurance and the Canada Emergency Response Benefits that are being made available to other workers.
COVID-19 provides us with an opportunity to make up to social assistance recipients for the unfair treatment they have experienced in the past.
Dr. Sally Palmer, Chair, Hamilton Social Work Action Committee