MEDIA RELEASE: Sudbury to host Province-Wide Anti-Poverty March and Rally on Oct. 19th

On Saturday October 19th people will be coming to Sudbury from Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Kingston, Belleville and other centres for a province-wide anti-poverty march and rally. This is the last event in the Raise the Rates campaign week of anti-poverty action. The Raise the Rates campaign is a joint community and union-based campaign that calls for the minimum wage to be raised to $14 an hour and indexed to the rate of inflation for those living in poverty who work for wages and at the same time calls for raising social assistance rates back to where they were before the Mike Harris cuts in 1995 (for Ontario Works this means an immediate 55% increase).

Anna Harbulik of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) points out "It is really important that the Raise the Rates campaign is supporting people living in poverty in northern Ontario. Rather than asking us to go to Toronto yet again for a province-wide rally and march they are bringing people from the south to Sudbury to highlight the problems people living in poverty in northern Ontario are facing."

The rally on Saturday Oct. 19th starts at 2pm at the Sheridan Auditorium at Sudbury Secondary School and will be followed by an anti-poverty march through downtown streets. Speakers at the rally will include John Clarke of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. The main issue being raised on the 19th is opposition to the proposals to merge the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) with Ontario Works (OW) that the Liberal government is discussing. This will mean the slashing of benefits and rates for people living with disabilities and the imposition of ‘workfare’ onto people living with disabilities. On this see the attached statement from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty below. The Raise the Rates campaign is calling for an end to these merger proposals, defending people on ODSP, and calling for First Nations control over ODSP on reserves.

Charles Tossell a person on ODSP points out that “People with disabilities have needs that have to be addressed. If ODSP is merged with OW our monthly support rates will be slashed as well as other benefits we receive. The imposition of what is called workfare onto people with disabilities will force some people into competing for very low paying jobs that will not be able to make adequate accommodations for the disabilities people have. If they cannot get or maintain these jobs this will be used to deny them social assistance. This will only create much more hardship in the lives of people living with disabilities.”

Other events during the week of anti-poverty action in Sudbury include:

Monday, Oct. 14th – 'Thanksgiving' Raise the Minimum Wage action. Starting at 12 noon at McDonald's on Notre Dame and walking to Tim Horton's downtown. Both McDonald's and Tim Horton's oppose raising the minimum wage.

Tuesday, Oct. 15th  –The Laurentian University Graduate Student Association (GSA) anti-poverty film showing  of  “Invisible City”at the Mackenzie Library, 6:30pm.  Free snacks.

Friday, Oct. 18th – Free Meal and Anti-Poverty March.  Restore the Community Start-up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB) and in the meantime ensure that Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative (CHPI) maintains CSUMB rates and policies. Memorial Park, 2pm. This event is supported by Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council.

The week of action is supported by: the Sudbury and District Labour Council; the Sudbury District Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Council; the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Sudbury and District Area Council; UTE Local 00042; the Sudbury Workers' Education and Advocacy Center; the Labour Studies and Women’s Studies programs; and the Poverty, Homelessness and Migration research project at Laurentian University.  Provincially the event is supported by: the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty; the Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario; and the Public Service Alliance of Canada-Ontario. The event is organized by the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) For further information contact: The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty at 249-878-7227

 

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Ontario Coalition Against Poverty Statement on the Merging of ODSP with OW. August, 2013

Disabled people who have to rely on ODSP know what an inadequate and discriminatory system it is. You have to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get onto it and the level of income it provides comes nowhere close to meeting your basic needs. However, the Ontario Works (OW) system is even less adequate and even more insecure.

Last year, the Liberal Government commissioned a report proposing a merger of OW and ODSP into one program. While the government claims this will make the system easier to administer and easier to access, it is really about cutting benefits. We do not know exactly how a new program will work, it is likely that people with disabilities will get tax credits instead of benefits payments.

The proposal has also called for increased measures to reassess whether people would be accepted as having disabilities and it urged the Government to set up “employers councils” as well as new form of a participation agreement called “Pathway to Employment Plan.” Using friendly sounding language about “focusing on ability,” the government claims this is about making work more accessible. However, in reality we will see disabled people forced to compete for the lowest paying jobs. “Focusing on ability” also erases the discrimination that disabled people place and individualizes our[*/their] lack of inclusion. Many disabled people are unemployed because of discrimination and lack of accommodations not ‘ability.’

The plan to attack ODSP is based on measures that have been taken by the Government of David Cameron in the UK. There, private companies have been hired to reassess disability claims and huge numbers of people have been forced onto a benefit that is very similar to OW or left without any income whatsoever. Anyone familiar with what injured workers are facing in Ontario will know that the model is already being employed by the WSIB right here at home.

It is our clear understanding, from a well-placed source within Queen’s Park, that we will see legislation being introduced in the fall on the OW/ODSP merger. It is a very serious attack and people should be very concerned. However, we want to stress that we are putting out this information because we believe that we can organize to defeat the Government’s plans and stop this merger from going through.

Last year, OCAP and a wide range of union and community allies held a week of action and sustained mobilizations across Ontario in response to the decision by the Province to scrap the Community Start Up benefit and replace it with locally delivered programs. Community action forced them to put $42 million into their new system. The attack on ODSP is many times more serious and we firmly believe that united, Province wide action can win.

This cut is not just a concern for disabled people but for all poor and working class people and our allies in Ontario for a number of reasons. Firstly, many of us are on ODSP or have neighbours, relatives and friends who are on ODSP. We need to protect each other and make sure that our communities are supported. Secondly, if tens of thousands of people are forced into menial paid labour at the same time, it will be easier for bosses to keep wages low and working conditions bad. Thirdly, poor people are more likely to be disabled and we know that poverty is one of the biggest causes of disability in the world. Keeping ODSP intact means that we can help ensure that it will be there if those of us who aren’t currently disabled ever need it. Lastly, beating the Liberals on this means that they will think twice before they come after poor people again. Building resistance and solidarity means making the province better for all of us and helping to ensure the whole social safety net remains intact.

This coming October the Raise the Rates Campaign will be having a Provincial Week of Action – please join us and build mobilizations in your community to be part of this growing Provincial fightback! If you need more information or want to get involved, please contact us without delay.

**Where you can read the report- Page 16 under ‘Changes inside social assistance’: http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/documents/en/mcss/social/publications/social_a...

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty