Press Release

Rogers Inquest Jury To Hear from Welfare Advocacy Groups

Ontario Social Safety NetWork (OSSN)
Ontario Legal Clinics' Steering Committee on Social Assistance (SCSA)
Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) - Centre d'action pour la sécurité du revenu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2002

September 26, 2002 - Toronto: Ontario Coroner, David Eden, has granted standing to several public interest advocacy groups at the inquest into the August, 2001 death of Kimberly Rogers of Sudbury. Ms. Rogers died alone and impoverished while under house arrest for welfare fraud. She was convicted for the "crime" of receiving OSAP loans while on social assistance. One of the issues to be probed by the inquest, which will begin in October, is how welfare rules and policies are related to the circumstances of her death.

The Ontario Social Safety NetWork (OSSN) and the Ontario Legal Clinics' Steering Committee on Social Assistance (SCSA) were granted joint standing as a coalition. OSSN members include grass roots low income organizations, social service agencies, faith groups and others who are concerned with social assistance policy in Ontario. The SCSA represents caseworkers from community legal aid clinics who advise and represent people having problems with Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program. This coalition's unique perspective and expertise combines the experience of people forced to turn to the complicated, demeaning welfare system to survive, with the legal expertise of those who act as advocates for social assistance recipients.

In his decision to grant standing to the coalition, the Coroner stated that the OSSN and the SCSA will offer the inquest jury "a valuable perspective that otherwise would not have come forward".

"The jury will need to grapple with many complicated issues, such as the impossibly low amount of welfare payments, the lack of support for education to allow a person like Ms. Rogers to escape social assistance, and the double punishment of a welfare ban on top of a criminal punishment for welfare fraud," says OSSN member, Barbara Anello. "Because our groups live and work with these issues every day, we can help the jury understand the impact social assistance polices had on Kimberly Rogers' life, and how they contributed to her death."

The OSSN/SCSA coalition is being represented by the Income Security Advocacy Centre.

Other public interest groups granted standing include the Sudbury Social Planning Council, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS), the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO), the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL), and the Women's Legal Education and Assistance Fund (LEAF).

For information contact:

Jacquie Chic (Income Security Advocacy Centre): (416) 597-5820 ext. 5144
Barbara Anello (Ontario Social Safety NetWork): (705) 494-9078
Beth Waldon (Steering Committee on Social Assistance): (705) 942-4900

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