Presentation
to Judy Marsales, MPP & staff of Ted McMeekin MPP
at the Meeting of the Campaign for Adequate Welfare & Disability
Benefits
November 12, 2003
Presented
by Mike Hogeterp and Darlene Burkett
Text
of a presentation to Judy Marsales, MPP and staff of Ted McMeekin MPP
At the Meeting of the Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits
(CAWDB)
November 12, 2003
Presented by Mike Hogeterp and Darlene Burkett
Brief words of welcome and congratulations on electoral victory began the session. Mike then led off with the following:…..
We hope that this meeting can be the beginning of a cooperative and productive dialogue that will improve the health and well-being of all of the citizens of Hamilton.
The CAWDB is interested in hearing your impressions about our hopes to address the inadequacy of OW and ODSP benefits and the inhumanity of the system that Harris and Eves developed. Before we hear from you we'd like to give you a little background on our group and its work.
We begin with stories: (Darlene Burkett takes the floor and leads off with a text that she presented to Hamilton City Council on 10 September 2003)
Sometimes our cries cannot be heard at the Federal or Provincial levels of government. What is so disturbing is a lack of serious concern for the poor directly in the backyard of City Council in the City of Hamilton.
In 1991, I was in a second car accident. I was left with no social supports due to No-Fault insurance. I had no family.
In 1994, I managed to pick up a few computer courses and a co-op job placement at St. Mary High School. I took out bank loans to consolidate credit card debts. I had paid up loans and was financially in good credit standings.
In 1995, when the cuts on Welfare/Family Benefit Allowance were implemented, I was breast feeding a newborn. But I was only eating twice a week - good times once every two days. Doing laundry meant boiling clothes in a big pot on the stovetop. Feeding my family of three was very difficult. Food from the food bank most of the time was past the expiry date, (including baby food and cereal). This was quite a parental moral decision to make. I was forced to max my credit cards to cover diapers and food for my family. I lost my good credit rating.
My health deteriorated severely, so I applied for ODSP. My application of course was denied twice. At the time I had Fibromyalgia, a muscular disease, severe arthritis in my right hip, moderate disk deterioration in my spine, moderate depression and chronic pain.
It was only after the third application, and with the help of a Legal Aid Clinic and the MPP in Dundas, that I received my ODSP. I was sharing an inhaler (asthma medication), with my four-month-old daughter. This was appalling to the MPP's Office and they found it unacceptable.
This system not only affects myself, but also my children. It is difficult to tell my children they cannot participate in school trips, Hot Dog Days, or Pizza Days, because there is no money. Being socially excluded and isolated from other children, it is hard for them to bare the stigma of Poverty, which is difficult to hide from.
My son often asks me, "Why should I try at school Mom when we can't afford to send me to College or University...my teacher says I have great potential". What is a Mother to say? Potentially your life has been destroyed by the Social Housing Reform Act 2000-2001. I challenge all of you here, to look into this Act to see how potentially harmful it is to the family unit and to the future of children.
I would like to emphatically state that my case is not an exception. There are tens of thousands of families that are being oppressed by the system. Four hundred thousand (400,000) children are living in poverty in Ontario. Hamilton's percentage of child poverty (in this area alone – delete these words) exceeds the national percentage level.
What can be implemented through their lives to help them continue their education and become responsible citizens?
Do the children get rolled over to the next generation of hardship?
Are we a caring community?
Let's care for each other............
Darlene continued, with the assistance of Joe Rhodes, by telling the following story:
Ethel Hinchliffe was a 48-year-old woman. She was on ODSP but unfortunate circumstances led her to a very little time in jail. She was not grandfathered back on to ODSP as she was supposed to be, but she was to receive OW. She had scoliosis of the spine, severe asthma, no existing kneecap on one leg. She also had moderate to severe depression.
Her income was $520.00 - her rent $450.00 with a future overpayment to be applied as a deduction. She came to Welfare Action as a last hope. Her problem was suspension of her monthly check. She was paying over 70% of her income on rent. Her case was "flagged" by the computer system. This resulted in her cheque being suspended. She supposedly had submitted information past the due date. That was due to her health, and she had tried her best.
In the meantime she was reapplying for ODSP and was denied. She put in an internal review at Ontario Works asking for the suspensions to stop "please".
Sunday the 27th of July, Welfare Action received an urgent message...she was going to come into Welfare Action. Monday the 28th of July, she was told that her cheque would be suspended at the end of the month again. She was in no condition to "volunteer" or work. One could tell by talking to her - she had given up totally.
We tried to help but again we were told the cheque would be suspended. At first we were told she would be "cut off". That Wednesday we had to tell her about the suspension. Thursday she died. The cause of death was not released. The downward spiralling mental condition of this woman, through the process of disentitlement and mistakes on her case, took its toll on HER.
The details of Ethel's case resemble the Kimberly Rodgers case, but this one is in our own backyard.
I thought one needed to know this -- my story is ODSP and family oriented - hers was OW and ODSP and a single person.
Stories like Darlene's and Ethel's are well known and occur far too often. They have been shared around this table many times. The fact is that the deterioration of the social assistance system since 1995 has seriously affected the well-being of people in Ontario, in Hamilton and many of the people in this room today.
We have heard, and many of us have lived these stories too often and too long - so we are determined to work hard - as a community that cares - to seek justice for OW and ODSP recipients, to respond to the challenge Let's Care for each other!
You'll notice in our statement of goals that we believe there is a need for a fundamental reform of the social welfare and income security system in Ontario.
First off - Shelter allowance and basic needs allowances are clearly inadequate. A host of anecdotal and statistical studies prove this. The ISARC community social audits heard stories like Darlene's and Ethel's time and time again in communities across the province. They all point to the fact that OW and ODSP benefits don't address the needs of Ontario families adequately.
Social Assistance recipients in Ontario all fall well below the Statistics Canada low-income cut-off and even the Fraser Institute's Poverty line. In Hamilton the basic shelter allowance for a family of three is only 72% of average rents (as determined by CMHC). Naturally this means that part of the rent payment has to come out of basic needs, so people must face the decision whether to pay the rent or feed the kids every month.
OW and ODSP recipients also face the indignity of a system that is dehumanizing - a system that has been structured to reduce case loads and seek “efficiencies”. It not only fails to address basic and pressing needs, but also subjects applicants and recipients alike to an intense scrutiny that is not unlike the archaic practice of determining the deserving poor (as in the Victorian era). The system seems to be full of structured suspicions and complications that are frustrating and dehumanizing for people with real and urgent needs.
These difficulties can be overcome. Indeed they must be. Reform can begin when governments and communities work together in a responsible and responsive partnership.
For OW and ODSP reform this means a number of things:
1. Inclusiveness: all people affected by the system, and especially benefit recipients and their families, must be partners in a province-wide consultation on income security reform.
2. An inclusive process of reform should include efforts to ensure that the system is accountable to the people it serves and flexible enough to be responsive to their needs. Accountability means that documents like the Kim Roger's coroner's Jury report cannot sit on a shelf and gather dust. Governments, systems and communities must respond to the needs identified by important work like that.
3. Priority of Care: Fiscal prudence is certainly a consideration for a sustainable income security system, but it is not the only thing that should shape policy. If the income security system is to be responsive to human needs, program success should be determined first by its contribution to human well-being.
This framework for reform developed out of our (CAWDB) discussions around this inclusive table. Our reflections on the Challenge “Let's Care for Each Other” have helped us identify the specific objectives in our Statement of Goals.
I'll mention a few highlights in the goals: an incremental reversal of the 1995 cuts and indexing of benefits to the cost of living from now on; shelter allowances should equal local average rents; an end to the National Child Benefit claw back; and a number of administrative improvements that will streamline and rehumanize the system.
Many people in this room can speak to the specific goals so I won't say any more on them. Suffice it to say, social policy should not be about maintaining mere existence. It is about quality of life - about justice.
So in closing we offer a commitment to you and the government:
· we will be constructive partners in a dialogue to address income security reform in Hamilton and Ontario;
· we will be persistent in encouraging you and working with you to respond to the challenge: Let's Care for Each Other!
Now we invite you to explain your reaction to our Statement of Goals by responding to a couple of questions:
How will the Liberal Government respond to the challenge Let's Care For Each other?
How will you respond to this challenge?
How can we, as a community group, work with you to address the issues of quality of life and justice?
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