|
Today, May 14th marks the beginning of a province-wide education
campaign under the banner Justice with
Dignity.
Today also marks the first anniversary of Kimberly Rogers'
court challenge under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Ms. Rogers -- who died with her unborn child under "house
arrest" while serving a six-month sentence for social
assistance fraud -- challenged the constitutional validity of Ontario
Works regulations that suspended benefits after her conviction.
In a display of solidarity, supporters of the Justice with Dignity
campaign have planted white rose bushes as a symbol of Kimberly
Rogers' courage and strength. The planting of a rose bush took place
in Thunder Bay Mother's Day. Other such plantings in Kimberly Rogers'
name will occur in Sudbury and Toronto today and in North Bay this
coming weekend.
One of the components of the Justice with Dignity campaign is a
leaflet that will help citizens understand why social policy changes
are demanded now.
The Ontario Government must:
- Set benefits
at adequate levels.
- Increase
funds for training and employment programs to pre-1995 levels
(adjusted for cost of living).
- Allow social
assistance recipients to receive both social assistance and student
loans.
- Repeal the
lifetime ban after a conviction of welfare fraud.
- Eliminate
restrictions that make it difficult for people in need to qualify.
- Stop violating
Canada's human rights commitments and international treaty obligations.
Today the need
for social policy changes will be discussed during a news conference
at Queen's Park Toronto that includes Thunder Bay Liberal MPP Michael
Gravelle, Toronto city council member Olivia Chow and
Jacqui Chic of the Income Security Legal Clinic (Toronto),
a forum at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, and this evening
in Ottawa at a forum titled "The Criminalization of Poverty"
that includes Kim Pate, executive director of the Elizabeth
Fry Society, Martha Jackman of the University of Ottawa Law
School, Molly Hancock of Sudbury, member of the Committee
to Remember Kimberly Rogers, and Ottawa anti-poverty activist Candice
Beale.
-30-
Go To Top
Back
to DAWN Ontario homepage
This
page was updated on May 14, 2002
|
