Income Security Consultation

CONSULTATION QUESTIONS

WHAT KIND OF INCOME SECURITY SYSTEM DO WE NEED FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?

The Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) has begun a process to draw on your experience and gather your thoughts to help plan law reform strategies, and develop new ways to meet the income security needs of communities, families and individuals. We want to help advocate for major changes to income security programs that will emerge from and, we hope, take root in communities across Ontario.

Canada has been changed by the global economy, the new "flexible" labour market of work without benefits, or job security, and new technologies that replace workers. The current income security system was not designed for today's realities, wages have not kept pace with the cost of living and economic insecurity has become widespread. In fact, in Ontario, in 1995, the minimum wage was frozen, employment insurance and welfare rates and were cut though the cost of living has continued to rise. Since 1995 and the end of National Standards for social programs, no level of government is protecting the human rights of people facing economic insecurity, we believe change is long overdue.

For the purpose of this consultation, we propose the following guiding principles: Accessibility, Accountability, and Adequacy - what we consider to be the three main principles of a workable income security system.

Scope of the consultation (what and how much we want to examine):

Income security systems do not exist in a vacuum, as any person who relies on income supports knows. Therefore, we suggest that participants examine the links between programs such as Employment Insurance, Social Assistance, Ontario Disability Support Programme, Canada Pension Plan, National Child Tax Benefit, and consider also the issues related to other basic needs such as housing and childcare.

Participants should also spend some time on how programs help or hinder access to employment. Each group will have a different mix of participants with a variety of experiences, so we do not expect every group to deal with every issue.

We know that every person exposed to income security systems has many factors which impact their lives, such as income security programs, the connections to the labour market, wages, employment conditions and related supports such as childcare, housing and education. It is important to understand all the factors if we are to be effective in both challenging current issues and in developing better solutions.

The consultation seeks input on two basic questions:

1. What problems should be challenged and changed right now (through legal action and law reform/community organizing) to address flaws in the current system?
   
   
2. What kind of income security system do we want in Ontario for the 21st century?

To develop an effective strategy for change we need to know what we want to achieve, to set priorities for challenge today that can produce results to help build the system we want tomorrow.

Part I: What's wrong with Income Security systems and programs?

To examine the priorities for legal action and law reform:

Spend a few minutes thinking about, some of the programmes you have come into contact with in the past, from the moment you thought about using them. Did you apply? Why/Why not. How were you treated? Did you get the help/support you needed? Were you required to apply to separate programmes, or go through a new process to cover health, or childcare, or other needs? Were you denied help? Were you told about an appeal process? Did the processes seem fair?

What issues, with respect to income security programmes or systems, do you believe violate your rights? Are these issues built into the programme, its rules and regulations? Or are they problems associated with individual workers, or offices? Or are they broader in scope, such as the stigma associated with a particular system or programme? What needs to be changed? Please think in terms of the range of income security programs and issues. You may consider these questions in terms of:

• problems associated with specific income security programs
  
• fundamental problems that cross over all programs
• Ontario Works
• Ontario Disability Support Program
• Employment Insurance
• Canada Pension Plan
• Old Age Security
• Minimum Wage/Employment Standards
• Other issues/programs
• Overall
  

Please think of the priority issues in relation to the following three areas:

ACCESSIBILITY

• How easy or difficult is it to access income security programs
  
  
• How available and/or clear is the information about the program in terms of its rules and regulations
  
  
• How responsive is the program to changes in your circumstances, updates, emergencies, etc

ADEQUACY

• Do the benefits and supports, which you receive, meet your basic needs?
  
  
• Are they sufficient to cover the cost of housing, food, childcare, clothing, etc.?
  
  
• Do they cover your medical needs?
  
  
• Do they assist you in moving towards employment, or education?
  
  
• What don't they cover that you feel they should in order for you to live a happier, healthier, or more productive life?

ACCOUNTABILITY

• Does the program have an effective and fair appeals system?
  
  
• Does the program balance the need for fraud control with respect for dignity and privacy?
  
  
• Does the program keep track of and act in a timely fashion on information such as earnings reports, support payments, etc?

STRATEGIES:

What strategies could we use to address these problems? Please be as specific as possible and tie the strategies to particular issues/problems. Each issue/problem can involve multiple strategies. When you are finished, please priorities the strategies for each issue/problem.

• Grassroots/Community Action: such as organizing local anti-poverty groups, forums and educational
  
  
• Political Lobbying: such as meeting with local city, township, provincial and federal representatives. Organizing demonstrations outside government offices, writing letters to members of the federal and provincial legislatures.
  
  
• Media: such as organizing news conferences around specific issues, getting on talk shows, writing letters to the editor, tying up phone in shows by organizing groups of people to phone on a particular issue.
  
  
• Court Challenges: fighting unjust aspects of particular programmes in the courts.
  
  
• Other:

Please work as a group to decide what three issues and strategies are most important. Feel free to include the remaining issues in your local report.

Part II: Income Security for the 21st Century…

If we could change the whole system, what would be the most important features of an accessible, adequate, accountable (fair and effective) income security system?

Try and think beyond current programs and systems to imagine viable cost-effective models that would meet everyone's needs and respect basic human rights. You might want to review the principles and other parts of the kit for ideas and inspiration….

You may consider these questions in terms of:

1. Supporting:

• Families with or without children (How we define a family is continually changing, there are extended families, adult children living at home, children leaving the paid workforce and providing support to elderly parents, groups of unrelated people are living together in mutually supportive family type relationships, and individuals earning wages for families living at a distance)
  
  
• People with disabilities
  
  
• Racialized communities
  
  
• Newcomers to Canada
  
  
• Women

2. Helping people get and keep good jobs:

What should be the role of the government, of the employer, the education system?
(for example: Should the government or the employer help provide benefits that most low wage temporary jobs do not, such as health benefits? Is there another way? )

3. Ensuring income security through different stages of the life cycle:

• Early childhood
  
  
• Adolescence
  
  
• Child-rearing
  
  
• Working" years
  
  
• Old age

4. Other:

Of the various ideas you have come up with, Please choose the top five recommendations.

What strategies do you think would help change the system?

Witness: gather stories, share your own story, find ways to expose real life issues including your own experience, in meetings and with the media as evidence that these issues are real

• Challenge: be an applicant/claimant-take government to court for violating your rights, or launch a human rights complaint, take part in actions and events related to legal challenges
  
  
• Support: Be part of a support circle or team for people who are speaking out about their personal experience to educate the public about the issues and/or using their case to launch systemic legal actions.
  
  
• Organize: join with a local organization working on these issues, start your own if there are none, get involved in organizing educational events and workshops, help build campaigns in your area, lobby government for change

Pick the 3 most popular strategies

There are many organizations preparing to mobilize actions to push for the reform of income security in Canada, your ideas will be very important in helping shape strategies.

How to Participate:

Email: Barb Anello at DAWN Ontario

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Page last updated April 7, 2003