Communities united in fighting attack on Disability Benefits!

*See the Resolution to fight the ODSP/OW merger, Adopted by the Raise the Rates assembly, here: http://ocap.ca/node/1107

*See the joint Statement with Mamaweswen here: http://ocap.ca/node/1108

OCAP was proud to participate in the Raise the Rates Week of Action with a range of community and union allies. Linking up with the Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage, we held actions in a range of Ontario cities and towns. People mobilized to demand living wages, decent income, a Raise in the Rates of Social Assistance, and the reversal of austerity based cuts like the elimination of the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB). Through determined community mobilization last year, we forced $42 million out of the government in what was meant to be CSUMB funding. That funding runs out at the end of this year, and so the call to restore CSUMB is timely and vital.

Above all, we challenged impending measures to attack disabled people on ODSP through the government’s proposal to merge ODSP with Ontario Works (OW).

October 19, 2013

We are determined to prevent any attempt to merge OW and ODSP which we see as a move in the direction of austerity based, UK style ‘welfare reform’. This would lead to the imposition of ‘work-fare’ onto people on ODSP, forcing people living with disabilities into working for very low wages with no adequate accommodations for their disabilities and cutting them off benefits if they are unable to keep these jobs. However, this opposition to merger does not at all mean that we accept the status quo of a system that so glaringly fails to meet the needs of disabled people. Based on this, we advance the following demands of the Government of Ontario.

1.Provide a clear undertaking that no legislation will be tabled to merge Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).

2. Revise the ODSP Act and regulations to:
i. Clearly differentiate support for disabled people living with disabilities that make it difficult if not impossible to be self-supporting, from support for unemployed people, and to provide decent and stable long-term financial support to people living with disabilities as a matter of social right.
ii. Restore the real income levels of people on ODSP and OW to at least where they stood before the Harris Tories froze them and Liberal Governments provided below inflation increases.
iii. Provide an accessible and fair application process for ODSP. At present, the system is so restrictive that appeals have become a de facto second stage in making an application.
iv. Recognize, under both a revised ODSP Act and the OW Act, that First Nations, given their inherent right to self-determination, have the right to design and deliver publicly funded programs, that they determine are best suited to their unique needs, of both long-term support to people living with disabilities and shorter-term support to unemployed people.

Download Statement Here:
http://ocap.ca/files/ODSPJointStatementwithNorthShore.pdf

This assembly of the Raise the Rates Campaign, gathered together in Sudbury on October 19, 2013, recognizes that the Liberal Government of Ontario is pressing ahead with an austerity driven social ass

Resolution Adapted at the Raise the Rates Assembly in Sudbury on October 19, 2013- read here:
http://ocap.ca/node/1107

Joint Statement by Mamaweswen, the North Shore Tribal Council and the Raise the Rates Campaign, read Here:
http://ocap.ca/node/1108

*Restore Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit
*Stop the attacks on Disability benefits
*Raise the Rates of Social Assistance 55%!
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Deliver this letter to your local MPP, click here to download
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DOWNLOAD the English 'RAISE THE RATES' Flyer Here:
And Download the French 'RAISE THE RATES' Flyer Here!

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OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) Joins on to the Raise the Rates Campaign, supports the week of actions against the Ontario Goverment!
http://www.opseu.org/notices/raisetheminimumwage/raise-the-rates-campaig...
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The Raise the Rates Campaign is holding a week of action to fight the attack on ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) and demand living income for all in this Province. We will challenge plans to merge Ontario Works and ODSP and demand real action on poverty from the Wynne Government. We will be demanding restoration of the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit, supporting the right of First Nations Communities to control delivery of social assistance programs and calling for the raising of the minimum wage in Ontario to $14 an hour and social assistance rates by at least 55%. Actions will be held across the Ontario throughout the week, and uniting for Provincial convergence Saturday, October 19th in Sudbury.

Raise the Rates Rally at Ontario Ministry of Finance

Stop the attacks on ODSP (Disability) benefits: no merger!

·Raise the Minimum Wage to $14 Now!

When: Thursday, October 17 at 12 Noon

Where: Corner of College and University, Toronto

*Lunch Provided

*ASL interpretation available

*East-End meet-up point with TTC Tokens: 11:30am, Carlton/Sherbourne

TRANSPORTATION to the RALLY:

*EAST-END meet-up point with TTC Tokens: 11:30am, Carlton/Sherbourne

*PARKDALE: meet-up point with TTC Tokens: 11am @ PARC (1499 Queen St. West)

*JANE-FINCH: Free Bus: 11am @ York Gate Mall in the No Frills parking lot
*Look for the Pink Bus* (bus returns 1:30 PM))

Download the flyer/poster here

Join OCAP and allies on Thursday, October 17, the International Day for the ‘Eradication of Poverty’, as part of a Province-wide Week of Action, for a noon-time rally at the Ministry of Finance. We will fight the plans to merge Ontario Works and ODSP and demand real action on poverty from the Wynne Government!