by Allison Buchan-Terrell Tuesday February 28, 2012

You'd be forgiven for having missed it, especially given the hoopla around Don Drummond's long-awaited recommendations, but the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario released "Discussion Paper 2: Approaches for Reform" earlier this month. The commission is headed by Frances Lankin, former president and CEO of United Way Toronto, and Munir Sheikh, former chief statistician at Statistics Canada. Tonight, we have both commissioners on the program to talk about their report, and two people with lived experience of the system: a recipient and a caseworker.

Last June, the commissioners released "A Discussion Paper: Issues and Ideas," to provide background on what's ailing Ontario's social assistance system, and to spur discussion on how to fix it. Over the summer, the Commission encouraged people to get together and share what they see as the problems within the system. Lankin and Sheikh traveled to Windsor, London, Hamilton, Niagara Region, Peel Region, Toronto, Peterborough, Kingston, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, and Timmins to hear from those who receive social assistance and those who administer the program. 

And those discussions led to this paper with proposed solutions to fix our social assistance programs. It's clear the commissioners are wrestling with some very big and complicated questions, such as: 

  • How do you set a rate that is adequate to meet people's needs for healthy food, shelter, and community participation AND ensure it is fair? Which is to say, is a person who is working at a low-wage job, and not receiving social assistance, worse off than than someone who is receiving some social assistance? And how can social assistance be provided along with sufficient incentive for a person to gain employment? 
  • How do you simplify the rules and still recognize different individuals will have different needs?
  • How to make the system accountable to taxpayers -- prevent fraud and abuse -- AND, on top of that, make sure that compliance is fair?
  • How can you allow people to keep some form of safety net, an RRSP, savings -- to maintain some financial resilience -- AND receive social assistance?
  • Do we need to shift the focus in the Ontario Disability Support Program from disability to ability and encourage people to work?
  • What can be done to resolve some of the conflicts between social assistance and other programs, like Employment Insurance and rent-geared-to-income housing?
But the commissioners also outline some thoughtful solutions -- and even go so far as to compare different approaches -- on how to address these complex questions. What is noteworthy is that the commissioners say the system needs a complete overhaul: "Based on our discussions and research, we have come to the view that we need to transform the social assistance system [emphasis mine]; small fixes will not be enough," the commissioners write.
 
Below are some of their ideas (posed as questions because the commissioners would like feedback on these ideas):
  • Should health benefits be provided to all eligible low-income Ontarians? If so, how should the cost be covered?
  • Should Ontario adopt a two-rate approach, based on how long someone requires social assistance?
  • Should special benefits, like the special diet allowance, be rolled into a standard rate?
  • Should Ontario create a housing benefit for all low-income Ontarians (those on and not on social assistance)?
  • Would an earned income supplement be a good mechanism to increase incentives to work?
  • Should the social assistance system move from a surveillance approach toward an audit-based system of verification and monitoring (like income tax)?
  • Should people receiving social assistance be allowed to keep more of their assets, such as RRSPs for example?
  • Should Ontario introduce Individual Development Accounts (to improve people's financial resilience)?

What do you think of these ideas? The commissioners want your feedback. So take a look through the full discussion paper below and share your thoughts before March 16. You can also examine the supplementary paper on the feedback the commissioners have already received. Just click on the link below the discussion paper.

You can download and fill out a workbook with all the questions the commissioners posed in the discussion paper online at www.socialassistancereview.ca, or you can leave a comment on the website here (150 words or less), or you can email comments to socialassistancereview@ontario.ca. Or you can make a submission the old-fashioned way, by mail, to:

Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario
2 Bloor Street West
4th Floor, Suite 400
Toronto, ON
M4W 3E2

Or fax comments to: (416) 212-0413

Discussion Paper 2 Approaches for Reform FINAL

Supplemenary paper: What We Heard A Summary of Discussions on Social Assistance

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