It’s not often easy to put a dollar amount on the government’s failure to care for Ontarians, but the roughly one million people in this province who rely on social assistance know the exact figure they need. Individuals supported by Ontario Works, OW, are shy of the poverty line by $1,569 every month; those on the Ontario Disability Support Program, ODSP, fair slightly better, falling short by $575 a month.

As the gulf between the cost of living and social assistance rates has continued to grow, more people than ever have been legislated into poverty with disastrous human impacts, including housing precarity, missed meals, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

That is the message being delivered by the Raise the Rates coalition, a grassroots anti-poverty effort led by community-based organizations, legal clinics, food banks, unions, and advocates. After events in Ottawa, Hamilton, and Sudbury, the coalition brought their message to Queen’s Park with a press conference and rally on October 24.

“Living below the poverty line and being consistently overlooked takes a toll on people. We live in the richest province in one of the richest countries in the world and the message of successive governments has been that some people can be left out,” said Ron Anicich, a member of the ODSP Action Coalition. “We won’t accept that anymore. No one deserves to live in poverty. That must be the cornerstone of government policy if we want to build a just society.”

The Raise the Rates coalition is calling on the Ontario government to double social assistance rates. That demand was once radical but is now being echoed by opposition parties, food banks, the United Way, and many others grappling with the endemic impacts of legislated poverty.

“The Ford Conservatives stand alone on this. They are the only ones who see this level of poverty across the province and accept it,” said Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario. “Social assistance is our collective safety net and our opportunity to invest in communities to change lives. It’s a recognition of the basic dignity we all have and our collective responsibility to one another as people to help the most vulnerable among us. The current system locks people into poverty. This precarity and suffering is the intentional result of government choices. They have an obligation to fix it.”

Numbers at a Glance

  • According to the federal Market Basket Measurement, the poverty line in Ontario is $2,302/month
  • A single person on Ontario Works receives a maximum of $733/month
  • Ontario Works rates have been frozen for 5 years while inflation has been roughly 20 per cent over that time
  • A single person on Ontario Disability Support gets a maximum of $1,308/month