PETITION: TO RAISE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE RATES

To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure Poverty Line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and $1368 for ODSP Whereas an Open Letter to the Premier and two Cabinet Ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be doubled for both Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
Whereas small increases to ODSP have still left these citizens below the poverty line, both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to survive at this time of alarming inflation
Whereas the Government of Canada recognized in its CERB Program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic