Alexis Wilson is left with exactly $ 125 a month for food and everything extra after paying her rent and phone bill.
Because several health conditions made her unable to work, Wilson received only $ 1,169 a month from the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), which means she often misses food and never gets a chance to fulfill other simple longings.
“I wish I could just go to a restaurant, a seating restaurant and just eat well. Not even expensive, just like a good meal, “Wilson, 42, told CBC News Wednesday at her home in Ajax, Ont., East of Toronto.
According to Ontario’s chief auditor, Wilson is just one of more than half a million people supported by the ODSP. She and other people with disabilities hope the winner of the June 2nd provincial election will increase her monthly salary. Advocates for people with disabilities will gather at Queen’s Park on Thursday to try to put the issue firmly on the campaign agenda. They will demand a monthly rate that pushes recipients like Wilson above the poverty line.
Ontario’s latest budget – which should be seen more as a pre-election platform for Prime Minister Doug’s PC party – does not include any increase in ODSP or Ontario Works (OW) payments, even when more people are expected to need the programs.
The budget envisages a one percent change in workload for both programs, with 402,984 relying on ODSP and 243,934 using OW.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvi was asked why, when the government has a deficit, it does not spend more on programs.
“We are investing more in social services,” Bethlenfalvi said, noting government spending on his Social Services Fund, which municipalities can use to add to renting banks, building affordable housing or supporting those in the shelter for the homeless.
Bethlenfalvy did not apply directly to ODSP or OW tariffs.
Defenders are calling for an almost double current rate
Anthony Frisina, a spokesman for the Ontario Disability Coalition, also relies on ODSP payments. He says the groups participating in the rally want to see a rate of at least $ 2,000 a month, given that the federal government considered this amount a “living wage” when it set up emergency response aid. Canada at the beginning of the pandemic.
That increase would mean that many people with disabilities can live in accommodations that are safe, desirable and suitable for their accessibility needs, something that is not the case for many at the moment, he said.
At the moment, people at ODSP only have $ 497 to pay for a roof over their heads, and that “doesn’t really cover anything these days in terms of shelter,” Frisina said.
Anthony Frisina, a member of the Ontario Disability Coalition, is one of many defenders heading to Queen’s Park on Thursday. (Submitted by Anthony Frisina)
Current annual ODSP rates give recipients just over $ 14,000 a year, says Sean Peg, director of social policy and strategic initiatives for community living, an organization that advocates for policy changes to better support people with intellectual disabilities. and developmental difficulties.
“You’re 40 percent below the poverty line,” Peg said.
Current levels also mean that many have to live with aging parents and people do not know what to do when their parents are no longer around to offer them support, he said. Others are forced to deal with living conditions they would not otherwise choose, he said.
“I don’t know if I want to live like this for another 60 years.”
Wilson knows what Peg is talking about.
“I have this horror. What happens when my mother dies?” said Wilson, who receives little food and other support from her mother, a senior with limited income.
Wilson, who has bipolar disorder, PTSD, arthritis and several other physical disabilities that limit her mobility, says she is considering medical care in the event of death if the rates do not improve.
“I don’t know if I want to live this way for another 60 years, it’s a long time to live on very little money,” she said.
ODSP module with current tariffs included. People are being offered $ 497 for shelter, an amount that advocates say is no longer enough to pay for adequate housing almost anywhere in Ontario. (CBC News)
Ricardo Trajan, a political economist and senior researcher at the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, says income support rates for people with disabilities have not always lagged behind the cost of living in Ontario. He says they more than sustained inflation from 1967 to 1993, only to lag behind.
“We have the revenue and the resources to invest in it, whether we decide to do it or not,” Trajan told CBC News.
“And I think doing it is the smartest thing.”
What the parties promise
CBC News asked the four main parties whether they would raise ODSP rates and, if so, what indicator they would use to determine those increases. The parties were given more than 24 hours to respond.
Tom Rakocevic, the current MPP in the NDP for Humber River-Black Creek, says the party will immediately raise interest rates by 20 percent and decide that interest rates should be at least indexed to inflation. He says the NDP will also “end the unfair return of money for those who can work.”
The Ontario Greens say they will double ODSP rates as a first step toward introducing basic income and link future increases to inflation. The party called the current rates “legal poverty”.
The ODSP rate more than maintained the rate of inflation for years from 1967 to 1993, but this is no longer the case. (Submitted by the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives)
While the Ontario Liberals have not provided accurate figures, a spokesman says their full-cost platform is coming and will include changes to improve ODSP tariffs. The liberal plan “will include allowing people in the ODSP to keep more of the money they earn and reducing the number of complex rules.”
“Maybe there is a positive change”
Wilson, meanwhile, says hearing some parties talk about the ODSP gives her hope for the upcoming election.
“If we start a discussion, maybe there will be a positive change,” she said.
Wilson worked full time before her injuries and may have little fun. Now, she says, she hasn’t bought a single outfit in about a decade. If things break or get lost, she says she just has to do without.
Wilson says she is horrified by what will happen when her mother dies and has even less support. (Submitted by Alexis Wilson)
If tariffs change for the better, she says she will probably just buy a book.
“I haven’t been able to buy a book in more than a decade… Yes, I can go to the library, but there’s something special about this book being yours… the smell of a new book.”
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