Posts Tagged ‘disabilities’

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CERB helped Canadians during COVID-19 — but not the most vulnerable

Friday, December 10th, 2021

CERB is an example of a liberal welfare policy that distinguishes between the deserving and undeserving. Benefits were limited to $2,000 per month and taxable. Benefits were only available to people who earned a minimum of $5,000 in the previous year and whose work was directly affected by COVID-19… Like many limited means-tested programs that emphasize work above all else, CERB left out the most vulnerable in our society.

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Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »


Canadians want home care, not long-term care facilities, after COVID-19

Monday, November 15th, 2021

… home care is expensive, even when governmental subsidies exist — it has a much heftier price tag than public nursing home care. And for those who don’t have family members who can provide informal care, public long-term care homes are often their only choice… Governments must make home care a viable option for their aging citizens by making it more affordable via a variety of means, including subsidies and tax exemptions.

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Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »


The cost of living is rising. So why aren’t social-assistance rates?

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021

Year-over-year, Canada’s Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation, rose 4.4 per cent — the highest rate since 2003 — in September… Shelter is up 4.8 per cent, and food is up 3.9 per cent. But ODSP benefits haven’t increased since the Doug Ford government halved a planned 3 per cent bump three years ago, saying the previous government had committed to spending money the province didn’t have… ODSP payments now are worth less than they were 17 years ago.

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Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »


Reforming long-term care starts with Revera

Monday, October 11th, 2021

… the federal government owns 100 per cent of Revera, the second largest long-term-care and retirement home group in Canada… Revera as a for-profit chain has one of the worst records in Canada, with so far over 800 deaths in its LTC and retirement homes… The newly elected federal government should move on turning Revera over to the provinces as a not-for-profit public company in LTC… If the federal government wants to make Revera a real public not-for-profit, this is easily doable and the process could start tomorrow.

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How a national disability benefit would improve my life — and the lives of so many others

Saturday, October 9th, 2021

I’m one of more than six million Canadians with a disability. More than 40 per cent of people who live below the poverty line in Canada have a disability…  Poverty makes my life challenging. COVID-19 made it worse. A national disability benefit would improve my life in many ways. A national disability benefit would help people like me improve our living conditions and be less isolated. It would have a positive impact on our health and wellness. It would raise us out of poverty and allow us to live with dignity. 

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Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »


Mental health must be part of curriculum as students cope with COVID-19, say experts

Saturday, August 21st, 2021

Mental health literacy must be at the top of the agenda as students return to school, say experts, calling for emotional skills to be taught as a core part of curricula… Emerging research suggests rates of anxiety and depression among Canadian youth climbed during the pandemic, prompting some advocates to warn of a mounting mental health crisis… mental health literacy is inconsistent across the country, and programs that are didactic or siloed off from normal coursework can do more harm than good. The Mental Health Literacy Project is striving to fill in these gaps with an evidence-backed curriculum

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Rethinking education: What the pandemic teaches us about the role of schools

Friday, July 30th, 2021

The incredible unfairness is that some families can provide all the things – camps, drama club, Saturday mornings at the museum – that help develop the skills and competencies that make you thrive in the world. And more and more we’re realizing, they’re it, those skills and competencies. If you don’t have those, it will be very difficult to thrive in the knowledge economy or in our modern world.

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Developing a costing for a basic income is not a neutral exercise

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021

Creating income floors for everyone in Canada is necessary and desirable, but basic income and income floor are not synonymous… Expanding and improving social assistance, increases in targeted tax credits and benefits, strengthening Employment Insurance, stronger labour standards, and investments in public services would be less costly, more effective, and have fewer negative consequences than the suggested basic income.

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Ensuring the success of Ontario’s vision for social assistance transformation

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021

The overall vision that MCCSS has laid out for service delivery transformation is encouraging. However, it is important to recognize that the vision set out in the paper can only be realized if meaningful investments are made in public services. To that end, it does not appear that the government of Ontario has a plan to enable the vision’s success. There is only so much progress and fiscal room that can be made through streamlining administrative processes.

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For Canada’s immigration detainees with disabilities, even fewer rights are afforded

Sunday, July 4th, 2021

Canada should stop holding people with disabilities in immigration detention… Canada should redesign the role of designated representatives by requiring them to provide support for decision-making. This could mean providing information in a simple and easily understandable way, in order to enable immigration detainees to follow the process and directly participate.

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Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »


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