Ontario’s social assistance system should be rooted in dignity and need – not used as a vehicle to divide people based on immigration status.
Last week’s announcement is being presented as a crackdown on people living in Canada “illegally”. Yet the PC government has not demonstrated that this is a significant problem, nor can they say how many people receiving social assistance are undocumented or temporary residents; or what savings these changes are expected to produce. Most undocumented people and people on study and work permits were already ineligible for social assistance under the previous rules. That raises a basic question about what this announcement is intended to accomplish – beyond publicly singling out migrants and people with precarious immigration status as 3 by-election races are underway.
The announcement follows a tribunal decision involving the circumstances of one individual. One case should not be used to manufacture a broader narrative that migrants are placing pressure on Ontario’s social assistance system. Singling people out based on immigration status does nothing to address poverty and risks further fuelling division and anti-immigrant sentiment in our communities.
Migrant workers are workers, and migrants are members of our communities. They work, raise families, and contribute to communities across Ontario, while often facing some of the greatest risks of exploitation, insecurity, and precarious employment.
At the same time, a single person receiving Ontario Works is expected to survive on just $733 a month – a rate that has been frozen since 2018 – while the cost of essentials has risen over 20 per cent. A single person receiving ODSP can receive a maximum of just $1,436 a month for basic needs and shelter.
These poverty level rates are not an accident – they are the result of political choices. While people are being forced to choose between rent, food, and other necessities, the Ford government is choosing to target migrants instead of fixing a social assistance system that keeps people in poverty.
Instead of scapegoating migrants and looking for new ways to exclude people from already inadequate supports, the Ford government should take meaningful action to address poverty in Ontario. That means substantially increasing Ontario Works and ODSP rates, permanently indexing social assistance to inflation, ensuring housing allowances reflect the actual cost of rent in communities across the province, and ending rules that penalize people for the income or benefits of a spouse or partner.
Ontario needs policies that reduce poverty, strengthen public services, and improve people’s lives – not policies that deepen inequality and leave already vulnerable people with even fewer supports.
Cope343
