ODSP Action Coalition is a volunteer, grassroots advocacy group led by people with disabilities on ODSP, with a network of valued allies that advocates for improvements to the program. As such, please note that we are neither able nor qualified to provide 'real' legal advice, offer one-on-one consultations, or intervene in individual cases, and we possess no special priority or priviledge with regards to dealing with ODSP/the government. — so we are powerless to change anyone's caseworker for instance.
We are ODSP recipients. not unlike many of you, and we each struggle under the same full weight of the program's crushing poverty and draconian rules while contending with our own disabilities. We all volunteer from our own homes, on our own time, using our own meagre resources and receive no outside funding. But we will not be silenced or deterred!!
Here are some common resources to which we often refer folks in need of advice or help with their indivicual circumstances:
For real legal advice, you should contact your community legal clinic. They are the legal experts and they deal with ODSP issues regularly. You can find yours here: https://www.legalaid.on.ca/legal-clinics/(link is external)
Similarly, you could try contacting ARCH, which is a specialty legal clinic that practices exclusively in disability rights law: https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/(link is external)
If you feel your human rights have been/are being violated, you could reach out to Human Rights Legal Support Centre (note, they prefer phone calls over email): https://hrlsc.on.ca/(link is external)
211Ontario is a great resource for finding resources in your community - it may be easier to dial 211 than navigate their website: https://211ontario.ca/(link is external)
If you'd like to speak with someone higher up in the MCCSS, their directory is here (Social Assistance Programs Division might be a good place to start) https://www.infogo.gov.on.ca/infogo/#orgProfile/163524/en(link is external)
CLEO/Steps to Justice may have some helpful information/resources here: https://www.cleo.on.ca/en/resources-and-publications/income-assistance(link is external), and/or here: https://stepstojustice.ca/(link is external)
To file a complaint with the Ontario Ombudsman, you can do that here: https://www.ombudsman.on.ca/have-a-complaint/make-a-complaint(link is external)
~ ODSP Action Coaliton