ODSP AC Newsletter Sept 25 2025
Our meeting invitations, broadcast twice monthly (via Mailchimp) also serve as our de facto ‘newsletter’, containing news (links) and other items of interest to our community. Below is/will be an archive of those emails minus the meeting information (e.g. zoom link, agenda, etc). Meetings are open to members and trusted allies only. To become a member, use our online application here. Thanks!
Canada Disability Benefit
Inclusion Canada: How to apply for the Canada Disability Benefit
Find out how to qualify, how much you could receive, how to apply, and more [LINK]
Daily Bread Food Bank: Trending “CDB diet” highlights gap in Canada Disability Benefit
Over the past week, several lifestyle and fitness influencers have promoted a trend called the CDB diet, challenging people to live on $6.67 per day [LINK]
Behind the Work: The CDB Diet Explained
How the Daily Bread Food Bank Is Pushing for an Improved Canada Disability Benefit [LINK]
Social Assistance
Maytree: From data to action: Policy implications of Welfare in Canada, 2024
The policy brief highlights systemic gaps – shelter benefits that don’t cover even a room in major cities, policies that reduce support for people who are unhoused, and design flaws in the new Canada Disability Benefit [LINK]
Maytree: How to address the deep poverty of people receiving social assistance
This year’s edition introduced new analysis of shelter benefits for people who are unhoused, showing how inadequate supports leave many without access to safe and affordable housing. [LINK]
Maytree: Underserved: Ontario’s employment services are failing those in greatest need
New analysis from Maytree shows that Ontario’s Integrated Employment Services (IES) system is not delivering for social assistance recipients and other equity-deserving groups. [LINK]
Media Stories and Op-Eds
Ontario’s social safety net — indexed for some, stagnant for others (Canadian Affairs, August 24 2025)
Not all low-income Ontarians who rely on social assistance will be celebrating the positive benefit changes that occurred in July. [READ FULL ARTICLE HERE]
Classic Bait and Switch: Knocking Down Poverty’s Straw Men (Open Policy (J.Stapleton) BLOG, Sept 9, 2025)
Every now and then, a columnist I admire writes something that makes me stop cold. David Brooks did that on September 5, 2025, with his essay Why I Am Not a Liberal [MORE HERE]
‘ODSP equals poverty’: Hamilton advocates want province to double social assistance (Hamilton Spec Sept 17, 2025)
Hamilton ACORN members joined counterparts in other Ontario cities — Toronto, Ottawa, London, Kitchener and Brampton — to call for an immediate doubling of ODSP and Ontario Works (OW). [MORE HERE]
After 8 years of homelessness, this woman now has a place to call home (CBC News London Sept 21, 2025)
The latest numbers from Rentals.ca show the average one-bedroom rental in London is $1,737, but on ODSP, the shelter allowance is under $600 [MORE HERE]
First-of-its-kind clinic in Ottawa offers nurse practitioners to patients (CBC News Ottawa Sept 19, 2025)
Clinic in Vanier aims to accept up to 6,000 patients from the nearby area [MORE HERE]
Ottawa can’t cut its way to a stronger Canada (Rosetown Eagle Aug 6, 2025)
Reviving 1990s-style austerity will weaken services, increase inequality and inflict long-term scars on Canadians [MORE HERE]
The fall parliamentary session is going to be one to watch (CCPA Sept 8, 2025)
Big budget cuts, increased border surveillance, trade negotiations with the U.S.—here’s what we’re keeping an eye on during this parliamentary session [MORE HERE]
‘An oversight’: Rally in Waterloo calls for tax exemption on online disability programming (CTV News Sept 6, 2025)
While in-person disability support programs are typically tax exempt when govt funded, organizers said this does not apply to virtual programming (often the only option for PWD). [MORE HERE]
Budget 2025: Protecting Renters and Ending Homelessness (HousingRights Canada Aug 7, 2025)
Recommendations to build and preserve affordable housing and uphold human rights [MORE HERE]
Cutting Trustees Means Cutting Kids Out of Special Education (Ontario Autism Coalition Sept 9, 2025)
The Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) is deeply alarmed by the Ford govt’s move to eliminate the role of elected school trustees. For hundreds of thousands of students living w/ disabilities and their families, this would be devastating [MORE HERE]
Minister’s office insisted restaurateurs be granted millions despite ‘late’ and ‘low’ scoring application: emails (The Trillium Sept 10, 2025)
One of the company’s owners had donated thousands to the PC party and was friendly with a key Ford aide, according to three well-placed sources [MORE HERE]
CONTENT WARNING RE: MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying)
‘Not transparent’: Why are Ontario’s MAID reports not public? (Canadian Affairs Sept 17, 2025)
With its broad and vague MAID laws, Canada should be prioritizing transparency around MAID cases, experts say [MORE HERE]