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A message from the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC):

ISAC and the Toronto clinic system's Social Assistance Action Committee (SAAC) recently partnered to host two information sessions on critical issues that will arise in the course of the Social Assistance Review.

The first session, "Transforming Ontario Works", was held in March 2011 to explore issues around the transition "from welfare to work".

Fixing OW to give more support to people making this transition has been called 'opportunity planning', 'human capital development', or a 'personalized approach' with 'wrap-around services'. This session explored questions around what these terms really mean, models that we could learn from, how the labour market has changed over the last twenty years, how provincial policies would have to change to make opportunity planning work, and what all of this means for people from disproportionately disadvantaged groups.

Use this link to view videos of the presentations, each of which is posted separately in the order in which the speakers appeared so that you can view them as your schedule permits.

The second session, "Income Delivery Architecture: Where does your cheque come from? And why does it matter?", was held in May 2011 to look at proposals to restructure the way income supports are delivered in Ontario.

The session looked at questions like, should Ontario's social assistance programs be replaced by other income delivery systems? What other systems would work? What about alternatives like the Ontario Child Benefit, that "moves children out of welfare" and into the tax-delivered system? What are the pros and cons of this approach?

Use this link to view Power Point presentations from each of the speakers - Michael Mendelson, of the Caledon Institute, John Stapleton, of Open Policy Ontario, and Lisa Philipps, of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

The links below are for PDF versions of the Mendelson, Stapleton, and Philipps PowerPoint presentations.