Clawbacks

Federal income support is *finally* available to people on social assistance who lost jobs to #COVID19, but Ontario is poised to make $30 MILLION a month in clawbacks. People with disabilities are among the most vulnerable to harsh impacts of the pandemic. Clawbacks = cruel.

Ontario typically deducts most federal benefits such as EI and CPP-Disability dollar-for-dollar from social assistance. Although the federal government urged provinces to exempt CERB from such clawbacks, @ToddSmithPC is treating the $2000 monthly payments as “earned income.”

This means people on social assistance who are eligible for the emergency federal cash will only be allowed to keep $1,100 on top of their regular monthly provincial benefits. FYI the highest amount of monthly social assistance for a single person is $1,169 on ODSP.

More than 960,000 Ontarians rely on social assistance; only about 75,000 report earned income. Remember: People without ties to the workforce can’t get CERB. The only relief in Ontario is one-time emergency payment of $100 for singles and $200 for families on social assistance.

(In the first place, it’s messed up that someone on ODSP is expected to live on approximately half the amount allocated per worker for CERB. As if they somehow have half the living expenses? Goes to show how people with disabilities are systematically devalued.)

Read this opinion piece by @DavidLepofsky about the various ways that people with disabilities have been left out of discussions and decision-making about government relief.