Welfare? Or What?

1. Welfare? Or What? Shifting thinking about poverty reduction and income programs

2. Poverty Reduction in Ontario • Poverty reduction strategy launched in 2008 • Poverty reduction act made law in 2009 • Social assistance review is a major component • Ontario Disability Support Program – main income support program for people with disabilities in Ontario • Submissions on the review: • Income Security Advocacy Center: www.sareview.ca • ODSP Action Coalition: www.odspaction.ca

3. Shifting Thinking about Poverty • What are the shifts in thinking about the nature of poverty that have been revealed in the process and politics of policy reform in Ontario? • How do these shifts in thinking relate to broader shifts in Canada and internationally and where do they take our policy analysis about income programs and disability?

4. Measuring Poverty • Absolute definition and measures of poverty: not enough money for basic needs of life • Basic Needs Poverty Line (Fraser Institute) • Market Basket Measure (Statistics Canada)

5. Measuring Poverty • Relative Measures: • Low Income Cut Offs • Low Income Measure

6. Measuring Poverty • Conference Board of Canada: Income inequality (relative poverty) rising in Canada – and is rising faster than in other countries • Income inequality points to rising ‘social distance’ in society • Relative poverty shows that the wealth and benefits are not being distributed and that some are being left behind. • We know that Canadians with disabilities have been particularly vulnerable to being left out: low levels of employment, educational achievement, access to adequate housing

7. Measuring Poverty • Poverty involves factors broader than income • Some poverty reduction strategies have adopted a framework of social and economic inclusion • Need to apply lens of social and economic inclusion to income reforms

8. Social and Economic Inclusion • People with disabilities want to be socially included in the sense that they, like others, want: • To participate as valued, appreciated equals in the social, economic, political and cultural life of the community (i.e. in valued societal situations). • To be involved in mutually trusting, appreciative and respectful interpersonal relationships at the family, peer and community levels.

9. Social and Economic Inclusion • Involves numerous interrelated factors such as: • basic needs of material well-being: housing, nutritious food, clothing, health needs; • income levels; • employment and access to inclusive labour markets; • skills, training and education; • access to disability related supports; • self-esteem; • family and relationships; and • civic, legal and political rights.

10. Rationale of Disability Income Programs • Welfare? • Pension? • Disability-related support? • Income security? • Replacement of employment income? • Compensation for inaccessible labour markets?

11. Crossroads • Broadened understanding of poverty and factors in the relationship between poverty and disability • Broader understanding of disability as a social phenomenon with structural causes – UN Convention definition of disability as interaction of impairment and barriers in the social/economic environment • Systems and policy development struggling to catch up