Beautiful response to the editor. Well done!
Deborah Lay, MSc., RD
Public Health Nutritionist
Durham Region Health Department
605 Rossland Rd. E., 2nd Floor
Whitby, ON L1N 6A3
Tel: 1 800 841-2729 ext. 3114
Fax: 905 666-6231
Email: [log in to unmask]
>>> [log in to unmask] 10/04 7:06 PM >>>
<contact information removed>
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
To the Editor:
Re: /*Activists protest 'diet' cut */(October 4, 2005) - As the
Minister
responsible for a social assistance system that is fundamentally
abusive
and punitive toward vulnerable Ontarians, Sandra Pupatello is in no
position to sling accusations at poor people for attempting to access
the $250 monthly special diet allowance or the community activists and
medical practitioners who are assisting people in obtaining this vital
supplement.
Monday's massive 'hunger clinic' on the grounds of the legislature
helped guarantee that hundreds of Ontario families will now be able to
obtain nutritious food for themselves and their kids. Yet, even as
people were being assessed for this small extra monthly sum, the
Ministry was plotting a series of policy changes that, when
implemented,
will literally be taking food from the mouths of thousands of Ontario's
children.
This past summer, City of Toronto Social Services attempted to make
policy changes that would have potentially robbed thousands of
Toronto's
poor of the opportunity to provide proper food for themselves and their
families. A determined and very public campaign of opposition forced
City officials to back down, but it now appears similar destructive
measures are imminent at the Provincial level of government, where
Ontario's social assistance rates and most policies are set.
Clearly, this government must make a choice by either releasing this
allowance across the board to all recipients of Ontario Works and ODSP,
or if they persist on their current path, face a much stiffer social
and
fiscal cost in terms of the ill health caused by inadequate nutrition
and the other damaging effects of poverty.
Social assistance levels had not increased for nine since the Mike
Harris Tories slashed the already inadequate rates by 21.6 per cent in
October of 1995. Given the very real cost of nine years of inflation
the paltry three per cent increase meted out by the McGuinty Liberals
last year was a slap in the face to Ontario's poor. The rates must
immediately be increased to a level that enables recipients to live in
health and dignity.
Sincerely yours,
/*Graeme Bacque
Toronto, Ontario*/
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