[mobglob-discuss] Ontario government plans to block poor peoples' efforts to feed themselves and their families

Wed Oct 5 19:48:51 PDT 2005

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[ONR] FW: Activists protest `diet' cut
Date: 	Wed, 5 Oct 2005 21:57:20 -0400
From: 	Dana Milne (ISAC) <milned at lao.on.ca>
To: 	ODSP Action Coalition (E-mail) <odspaction-on at povnet.org>
CC: 	LAOCommDevList (E-mail) <cdev-l at list.web.net>, Ontario Social 
Safety Network (E-mail) <ossn-members at yahoogroups.com>, ONR E-List 
(E-mail) <ONR-announce at 1list.ca>, LAOSocAssistList (E-mail) 
<sas-l at list.web.net>

The following article appeared in the Toronto Star on Oct. 4th and quotes
Sandra Pupatello, the Minister of Community and Social Services, as saying
that the special diet application forms are being revised so that more
precise medical criteria will be required for recipients to get it. 

The ODSP Action Coalition's Special Diet Sub-Committee has been able to
confirm the following:

1) Effective Sept. 30th, 2005, all OW offices have been directed to use a
revised Special Diets Application form being disseminated by the Ministry of
Community and Social Services. No other forms will be accepted. OW
applicants and recipients must request the form from their OW offices and
photocopies of the form will not be accepted. NOTE: No advocates have seen
the new form yet so we have no idea if it is the same as the ODSP form or
has been made more restrictive. Anyone who can get their hands on the form
should forward it to the ODSP Action Coalition e-list ASAP.

2) On Sept. 30th, 2005, ODSP staff received a memo from Marnie Campbell
stating that, as of mid-October, all ODSP applicants/recipients must request
the ODSP Special Diet Application form from their ODSP office. Photocopies
and faxed forms will no longer be accepted and orginial forms will no longer
be given to advocates to distribute to their clients. 

3) Dr. Greg DeMarchi, Chief Medical Officer for the Ministry of Community
and Social Services is currently meeting with the Ontario Medical
Association (OMA) to revise the Special Diet Applications (No one is sure if
both the OW and ODSP forms will be changed or if there will just be one
form, for both ODSP and OW). The OMA has a "Forms Committee" that has a
Memorandum of Understanding with the Province indicating that if the
Province wants to revise medical forms, then they must consult with the OMA.
DeMarchi said that they expect to have the revised form(s) by Oct. 19th. We
do not know what the revisions will be. 

In the short-term, the ODSP Action Coalition's Special Diet Sub-Committee
(which I chair) will be writing a letter to Pupatello as well as other
relevant ministers to indicate our concerns regarding these developments and
to ask for meetings. We would like to encourage other groups to do the same.

Committee members will also raise our concerns with MPP Deb Matthews,
Parliamentary Assistant to Sandra Pupatello. Matthews is meeting with
members of the Ontario Social Safety Network on Tuesday, Oct. 11th so we
will use that opportunity to raise our concerns and ask for her assistance
in getting a meeting with Pupatello. (Please note: this is not a
free-for-all session. OSSN members will be raising specific issues with the
Minister (including the special diet allowance) and there will not be time
for other groups to raise additional concerns outside of these.) 

Given the changes, the Committee will also have to revise our Special Diet
Information package for Recipients and Advocates.  Check the ODSP Action
Coalition's website at www.odspaction.ca next week to download the revised
package. 

The Committee will also be meeting Oct. 13th with the Medical Reform Group
(which consists of progressive medical practitioners who support extending
the special diet allowance to people to prevent medical conditions). We will
discuss other possible actions to take (including media, lobbying and legal
strategies).

As we find out more information , we will attempt to keep all of you
updated. Similarly, if you hear anything, please contact me at
1-866-245-4072, ext. 5151 or via email: milned at lao.on.ca.

-- Dana Milne

Dana Milne
Provincial Organizer
Income Security Advocacy Centre
425 Adelaide St. W., 5th Floor
Toronto, ON M5V 3C1
Tel: 416-597-5820, ext. 5151
Toll-free: 1-866-245-4072
Fax: 416-597-5821
Email: milned at lao.on.ca
Website: www.incomesecurity.org

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic
le_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1128377411104&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7
ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

Oct. 4, 2005. 01:00 AM

Activists protest `diet' cut
OCAP says poor need food assistance

But minister says program being abused

ROB FERGUSON AND ROBERT BENZIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

Single mother Sandy Bowen gets $490 a month on social assistance
and says it's not enough to feed her and 18-month-old son Jaden.

That's why she went to Queen's Park yesterday for a free lunch
and a doctor's note ? which could garner her and her baby up to
$250 more a month each for food ? at the Ontario Coalition
Against Poverty's "hunger clinic."

The clinic was aimed at getting 1,000 welfare recipients signed
up for the provincial government's diet allowance, designed to
help people whose medical conditions create nutritional
challenges on tight budgets.

"I've been feeling dizzy and the dietitian says it's because I'm
not eating healthy," said Bowen, as she lined up with hundreds
of others, some in wheelchairs, others pushing baby strollers.

"With the extra money I'd be able to buy vitamins and fruit."

But it will soon become tougher for people without specific
medical conditions such as cancer, hypertension, pregnancy,
diabetes or HIV and AIDS to get the diet allowance.

Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello said the government is
moving quickly to close a loophole being exploited by "rogue
advocates" like OCAP, whose officials acknowledged they have
held 20 such clinics since February. Some 10,000 people
currently receive monthly diet allowances.

"Our hope is that we'll put the government in the position where
they're forced to raise welfare rates and grant this special
diet money to everybody on assistance without needing to prove
that you need food for your family," said clinic organizer
Rachel Huot.

Application forms for the allowance, which must be signed by a
doctor or another health professional, are being revised to
include more precise medical criteria, Pupatello said.

Currently, doctors are simply required to outline a medical
condition requiring a special diet, which Pupatello said is
leading to "abuse" of the allowance for which spending has
doubled every year in the last five years.

`There's actually a campaign out there to misuse the intent of
such special diet allowances.'

Sandra Pupatello, social services minister

She said some doctors have been threatened by patients demanding
they sign the diet forms, a growing problem that a source at the
Ontario Medical Association confirmed.

"We didn't see any abuse of it in the past," Pupatello said in
an interview.

"When we understand that there's actually a campaign out there
to misuse the intent of such special diet allowances, we have a
problem with this because the system has to have integrity."

Several people at the hunger clinic said they've had difficulty
getting their physicians to complete and sign the diet allowance
application forms.

"My doctor of 15 years refused," said Patricia Messam, who is
raising three children on $934 a month in welfare and relies
heavily on a food bank.

Other doctors are happy to sign.

"The premise of the clinic today is that poverty is a medical
condition and helping people to access adequate funds to afford
a nutritious diet is a medical intervention," said Dr. Melissa
Melnitzer, a Toronto family physician helping out at the clinic
yesterday.

"Some of the diets are for calcium-rich foods, which, for
example, helps to prevent osteoporosis (and) iron-rich foods ?
many people, who are poor, certainly have anaemia or are low in
iron."

Diets that aren't nutritious can lead to growth and development
problems in children and low immunity to diseases as simple as
the flu, requiring more educational help and medical care, said
Joan Lesmond of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.

That's why more people on social assistance need the extra
money, she added.

"In the long run it's going to be more cost effective for the
government because people won't get as sick."

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