Special Diet

A letter from Doctor Roland Wong to Dalton McGuinty about someone unjustly being denied the special diet.

December 8th, 2009 - Today, starting at 11:30am, members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and more than 150, to at times 250 people, who are struggling to survive on Ontario Works and ODSP occupied the 12th floor and main lobby of Toronto's Metro Hall - the head of Welfare bureaucracy in Toronto.

Despite intimidation, the group refused to leave and instead demanded the right to have their Special Diet forms properly processed. The group was loud and determined - chanting "We won't be quiet 'till we get the special diet!". Social Services responded by vaguely telling the group that they are waiting on 'clarification' from the Province on policy around the Special Diet. They then issued an ultimatum and sent in a large team of police, including ETF, who were preparing to mass arrest and physically remove people from the building. After almost 4 hours, the group was forced to exit the building. But this fight is not over - the group from today has vowed to return with an even larger number of supporters.

Welfare offices are now all open.

In the past two days we have seen several problems with people being able to access the Special Diet. If you are having any of these problems, call us immediately.

1.Workers will only issue the Special Diet for August even if your forms were filled out in June or July: This is illegal. The regulations state that you have to be issued the Special Diet for the entire month that the forms are filled out. This means that if your form was filled out on June 30th they have to give you money for all of June and July. If your forms were filled out anytime in July, they have to give you the money for all of July. It doesn't matter that there was a strike and they didn’t process it, they have to give you your money.

2.They have lost your forms that you submitted during the strike:

• a) If you have a copy – Call us. We will fight to get welfare to give you your money.
• b) If you don’t have a copy – call your doctor and hopefully your doctor will have a copy of it. Without a copy, it will be really hard to get your money but we will see what we can do. It is possible that they will find them as people have just gone back to work. In the meantime, make another doctor’s appointment and get new forms so you can at least get the money again.

3.The office is "out of Special Diet forms": They have to give you the forms if you ask for them. Do not go to another office to get them because you have to get them from your own office (some people have been given the run around and told to go all over the city to get forms and it has just been a waste of time). If they say they don’t have them – they have to get them. Give them 1 day and if they still don’t have them call us.

FACING THE CRISIS: We Didn't Create It - We Won't Pay for It!
FREE MEAL AND RALLY: Defend the Special Diet! Raise the Rates Now!

DATE: Tuesday, March 24, 2009
TIME: 11am
LOCATION: City Hall (Bay and Queen)

Food banks, shelters, EI offices and welfare offices are bursting at their seams. There isn't enough food or shelter for poor people. People are going hungry every day in this city. As layoffs rise hunger will only increase. The number of people on social assistance in the city jumped 13% -- or 10,000 more people -- last month. Only 3 in 10 workers in Toronto get EI if they lose their jobs. The other 70% of unemployed workers will almost all end up on welfare but welfare payments are too low to pay for both food and rent. These alarming figures mean that every month in Toronto more and more people are going hungry, and becoming homeless.

Over 10,000 people in Toronto depend on a monthly social assistance benefit called the Special Diet payment. Up to $250 a month, this money makes it easier for poor families and individuals to put food on the table. This payment is crucial to survival and health, but it isn’t enough.