..Some Debate

(An Email Response to the Article in the Record on March 8, 2007)

Good afternoon Jennie,

I just read your article in the Kitchener Record "Try surviving on 36 bucks a week".

I do agree that it would be almost impossible to survive on this amount. However, we have recipients of Ontario Works who could work at a minimum wage job but choose not to.

As a single mom with 2 small children , no vehicle to get to and from work, and no subsidy for child care, I chose to receive social assistance while my sons were still home . I did, however, get a part time job and pay child care expenses myself, to supplement my income. At that time, the $25.00/week I rec'd from the boys father was deducted from my social assistance, so we continued to live at the proverty line.
I know of so many cases of young women and men, with no children, bragging about applying for and receivng Ontario Works . Bipolar Disorder seems to be the condition of the year . They are not held responsible for taking medication to help with their disorder so they could become employable. I really believe we are a very enabling society.I have seen with my own eyes, these young people receive their Ontario Works and head to the liquor store or drug dealer. There are people out there who do need the assistance and I believe it's great that it's there for people who need temporary or permanent assistance. I still think able bodied people should be made to show up somewhere for 30 or more hours a week to work to receive their Ontario Works. I bet in no time they would take those minimum wage jobs.
How about giving the recipients 400 a week to live on,once they've put in 40 hours of work, and maybe give them some incentive to actually get a job.
Why are there 700,000 people in Ontario receiving assistance when there are job vacancies?

I did live on next to nothing for a long time, chose to have a better life, went back to school and have been employed for over 20 years full time, paying my taxes and giving people who could be working, the opportunity to complain about not getting enough money . They should be going to the food bank.
Perhaps if there is an increase in OntarioWorks, I can quit my job, create a disorder where I can't work and enjoy the summer !
There are two sides to every story!
The numbers are going up , not down.

(Jennie's Reply)

Dear Commenter

Thank you for your response to our project about OW. We ( the four students that are conducting the project) really appreciate hearing from your personal experience. It sounds like you struggled and survived supporting your children through difficult circumstances.

I agree with you that some people abuse the availability of OW but I believe that they are the minority. Most people that receive OW would prefer to be working but can't find a job because they don't have the skills or education, they have not been in the labour force for years (stay at home moms), and they have no Canadian work experience or education or know English sufficiently for most jobs (refugees and immigrants). I agree that able bodied people should be working 30-40 hours per week. Again, I believe most people would want to find a job that would give them that number of hours. The problem is that many jobs are part-time or contract, providing temporary solutions to unemployment, with no benefits. The problem is not that people aren't motivated to work, although a minority of people may not be, but that job training has been insufficient, minimum wage jobs provide insufficient resources to live on (also needs to be raised), and intelligent, well-educated people
from other countries do not get recognized as professionals and have to start from the bottom, after possibly having survived war, been separated from their culture, and separated from their social network. By raising OW to a level that provides sufficient money to survive, many of the people receiving OW would have an easier time making it into the work force. They would have less stress about how they will be able to feed their family for the month and could concentrate more on how they will develop their job skills to find work.

As for people with Bipolar Disorder, they should be receiving ODSP, not OW, in which case they would and should be receiving more money. I've been helping people who have been dependent on OW but should be receiving ODSP instead, to fill out the lengthy applications for ODSP. 25% of ODSP application are accepted in the first stage and these are the extreme cases. People who have severe depression have a difficult time receiving ODSP, as well as people who have Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar disorder is not an excuse for not working, it is legitimately impairing for the individual, especially if they have tried numerous medications that have not worked for them. To violate someone's right to refuse medication and treatment for Bipolar Disorder is actually against the Human Right's Code.

Some questions I have for you are: Who are these kids that are living off of OW and spending all of their money to get drugs and alcohol, or sell drugs and alcohol? What possible violence have they experienced in their homes or in the schools? Is their use of drugs and alcohol an action they use to self-medicate themselves from depression? Would giving these kids more money allow them to get more drugs or alcohol and would the drugs and alcohol that they could buy with this money be better quality and thus less dangerous? If these kids had more money would they be less likely to steal money from innocent victims in the street?
My most important question for you is: Would you really quit your job to receive Ontario Works if it paid 23 000 a year instead of 6 000?
Thank you again for your response! I hope that I have not offended you in any way but have been able to challenge your view as you have challenged mine.

Sincerely, Jennie Buerkle
P.S. Please let me know if you would like some resources that support my answers.