Income Security: A Roadmap for Change

OUR VOICES – A WORD FROM
THE WORKING GROUPS
MESSAGE FROM THE INCOME SECURITY
REFORM WORKING GROUP
We come from different walks of life, personally and
professionally, and we hold shared values and beliefs
about the need for fundamental change and investment
in the income security system. We believe that the
system must do a better job of helping people escape
poverty and low income to improve their lives. In that
spirit, we worked together over the past year, at the
government’s invitation, to develop a 10-year roadmap
for income security reform in Ontario.
We realized early on that mere tweaking of the system was not an option The
Roadmap described in this report is intended to be transformational, both inside and
outside social assistance It recognizes the changing world of work and the growing
number of people who struggle to make ends meet It recognizes that people from
some groups are more likely to be affected by poverty than others It recommends
ways to more effectively support the people who access the income security system,
whether for long or short durations, strategies to achieve income adequacy in the
long term, and immediate changes to help people in deepest poverty
Implementation of the Roadmap on its own will not eradicate poverty in Ontario
But it will improve the lives of low-income people, many of whom wake up every
day wondering where their next meal will come from or if they will have a roof
over their heads The transformation we envision can only succeed if government
works actively with partners, including those directly affected by the system, to
design and implement the key elements of change
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