Modernizing Ontario’s social assistance programs

On May 19, 1989, John Sweeney, Minister of Community and Social Services (COMSOC), announced in the legislature that the government was committing $415 million to a major overhaul of the province’s social assistance system. This unprecedented commitment was met with a unanimous motion of support from all three parties and a standing ovation.

 John Sweeney’s announcement was the culmination of an independent review of the social assistance system commissioned by the government and publicly launched in July 1986. The review was led by the Social Assistance Review Committee (SARC), an independent, 12 person panel representing diverse perspectives from across the province. George Thomson, Director of Education at the Law Society of Upper Canada and a former family court judge, had been appointed by the government to chair SARC. After an extensive research and consultation process including 20 public hearings across the province and more than 1500 written submissions, SARC submitted its report to the Minister on September 1, 1988. Entitled Transitions, SARC’s exhaustive report ran to 624 pages with 274 recommendations.

The public release of Transitions met with an immediate and strongly positive response from a wide swath of civil society organizations as including religious and labour leaders. More surprisingly, it received the approval of leaders of the business community.  TD Bank President Robin Korthals wrote an op-ed and Conrad Black issued a public statement of support.

SARC’s vision

Both the short term and mid-term recommendations in Transitions were grounded in a broad vision of the future. The SARC members foresaw a future when the social assistance system was a much smaller and residual program than the one that hadevolved over time. This was to be accomplished by developing new income support programs to meet the needs of two of the main beneficiaries of social assistance – children, who constituted 40% of the social assistance caseload, and people with disabilities. In the same way that seniors’ poverty was sharply reduced by the creation of OAS and GIS in past decades, it was hoped that similar programs would be created focused on children and people with disabilities removing most of them, ultimately, from the social assistance roles and reducing poverty. In addition, SARC members envisaged a future where the existing disincentives and barriers to employment for those remaining on social assistance were eliminated.

The legacy

The May 19,1989 announcement and the budgetary commitment of $415 million began the implementation of SARC’s stage 1 recommendations. The process hit a road bump as a result of the 1990 election but the NDP was committed to continuing the implementation of the Transitions report and followed through on a number of the recommendations. The recession of the early nineties substantially limited NDP initiatives, however. And, with the election of the Harris government in 1995, many of the SARC recommendations that had been implemented were rescinded and benefits were slashed by more than 20%.

While changes to the social assistance system have not been anywhere near as comprehensive and transformative as envisaged in 1988, SARC and the Transitions report have had a continuing influence in related areas.

Changes in public perception

Transitions, at least in the early years following its release, did much to change the public perception of “welfare” recipients. A commonly held and voiced view at the time is that most welfare recipients were beer swilling, able-bodied adult males. The media attention given to SARC both during the public consultation phase and after the release of Transitions reinforced the fact that it was children and people with disabilities who were the primary beneficiaries of and most dependent on social assistance. While some members of the public still have negative views of social assistance, “welfare bashing” is not as prevalent today as it was when SARC began its work.

Reduced child poverty

Canada has achieved something few other countries have managed in recent years; a reduction in child poverty. By one measure, the rate of child poverty fell from 24.2% in 2000 to 15.6% in 2021. That success has been achieved largely by the federal Canada Child Benefit (CCB) which, as of July 2024, provides families with an annual maximum of $7,787 per child under 6 and $6,570 for children aged 6 -17. The federal benefit is complemented by the Ontario Child Benefit which provides an additional maximum of $1,606.92. per child. Several of the key architects of the CCB were active observers during the SARC process.  They have acknowledged that Transitions call for a new child-based income program supported and had a strong influence on the evolution of the CCB. So, while SARC can’t claim direct credit, it did have an influence on the success Canada has achieved in reducing child poverty.

People with disabilities

SARC’s vision of a new income support program to meet the needs of people with disabilities has been partially realized. In 1997, the Harris government passed legislation creating the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) to provide income and employment supports to people with disabilities. ODSP currently provides a maximum of $1,368. per month. More recently, the federal government passed legislation in June 2023 creating a new federal benefits program for people with disabilities to top up provincial supports. When implemented, the Canada Disability Benefit will provide $200. monthly. While far from perfect, these two, new benefits are moving us closer to SARC’s vision of a new income support program that would remove people with disabilities from the social assistance roles.

Citizens Assembly

The 12 individuals who constituted SARC and the process it developed was, in effect, an early prototype for what is now known as a citizens’ assembly. The success it achieved demonstrated the potential value in a deliberative process engaging citizens in a review of a complex policy issue.

Ongoing resource

Transitions was the most comprehensive review of a provincial social assistance system ever undertaken and has not been repeated since in Ontario or any other province. As a result, even though it is almost 40 years old, Transitionscontinues to serve as a reference and resource for policy analysts and academics.

(In a chance encounter earlier this year, Patrick Johnston met the current A.D.M.- Social Assistance Programs Division of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Service. Cordelia Clark Julien told Patrick that she had a copy of Transitions on her bookshelf and still consults it.)