SPECIAL DIET ALLOWANCE AT RISK in Ontario ISAC
Mar 3rd, 2010 | By Collective | Category: Campaigns (incl.) Grassroots, Community Board, Community Resource, Health, Housing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Special Diet Program Contravenes Human Rights:
Province Considers Scrapping Program in Response
TORONTO – 1 March 2010: The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal recently found that the
provincial Special Diet Allowance (SDA) program violates the Human Rights Code in the
way it provides benefits to three individuals. These three individuals are lead complainants in
a Tribunal proceeding that involves complaints from nearly 200 other people.
But in a troubling move in response, the Ministry of Community and Social Services has
circulated an internal memo that suggests it is considering scrapping the program entirely.
“In its decision, the Human Rights Tribunal recognized the role the SDA plays in supporting
substantive equality for people with higher food costs due to treatment for medical disability,”
said Cindy Wilkey of the Income Security Advocacy Centre, co-counsel for two of the
complainants. “Cancelling the program would put the health of thousands of people at risk,
impairing their ability to meet dietary needs that are recognized components of medical
treatment.”
The Special Diet Allowance program is a long-standing part of Ontario’s social assistance
system. It is intended to relieve the disadvantage faced by people who have extra dietary
costs related to therapeutic diets prescribed by their health care professionals.
The Tribunal has ordered the province to pay additional retroactive and ongoing benefits to
the lead complainants and has given the government three months to make the same
improvements for anyone in the SDA program with the same medical conditions.
In 2005, the Ontario government changed the SDA program, leaving hundreds of people
unable to afford the diets they had relied on to treat or manage the complications of medical
conditions. In April 2008. the government’s own Special Diets Expert Review Committee
recommended significant changes to ensure that the program included recognized
therapeutic diets and provided appropriate allowance levels. The recommendations have not
been implemented.
“The government has long known that the program posed a number of problems,” said Lesli
Bisgould of Legal Aid Ontario’s Clinic Resource Office, also co-counsel. “The discrimination
built into the program has now been recognized by the Tribunal. We call on government to
preserve this important program and to move quickly to fix it, to serve the needs of all people
with disabilities who have special nutritional requirements.”
-30-
For more information: Backgrounder Available Upon Request
Cindy Wilkey, ISAC
Office: 416-597-5820 ext. 5152 (Toll free in Ontario: 1-866-245-4072 ext. 5152)
Cell Phone: 416-892-8941
Special Diet Program Contravenes Human Rights:
Province Considers Scrapping Program in Response
TORONTO – 1 March 2010: The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal recently found that the
provincial Special Diet Allowance (SDA) program violates the Human Rights Code in the
way it provides benefits to three individuals. These three individuals are lead complainants in
a Tribunal proceeding that involves complaints from nearly 200 other people.
But in a troubling move in response, the Ministry of Community and Social Services has
circulated an internal memo that suggests it is considering scrapping the program entirely.
“In its decision, the Human Rights Tribunal recognized the role the SDA plays in supporting
substantive equality for people with higher food costs due to treatment for medical disability,”
said Cindy Wilkey of the Income Security Advocacy Centre, co-counsel for two of the
complainants. “Cancelling the program would put the health of thousands of people at risk,
impairing their ability to meet dietary needs that are recognized components of medical
treatment.”
The Special Diet Allowance program is a long-standing part of Ontario’s social assistance
system. It is intended to relieve the disadvantage faced by people who have extra dietary
costs related to therapeutic diets prescribed by their health care professionals.
The Tribunal has ordered the province to pay additional retroactive and ongoing benefits to
the lead complainants and has given the government three months to make the same
improvements for anyone in the SDA program with the same medical conditions.
In 2005, the Ontario government changed the SDA program, leaving hundreds of people
unable to afford the diets they had relied on to treat or manage the complications of medical
conditions. In April 2008. the government’s own Special Diets Expert Review Committee
recommended significant changes to ensure that the program included recognized
therapeutic diets and provided appropriate allowance levels. The recommendations have not
been implemented.
“The government has long known that the program posed a number of problems,” said Lesli
Bisgould of Legal Aid Ontario’s Clinic Resource Office, also co-counsel. “The discrimination
built into the program has now been recognized by the Tribunal. We call on government to
preserve this important program and to move quickly to fix it, to serve the needs of all people
with disabilities who have special nutritional requirements.”
-30-
For more information: Backgrounder Available Upon Request
Cindy Wilkey, ISAC
Office: 416-597-5820 ext. 5152 (Toll free in Ontario: 1-866-245-4072 ext. 5152)
Cell Phone: 416-892-8941
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