Another View Point On the Special Diet in Ontario

Your Media Release appears to be about accountability and transparency with income and expenses; we endorse the concept; a concept that is not widely promoted within social sectors within society on a social or economic level. 

One of our concerns is the extent of accountability and transparency, which may lead to micromanagement by complaint or cultural perception, autonomy and independence in decision-making, may be in jeopardy.

There are the issues of client confidentiality, which may be an issue.

In having conversations with individuals isolated from each other in the Poverty Class, many are interested in becoming a member, one constant question keeps arising; the question is who is going to protect our identity? Which is not an unfounded question; as people who have stood up against Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program have came under severe attack by the system

Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program, we have more than enough documents to support this fact.

One of our main fields is research,  as without knowledge of value one is basically living in the dark ages and floundering; for example politicians and other related  threads know very well what is taking place within the Poverty Class, but refuse to take action to make correction, the document below attest to this very fact. We often consider, well educated people, who generate substantial incomes are punitive towards people within the Poverty Class, then turn a blind eye to the misery; yourself, others and I think in terms of accountability and transparency, we but ponder why when people within the Institutions and the general public that become aware do not take issue with accountability to the harsh punitive measures against people within the Poverty Class or any other sector of society for that matter. It is odd to think accountability and transparency is for the most part a top down process, where from the top layers down, the consecutive layers below are constantly demanding accountability and transparency for their actions, yet from the bottom up accountability and transparency in a meaningful way is not demanded.

Two documents are listed below may be of interest to you and by means share with others. This is a sliver of the type of research we conduct; the two documents are from our collective databases. 

Child hunger: semi-starvation study repeated in Canada

C. Laird Birmingham

Dr. Birmingham is Director of the Division of Internal Medicine, St. Paul's Hospital, and Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC .He is also British Columbia Provincial Director of Eating Disorders.

In fasting, all food energy is excluded, whereas in semi-starvation insufficient energy and protein are ingested. Human starvation and semi-starvation result from deprivation of food, not specific nutrients, so both micronutrient and macronutrient deficiencies result, causing clinical disease. The body defends against these deficiencies by triggering hunger, a cognitive state in which there is motivation to eat food.

 The data were collected from more than 13 000 families with children up to 11 years of age. Of these families, 206 (representing 57 000 Canadian families) reported that their children had experienced hunger because they had run out of food or money to buy food. The authors found that hunger was experienced most often in single-parent families, families that relied on social assistance and Aboriginal families living off-reserve.

Inadequate government assistance to poor people has resulted in what could be thought of as a naturalistic study. This "study" is too costly and will give no new data. Keys' study of malnutrition already showed that people who undergo semi-starvation will experience hunger, weakness, lack of drive, decreased ability to feel happiness, osteoporosis, hypo albuminemia, dependent edema, decreased muscle mass, alopecia, hypotension, poor wound healing and depression.3 "Children of hunger" will be less productive, will learn more slowly and are more likely to have behavioral problems.4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 Canadian health care costs will also be greatly increased owing to health problems, including complications during pregnancy and birth, in malnourished mothers who attempt to offset the hunger of their children by depriving themselves of food.

Ending the semi-starvation of Canadian children, a starvation that is implicitly endorsed by all Canadians who collectively have a mean income that is almost higher than any other country, will require a multilevel and multifaceted approach. Physicians and other health care professionals, the media, the education system, families and all levels of government must be involved.

 CMAJ, in conjunction with television, radio and other media, should make public the NLSCY results as broadly as possible.

Fourth, physicians must more carefully identify children suffering from inadequate diets and request monthly social assistance for food supplements in conjunction with a family dietary consultation. The purchase of nutritious foods on a limited income is nearly impossible, and physicians do not have enough time or training to provide adequate nutritional counselling. Because of these barriers, the help of dietetic association’s should be sought.

By permitting children to go hungry, Canada is tacitly repeating Keys' landmark study. This must be stopped. As individuals, we will be troubled when we read that Canadian children are experiencing hunger. As physicians, we must be more suspicious of hunger and malnutrition in our patients. As a medical community, we must make our country aware of this tragedy and give specific advice for its remedy.

Footnotes

Competing interests: None declared.

References

CMAJ

On the Net there is no end of the social industry promoting the cause of Poverty, which crosses many sectors of society, and the new battle cry is “Poverty Reduction,” I guess starvation is one way of conducting Poverty Reduction.

Source: Minster of Community and Social Services
http://www.cfcs.gov.on.ca/documents/en/mcss/about/EN_community.pdf

Ministry of

Community and

Social Services

           

Social Policy Development Division

Ontario Disability Support Program Branch   

3rd Floor, Hepburn Block

80 Grosvenor Street                  

Toronto, Ontario                                        

M7A 1E9                 

Tel # 416-326-1880                                    

Fax # 416-326-1735                                  

December 18, 2009

 Memorandum To:              Regional Directors

                                             

 Re:  Special Diet Allowance

I am writing with respect to concerns about the Special Diet Allowance that have been raised by ODSP staff and that were highlighted in the Auditor General of Ontario’s report released on December 7, 2009.

 Section 38 of the Ontario Disability Support Program Act   establishes the authority for determining eligibility for assistance, including the Special Diet Allowance.  Consistent with this authority, Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) staff have the responsibility to review SDA applications.

 Where ODSP staff are of the view that the regulatory criteria have not been met or the information on the ODSP SDA application is false or incorrect, ODSP staff have the authority to seek additional information or deny the application.  Examples where ODSP staff may decide to seek additional information or deny an application might include situations where an SDA application indicates a questionable combination of medical conditions or where multiple benefit unit members are identified for a maximum SDA of $250 for a combination of conditions that does not include an allowance for wasting and/or weight loss.

  In the case of a denial, the applicant must be informed of their right to request an internal review and appeal of the decision.  ODSP staff should also offer the applicant a new SDA application form and indicate that it will be considered if it is completed and signed by a different prescribed health care provider.  

…/2

 If ODSP staff have reason to believe that the application is fraudulent, the case should be referred to an Eligibility Review Officer for further investigation and possible referral to the police.

 Updated policy directives and information on how these decisions will be tracked will be provided in the near future.

 Please share this memo with staff within 24 hours.

Director, Ontario Disability Support Program

 c. Erin Hannah, Director, Ontario Works Branch

Maxine Daley, Director, Social Assistance, and Municipal Operations Branch

Anna Cain, Team Lead, Ontario Disability Support Program Branch

 One last point – welfare compensates employers for training purposes, detailed information on this program has proven to be difficult, hearsay has employers can obtain five thousand dollars. On the other side of the coin people are paid minimum wage, after deductions welfare takes half of the net wages, which sounds great, except after out of pocket expenses along with the other deductions, few people never generate enough income to truly improve their standard of living or escape the clutches of the Poverty Industry. Along with this line of thought, a person looking for work have to compete with employers that are granted a subsidy, so why would employers pay minimum wages or more when they can access cheap labour through welfare.