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In January, the Ontario Government will cut in half the funds to help low-income women leave abusive
relationships. This cut is no way to balance the provincial budget. Help reverse this unfair decision!
Here are some things you can do:
- Call, email and/or fax your local provincial MPP and tell your representative this cut is misguided and mean. You can find your local MPP contact information HERE.
- Attend one of the local events planned to protest the cut to Community Start-up:
- Sudbury: October 10th
- Ottawa: October 11th
- Toronto: October 17th
- Kitchener: October 25th
- Copy, post and share the Save the Community Start-up poster for the October 17th Queen's Park event. Get the poster HERE.
- Ask your union, community service agencies and organizations to sign on to this letter (HERE) demanding that the cut be reversed and social assistance rates be raised.
About the Community Start-up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB)
The CUSMB is available to people receiving social assistance who are facing crisis situations, including:
- to help women and children escaping violence to payfor basic household items such as beds
- to provide people leaving shelters or hospital with secure housing
- to cover emergency rent payments for people at risk of eviction
- to pay for vital utilities at risk of being cut, such as water or heat
The Community Start-up and Maintenance Benefit helps those in Ontario who live in extreme poverty and are the most vulnerable in our communities. Cuts to the CSUMB will make them pay for current provincial austerity and budget cutting plans. They deserve better than that.
Funds cut from the CSUMB will be provided to municipalities for a housing program accessed by a larger group of low-income people; the CSUMB as it currently operates will no longer exist.
