In The News for Feb. 1: Will an updated Ontario Disability Support Program help?
That won’t change for Meehan — or the vast majority of Ontarians who receive aid under the program — when the Ontario government begins today allowing recipients to make more money from the work before they receive their benefits reclaim.
The new rule allows ODSP recipients to earn $1,000 through work, up from $200 previously. For every dollar earned in excess of the $1,000 exemption limit, the person with a disability would keep 25 cents.
But like Meehan, 95 percent of ODSP recipients will see no change in their monthly income as a result. She said many of her friends are in the same boat as her and she wasn’t sure what she thought of the change in government.
In addition to her ODSP benefit, she makes a few hundred dollars a month by picking up gig jobs when she can, such as: B. Using their wheelchair to deliver Uber Eats.
After paying her monthly bills and medication and groceries, she said she has maybe $200 left over most months. Sometimes it’s less.
Trevor Manson, a co-chair of the ODSP Action Coalition and an ODSP recipient, said the exemption will help those who work, but it doesn’t come close to solving the problem faced by many ODSP recipients. He called their situation “legally regulated poverty”.
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That too …
Mike Parkhill recalls receiving a call from a community leader in a First Nation in northern Ontario about three years ago, asking if he had a tool that could help students learn Ojibwe.
Parkhill, who runs a company that develops programs to revive indigenous languages, did not have such a tool at the time, but the idea of developing one took root.
A year and a half later, Parkhill and his team began developing a digital program to teach Ojibwe, eventually launching it in September 2022. Usage of the tool has grown — nearly 3,000 people, including 1,800 students, mostly from northern Ontario, are taking lessons from it — and the program could soon expand to hundreds of students in southern Ontario.
The web and app-based tool, called Anishinaabemowin, was designed by Parkhill and his company SayItFirst, which received development funding from the indigenous-run post-secondary Seven Generation Educational Institute and the Rainy River District School Board. The Executive Board used the program and gave feedback.
The goal of the tool is to revitalize Ojibwe, an indigenous language spoken in parts of Canada and the United States
The York Region Schools Board is piloting the platform and may soon implement it widely, said Jodi Johnston, language coordinator for Ojibwe on the board.
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What we are seeing in the US…
Tire Nichols’ family planned to bury him today, three weeks after he was beaten to death by Memphis police following a traffic stop.
In those three weeks, five police officers were fired and charged with murder, and their special unit was disbanded. Two other officers were suspended. Also fired: two EMTs from the Memphis Fire Department and a lieutenant. And more discipline could come.
But today’s story is about Nichols, the 29-year-old skateboarder and amateur photographer who worked as a boxer at FedEx, made friends on his morning visits to Starbucks, and always greeted his mom and stepdad with a sunny “Hello, parents!”
Friends at a memorial service last week described him as cheerful and friendly, quick with a smile, often goofy.
Nichols’ funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. CST at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network, will deliver the eulogy. Ben Crump, a national civil rights attorney representing the Nichols family, will deliver a call to action.
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What we are observing in the rest of the world…
The prospects for peace in Myanmar, let alone a return to democracy, appear bleaker than ever, two years after the army took power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, experts say.
On Wednesday, hosts of opponents of military rule answered a call from protest organizers to stay at home in what they call a “silent strike” to show their strength and solidarity.
The opposition General Strike Coordinating Body, formed shortly after taking power in 2021, urged people to stay at home or at work from 10am to 3pm. Photos posted to social media showed empty streets in normally busy downtown Yangon, the country’s largest city, with few vehicles on the streets, and there were reports of similar scenes elsewhere.
Small peaceful protests are almost commonplace across the country, yet two points stand out on the anniversary of the army’s seizure of power on February 1, 2021: the level of violence, particularly in the countryside, has reached the scale of the civil war; and the grassroots movement opposing military rule has defied expectations by largely restraining the ruling generals.
The violence extends beyond rural battlefields, where the army is burning and bombing villages, displacing hundreds of thousands of people in a largely neglected humanitarian crisis. It also occurs in the cities, where activists are arrested and tortured, and urban guerrillas retaliate with bombings and assassinations on military-related targets. The military has also executed activists accused of “terrorism” after closed trials.
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On this day in 1920…
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was formed through the merger of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police and the Dominion Police. The Northwest Force was formed in the 1870s to manage the vast unpopulated areas. The Dominion Police were a federal force guarding government buildings and enforcing federal law since 1868.
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While entertaining…
Las Vegas police have arrested former actor Nathan Chasing Horse at his home after uncovering what they describe as two decades of sexual assault and human trafficking allegations.
Chasing Horse is best known for his role in the Oscar-winning Kevin Costner film Dances With Wolves. Police say he made a name for himself among tribes in the United States and Canada as a so-called medicine man and used his position to abuse young Native American girls.
Chasing Horse is accused of sexually assaulting girls as young as 13 and taking women as young as 15. Police say the assaults took place in several states, including Nevada, and Canada.
No attorney was immediately listed for him in court filings Tuesday.
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Did you see that?
Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge says ending abuse in sport will require grievance procedures involving athletes at the provincial level, not just national.
St-Onge and provincial sports ministers will meet during the Canada Games in mid-February, where their agenda will include ongoing efforts to address widespread allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse in sports.
She said she asked provincial ministers at a meeting in August to consider joining the new federal sports integrity process or creating their own.
The National Sport Integrity Commissioner can only investigate allegations of abuse by athletes at the national level.
But St-Onge says the vast majority of athletes don’t fall into this category and only Quebec has its own sports integrity office that can receive and investigate complaints.
The National Sports Integrity Bureau officially began operating last June and has since received 48 complaints from athletes.
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This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 1, 2023
The Canadian Press
