| Special Diet Allowances Contravene Human Rights Source: Income Security Advocacy Centre |
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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.”
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.”