Toronto / November 2025
There is growing inequality in Ontario, and poverty rates are higher for immigrants and refugees, and Indigenous groups and most racialized groups.
By working together we can make the needed change that will benefit everyone.
OCASI made ten recommendations to the Ontario government for its next Poverty Reduction Strategy.
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1) Racialization of poverty - The disproportionate disadvantage and systemic discrimination Indigenous people and peoples of colour face must be explicitly included in Ontario’s next poverty reduction strategy, and reflected in policy and the budget, or risk leaving them behind. Statistics reveal that racialized communities are now facing disproportionate levels of unemployment, which is likely to result in the deepening racialization of poverty in Ontario. All people in Ontario should be allowed to access social assistance support regardless of immigration status, and social assistance rates must be increased to meet the basic needs of low-income people in Ontario.
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2) Access to Health Care - Ontario’s response to the pandemic demonstrated it can extend universal health care to all people regardless of immigration status and period of residence. Effective March 21, 2020, the Government of Ontario began to cover medically necessary health services for uninsured people who do not meet the criteria for provincial health care coverage and effectively suspended the 3-month residence requirement. But this measure is no longer in place. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must bring back extended Universal Health Care measures, and make them permanent so that health care is prioritized as a measure to save costs and lives. The province must also redirect health care funds to focus on targeted and culturally tailored approaches to improving health outcomes for Indigenous Peoples and peoples of colour, who continue to face poorer health care outcomes in Ontario.
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3) Access to Affordable Housing - We have a homelessness crisis and an affordable housing crisis in Ontario. Indigenous communities and communities of colour are disproportionately affected by both. They are more likely to be renters. The average market rent in communities across Ontario has increased exponentially, and is now completely unaffordable for anyone working for minimum wage. Tenant evictions are on the rise, triggered in large part by investors and speculators. Low-income tenants are likely to be disproportionately and negatively affected by the recently enacted Bill 60, leaving them to face increased evictions and homelessness. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must invest in a rights-based housing strategy, in consultation with the people who are affected. The Strategy must enhance support for tenants by creating a rent relief program that supports low-income racialized tenants, eliminate vacancy decontrol to increase affordable rental housing stock and to stop “renovictions” (where landlords evict tenants only to re-rent for higher rates of rent), and address the digitization of the Landlord and Tenant Board, which is no longer accessible to thousands of low-income racialized communities.
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4) Collection of Disaggregated Data – We have long been working to help develop a culture of socio-demographic data collection across all orders of government as well as other relevant spaces and places. Improved data collection will lay the foundation for policy and budget considerations that address the disparities of our most vulnerable and marginalized populations and will support Ontario to ensure that an equity framework is centred within the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must create and fully implement a robust, whole of government approach to the collection of Disaggregated Data, including race-based data.
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5) Employment Equity - Indigenous Peoples and peoples of colour have long faced poorer labour market outcomes as a result of systemic racism and discrimination and much higher rates of unemployment. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must establish an Equity in Employment Secretariat fully mandated and adequately resourced to implement a mandatory and comprehensive provincial employment equity program in Ontario, to level the playing field for Indigenous Peoples, peoples of colour, women, persons with (dis)abilities, members of faith diverse communities, and 2SLGBTQ+ community members – in order to ensure merit-based employment practices are in place for everyone across the province.
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6) Education – Very real “colour-coded” and other troubling inequities in educational outcomes continue to exist, especially on-reserve and in high-density urban areas where low-income, racialized children and youth predominantly reside. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must invest and fund in order to reduce class sizes – and where it is needed – provide support to obtain technological resources and to build and support culturally relevant, responsive and safe environments to facilitate online and other learning.
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7) Child Care – The Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (CWELCC) has been extended for one more year. But instead of meeting it’s commitment to reach $10 a Day fees by March 2026, Ontario has said that fees will stay capped at $22/day until at least December 2026. With rising costs of household expenses, the delay is especially unfair to low-income parents who need precisely this kind of support from our government. Racialized parents and recent immigrants are over-represented in this group. Affordable child care is inextricably tied to the ability of these families to work. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must develop an immediate strategy for safe, regulated and affordable child care in Ontario, and meeting its original commitment to reach $10 a day childcare by March 2026.
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8) Access to Justice - Enhance Funding for Legal Aid Ontario - Ontario has one of Canada’s highest populations of low-income Indigenous Peoples and the highest number of low income peoples of colour. Cuts to Legal Aid Ontario have had a significant impact on access to justice for these communities. The lack of sustainable legal aid / legal clinic funding has meant a reduction in the capacity to provide legal services in all areas of poverty law. We can no longer ignore the very real and drastic impact of lack of services on racialized communities. In addition, with the increase in self-represented litigants in all parts of Ontario’s justice system the costs to the province continue to rise. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must enhance funding for legal aid including in the upcoming 2026-2027 Budget, and work with the Federal Government to establish a long-term, sustainable funding model for legal aid in Ontario, that includes immigration and refugee related legal aid.
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9) Violence Against Women - Women and non-binary immigrants and refugees face unique barriers to accessing support for violence or abuse. They as well as Indigenous women and women of colour are among those at higher risk due to the additional discrimination and barriers they face. Investing in gender-based violence prevention and women’s economic security and financial independence is key to improving their safety and help them rebuild their lives. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must increase Funding for Women’s Services, including women’s centre’s, shelters, legal services and culturally appropriate language interpretation to support women facing multiple systemic barriers in employment, income support, housing, access to childcare, unsafe work, and violence.
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10) Anti-racism Directorate - The Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD) plays a critical role in identifying and eliminating systemic racism across government, and advancing racial equity in Ontario. Identifying and dismantling systemic racism is foundational to addressing the disproportionate levels of poverty experienced by Indigenous people and peoples of colour. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy must increase funding to the Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD) to enhance its capacity for ongoing anti-racism monitoring, analysis and program development; and to provide for the collection and analysis of ethno-racially and otherwise appropriately disaggregated data across all provincial Ministries and public institutions – including the Ministry of Health.