BY CRAIG GILBERT
The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) is frustrated with Ontario Works over the Â?inadequate supportÂ? it provided its recipients after the Aug. 14 blackout.
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S-CAP volunteer caseworker Angela Freeman has written a letter to Harold Duff, director of social services at OW Sudbury.
Her letter cites several points people made to her in the weeks since the blackout. Many recipients complained they didnÂ?t know about the reimbursements or when and where to go get them, and those who did had trouble accessing OW staff.
Running on a skeleton crew while the power conservation effort was still in effect, Freeman said OW staff cut those who didnÂ?t have an appointment off at the elevators in the lobby of the provincial building downtown and sent them on their way.
When Freeman asked OW staff why there wasnÂ?t more widespread notice of the reimbursements, she was directed to a website full of press releases.
Â?Not everyone can afford a television, not everyone can access the Internet to see your releases, and not everyone listens to radio, if the information was even presented to [members of] the public who needed it,Â? she wrote.
Moreover, she continued, many OW recipients who did know about the compensation couldnÂ?t afford to get out to make a claim.
Freeman said she was told by OW the releases were sent to the media, and it wasnÂ?t their fault if the word didnÂ?t get out.
S-CAP operates somewhat like a newsroom. The coalition has a phone line, and it is a collective responsibility of members to handle what comes in. When a call is received, the situation is assigned out to whoever is available to handle it, according to caseworker Shailagh Keaney.
Freeman said S-CAP has received a Â?handful of callsÂ? about the blackout reimbursements, or lack thereof.
Â?From what I understand, those that have been calling in often are representing several other people as well.
Â?When an operation as small as S-CAP gets a handful of calls about the same thing, it usually means something is up.Â?
Many OW recipients, Keaney said, had to dip into money set aside for rent or hydro to feed themselves and their families. September cheques have been sent, but the recipients need to be reimbursed for the money they had to spend to restock their refrigerators.
Support worker Gary Kinsmen wants OW to make reimbursement for perishables lost to the blackout available again.
Â?We want the government to recognize that all OW recipients should be eligible for compensation, not just the few.Â?
For OW recipients, he continued, the blackout represented a natural disaster, mainly because it happened in the leadoff to the last half of the month, when food stocks typically start to run low under the best of circumstances.
Duff said the window for compensation has closed and there are no plans at his office to make it available again.
He said a press release from OW made it clear compensation was offered until Aug. 22 and not after.
September cheques were sent out early in light of the Labour Day holiday, he said.
