Past Legal Challenges

VJ et al v. Attorney General of Ontario

This case involves a Charter challenge to mandatory deductions, which are made from the benefits of sponsored immigrants on social assistance.

In 1993, the Ontario government enacted regulations under the General Welfare Assistance Act and the Family Benefits Act, which authorized automatic deductions from the welfare benefits of sponsored immigrants. The reduction in benefits was based on the presumption that support should be available from the sponsor. Sponsored immigrants residing with their sponsors were subject to a mandatory monthly reduction in benefits equal to the amount of the shelter allowance, and sponsored immigrants residing apart from their sponsors were subject to a minimum deduction of $100.00 per month. These provisions were carried over into the Ontario Works Act and the Ontario Disability Support Program Act and are still in effect to date. Although there are some exceptions, such as cases of domestic violence and cases where the sponsor is in receipt of social assistance, the rules are irrebuttable in all other cases and have resulted in real hardship to sponsored immigrants.

The applicants in this case are themselves sponsored immigrants who are/were subject to the deductions. They will argue that the mandatory deductions deny all sponsored immigrants the equal benefit of the law, as guaranteed by section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because the regulations discriminate on the basis of national origin, race, and immigration status. The regulations violate the dignity and self-worth of sponsored immigrants, as they are based on negative stereotypes of immigrants, perpetuate negative attitudes towards immigrants, and do not correspond to the actual needs of sponsored immigrants who are forced to rely on social assistance. One of the effects of the deductions is to force sponsored immigrants into utter poverty and deprivation, and this will be used to demonstrate that the deductions cannot be justified in a free and democratic society under section 1 of the Charter. The government’s goal of cost-containment cannot be upheld where it places the physical integrity and the sense of dignity of sponsored immigrants in such extreme jeopardy.

For more information on this case, contact:

JoAnne Frenschkowski, Staff Lawyer
(416) 597-5820 ext. 5153
1 (866) 245-4072 (Toll Free)
frenscj@lao.on.ca