Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Provincial income assistance

Recommendation 63: Eliminate barriers to accessing income and disability assistance by reducing unnecessary eligibility criteria and simplifying the application processes. This includes:

1. Removing the two-year financial independence requirement for income assistance.
2. Basing income assistance eligibility on current income only.
3. Removing the penalty clawback for failure to work search requirements for income assistance.
4. Removing the work search requirement for mothers with children over the age of three years old.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Provincial income assistance

Recommendation 65: End clawbacks of income and disability assistance including clawbacks of Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits and penalties for cohabitation.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Employment security

Recommendation 80: All levels of government should pay living wages to all direct and contracted government employees, and encourage other employers to do the same.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Employment security

Recommendation 81: Enact stand-alone proactive pay equity legislation that requires public and private sector employers to pay women equal pay for work of equal value.

Recommendation 84: Universal public healthcare coverage to include supplements, prescriptions, counselling, dental, optical, mobility devices, adaptive equipment, and alternative treatments like acupuncture.

Recommendations to guarantee economic security for Indigenous women in the DTES

Universal public services

Recommendation 87: Free postsecondary tuition:

1. Free tuition for all postsecondary education for all Indigenous women and girls.
2. Eliminate all interest on existing student loans for Indigenous women and girls.
3. Under the Single Parents Employment Initiative, extend tuition coverage to multi-year degrees and training programs and remove the restricted list of eligible careers and programs.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Recommendation 89: The Definition of Indigenous homelessness in Canada should form the basis of all policies on Housing and homelessness with appropriate solutions to homelessness that integrates land, culture, belonging, and kinship networks.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Recommendation 90: Comprehensive federal, provincial, and municipal Indigenous Housing policy framework to specifically address Indigenous homelessness.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Recommendation 91: Change government definitions of social housing and affordable housing to mean rates that are affordable to people on social assistance, and rents that are income-geared not market-geared.

Recommendations for safe and affordable housing for Indigenous women in the DTES

Recommendation 92: Funding initiatives to end homelessness must be more inclusive of Indigenous women. Implement the existing recommendations of Homes 4 Women and Women’s Shelters Canada on making homeless initiatives and funding structures more gender-equal.