Publications, opinions, and speeches
Maytree publishes reports, backgrounders, briefs, opinions, and speeches to help inform decision-making and to engage in public discussions on social policy issues.
- For publications by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, visit this page.
- For publications on immigration and diversity (published before 2013), visit this page.
Published on 09/08/2022
Whether in an era of full employment or in a future recessionary period, people should be able to live with dignity.
Originally published on TVO.org. Eight hundred and fourteen million dollars. That’s how much the Ontario government reduced spending on social assistance over the past two years. On July 19, the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario released its last quarterly report on the government’s spending for the 2021-22 fiscal year. It shows that the Ontario government underspent $735 […]
Published on 25/07/2022
Plug in your headphones, strap on your dancing shoes, or find yourself a comfy chair – and dive into podcasts, books, music, and TV.
The sun is in the sky well into the evening these days. The temperatures are warm, and the city where I live is predictably bursting with the energy that is Summer in Toronto. And yet. These past couple of years have been a grind that few of us have experienced before, professionally and personally. It’s […]
Published on 13/07/2022
The policy brief distills the key findings of the Social Assistance Summaries, 2021 report and identifies how the data informs possible policy actions to improve social assistance programs across Canada.
This policy brief provides an analysis of data published in Maytree’s Social Assistance Summaries, 2021 report. The purpose of the brief is to distill the key findings of the report and to identify how the data informs possible policy actions to improve social assistance programs across Canada. The data from Social Assistance Summaries, 2021 reveals […]
Published on 12/07/2022
Maytree President Elizabeth McIsaac spoke before Toronto’s Executive Committee as it considered Maytree and Crean Consulting’s report on a Housing Commissioner role at the City of Toronto. McIsaac stressed the need for a locus of accountability in fulfilling the adequate right to housing.
The agenda item to which this deputation is addressed can be found here. Good morning, My name is Elizabeth McIsaac and I am the president of Maytree, a charitable foundation focused on advancing systemic solutions to poverty. We believe that the most enduring way to fix the systems that create poverty is to safeguard economic […]
Published on 07/07/2022
Flippant calls for tougher bail likely damage many more lives than they will save. Politicians should exercise caution, advise University of Toronto professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah and Maytree chair Alan Broadbent.
This Letter to the Editor was originally published in The Globe and Mail. Re Tory And Ford Discuss Ontario’s Challenges (June 28): “People are getting out on bail over and over and over again … that simply has to be changed,” says Toronto Mayor John Tory. Bail conditions are most often stringent, leaving people charged, […]
Published on 05/07/2022
Maytree’s deputation at Toronto’s Planning and Housing Committee commended elements of the proposed Renovictions Policy and framework. But the City can also strengthen its human rights approach.
The agenda item to which this deputation is addressed can be found here. Good afternoon, My name is Garima Talwar Kapoor and I am the Director of Policy and Research at Maytree, a charitable organization dedicated to advancing systemic solutions to poverty through a human rights-based approach. At Maytree, we believe the most enduring way […]
Published on 29/06/2022
The prevalence of single adults living in poverty shows us that our social safety net is a relic of another era.
Imagine what would happen if the entire population of London – Ontario’s fifth largest city – suddenly found themselves living in poverty. If every one of its 430,000 inhabitants had less than $1,200 to live on each month. Or, even worse, if some had less than $750 to see them through. What would we do? […]
Published on 27/06/2022
In this interview, Elizabeth McIsaac talks about how Maytree hopes to change Canada’s culture of human rights through local collaboration and a human rights-based approach in the foundation's work.
Michael Alberg-Seberich, Managing Director of Wider Sense, a consultancy in Germany specializing in corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, and social investment, speaks to Maytree president Elizabeth McIsaac. The interview was originally published in March 2022 in the German magazine “Stiftung & Sponsoring.” Download it (in German) here. Michael: Elizabeth, the issue of human rights is central […]
Published on 31/05/2022
Why wasn’t poverty the top issue of Ontario’s election campaign? Our next government must address the poverty crisis, whether they campaigned on it or not.
Two days to go until the provincial election in Ontario, and we’re still scratching our heads. Waiting for the shoe to drop. When will someone, anyone, start talking about the crisis facing our province? Nearly a million people in Ontario received social assistance in 2019-2020, before the onset of the pandemic. Almost 600,000 households don’t […]