A Letter Written... Not Yet Sent ...

I tend to write 'Letters' and never mail them. Usually it's because I am upset, or had my feelings hurt, just need to blow off some emotional steam and tell people what I REALLY THINK. Then, a day of two later, I re-read these 'Letters', and usually end up burning them, or placing them in my desktop file folder simply marked "LettersWritten.NeverMailed". I am still on the fence as to whether or not I will send the one I have pasted below; every bone in my body wants to Fax this letter directly to her desk Monday morning.

So, any and all comments, good or bad, would be appreciated. The saga continues:

On August 21, 2008, my husband and I were to attend an 'Intake Interview' with ODSP (Ontario Disability Supports Program). As many of you may know, my body is broken and I cannot maintain full-time employment due to these disabilities. Believe me, I'd much rather be out Teaching College at a reputable institution, than sitting on my ass watching TV, crocheting or sewing.

This meeting is ODSP's way to go over your income with a magnfying glass, and find a way to reduce your monthly support cheque ... in any, way, shape of form they are able. God forbid I should live too high below the poverty line!

It has long been my suspiscion that it is because my husband is an American, that we have had such a hard time in gaining permanent residence status for him in Canada, but what happened at this meeting will forever be burned into my memory banks as the straw that made me actually believe it was true. I was so upset by what went on in this meeting that I was actually unable to regain my composure, forced by emotion to flee in tears ... and I'm not a cryin' sort of Gal; if you know what I mean.

I think the letter explains itself, but if there are any questions, I'd be pleased to answer them. Here goes ...

Sybil: (Name of staff member changed for protection - Mine!)

The information on the following pages from Immigration Canada's web site may help clarify this situation for you. Immigration Canada have deemed me an appropriate Sponsor for my husband of 15 years, to achieve Permanent Residence Status in Canada, after 3 laborious years from the date of our initial application.

Now, after six (6) very long, poverty stricken years, we have finally achieved “tacit approval” from Immigrations Canada, and without hesitation, you would rather put my husband's status in jeopardy, by accusing me of fraudulent behaviour where my ODSP benefits are concerned, in being a Sponsor to my husband while collecting ODSP benefits?

Rather than welcome my American husband into Canada, and congratulate him on finally being legally able to work in Canada to support our family after 6 emasculating years, in the manner he had provided us while living in the United States, it is easier for you to think me a criminal, than be happy that we would actually be able to stop living on the goverment dole to support my family.

The simple fact that he is married to me, a Canadian Citizen, should gain him immediate status in our country, regardless of his nationality, providing he was not a criminal, nor contagious in some way. That would be the human thing to do, in order "to keep families together", as Immigration Canada's website would have you believe. But that’s just not how we do things here in Canada anymore - not when it comes to Americans.

While you would have me believe your job is to serve me, as voiced in your well-rehearsed diatribe, "to make sure you are collecting all of the benefits you may be entitled to". What a load of garbage! The fact of the matter is that your job is to make certain I am paid as little as humanly possible, according to the governmental legislation and guidelines as set before you by the previous Harris administration, that the present administration is scrambling to restore some semblance to it's former dignity.

My experiences in dealing with ODSP these past 5 years have been erroneous at best. According to my Appeals Tribunal Mediator, I spent 2 years on Welfare, appealing an application for disability benefits that initially, should not have been denied given the mountain of corroborating medical evidence submitted with my application. Shame on you! It insults my intelligence you would have me believe otherwise.

When we meet again for our rescheduled meeting, I fully expect you to take away anything and everything you feel you can, all in the name of saving the Ontario Government money. The provincial government give me money to support my children with one hand in the form of CCTB benefits on the 20th of the month, then they take it back 10 days later with an NCBS deduction from my ODSP support cheque.

I truly believe it is because my husband is American that we have had such a hard time getting him permanent residence status in Canada. Your attitude and actions Thursday only served to reinforce that belief. Prosecuting me for "Benefits Fraud" would certainly do the trick to keep one more American out of Canada, and make 3 Canadian Citizens homeless upon withdrawal of my disability benefits, regardless of the fact that I have repeatedly proven my disabilities to your office.

Were my husband any other nationality in the World (and I say this without prejudice) he would have been welcomed into Canada with open arms, and put on governmental support to help him learn to speak english, how to negotiate in our society, and make the transition smoothly. The prejudice we have experienced, my children included - being teased mercilessly at school for being 'American', NOT ALL Americans are George W. Bush!

After living in the United States for 14 years, 6 years ago, I was proud to move my family to my home of Canada, as the United States went to War with Iraq. I wanted to move home the day after 911 happened, but there was no possible way we could afford to move at that time. This was my chance to move my family home to safer soil, away from the horrors of events such as “911”, and the terrorism that plagues the United States.

In the Fall of 2002, both my husband and I lost great jobs, with a combined income of $128,000.00 US for the 9 months we worked. Having lost our entire income, we then lost our beautiful home we lived in for 9 years, our friends & neighbors, our pets, our Savings, our healthcare, our 401K Plan, our life insurance, our cars, and our self-worth shortly thereafter. We sold everything except that which we could fit into our car to finance our fuel to drive across the 2 countries, from Phoenix, Arizona, to start a new life near my beloved family I'd missed so much, in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada.

We had hoped to rebuild a wonderful, new life, safe in Canada, without the feeling the fear that strikes your very being to the core as F16 war planes circled low in formation over our homes and our heads ,while my children played on their swingset or swam in our pool. I see now, how very naive those hopes and dreams were, as they have been dashed at our every turn by some branch of the Canadian Government.

Given the financial hardships we have faced, the heartache of a 2-year separation from my husband - and the children their father, taking into account the emasculation of my husband by not being allowed to work to support his family (for 6 years) like an honourable man does, and all of the grief our family tolerated in having to deal with the nightmarishly impersonal and bureaucratic entities of the ODSP, Immigration Canada, and Revenue Canada ... since my return, I am almost embarrassed to call myself a Canadian. This sure isn't the tolerable, understanding, warm-hearted "Canada" I remembered as a younger woman.

All because I married an American.

Sincerely,
Catherine A. Ross

cc: Mark Holland, M.P., Ajax-Pickering

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Quote from Immigration Canada's website:

You may not be eligible to be a sponsor if you:
· failed to provide financial support you agreed to when you signed a sponsorship
agreement to sponsor another relative in the past
· defaulted on a court-ordered support order, such as alimony or child support
. received government financial assistance for reasons other than a
disability
· were convicted of a violent criminal offence, any offence against a relative or any
sexual offence—depending on circumstances such as the nature of the offence, how
long ago it occurred and whether a pardon was issued
· defaulted on an immigration loan—late or missed payments
· are in prison or
· have declared bankruptcy and have not been released from it yet.

Article from "The Star"

Undoing Harris-Era red tape will assist Disabled
Mar. 23, 2006. 01:00 AM
JEFF SCHLEMMER

Recently there has been extensive coverage of the inordinate delays, and arbitrary rules, that plague Ontario's disabled when they seek disability benefits. In fact, the situation is considerably worse than so far reported.

In addition to the long delays in first processing applications, approximately 80 per cent of applications are erroneously denied. That forces the disabled person to appeal the decision and typically adds another year to the delay.

The reason so many applications are improperly denied is that in 1998 premier Mike Harris fired all of the licensed doctors who reviewed these applications for the province. He replaced them with clerks with "some medical background."

These clerks are, as one might expect, not nearly so good as licensed doctors at determining the prognosis for these disabled applicants. But Harris was no fan of the medical profession — he once remarked that "nurses are as obsolete as hula hoops, and could be replaced by cheaper `candy stripers'" — and appointed a veterinarian, Dr. Duncan Sinclair, rather than a doctor, to chair his Health Services Restructuring Commission.

The system, as it existed prior to 1998, was known as the Medical Advisory Board. The doctors who served on it were local and in many cases would know the treating doctors whose reports formed the basis of the application.

The new system, known as the Disability Adjudication Unit, was centralized in Toronto. At the same time, the province changed the application forms, making them much more complicated. The forms assigned numeric values to the questions and the theory was that the clerks would simply tally up the totals and determine whether the applicant was disabled.

It turned out, however, that diagnosing disabled persons is actually not so easy, and that doctors, with the benefit of medical school and residency, are better at it than are clerks.

Prior to 1998, there were relatively few appeals from decisions of the Medical Advisory Board doctors because they were good at separating the truly disabled from the malingerers.

After 1998, appeals went through the roof, to the point where they now take up the bulk of the time of Ontario's Legal Aid clinic lawyers, who have been forced to turn away increasing numbers of vulnerable Ontarians as legal-aid funding has been frozen these six years past.

Harris also cut many of the supports that helped Ontarians at risk, such as the Vocational Rehabilitation Services program, which retrained injured persons so that they could get back to work.

He also cut many social worker agencies, which helped mentally ill Ontarians stay independent. As a result, these persons were no longer able to become re-employed and were forced to apply for disability benefits.

Harris also dramatically increased the paperwork and red tape involved in administering the disability benefits system, all in the name of fraud control.

Of course, there never was much evidence that disabled persons committed much fraud, but the system now conducts essentially a full audit of each disabled person every year, complete with extensive documentary reporting requirements. Each local office is also required to conduct a staff-intensive investigation function, called the Consolidated Verification Process, that saps significant resources away from serving the disabled in a timely way.

The challenge for the McGuinty government is to get back to administering this system with intelligence and efficiency instead of the right-wing ideology it came to be based upon under Harris.

The Liberals must recognize that doctors are not easily replaced by clerks and that the hunt for fraud among the Disabled makes as much sense as the hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction. It is time to reallocate scarce staff resources and get back to serving the Disabled in a timely way. It should get rid of much of the new red tape Harris instituted.
Jeff Schlemmer is a lawyer and executive director of Neighbourhood Legal Services (London & Middlesex) Inc. in London, Ont.

Tapestry Sofa Throw Jacket

I call this "The Tapestry Jacket", for obvious reasons. This was also a sofa throw, but the tapestry pattern work on it was just spendid! Again, a lady who came in to pick up her altherations paid me $250.00 for this Jacket. She too, was amazed at the way the pattern worked out for the overall garment.

These pictures were taken with natural light,


These pictures were taken with a flash.

To see the detail, although these pictues are small, click on the picture to see it full size so you can examine the detail of the fabric.

I think I'm out of jackets. I'll have to post pictures of other things I've made for clients and my family.

Nope, I lied! I still have two more sofa throws that have yet to become Jackets ... one day!

Be Well,
Cate >3