IWC Community Legal Clinic

IWC Submission to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy re Bill 161

June 12, 2020

IWC submission on proposed changes to legal aid in the omnibus Smarter and Stronger Justice Act addresses access to justice issues, decision-making authority, the role of community boards in determining pressing local needs, clinic funding ……

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IWC letter re WSIB response to COVID-19 pandemic

April 14, 2020

IWC calls on the WSIB to take a proactive role to ensure the well-being of injured and ill workers during this critical time. This includes applying the precautionary principle by extending compensation to all workers who must be removed from the workplace…

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Submission to CPSO consultation on Third Party Reports and Medical Expert: Reports & Testimony

February 11, 2020

IWC submission draws attention of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) to confidentiality concerns regarding clinical notes and medical reports provided by physicians to the WSIB.…

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IWC Submission to the WSIB Operational Review

August 15, 2019

While addressing the Review focus on financial oversight, administration and efficiency, the IWC Submission asks the Reviewers also to consider the implications these high level issues have on the frontline experience of injured workers.…

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Legal Aid cuts will reduce services to injured workers

June 14, 2019

The cut of 22% to IWC’s budget (retroactive to April 1st) means that the clinic will have to reduce staff and services that impact particularly disadvantaged groups, people with work-related disabilities, most of them permanent. Most of our clients struggle with mental…

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Letter re WSIB draft policy 17-01-10 on marijuana for medical purposes

February 7, 2019

IWC’s letter regrets the Board’s lack of consultation in the development of the cannabis policy and identifies key concerns on its restrictions that should be further considered.…

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Backgrounder – The problem with deeming

February 25, 2018

The WSIB’s practice of ‘deeming’ presumes full employment. However the Board’s statistics show that about 40% of workers with permanent injuries whom the Board is assisting with placement outside their pre-injury employer cannot get the job they were trained for – yet…

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Submission re Bill 148 “Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017”

July 21, 2017

IWC supports Bill 148 as an important first step for vulnerable workers struggling with the effects of precarious and unstable work. The brief proposes solutions to addressing WSIB practice of deeming so injured workers with a permanent work-related disability will not be…

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Submissions to the WSIB Draft Mental Stress Policy Consultation

July 7, 2017

Legal clinic endorses recommendations of the Ontario Federation of Labour‘s submission, and outlines IWC’s principal concerns: overly narrow definition of “chronic mental stress” and “workplace bullying”; added discriminatory barriers to approval and access to care, that set a higher bar for…

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Backgrounder – Minimum wage and deeming

June 30, 2017

While raising the minimum wage in Ontario is centrally important for all workers, there is a dilemma for injured workers because of the WSIB’s practice of “deeming” – when the minimum wage goes up, injured worker benefits go down. The practice of…

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