The new rules shut more migrants out of basic financial and health supports. Here is who is affected, why it matters and why we need to speak up.
What are Ontario Works and ODSP?
In Ontario, financial support is available to some people who need help paying for basic needs.
Ontario Works (OW) supports people with little or no income. The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) supports low-income people who meet the program’s disability requirements.
These programs are already small and exclusionary. A single person on Ontario Works receives only $733 per month – nowhere near enough to pay rent, buy groceries and meet basic needs.
That amount has been frozen for eight years.
What did Ford change on August 13?
On August 13, 2026 the Ford government changed Ontario’s OW and ODSP regulations to explicitly exclude people based on their immigration status.
The new rules say that people are not eligible if they:
- do not have authorization to remain in Canada; or
- are only authorized to remain temporarily, including people on work and study permits,
unless they fall within specific exceptions, including having made a refugee claim or certain applications for permanent residence.
The same new exclusion was added to ODSP.
The government also removed an existing protection for some people with enforceable removal orders who cannot leave Canada for reasons completely beyond their control.
The new rules
| Immigration situation | Before August 13: what the regulations said | Since August 13: what the regulations say |
| Refugee claimants | Could qualify for ODSP and OW. | No change – remain eligible if they meet the other OW/ODSP requirements |
| People who have applied for permanent residence | Could qualify for ODSP and OW. | No change – remain eligible if they meet the other OW/ODSP requirements. |
| Migrant workers, international students and other work permit holders | The regulations did not explicitly say that everyone with temporary status was ineligible. They excluded people categorized as “visitors” and “tourists”. | Now explicitly excluded. |
| Undocumented people without an enforceable removal order | Could qualify for ODSP and OW. | Now explicitly excluded. |
| People with an enforceable removal order who cannot leave Canada for reasons completely beyond their control | Could qualify for ODSP and OW. | Now explicitly excluded. |
| People with an enforceable removal order who have made an H&C application for permanent residence | Could qualify for ODSP and OW. | No change – remain eligible if they meet the other OW/ODSP requirements. |
Before August 13, the regulations excluded “visitors” and “tourists,” but neither term was defined in the legislation or regulation.
The Ford government has now removed those words and replaced them with much broader language explicitly covering temporary immigration status and lack of immigration status.
Were migrants receiving OW and ODSP?
Ontario had a longstanding unjust practice of caseworkers treating many people with work and study permits as “visitors.” As a result, many migrants were often denied OW or ODSP. Those who could, challenged those decisions at the Social Benefits Tribunal.
The regulations did not previously say that every person with temporary immigration status, or every person without immigration status, was automatically excluded, so hearings at the Tribunal were often successful.
The Ministry describes this as a “clarification” of its longstanding policy. But what it has actually done is put a much broader immigration-status exclusion directly into Ontario law.
Who will this hurt?
These rules affect people who may have lived, worked and paid taxes in Ontario for years and then suddenly need help because of illness, unemployment, abuse or another crisis.
Patel: Patel is a 40-year-old man who came to Canada from Bangladesh after fleeing persecution because of his bisexuality. His immigration applications were denied, but he was afraid to return. He was later diagnosed with liver failure and cirrhosis. Because of his serious health condition, Canada cannot remove him. ODSP provides him with essential financial and medical support. Ford has now removed that protection. People in Patel’s situation can now be denied the basic financial and health supports they need to survive.
John: John is a 30-year-old seasonal agricultural worker from Jamaica who has been coming to Canada every year since 2020 to grow and harvest our food. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2024. He could not work while receiving chemotherapy and temporarily relied on Ontario Works. Today, John is in remission and back at work. Under Ford’s new regulation, most workers in John’s immigration situation are now explicitly excluded from Ontario Works.
Vanessa: Vanessa is a mother from Jamaica who worked as a home support worker caring for elderly people. During the pandemic, she fled abuse from her ex-partner with her children and entered the shelter system. After losing her job, she temporarily relied on Ontario Works while looking for work and child care. Her family later became permanent residents and she returned to care work. Under the new regulations, migrant women on temporary status in similar situations can be explicitly denied basic financial support while trying to escape violence or survive a crisis.
Why is the Ford government doing this?
Meanwhile, Ontario’s Auditor General found that the Ford government spent a record $111.9 million on government advertising in 2024–25. Six of its ten largest advertising campaigns would not have passed Ontario’s former, stricter rules against partisan government advertising.
And while poor people and migrants struggle to pay rent and buy food, Premier Ford used taxpayer money to buy a $28.9 million dollar jet for his own private use. Members of Ford’s government have spent hundreds of thousands of public dollars on hotel rooms and fancy dinners.
The government announced these changes after media attention around a Social Benefits Tribunal case involving a man who had lived and worked in Canada for decades before losing his home. He challenged the denial of social assistance and won. Ford responded by changing the regulations.
No one should be denied food, housing, medicine or the means to survive because of the immigration documents they have or do not have.
At a time when rent and food prices are soaring and decent jobs are harder to find, blaming migrants will not make anyone’s life more affordable.
Taking $733 a month away from someone with cancer, someone escaping violence or someone who has lost their job will not lower the rent, raise wages or fix health care.
These changes are another attempt to pit migrants and poor people against each other while those responsible for the affordability crisis escape responsibility.
We must reject divide-and-rule and speak up together.
I’m a migrant and I’m worried. Where can I get support?
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is a group of current and former migrants. We come together to support each other and push back against unfair rules and laws like these.
If you live in the Greater Toronto Area, we offer free, confidential, in-person Migrant Support Clinics every second Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
You can share what is happening and work with other migrants to understand your options and find solutions.
Can’t come in person? Fill out the form anyway and we will get back to you.