Ioan Moraru
**** Street Address ****
********, Ontario *** ***

November 30, 2001


Honourable John Baird, MPP
Minister of Community and Social Services
7^th Floor, Frost Building S.
7 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Y7


Dear Honourable John Baird:

As you probably know, I have addressed many letters to you and your colleagues, including Premier Mike Harris, regarding my case about harassment and discrimination in employment on the grounds of ethnic origin, place of origin and age. Consulting the Human Right Code, I found out that I was also discriminated on the grounds of "ancestry", "citizenship" and "receipt of social assistance".

I have also informed you and your colleagues that, instead of resolving my case, I was severely punished by canceling my social assistance since January 1st, 2000. Asking my caseworker to help me pass some certification exams, around $2,000, he initially agreed on that service plan saying that there is no problem. But he found out later that the Social Services did not have money for such kind of training, and he tried to force me to attend a compulsory community participation option. Because I could not perform forced or compulsory labour by working 17 hours per week (up to 70 hours per month) at community placements in exchange of my welfare cheque, $236.00 at that time, my caseworker cancelled my assistance.

It is regrettable that your government has remained insensible and deaf to my requests for help in resolving my case. I held two hunger strikes so far as protest that I could not get justice under your government. Since I realised that your government does not care if I would die protesting for my cause, I would try this time to be more useful to the Canadian society than dying. Consequently, I consider that I have to explain you, and other Members of Provincial and Federal Parliament, why I could not participate in compulsory workfare community participation.

First, I had an employment placement at the Ministry of Environment right when your government came to power in the summer of 1995. If your government still claims that workfare was created to help welfare recipients get jobs, then my case should have been resolved in an appropriate manner and not by canceling my assistance to force me to perform forced or compulsory labour at community placements in exchange for my welfare cheque of $236.00. Exhibits: No. 1. - Seneca College's Training for Immigrant Professionals, No. 2 - Ms. Linda Stevens' Letter, and No. 3 - Ombudsman Investigator's Initial letter of Investigation.

If eventually your government cannot resolve this problem by itself, would you kindly like to use section 14.(2) of the Ombudsman Act which allows any member of the Assembly, to whom a complaint is made by any person affected, to contact the Ombudsman in order to reopen my file and investigate the Human Rights Commission's flawed decision regarding my case?

I complained to the Ombudsman office since 5 August 1999, but the Ombudsman made a decision based on section 17.(1)(a) refusing to investigate further and closed my file. Since I do not expect that the Ombudsman would reopen my file and make an investigation on his own motion, the last option is to complain to a member of the Assembly who could support my complaint.

Second, I see this kind of forced or compulsory labour like a punishment applied to innocent people who cannot find decent jobs. Moreover, this kind of compulsory participation reminds me about one of the most dictatorial communist regimes, Romanian Ceausescu's communist regime. To be more understandable, I have to make known the following:

• I had the bad privilege to live under the Ceausescu's dictatorial communist regime. Under his regime, for example, we (as employees) were forced to go and gather crops in the field during the autumn, clean and sweep the town's streets, or shovel snow during the winter. Everybody was forced to do such kind of work, including teachers, students from grade 5 to 12 and universities. Although we were employees with good salaries, we had to participate in this kind of compulsory work. It was organized under the command of the communist party, and it was called "volunteer work".

• If I make a comparison, the compulsory Ontario Workfare's community participation is similar to Ceausescu's volunteer work. However, there is a very big and important difference. If under Ceausescu's dictatorship people were employed and had good salaries (there were no homeless or unemployed people), here, under the Ontario Workfare's compulsory community participation, people on welfare are forced to work 17 hours per week in exchange for their welfare cheque, not even enough to survive. In these circumstances, I could not attend an Ontario Workfare's compulsory community participation even if my caseworker cancelled my assistance. That is because it reminds me about Ceausescu's communist dictatorship, and I cannot endure to work as a slave under another, even more severe, dictatorship.

Third, the Ontario Works Act (workfare) violates articles 8(3.)(a), and 1(1.) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. You should know that Canada is a State Party to these international conventions and, consequently, any territory or province of Canada has to comply with these conventions as follows:

• Article 8(3.) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that "No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour", except where imprisonment with hard labour may be imposed as a punishment for a crime, or in any of emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of the community, or where any work or service which forms part of normal civil obligation;

• Article 1(1.) of the same International Covenant states that "All people have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development".

• In addition, article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control".

There is no secret that workfare is an imposed program that forces welfare recipients to work for their cheques. Even the Premier Mike Harris said that "It is a principle that you should be doing something for your welfare cheque". I agree with that statement, but that "something" must be something that people would like and agree to do. For example:

• If you are able to work you must be looking for a job;
• If you need training to keep updated to be able to find a job in your profession, you should go to such training;
• If you need to improve your high education, you should have this opportunity;
• If you have money for your food and transportation and some spare time, you should help others in need, and so on.

But if the government withdraws the funds for the all programs and cut your welfare cheque by 22% and, after paying the rent, you do not have enough money even for your food and job search, this is a violation of article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition, if the government are forcing people on welfare to perform forced or compulsory labour like in a prison, this kind of treatment means exploitation and punishment, and it is for sure a violation of articles 1(1.) and 8(3.)(a) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Consequently, nobody gives the Harris government the right to cancel the assistance of welfare recipients or to punish the teachers because they refuse to perform compulsory or forced labour. Nobody entitled the Harris government to punish people who do not comply with its dictatorial and undemocratic laws that violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Maybe its methods would be justified on "emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of the community", but not when this government:

• Squeezes money from the poor in order to enrich the already rich as reward for supporting its party's policy;
• Not when reduces taxes of the rich for their children attending private schools;
• Not when increases salaries of Members of Parliament with 30%, and so on.

Since the dictatorial methods of the extremist and communist regimes were severely criticized by the entire civilized and democratic world, the Harris government must be ashamed if it would even try to argue that such compulsory work is part of normal civil obligation. There is no excuse for using such kind of methods even if the government would have majority support. As a final point of view, I would like to mention that even Hitler and Ceausescu as well had the support of their nations until certain historic points when the entire democratic world has condemned them. We have to learn from history mistakes, not to repeat them!

Therefore, I am requesting the Minister of Community and Social Services to amend or repeal the Ontario Works Act in order to restore the rights of people on social assistance in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In order to accomplish this requirement you should:

• Remove any compulsory activity that force social assistance recipients to perform compulsory or forced labour for free in exchange for their welfare cheques;
• Remove any mandatory drug testing;
• Restore the social assistance to the level of 1995, that means an increase with 21.6%, plus an indexation based on inflation and rent increase;
• Consider the Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits like any other Full Time Employment Income, and not deducting the entire amount from social assistance;
• Consider the Part Time Employment Incomes like Full Time Employment Incomes, and not deducting the entire amount from social assistance;
• Not deducting the National Child Supplement (NCS) benefits from assistance. These benefits are for children not for parents. By deducting these benefits and punishing the parents, in fact the government punishes the children;
• Restore proper funds for job training and job search.

The process of punishing the immigrants, welfare recipients and people with disabilities has begun a long time ago since the Harris' "Common Sense Revolution" started in this province. If you need some evidence, my case is very conclusive in this regard. Consequently, my child, my family and I are among the victims of the Harris government's Common Sense Revolution and social discriminatory policy. If my case is not enough, then you should consult the Ombudsman's 1999 Annual Report, chapter "A Feeling of Betrayal".

I would be very grateful to you if you could support my request for amending the Ontario Works Act to restore the rights of people on social assistance and comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

If you would like to know more about my case, please read "Human Rights Harassment and Discrimination" and "Canadian Experience under Harris Government" on my personal Web Page at: http://home.ica.net/~imoraru/

Thank you for your understanding and your support.

Sincerely,

Ioan Moraru

Enclosure

cc: The Prime Minister of Canada and Members of Parliament
Members of Provincial Parliament
Internal and International Organizations on Human Rights, Civil Liberty and Social Justice


P.S. Because you are the Minister Responsible for Children, I have to inform you that the second reason for canceling my social assistance was because my daughter dropped out the high school, and I could not provide in time a school registration. You should know that children of the families who do not have a standard of living adequate for the well-being of themselves, including food, clothing, housing and necessary social services, security in the event of unemployment, or other lack of livelihood, are more likely to drop out the school. I can provide you a lot of reasons gained from our Canadian experience. However, if the caseworker punishes the parents by canceling their assistance because their children dropped out the school, the children will be punished even deeper and this kind of method is not going to work for improving the children's education, believe me. Do you think that I did not want a high or university education my daughter has? Of course I wanted it because the main reason for which we came to the best country in the world was to assure our daughter a better education that could lead to a better and prosperous life for herself and, consequently, for the Canadian society. Of course I wanted it, but I did not find help around, especially at the Ministry of Community and Social Services.

Please, therefore, use other methods for improving children's education. For example, the caseworkers should co-operate and help the parents to resolve this kind of problem. Otherwise, the government would soon discover that this country would have too many people uneducated on welfare or homeless on the streets, and it would be needed more high educated and skilled immigrants to keep up with the progress of the new technologies. Do not be so sure that this kind of import would work and last forever. It would be more wised to educate the children of your own people. If you need some extra money, I suggest you to approach the Minister of Education in order to withdraw those Tv commercials and brochures that cost millions of dollars used as propaganda in the fight with the teachers. Only in this way your government can prove that it puts children first!