The Roundtable has been at the forefront of social assistance reform in Hamilton for 20 years. From hosting public forums on social assistance reform in 2011 to being part of the working group for Income Security: Roadmap for Change 2017, we have advocated for a better system.
Our work has also led us to working with local members of provincial parliament to create new legislation regarding rate setting, then launching province-wide campaign — Fix the Gap — to support it. We also convene Frozen in Time, a periodic community forum on the state of Ontario Works, and other aspects of the system.
Research Papers
CERES is a collaboration between the School of Labour Studies, the Department of Political Science, and the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, and is supported by funding from MITACS and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Ontario Workers, Workplaces and Families 
and the 2024 follow up:
Not Back to Normal:
Social Assistance in Post-Pandemic Ontario
