An open letter to Charles Sousa: Please don’t fubar ODSP.





  1. Even though ODSP does not consider a phone a needed item, they once sent me a ‘cut off’ letter(your cheque will never come until you come and see us and answer our questions). At the time I had a phone but could not afford to pay the bill until my ODSP cheque came so it was cut off. When I did go into the office wanting to know why I was cut off. Their reason was that they could not contact me. They tried to call me and since the phone was disconnected they assumed that I didn’t live where I said or something like that and cut me off. They didn’t send me a letter as they usually do when they want to talk to me, they called.
    Just another example of how they love to remind people on ODSP that they can rip the lifeline from you at a blink of an eye. So their policy about phones is just words. Yeah I know the whole thing doesn’t make sense but I’ve learned how little anything makes sense when dealing with them. Over the years I’ve received many of those letters and never ever anything that was of any fault of my own and was put right back on as soon as I spoke to them. However it almost always means my rent is late since they can’t issue a cheque on the spot and if they stopped my cheque from being sent from Toronto, I have to wait for a new one to be issued.

    So they phone is something they want you to have, BUT not something they will help you with.

    1. I always rather enjoyed that particular piece of irony. Of course they don’t much like it when I enjoy that piece of irony during one of our meetings, but they get over it quickly enough.

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