August 31, 2016
Letter to the Editor
On behalf of the Ministry of Community and Social Services, I want to offer our sincere apologies to our social assistance clients for the inconvenience and discomfort caused by the cheque pick-up process in Thunder Bay. I also want to thank our local Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program staff for their immense effort under trying circumstances.
Due to the uncertainty of the Canada Post labour negotiations, we made the difficult decision to hold cheques for pick up. Our responsibility is to ensure that clients receive their cheques on time, and to make sure that cheques were not stuck in the mail.
We recognize more could have been done to minimize the negative effects of this disruption on our clients. We have worked to improve the situation for the remaining pick-up days, and this has been a lesson for future postal disruptions as well.
Thank you to our staff and to clients for your patience during this process.
Sincerely,
Janet Menard
Deputy Minister of Community and Social Services
