This article examines the current practices of welfare surveillance in Ontario Works (OW). Although neoliberal policy changes to social assistance have been well documented by a variety of scholars, the surveillance technologies behind them have received less scrutiny. The article questions how new surveillance technologies have transformed the administration and everyday practices of OW. Based on primary research of policy documents, legislation, regulations and directives, the paper explores the eight surveillance tools used to police OW recipients including the Consolidated Verification Procedure (CVP); Maintenance Enforcement with Computer Assistance (MECA); Service Delivery Model Technology (SDMT); Ontario Works Eligibility Criteria; Eligibility Review Officers (EROs); Audit of Recipients; Drug Testing and Welfare Fraud Hotlines. I argue the Ontario Works Act (OWA) 1997 justified increased surveillance, regulation and control of poor families creating new forms of surveillance. Additionally, the rationales behind the implementation of OW surveillance (anti-fraud and workfare) were unjustified and have made OW recipients, particularly racialized single mothers more vulnerable. Using a feminist political economy critique, the article endeavours to explore the gendered, classed and racialized implications of welfare surveillance and the expanding ways the state has created 'deviants' out of those who fail to be 'good market citizens'.

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Few studies have focused on women's workforce experiences during and after they leave an abuser. What are the impacts of abuse on women's work, productivity, careers, and aspirations? How does trauma effect their earnings, education, and training opportunities? Linda DeRiviere (2014) tackles these questions and concludes that work precarity, poverty and intimate partner abuse are interconnecting and reinforcing. The Healing Journey demonstrates that "intimate partner violence influences women's location in the labour market over their entire working life," while abuse and control can curb women's independence and career advancements long after a separation (p. 16). Women who have experienced abuse are less desirable for employers, argues DeRiviere, and the persistence of mental health and chronic illness directly related to abuse frequently disrupts women's ability to stay employed as well as pursue training and education.Coordinated by the family violence research centre, RESOLVE, DeRiviere's tri-provincial survey of the prairie provinces collected data in a seven-wave longitudinal study. Results are based on surveys of 414 women who have experienced domestic violence. In addition to statistical analysis, DeRiviere conducted interviews after each wave of the study. DeRiviere hopes her contribution will encourage policy changes that would provide women access to various supports to participate successfully in paid work, including transportation, adequate and stable housing near employment

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