I do think Income Assistance is notorious for causing its recipients undue stress and hardship. I should know. I go through it every day of my life. I am not the only one either. The stress that they put people through is probably enough to fill several therapists’ wallets. I am facing being denied some basic services such as a phone. If I have a medical emergency, how am I supposed to be able to call 9-1-1? I have been up all night physically ill from the stress of being denied transportation by Income Assistance. I have that on my hospital record. It is proof of the stress I was caused by being denied certain services by Income Assistance, a denial of certain human rights. I have a learning disability that prevents me from finding standard traditional work so I write for publications. It is the only ’employment’ I can find. I created my own work. Now I have a bibliography and if anyone wants me to write for them, feel free to contact me.
Recipients of Income Assistance are forced to use food banks, probably can’t afford dental care, or a phone. They are being denied what are likely basic human rights. This is unacceptable and there should be something done about it but that is not the case. The system keeps them this way rather than helping them get off the system. The system wants to hinder the recipients. They would rather have them struggling. It keeps the caseworkers working, etc. The bus passes discount for those on low income was a small start in the right direction. I hope that program continues. I hear the new program for those on low income to receive free bus passes is continually postponed. I believe that is because they don’t want to lose coveted revenue.
The future for recipients of Income Assistance won’t brighten until they finally relent and 1. Increase their rental rates and become realistic, 2. Allocate more allowance for their recipients to have enough money to survive on per month, 3. Make transportation more affordable and possible and 4. Stop forcing their recipients to prove why they need a phone. Everyone needs a phone. If there is a medical emergency, and my phone allowance is taken away from me, then I have the right to hold someone criminally negligent and liable.
I hope this insanity can be cured. —Heddy
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2018.
Thanks for posting this. This is exactly what needs to be expressed to create any change.
What actually needs to happen is that the abusers of the system need to be cut off so that the actual people who need it get the funds they require
A phone? Really?..If I don’t pay MY phone bill…..guess what happens?
No really…take a guess.
There’s a guaranteed minimum income pilot project underway in Ontario. If we had it here it would probably pay about 17k annually for an individual – which is at the poverty line. Social services currently only pays about 12k which is far below the poverty line. In the Ontario pilot folks on guaranteed income can work part time with only a 50% clawback so there is an incentive to work as much as possible. They could also use the money to go to school. Interestingly, there is some thinking (from both conservative and liberal quarters) that enough money would be freed up from a reduction in the bureaucracy that manages social services that it might end up saving money in the long run. Even so, there is still the massive hurdle of public perception of abuse of the system. I know from personal experience that some abuse does exist but I think it is a small majority and the majority of Community Services clients fall into two categories – temporary clients who want to and will return to work and single parents with low education who are trapped in the system. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how the pilot in Ont. turns out. This is what it might look like for N.S. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/…
The real problem with our system is that it monetizes human worth. We are not commodities, and neither is our labour. Human beings should not be valued based on their ability to contribute to capitalism. We are inherently valuable based on the mere fact that we are human beings. We should not have to be productive in order to be seen as deserving of life.
With that being said, I’m just gonna go ahead and make a disclaimer: I am not a communist and communism sucks hairy cactus balls. But I don’t have to be a communist in order to see that our system is broken.
Well, I an’t afford dental care either-and I work.