Groups in Sudbury, Toronto remember Kim Rogers’ death

Pregnant woman died last year during a heat wave while under house arrest for welfare fraud

The Sudbury Star
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
By Lara Bradley

After a minute of silence, three native drummers sang the Strong Woman Song to mark the one-year anniversary of Kimberly Rogers’ death.

More than 50 people gathered in a circle outside the Provincial Building in Sudbury for the noon ceremony on Monday. Many brought flowers while others wrote messages to the Rogers family and the provincial government.

“Stop the criminalization of the poor,” wrote Heather Smith.

“You will never be forgotten,” read Steve Reid’s message.

The speeches were brief. “Last year we were shocked to hear about the death of Kimberly Rogers,” said Laurie McGauley, of the Committee to Remember Kimberly Rogers.

“One year later we are still shocked ... We’re here to commemorate her strength and her courage.”

Rogers was eight months pregnant when she died in her apartment during a heat wave last August after being sentenced to house arrest for six months for welfare fraud.

In April 2001, the 40-year-old woman had been banned for life from receiving social assistance benefits and ordered to repay $13,372.67 to the Sudbury Ontario Works office, after pleading guilty to collecting both student loans and social assistance while earning her social work diploma from Cambrian College.
But Rogers fought the ban and won a temporary reprieve in May, which reinstated her benefits.

At the time of her death Aug. 9, 2001, she was living on a $520 monthly entitlement, from which $52 was deducted to repay Ontario Works Sudbury. Her monthly rent was $450, leaving her $18 a month for food.

A Sudbury public health report published in June 2001 determined a woman 25 to 49 years of age in her second or third trimester needed at least $30.15 per week to eat properly.

An inquest into her death will begin Oct. 7 in Sudbury.

The Committee to Remember Kimberly Rogers is working to help groups apply for standing at the inquest, said McGauley, “so that the right questions are asked. But obviously, it will have to deal with social welfare policy.”

David Kuyek, 13, said he came to the memorial because “my mother (Jennifer Keck) worked for the committee shortly before she died.”

“I’d just like to see something done about these unfair laws,” he added.

Keck was a professor of social work at Laurentian University and an activist who died this summer of cancer.

The youngest to attend the ceremony for Rogers was one-year-old Austin. His mother Stacey (who wouldn’t give her last name) was pregnant at the same time as Rogers, but expecting her child a month earlier.

“I knew Kim for a brief period. I was supposed to bring my son over to her apartment to get her used to handling a new baby.

“She was nervous about becoming a mother — everyone is ... She would have made a fantastic mother.”

Stacey went to visit Rogers last August only to be told that Rogers was dead.

“We all tried to help her. I know so many people who did. But she needed more ... They (the provincial government) gave her a death sentence,” she said.

In Toronto, meanwhile, about 30 people solemnly clasped hands in front of the Ontario legislature to remember Rogers.

“We cannot allow Kim Rogers to be forgotten,” Jacquie Chic of the Income Security Advocacy Centre, said before the silent vigil began.

The activists say they want to know if the Conservative government policy that refuses benefits to anyone convicted of welfare fraud played a role in Rogers’ death.