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2004 Vote for Equality - Home
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Time Limits in BC
125
organizations call for end to welfare time limits in BC
Press
Release
|| Letter
dd Feb 12/04 || Letter dd Feb
5/04
For
immediate release - February 12, 2004
More than 125 organizations call
for end to welfare time limits
(Vancouver) More than 125 organizations are calling on B.C. Premier
Gordon Campbell to totally rescind the two-year time limits on welfare
benefits, despite his government's announcement of a new exemption
that will lower the number of people thrown off welfare rolls.
The organizations are also asking Prime Minister Paul Martin to attach
conditions to the transfer of federal dollars to the provinces in
order to bar British Columbia or any other province from making receipt
of social assistance subject to a time limit in future.
"We need conditions in place that will prevent governments from
playing brinksmanship with the lives and human rights of the most
vulnerable people, as the B.C. government is doing," says Shelagh
Day of the Poverty and Human Rights Project.
The groups view the time limits as a serious breach of Charter rights
and of the Canadian social contract. The organizations include a broad
range of national and B.C.-based church, community service, social
justice, professional, union, and anti-poverty groups.
National Anti-Poverty Organization President, W. Robert Arnold, says,
"The time limits are bad policy whether they affect thousands
or 339 or one. As long as the time limits are on the books, there
will be a problem of people being needlessly threatened with homelessness,
hunger and deprivation."
Wendi Lawrence, Vice President of the B.C. Government and Service
Employees' Union says, "We are relieved that the government has
decided to back off on applying these time limits to thousands of
people. However, we are concerned that as long as these rules stay
on the books they can and will be used against people in genuine need."
"Intentional or not, bad welfare policies are another form of
systematic discrimination against Aboriginal people. Because of Canada's
history of racism and colonialism, there are disproportionate numbers
of Aboriginal people among the poor and among those in need of welfare.
Bad welfare rules, like the time limits, hit vulnerable Aboriginal
people hard," comments George Holem, President of the United
Native Nations.
Reverend Bob Korth of the Justice and Peace Unit of the Anglican Diocese
of New Westminster adds, "The time limits on welfare assert the
right of the government to leave some Canadians destitute. We are
one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and we have an important
tradition of sharing our resources in order to ensure that no one
of us is without help when we are sick, old, disabled, or poor. This
is a Canadian tradition of caring that must be maintained."
The B.C. government has added a 25th exemption to the time limits
rule that means that people who are complying with their employment
plans and seeking work won't be affected. But provincial legislation
still defines welfare as a time-limited benefit, rather than one based
on need.
The time limit provisions state that a person without children who
is deemed employable can only receive income assistance for 24 months
out of every 60-month period. The time limits also mean that families
with children, where the parents are deemed employable, will have
their already inadequate benefit cheque reduced after they have received
benefits for twenty-four months.
The letters to Premier Campbell and Prime Minister Martin have been
posted on www.povnet.org.
-30-
Contact:
Shelagh Day, Poverty and Human Rights Project,
604-872-0750
George Holem, United Native Nations, 604-688-1821
W. Robert Arnold, National Anti-Poverty Organization,
250-595-6871
Wendi
Lawrence, B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union,
604-291-9611
Rev. Bob Korth, Justice and Peace Unit, Anglican Diocese
of New Westminster, 604-682-3848 x27
For commentary
on the national implications of the B.C. time limits, please contact:
Dennis Howlett,
Executive Director, National Anti-Poverty Organization, 416-463-5312,
ext. 237
Armine Yalnizian, Consulting Economist, 416-425-1527
Bruce Campbell, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives, 613-563-1341, ext. 302
February 12, 2004
Prime
Minister Paul Martin
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A2
Fax: (613) 941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca |
|
Premier
Gordon Campbell
Office of the Premier
PO BOX 9041 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC
V8W 9E1
Fax: (250) 387-0087
E-mail: premier@gov.bc.ca |
Dear Prime Minister Martin and Premier Campbell
Attached please
find a letter regarding B.C.’s 24 month time limit
on eligibility for welfare. This letter was written and endorsed
by 129 signatories before the B.C. Government announced on February
6, 2004 that it would add a new 25th exemption to the time limit.
It appears that
this 25th exemption waives the application of the time limit to those
who are complying with their employment plans and seeking work, and
will thus exempt thousands of B.C. residents from having their welfare
cut off or reduced. This makes the time limits redundant.
While we are encouraged
and relieved by this promise of a waiver, the requests in our original
letter remain relevant. Despite the 25th exemption, the B.C. legislation
defines welfare as a time-limited benefit, rather than one that will
be provided based on need.
The B.C. time
limit provisions should be rescinded and conditions should be attached
to the new Canadian Social Transfer to ensure that no such time limits
are imposed again.
Sincerely,
W. Robert Arnold
Michael Goldberg
Shelagh Day
on behalf of the signatories.
February
5, 2004
Prime
Minister Paul Martin
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A2
Fax: (613) 941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca |
|
Premier
Gordon Campbell
Office of the Premier
PO BOX 9041 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC
V8W 9E1
Fax: (250) 387-0087
E-mail: premier@gov.bc.ca |
Dear Prime Minister
Paul Martin and Premier Gordon Campbell,
We write to request
that you act immediately, together and separately, to ensure that
legislation which imposes a twenty-four month time limit on eligibility
for welfare in B.C. is rescinded before April 1, 2004, and that no
similar provision is implemented in B.C. or any other province in
future.
The
time limit and its impact
Under the Employment
and Assistance Act (S.B.C. 2002 Chapter 40) and the Employment
and Assistance Regulation, a person classified as “employable”
can only receive income assistance for 24 months out of every 60-month
period. This time limit applies to welfare benefits received since
April 1, 2002, and, consequently, the cut-off will begin to be applied
to individual recipients as of April 1, 2004.
“Employable” people with children will not be cut off, but
will see their benefits reduced by 100 or 200 dollars per month. This
will significantly reduce a benefit cheque that has already been found
to be inadequate by economists, and housing and nutrition experts.
The predictable results of the implementation of this B.C. legislation
will be more men, women and children in British Columbia who are homeless,
hungry, and without adequate clothing and other necessities.
The
time limit is redundant
The 24-month time
limit has been introduced, it is claimed, to provide an incentive
for welfare recipients to find work. However, under B.C. legislation,
social assistance recipients are already required to seek work, and
to report regularly on their job searches. Their benefits can be terminated
if they fail to meet reporting rules or turn down employment opportunities.
This makes the imposition of the 24-month time limit redundant and
merely punitive.
The
time limit perpetuates negative stereotypes about poor people
More than this,
the offensive message of the 24-month time limit is that people who
receive social assistance will not work unless forced to by deprivation.
This negative and false stereotyping of poor people ignores the fact
that there is a high rate of structural unemployment in B.C. With
approximately 200,000 people currently unemployed, people on welfare
are competing with thousands of other British Columbians for too few
jobs. Increasing the level of deprivation of current welfare
recipients by cutting off or reducing their already inadequate incomes
will diminish people’s employability, not increase it.
The
time limit is unprecedented in Canada
The time limit
imposed by this B.C. legislation is unprecedented in Canada. No other
Canadian jurisdiction has ever subjected social assistance to a cut-off
based solely on the number of months that a person has been in receipt.
Since World War II, Canada has developed a social safety net designed
to ensure that, collectively, Canadians provide for each other when
we are ill, injured, disabled, old, pregnant, unemployed, underemployed
or otherwise in need.
As the social
safety net developed in the post-War era we gradually stopped trying
to distinguish between those who were deemed “deserving”
of public support and those who were not, because we came to understand
that our judgements were often wrong, based on prejudices and moralizing.
More recently,
we have based Canadian social programs on an understanding that everyone
requires a degree of income security to meet their basic needs, and
that taking collective responsibility for the well-being of everyone
builds social solidarity and inclusion. We have recognized the unfairness
of permitting some children to grow up in poverty, which harms their
health and learning capacity and restricts their future opportunities.
We have also acknowledged that the market does not provide a stable,
adequate source of income for everyone at all times, and that social
programs need to be responsive to this reality.
Unfortunately,
the B.C. time limit hearkens back to an outdated and discredited social
darwinism, implying that those who have not been rewarded by the market
are undeserving of our concern. It is an attempt to divide Canadians
from each other. It treats the poor as “other”, as market
failures who can be punished and abandoned with impunity. Those who
are poor are pushed outside the boundaries of concern.
The
time limit breaches the Canadian social contract
To impose a time
limit on eligibility for welfare, and on the period when one can receive
the “full amount” of welfare, by definition, ignores need.
Women and men will be deprived of the ability to feed, clothe and
shelter themselves and their children. This turns away from the fundamental
social contract that Canadians understand to exist among ourselves,
and between ourselves and our governments.
This social contract
is enshrined in Section 36 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Section
36 obligates federal and provincial governments to provide “essential
public services of reasonable quality to all Canadians.” For
all Canadians who rely on social assistance, or who may need to rely
on it in the future, social assistance is an “essential public
service”. Cutting off or reducing that public service, based
on a time limit, is a punitive, arbitrary, and discriminatory action.
As such, the B.C. legislation contradicts the very spirit, purpose,
and import of Section 36 of our Constitution.
The
federal government shares responsibility
Although the provision
of social assistance falls within provincial jurisdiction, the federal
government nonetheless has a constitutionally legitimate and historically
important role to play. Under the Canadian Health and Social Transfer
(CHST), the federal government transfers funds to British Columbia,
ostensibly to support social programs, including social assistance.
Until 1996, the Canada Assistance Plan Act (CAP)
provided for 50/50 federal/provincial cost-sharing of social
assistance and related services. It also set some basic requirements
for welfare programs. As a condition of receiving CAP payments,
provinces were required to:
1) provide financial
assistance to any person in need; and
2) provide an
amount of assistance consistent with a person’s basic requirements
for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and other necessities. Under the
CAP, cutting off or reducing welfare based on a time limit would
have been impermissible.
Unfortunately,
in 1989 the federal government unilaterally breached the 50/50 cost
sharing agreement when it put a cap on the CAP funds transferred to
Ontario, B.C., and Alberta, thereby making it more difficult for these
provinces to live up to the CAP requirements. When the federal government
repealed CAP in 1996 and replaced it with the CHST, again acting unilaterally,
the financial incentive to adhere to the CAP requirements was virtually
eliminated.
Thus, the federal
government must share the responsibility for British Columbia’s
abandonment of the poorest people. The federal government still spends
money in B.C., but by failing to allocate specific and sufficient
funds for social assistance in the CHST, and by failing to require
the provinces, in turn, to provide adequate social assistance to the
poorest and most vulnerable residents, the federal government has
failed those Canadians who are most in need.
The time
limit infringes the Charter and international human rights treaty
obligations
Moreover, all
levels of government are responsible for the human rights of people
in the Province of British Columbia. The laws, policies and practices
of both federal and provincial governments, including spending policies
and allocation of resources, must comply with rights protected in
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and with Canada’s
international human rights treaty obligations.
Rights to food,
clothing and housing are recognized as fundamental human rights in
international treaties to which Canada is a State Party. Particularly
important is Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights. It obligates Canada to realize
the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living including
adequate food, clothing, and housing. Canada ratified this treaty
in 1976, with the express consent of the Province of British Columbia.
Sections 7 and
15 of the Charter are intended to give life to Canada’s
international human rights obligations, and Canada has informed various
United Nations treaty bodies that this is the case.
Section 7 of the
Charter guarantees everyone the right to life, liberty
and security of the person. Access to adequate welfare benefits is
so closely connected to basic health and survival that a meaningful
interpretation of this guarantee must recognize governments’
obligation to provide adequate welfare to any person in need.
Section 15 of
the Charter guarantees everyone equality, without discrimination
based on race, sex, disability and other factors. The core value of
this guarantee is that every person is equal in worth and dignity.
In a country as wealthy as Canada, to refuse assistance to a person
in need, as B.C. will do in April, is a blatant signal that that person
is not regarded as equal in worth. Canada’s constitutional equality
guarantee requires governments to recognize that poor people in general,
and people who rely on social assistance in particular, are a group
that is negatively stereotyped, politically
marginalized, and historically disadvantaged. The onus is on both
the federal and provincial governments to lessen this prejudice and
inequality, not compound it.
Lack of access
to adequate social assistance also exacerbates the inequality of other
disadvantaged groups — women, Aboriginal peoples, people of colour,
people with disabilities, recent immigrants and refugees — who
are all over-represented among the poor. Their higher rates of poverty
are one outcome of the diverse forms of discrimination they experience.
Government policies that deepen pre-existing disadvantage by depriving
people of access to food, clothing and shelter infringe constitutional
equality rights.
In addition, children
and youth are vulnerable groups protected by both treaty and constitutional
guarantees. The rights of children of social assistance recipients
will be violated by the two year time limit legislation.
The most important
means of giving life to rights is for governments to comply with them
voluntarily and to ensure from the outset that government policies
and practices conform to these commitments.
Immediate
governmental action is required
For this reason
we are now asking that:
- the Government
of British Columbia immediately rescind the legislation which subjects
welfare recipients to elimination or reduction of their social assistance
based on a time limit; and that
- Prime Minister
Martin and Premier Campbell, along with other Provincial/Territorial
Premiers, agree to conditions being attached to the new Canadian
Social Transfer (CST) that will:
a) specifically
designate federally transferred funds for social assistance, and
b) ensure that
social assistance programs meet requirements that are at least as
rigorous as those in the previous CAP and that are capable of satisfying
Canada’s constitutional and international human rights obligations;
and
c) guarantee
that the CST provides secure and stable funding for social assistance
that will not be withdrawn or reduced unilaterally; and
d) incorporate
the designation of funds, a secure funding formula, and the conditions
for social assistance into federal legislation that will bind both
the transfer of funds by the federal government and the use of the
funds by the receiving provinces.
In conclusion,
the B.C. time limit on welfare represents a catastrophic break with
the traditions of Canadian social policy of the last fifty years,
and an abandonment of Canada’s commitments to social citizenship
and an inclusive society in which
everyone’s dignity and participation is valued. It is also a
violation of rights that Canadians consider fundamental, ones that
our governments have agreed not to contravene. Please act now to respect
the collective social interests and the rights of
Canadians.
We look forward
to your early response. Please reply to: W. Robert Arnold, President,
National Anti-Poverty Organization, 2212 Gladwin Crescent, Unit C7,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 5N1; Michael Goldberg, Director of Research,
Social Planning and
Research Council of British Columbia, 201-221 East 10th Avenue, Vancouver,
V5T 4V3; and Shelagh Day, Director, Poverty and Human Rights Project,
307 West 18th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 2A8.
Sincerely,
W. Robert Arnold
Michael Goldberg
Shelagh Day
on behalf of :
100 Mile House Food Bank Society, Robert Hicks
African Canadian Social Development Council, Raymond Micah
AIDS Vancouver, Stephen Smith
B. C. Aboriginal Child Care Society, Karen Isaac
B. C. Association for Community Living, Laney Bryenton
B. C. Association of Social Workers, Linda Korbin
B. C. Coalition of People with Disabilities, Jane Dyson
B. C. Coalition of Women’s Centres, Dodie Goldney
B. C. Federation of Labour, Jim Sinclair
B. C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, George Heyman
B. C. Health Coalition, Terrie Hendrickson
B. C. Human Rights Coalition, Susan O’Donnell
B. C. Institute Against Family Violence, Penny Bain
B. C. Nurses Union, Debra McPherson
B. C. Persons With AIDS Society (BCPWA), Ross Harvey
B. C. Professional Employees Association, Jodi Jensen
B. C. Self Advocacy Foundation, Lori Seay
B. C. Society of Human Rights Defenders, Mary-Woo Sims
B. C. Teachers’ Federation, Neil Worboys
B. C. & Yukon Building Construction Trades Council, Wayne Peppard
B. C./Yukon Society of Transition Houses, Karen Hewitt
Be Happy Client Support Society, Farida Lalji
Camp Miriam, Alisa Bowman
Campaign 2000, Laurel Rothman
Community Development Halton, Joey Edwardh
Campaign Against Child Poverty, Jacquie Maund
Campbell River Area Women’s Resources Society, Marne Svennes
Canadian Association for Community Living, Michael Bach
Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, Kim Pate
Canadian Association of Food Banks/Association canadienne des banques
alimentaires, Charles Seidel
Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres, Lee Lakeman
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Bruce Campbell
Council for Reform Judaism, Cheryl Englander
Canadian Council for Social Development, Marcel Lauziere
Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers), Margaret Clare Ford
Canadian Union of Public Employees - B.C., Mike Dumler
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice, Rev. Jeffrey Brown
Canadian Bar Association – B.C., Poverty Law Section, Lois MacDonald
Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Leilani Farha
Changing Together: A Centre for Immigrant Women, Sonia Bitar
Childcare Resource and Research Unit, University of Toronto, Martha
Friendly
Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., Sharon Gregson
College Institute Educators’ Association of B.C., Cindy Oliver
Committee for Racial Justice, Aziz Khaki
Community Business and Professionals Association of Canada, Barry
Morley
Council of Canadians with Disabilities, Marie White
Council of Canadians, Maude Barlow
Cranbrook Women’s Resource Centre, Carin Morrish
Denman Island Women’s Outreach Society, Eileen O'Brien
Dietitians of Canada, B.C. Region, Janice Macdonald
Direct Action Against Refugee Exploitation, Rita Wong
Directors of B.C. Schools of Social Work, Helen Allen
DisAbled Women’s Network Canada, Pat Manahan
DisAbled Women’s Network Ontario, Barbara Anello
Downtown Eastside Residents Association, Kim Kerr
Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society, Judy McGuire
Early Childhood Educators of B. C., Diane Tannahill
Emmanuella House of Prayer, Flo Masson
End Legislated Poverty, Lesley Moore
Faith and Life Committee, B.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Canada, Pastor Don Johnson
Faithful Public Witness Committee, Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery of
the United Church of Canada, Reverend Barry K. Morris
Family Service Canada / Services à la famille-Canada, Margaret
Fietz
federated anti-poverty groups of B.C., Lisa Stewart
Feminist Alliance for International Action, Charlotte Thibault
Feminists for Just and Equitable Public Policy, Stephanie M Hunter
First Call: B.C. Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition, Ruth Annis
Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement, Sister Elizabeth Kelliher
Global and Societal Ministries, B.C. Conference, United Church of
Canada, Leslie Windsor
Hospital Employees’ Union, Fred Muzin
Inland Refugee Society, Judith Boer
Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition, Reverend Jeffrey Brown
Jewish Women International of Canada, Penny Krowitz
Justice and Peace Unit, Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, Reverend
Bob Korth
Justice for Girls Outreach Society, Annabel Webb
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, Mary Corkery
Kamloops Women’s Resource Centre, Dodie Goldney
Multifaith Social Justice Coalition, Donna Stewart
National Action Committee on the Status of Women - B.C. Society, Bev
Meslo
National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO-ONAP), W. Robert Arnold
National Association of Women and the Law, Bonnie Diamond
National Organisation of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada,
Anu Bose
Native Women’s Association of Canada, Kukdookaa Terri Brown
Nellie’s Shelter for Women and Children, Irene Jaakson
Network of East Vancouver Community Organizations (NEVCO), Fern Jeffries
Newton Advocacy Group, Vera LaFranc
North Shore Women’s Centre, Michelle Dodds
Nova Scotia Association for Community Living, Mary Rothman
Pacific Community Resources, Larry Koyanagi
Penticton Campus Students’ Association (PCSA), Local 3 of the
Canadian
Federation of Students, Tree Kennedy
Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, Donna Becker MacDermot
Positive Women’s Network, Bronwyn Barrett
Regional Disabled Persons Association, Dennis Drobot
Renaissance Centre, Wilfrid Gosselin
Riverdale Immigrant Women’s Organization, Nuzhath Leedham
Rumky Support Society, Farida Lalji
Sisters Association, Vancouver Archdiocese of the Catholic Church,
Sister Cecilia Hudec
Social Assistance in the New Economy Project, Andrew Mitchell
Social Planning and Research Council of B. C., Nancy Henderson
Society for Children and Youth of B. C., Mary Clare Zak
SpeciaLink: the National Centre for Child Care Inclusion, Sharon Hope
Irwin
Surrey Food Bank Society, Tony Rainbow
Teddy Bear Daycare Centre, Margaret Pearson
Tenants’ Rights Action Coalition, Linda Mix
Terrace Anti-Poverty Group Society, Tanya Gauvin
The Advocacy Centre - Nelson, Carol Ross
The Fulcrum Project, Joy Fai
The Immigrating Women in Science Project, Shauna Paull
The Kettle Friendship Society, Kristi Yuris
The Unitarian Church of Vancouver, Reverend.Steven Epperson
The Vancouver Association of Survivors of Torture, Kirby Huminuik
United Nations Platform for Action Committee, Jennifer deGroot
United Native Nations, George Holem
Vancouver Aboriginal Women’s Collective, Edna Nyce/KsimGitWilAksNatkw
Vancouver District Labour Council, Al Engler
Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter, Suzanne Jay
Vancouver Status of Women, Benita Bunjun
Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, Caryn Duncan
Vela Microboard Association of B.C., Helen Stovell
Vernon & District Women’s Centre Society, Sue Goodlad
Victoria Epilepsy and Parkinson’s Centre Society, Sandra Bitz
Victoria Persons With Aids Society, Charlotte Kinzie
West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, Audrey Johnson
West Kootenay Women’s Association, Penny Ruvinsky
Women’s Contact Society, Williams Lake, Anne Burrill
Working Group on Poverty, Eyob Naizghi
Yad B’ Yad - The Coalition on Poverty, Jewish Federation of Greater
Vancouver, Larainne Kaplan
Young Parents Support Network, Rosemary Mann
YouthCO AIDS Society, J. Evin Jones
PovNet's
collection of related links, articles and information on the two year
limit (opens in a new window)
Canadian
Social Research Links' collection of links, articles, and information
on the welfare time limits in BC
Limites de durée
de l'admissibilité à l'aide sociale en Colombie-Britannique
Posted February 12, 2004 - 9:01 am
