A complaint by a group of welfare recipients who live with disabilities and require special diets is going to court this Thursday. Their special needs allowances have not kept up with ever rising costs, they say, and they want to force the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to conduct a tribunal.
A look back on last year’s #LivesOnWelfare social media campaign. We talk to Jackie Torrens, who pulled it all together. The story also includes all the photos and messages that were used, as far as I can tell. Just so we have them and know where they are.
The Department of Community Services wants to change how it delivers welfare. But it still isn’t clear what that means, says Kendall Worth, after attending an update session organized by the department. In fact, there is reason to worry.
A year ago contributor Tim Blades sent a letter to the Minister of Community Services with some pointers on what needs fixing in her department from the perspective of somebody on social assistance. It’s as relevant today as it was a year ago.
A private member’s Bill in Ontario wants welfare rates to be set by an independent entity, based only on the cost of living. Nova Scotia would benefit from a similar approach.
Reporter Tim Blades wonders how come single parents on welfare see their child support clawed back in Nova Scotia, yet British Columbia has done away with the practice, and Ontario is soon to follow. And then there are some other policies that make the lives of single parents on welfare and their children particularly difficult, and sometimes even dangerous, Tim reports.
For this installment of Lives on Welfare we publish a letter by a middle-aged man who is on social assistance and lives with Crohn’s disease. He relates two experiences with Community Services while he was pursuing an education. His first story is about a tutor he didn’t need, the second one is about the computer he did need.
A new report tells us that in Nova Scotia an awful lot of people are awfully poor. More so than in Canada overall, and more so than most any other province. Cape Breton, Kentville, New Glasgow, and Halifax all are in the top twenty for their respective categories.
Kendall Worth continues to investigate stupid ideas about welfare that people actually believe.
Meet Joanne (not her real name). Joanne lives in a mid-sized town somewhere in rural Nova Scotia with her three kids, two boys and one girl. Her teenage son has intellectual disabilities and requires special care. Several years ago she fled an abusive relationship and she has not yet been able to resume a public live, something most of us take for granted. She is on Income Assistance. “I am poor,” she says, “but I budget well.”