He talks about how the much-hyped transformation did not at all make things better for people on income assistance and his fear that special needs allowances will be next. He also tackles the subject of tactics, don’t waste your time trying to convince bureaucrats, he says.

My name is Vince Calderhead, I am a lawyer, I work here in Halifax. I enjoyed the idea of what one of the other speakers tonight referred to as being a second voice. Even though I am a lawyer now, and have been for 33 years, I too was once a first voice person, I too received social assistance, briefly.

This was in the days when assistance was provided by municipalities, and I was supported by the city of Halifax. Even though I was only along for a couple of weeks, I remember that experience as being so humiliating that it made me angry. I felt I wanted to do something about it, and I applied and was accepted and became a lawyer, and for the last 30-odd years I have been representing people in receipt of social assistance.

Tonight I want to talk about the transformation, I want to talk about the next steps of the transformation, and finally I want to speak briefly about advocacy.

The transformation means worse outcomes for everybody

First I want to talk about the transformation. Anybody who receives social assistance or follows these issues will have heard of the transformation.

Transformation is a very ambitious word that suggests dramatic and almost radical changes. To call something transformative means that it will be almost unrecognizable afterwords.

We have been hearing about the transformation for about five years now. Whenever people said that it doesn’t feel like things are getting any better the department would respond by saying, don’t worry, when the transformation comes it is going to be great.

Now we kind of know in this most recent budget what the transformation will really mean for the people on social assistance. We know what it has been like since the transformation began in 2015, and thanks to the budget we now know what things will look like in March 2020.

The one-pager I have given you will set out what the transformation will have accomplished for four sample families. We look at every single source of income for people on social assistance, and all the applicable provincial credits. I added them all together, and adjusted them for inflation.

See also: For people on income assistance there is another tunnel at the end of the tunnel

Taking into account inflation, in every single case transformation means that these people will be worse off next March than they were at the beginning, that’s the bottom line. So much for those who were told that the transformation will improve their situation.

You will see how in my footnote I quote from the department’s own Statement of Mandate. It states that the transformation will mean better outcomes for clients. Look at those numbers in red. The transformation means worse outcomes! The numbers speak for themselves.

The question is, what was the transformation really about? What was the purpose and what was accomplished?

We don’t know for sure, because they haven’t told us, but it appears to have been simply an administrative and managerial rearrangement within the department, shuffling management and changing the way caseworkers will work, in order to save the department money on employees. Saving labour expenses, while being completely indifferent to improving client standard of living. After five years that’s what we are left with.

Special needs is where the transformation effort will focus next

Let’s think about the next step of the transformation. When you go through the various handouts and presentations by department officials it looks like the next step may well be about special needs.

Those of us who have had experience with social assistance know what special needs are, they’re the add-ons. Except that from a disability rights point of view they are basic needs. For people with disabilities a special diet allowance is not an add-on, it’s basic.

Let me say just a few words about special diet allowances as they relate to people’s human rights. Many people will know about special diets. There is the basic personal allowance, and then there are special diets, which are added when requested and with a doctor’s letter. Special diets are for people whose health condition requires that they get an additional amount for their health condition, diabetes, or one of a dozen or so other conditions.

The amounts are like an extra $35 or $40, and so on. The average special diet allowance is around $80, so that is a significant amount of money.

I bring this up because the special diets represent a huge human rights problem, in two ways. First of all, these diets were introduced in 1996, that’s when the province took over the social assistance program (from the municipalities) and special diet allowances were introduced.

The basic allowance has increased 11 times since 1996 and the present, to reflect the cost of living increases. Special diets have not increased at all over that time. What does that tell us? It means the province is totally indifferent in meeting the human rights of people with disabilities, totally indifferent to the fact that it is discriminatory.

On the other hand, it is clear to me, from reading the department’s documentation, that their next move will be around special diets. What seems to be their plan is to move from a needs-based system for special needs, including special diets, to what they call an allowance-based system.

Rather than fine tuning what you need they’ll say, oh, you have certain needs, that means this is what you will get, a fixed allowance. What it means is getting away from a needs-based system to a flat rate. Given that the standard household rate has already been set, that is water under the bridge. If there is to be advocacy a good area to focus would be around special needs and special diet rates.

Talking to bureaucrats is a waste of time

Finally, let me talk about advocacy efforts. Many of us are involved in advocacy. It’s been my life’s work, whether in court or elsewhere.

What I have learned in my 30-odd years of experience with advocacy in this area, is that what doesn’t work is meeting with Community Services officials. They will listen, often politely, and offer you biscuits, and then say thank you, thanks everyone for coming. That is what typically happens, Nothing ever comes from that, because they don’t have power.  It is a waste of time.

So what to do? Where are the levers, where are the pressure points?

In my view the levers are found at the political level, not at the bureaucratic level. And provincially it is more or less in the Premier’s office. That’s where all of the real  decisions are made. I am urging those of you who do advocacy work to consider targeting there.

Here is a little example. A while ago someone raised a question why for single parents on assistance who receive child support that amount is clawed back dollar for dollar. You may ask, if that’s the case, why even bother getting child support? It struck the premier as arbitrary, and he was kind of shocked, and promised to change that. It was almost as if his human compassion got the better of him, and he jumped in and said, we’re going to change it.

See also: Tim Blades at the Province House rally: End the child support clawback for single mothers on welfare

And then it was changed. The lesson is, target the very top, no matter how the pitch is framed.

It does not have to be this way

Being moved by the stories in tonight’s film and by the other speakers here tonight, my closing remark is that it does not have to be this way. In fact, many years ago Nova Scotia was not as bad as it is now. When you look at the adequacy of social assistance, rates reached `the maximum adequacy in 1998. Ever since it has been going down relative to standards of living.

In Denmark a couple of years ago I wanted to talk about a poverty law course I teach at law school. I said, tell me about your course that you teach. After a few minutes the faculty at the university there said, we don’t have a course in poverty law because we don’t really have poverty.  

The lesson there is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Canada is a wealthy country. The problem is not the wealth of the country, the problem is how it is distributed.

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The post Vince Calderhead: The income assistance transformation means worse outcomes for everybody appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

BRAG (Benefits Reform Action Group) invites you to a free screening of the documentary “My Week on Welfare”.

“My Week on Welfare” is a documentary about the state of the welfare system in Nova Scotia.  Filmmaker (and former welfare recipient) Jackie Torrens chronicles the stories of several welfare recipients.

This screening will be followed by a discussion involving first voices currently dealing with the welfare system, and also advocates who fight for a better life for those on Nova Scotia’s Employment Support and Income Assistance program.

We then turn things over to our audience, so that they may ask a question or share their stories.

This is our 9th screening in two years. These events are always eye opening and empowering.

6 PM,  May 29th, Dartmouth Seniors Service Centre, 45 Ochterloney Street. Enter through the Nantucket Place entrance. Late comers welcome.
Free refreshments and free parking. Check the Facebook event here.

The post PSA: My Week on Welfare screening comes to Dartmouth. Share your voice! appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

Join us for a screening of the documentary My Week on Welfare, as well as a panel discussion featuring individuals with lived experiences of being on welfare and individuals working within the system.

“My Week on Welfare” is a documentary about the state of the welfare system in Nova Scotia.  Filmmaker (and former welfare recipient) Jackie Torrens chronicles the stories of several welfare recipients.

This documentary looks at the reality of life on income assistance, and we invite you to share your reality.

This event is open to everyone. This is your night to use your voice.

Where: Keshan Goodman Library, 330 Lacewood Drive, Halifax

When: Wednesday, March 13. 6:30 PM-8:30 PM

The post PSA: My Week on Welfare comes to Clayton Park appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

I am going to speak tonight about the stigma that myself and others on Income Assistance face. I am going to provide some commentary on the on-going ESIA transformation and the consultation that the Department of Community Services (or DCS) has engaged in. I will also illustrate why someone like me, with my knowledge and lived experience, should’ve been involved in a truly meaningful consultation with those who have the power to change things.

To live in poverty is to live a life where your health and safety are compromised.

As we saw with Robin’s story, those who are on ESIA (Employment Support and Income Assistance, or “welfare”) often live in substandard housing. The current shelter allowances for those on welfare are $535 for a single person, $570 for two people, and $620 for 3 or more people. These rates are supposed to include power and heat/HW. Sometimes a person is allotted just $300 for shelter. I, as a boarder, receive $223 a month for shelter. The current shelter allowances are based on 1995 rates.

With the upcoming welfare reform, clients who fall under Regulation 45 (those who are permanently disabled and unable to work), will receive the standard $535 as part of the new Standard Household Rate. Currently, those who are under Regulation 45 receive less than $535 if their rent is lower than $535. There are no other changes to the shelter allowances coming with this ESIA reform.

On July 19th, I was interviewed for an article in the Star Metro regarding some announced changes to Nova Scotia’s ESIA program. In that article, I said “It’s not enough. It’s not even close to enough,” I shared the article to my Facebook timeline. In response, someone shared a picture of Redd Foxx that said “The best way to get on your feet is to get off your ass”. To be clear, I am grateful for the changes that have been implemented; However, I do stand by my statement. These changes are not enough.

Effective October 2018, ESIA recipients have lost their transportation expense. This is due to the implementation of new annual bus passes. With criminally low Income Assistance rates, many ESIA recipients use a portion of their transportation expense to buy food. The loss of their transportation expense amounts to a cut in their food budget. The fact that there is a 2 or 5 percent increase coming in the fall of 2019 is of little comfort to people who are starving now.

Currently, 50% of Feed Nova Scotia clients are ESIA recipients. ESIA recipients live 30-60% or more below the poverty line.

The consultation that has taken place is not enough. When groups such as CASAR request to have time with the premier or the Department of Community Services Minister, we are forwarded to the Executive Director of the ESIA program Brandon Grant.

Mr. Grant, by his own admission, doesn’t have the power to make changes. We are thankful for his time, but he is not the person we need to meet with.

Not only are these consultations not enough, I challenge that the examples presented to recipients and advocates at various DCS consultation sessions are not grounded in reality.

An example of this is DCS recent claim that beginning in 2019 clients, who are single, disabled and have no children will receive $83 more per month than they did in 2015/2016. This $83 includes the historic $20 personal allowance increase that was implemented in 2016, the $40 increase that is coming to some Income Assistance recipients next year, plus tax credits and the recent increases to the quarterly Poverty Reduction credit. This also doesn’t factor in the loss of the travel expense, which could be as much as $78, which as I’ve said many clients were spending on food or bills. As Aron has said, he has $50 left after paying bills.

What I would like is for someone to sit down with Aron and myself, and explain how he is supposed to ration his Poverty Reduction Credit over three months, as this example suggests. This example is one of those things that makes sense on paper, but loses all value when applied to real life.

According to Vince Calderhead at Pink Larkin, when you factor in the cost of living, welfare rates in Nova Scotia have decreased by 50% since 1990. Currently, ESIA recipients live 30-60% or more below the poverty line.

Now a little about me. I was raised by a single mother. My mother raised me and my brother while on welfare. There were times where we had very little to eat. When I was old enough, I worked for a few hours a week at the school library, and I went to the food bank, but even with that, ends would never meet. Life is very stressful when you don’t know how you will eat in a day or two, when you can’t go on the class field trip, or you can’t play basketball because you don’t have a bagged lunch. That was life. 50% of Feed Nova Scotia clients are ESIA recipients. 17% are the working poor.

“Why bother living when you can’t even afford to live?” is an alarming statement. It’s even more alarming when it comes from a loved one who has a history of mental health issues. If you have any knowledge of the ESIA program, you know it is unfortunately common for paperwork to mysteriously vanish. Now put yourself in the shoes of someone with mental and physical health issues, and you pass in whatever paperwork your caseworker asks for…and it vanishes. And then you lose your special diet or phone expense because someone at DCS says you didn’t get the paperwork done.

Then imagine that you have no one to advocate for you. You don’t know what agency to turn to because the illness you have causes you to socially isolate. This happens. With the welfare reform, a telephone will still be classified as a special need.

As I’ve said, I was a child on the system. Dealing with my home life, which was complicated by poverty, caused me to contemplate suicide as a child. I had ulcers due to stress. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s. According to a recent Chronicle Herald article, 806 Nova Scotian children were hospitalized in 2016 due to mental health concerns.

As an adult, I still suffer from anxiety and depression. Looking back at my childhood, I know having just enough money to not worry about food, just enough money to get a dental procedure done, just enough money to have adequate clothing would’ve made a big difference in my life and would’ve given me a better start in life.

About two years ago, I learned about the 100% Child Support Clawback for ESIA recipients. Until recently, if you are on ESIA and you were supposed to receive child support, you didn’t get a dime of it. 100% went to the Department of Community Services.

Like most people, I was outraged to find out about this. I wrote an article for the Nova Scotia Advocate, that includes excerpts from Jackie Torrens.

I am particularly proud of this article, because I feel it helped start a movement. It wasn’t until sometime after my child support article that I realized that the Child Support Clawback existed when I was a child. With everything I went through in my childhood, even if my father were around and wanted to help financially, he couldn’t. It would’ve been taken away. Having my father in my life would’ve made no difference at all in my battles with poverty. This revelation was reflected in a speech that I gave on Oct 4th, 2017 at a My Week on Welfare screening.

After that, some fellow advocates joined with me, including the Dartmouth North MLA. We went door to door with a petition, and heard other people’s stories about the clawback and ESIA in general. When the premier became aware of the clawback, he called the practice “unfair”. The child support clawback ended in Aug 2018.

Thanks again for coming out tonight. This is our 7th screening of My Week on Welfare. Our very first was June 1st 2017. These nights came about because I had an idea, and two other colleagues had an idea. We put those three ideas together, and these My Week on Welfare screenings are what we came up with. Through these nights, members of the audience speak up and share their stories, they ask questions, and in some cases they are able to get help with a struggle they are having.

I am not rare. Like many others, I find myself in a combination of circumstances. I am a caregiver. I live with mental illness. I also have a rarely diagnosed genetic condition, coupled with rare symptoms, called Alpha 1 Antitrypsin deficiency. I was diagnosed with Alpha 1 ten years ago, have been sick with it for about 13 years, and I have been fighting for treatment since day one. This is in addition to having had near deadly diabetes and dealing with non-epileptic events.

Like many others, my knowledge of poverty is a combination of lived experience, observing and listening to others, and research. Like many others, I know what some of the problems are, and I want to be part of a solution. According the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative, between the legal system, the health care system, and lost productivity, poverty costs Nova Scotians between 1.5 and 2.2 billion dollars annually.  

Those who are on Income Assistance, as well as their advocates, want to have meaningful consultation in regards to the ESIA transformation. I will end my speech with one simple question: DCS, why aren’t you having meaningful consultation with us?

Thank you.

See also: There but for the grace of God. Aron Spidle tells Nova Scotia MLAs about a broken social assistance system

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again.

The post Tim Blades at the Lower Sackville My Week on Welfare screening: I want to be part of a solution appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

“My Week on Welfare” is a documentary about the state of the welfare system in Nova Scotia.  Filmmaker (and former welfare recipient) Jackie Torrens chronicles the stories of several welfare recipients.

CASAR (The Community Agenda for Social Assistance Adequacy and Reform) invites you to join us for a free screening of this eye opening documentary.  

Fiona Traynor from Dal Legal Aid will be hosting the evening. Following the documentary, you will hear from Aron Spidle, who appears in the documentary, and other advocates and first voices currently dealing with Nova Scotia’s ESIA (Employment Assistance and Income Support) program.

We then turn the floor over to our audience to share their stories or ask a question. This documentary looks at the reality of life on income assistance, and we invite you to share your reality.

This event is open to everyone. This is your night to use your voice.

My Week on Welfare screening
Thursday, November 22nd, 6:30 PM
Sackville Public Library
636 Sackville Dr, Lower Sackville, NS 

#RaiseTheRates  #FacesOfNSWelfare

The post News release: My Week on Welfare comes to Lower Sackville on November 22 appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Sometime in mid-September several MLAs representing all three parties attended a screening of My Week on Welfare at the auditorium of the Nova Scotia Art Gallery in downtown Halifax. My Week on Welfare is an eye opening documentary, produced by Jackie Torrens, that offers glimpses into the lives of income assistance recipients,  families and individuals both, trying to make ends meet on a scandalously low food and shelter budget. The screening was organized by BRAG and CASAR members.

This is what Aron Spidle, who is featured in the documentary, told the MLAs. KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Little seems to have changed in the last three years since the documentary first aired. Income Assistance recipients still often live 30% to 61% below the poverty line, and even the increase to come in 2019 of 5% for disabled recipients would amount to about $40 to $50 a month, max.

Recipients are still painted as malingerers. They are still told that their own poor decisions are responsible for their present state. It is evident that the department is not really listening, let alone responding to recipients’ concerns or suggestions.  

I dislike immensely talking about myself in the following sense, and of complaining, generally. On a personal level, in the years since the documentary aired I have become something of a fighter, an advocate. I am an ISFJ on the Myers-Briggs scale, which means that conflict, argument, fighting is anathema to my nature for the most part. I thrive on taking care of people, on creating and living amidst harmony and order. I am a lover not a fighter as my grandfather used to say.

The fact that I have become an advocate, a fighter, should tell you all that you need to know about what it is like to interact with the department, and with the Employment Support and Income Assistance program. That’s before one even considers the fact that experience has taught me that one cannot trust them.

“I have to ration my food and medicine”

A litany of examples: These days I have about $50 left from my Income Assistance cheque once I pay my basic bills and deduct my tithe. That is for food, medicine, grooming and cleaning supplies, and everything else. I have to ration my food and medicine to make them last. And my cheque will further decrease in October.

I live in fear of an eventual rent increase, although my landlord is awesome, or of needing medicine that is not covered by the Nova Scotia formulary. When a friend asks me to do something with them, the first thing that occurs to me is to “how can I get out of this gracefully?” because most of the time I cannot afford it.

I can afford to do one load of laundry a week, which means that my bed linen is changed once every three weeks or so. There are clothes in my closet, from what seems like another life, that I rarely wear anymore because they require special care. Even something as simple as a coffee with a friend often requires advance planning. Life’s unexpected happenings can be a mini-disaster, and the highlights can be tinged with sadness, too.

To make a long story short, I did not get to a relative’s funeral because I did not have the funds for fuel. And, one Christmas Eve day not long ago, I sat in my living room and cried because I could not get a little kid a present. I knew enough about the reality of the system to be very wary even before I applied in the wake of my job loss, to such an extent that I, in fact, contemplated suicide.

In spite of what I knew to be true about life on welfare, I could not have imagined the full reality of being a Social Assistance recipient. Despite being extremely wary, and an encounter with a caseworker that was…not all that it could have been…I was willing to trust, to, in all fairness, give Community Services the benefit of the doubt. It took them less than three months to destroy that.

The two main issues: Attitudes and inadequate supports

There are two main issues with regard to the social assistance system: an attitude issue, and inadequate supports. Both could be addressed by such relative cost-neutral means as: ceasing the practice of second-guessing client’s physician’s requests and diagnoses; an increase in shelter allowances (about $4 million) to more accurately reflect the average reality the cost of housing; and allowing individuals to keep more of the occasional funds which they might receive from time to time. Invest in people through taking into account the Social Determinants of Health.

Community Services claims that it is transforming the system, that they’re addressing these concerns, but I have seen few signs of that where the rubber meets the road, where clients and caseworkers intersect with “the system.”

Indeed, the “consultations” in which I have been involved were more like information dispensing sessions than genuine dialogue.

I think also of those few good and caring case workers who are stymied and frustrated by the current system. By unwritten policies, directives, and assumptions, that interpret and influence that which is written down—and which, in some cases some have argued, may flout the law. Many burn out and leave or become hardened. Promises to them have not been kept.

Those who speak on behalf of the department have asked for patience and trust. Patience and trust?! When individuals are hurting, and hungry now? When incomes continue to be slashed, without regard even for the Department’s own stated commitment to social inclusion? When promises have been repeatedly made and broken?

What do those on welfare and advocates want? True consultation, rather than window dressing. Secure funding for housing. The ability to pay one’s bills, to eat properly, to have medicine and other such things as required, and to occasionally be able to be the one to say, “Hey guys. Let ME grab the coffee this time!” To be able to contribute to society, and have the non-monetary aspects recognized by Community Services, and, finally to be treated with courtesy, and respect, and to be left alone.

So, how can you help? Write a letter and publish it. Don’t assume that every syllable that falls from the lips of those with whom you deal is gospel.

Consider what you hope would be the case if you or a loved one were in need of social assistance. Demolish/challenge stereotypes where you can. When you’re in a meeting, in the House, when/if  you form the next government, remember what has passed between us today.

Why you should care

Why care? First of all, because it is the right thing to do. Secondly, because we are very much called to be our brother’s keeper. Thirdly, because of the medical, social and economic benefits that accrue to the individuals, involved and to society as a while.

Fourth, poor people *do* vote, just remember Joanne Bernard. People get rather upset when promises are broken/disregarded, of when they’re  misrepresented. One realizes that not everything that is promised or desired can be accomplished at once or over night, but *STILL!!!*… Poor people *do* vote.

Finally, because there are very few of us beyond the possibility of needing income assistance. I am one example. With my education, my work ethic, my references, it wasn’t remotely on my radar. Indeed, there are still times when I am stunned to think that it is so. There but for the grace of God, as the saying goes. But I would argue that even there, the Grace of God is not void of power and ability.

In spite of all of the frustrations, I have so much to be grateful for. I have a very rich life in non-monetary terms. Most of my family is gone, but I have the best step-mother in the world, and I have some incredible friends.

There is the Humanities Program. I do get to do things now and then, by God’s grace. In fact, when I do anything that is beyond basic survival it is by God’s provision—and He has surprised me on more than one occasion. The thing is free, someone else has paid for me, or He has taken a more direct hand in accomplishing it.

I have work for my hands to do in terms of my volunteer efforts, working around my recalcitrant physicality. All of which is a practical outworking of my Christian faith, and my desire to contribute to our social capital, and to build a foundation for a future for generations yet unborn.

There is work here for *our* hands (MLAs etc.) to do—but there is so much more to be done. Let’s invest in people, let’s join hands and do it together, so that, at the very least, those generations to come will have cause to bless our names.

See also: 

• When ends never meet: Tim Blades at the My Week on Welfare screening for Nova Scotia MLAs
• Changing the definition of welfare cheats – My Week on Welfare screening in Dartmouth North
• My week on Welfare, four months later

The post There but for the grace of God … Aron Spidle tells Nova Scotia MLAs about a broken social assistance system appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

What follows is what poverty advocate and Nova Scotia Advocate contributor Tim Blades told the MLAs. 

Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight for this screening of My Week on Welfare. My name is Tim Blades. I am a 40-year old income assistance recipient, a member of BRAG (The Benefits Reform Action Group) and also a member of CASAR (The Community Agenda for Social Assistance Adequacy and Reform).

I am going to speak tonight about the stigma that I and others on Income Assistance face. I am going to provide some commentary on the ongoing Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) program transformation and the consultation that the Department of Community Services (or DCS) has engaged in. I will also illustrate why someone like me, with my knowledge and lived experience, should have been involved in a truly meaningful consultation with those who have the power to change things.

As you can see, there are three images on the screen right now. The first image contains two quotes that are from a book I am reading on the Social Determinants of Health. It reads as follows:

The next quote is from Dr. Carolyn Bennett, from the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto. She was also Canada’s first Minister of State for Public Health.

“We have a formidable enemy in the sales department of modern media. Simple messages and simple solutions fit on a bumper sticker or in a seven-second sound bite. Every day, I am reminded of the quote of American journalist, satirist, and cultural critic H.L. Mencken: “For every complex human problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” I believe we must fiercely defend the complex solutions for the complex problems that are facing health and health care, but I believe we have to find simpler messages, plain language, if we are to have citizens onside.”

Income is a Social Determinant of Health. If a person cannot afford to eat healthy, or eat at all, their health will suffer, they will become ill, and they will become familiar with the issues involved with our health care system. I say this as someone who has been in diabetic remission for several years. I consider that to be quite an accomplishment, considering my diabetes was at deadly levels when I was diagnosed.  I spent my entire hospital stay in a hospital staff break room.

It’s not enough. It’s not even close to enough

On July 19th, I was interviewed for an article in the Star Metro regarding some announced changes to Nova Scotia’s Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) program. In that article, I said “It’s not enough. It’s not even close to enough,”

I shared that article to my Facebook timeline. The second image, Redd Foxx, was posted by someone as a response to my statement. To be clear, I am grateful for the changes that have been implemented; However, I do stand by my statement. These changes are not enough.

Effective Oct 2018, ESIA recipients in Halifax will lose their transportation allowances. This is due to the implementation of new annual bus passes. With criminally low Income Assistance rates, many ESIA recipients use a portion of their transportation expense to buy food. The loss of their transportation expense amounts to a cut in their food budget. The fact that there is a 2 or 5 percent increase coming in the fall of 2019 is of little comfort to people who are starving now. Currently, 50% of Feed Nova Scotia clients are ESIA recipients.

The consultation that has taken place is not enough. When groups such as CASAR request to have time with the premier or the Department of Community Services Minister, we are forwarded to the Executive Director of the ESIA program Brandon Grant. Mr. Grant, by his own admission, doesn’t have the power to make changes. We are thankful for his time, but he is not the person we need to meet with.

The third image is a quote from a CBC article dated June 20, 2018, attributed to Deputy DCS minister Lynn Hartwell.  It reads “The best path of out poverty is a job.” Allow me to give you a simple message, in plain language: Images two and three are clear, simple and wrong. Allow me to illustrate why:

I coupon. I am involved in a few “points” programs, and I often take advantage of rebates. I belong to several local couponing Facebook groups where people share information on deals and coupons. If I become aware of a free sample or a free product coupon, I order it. I love couponing. It makes my life easier because it allows me to save money and help people. If I can get something for free or for a few pennies, I get it. Anything I don’t need, I give away. Sometime I donate things to the food bank, but usually I give stuff to a small group of people.

That small group of people that I help is fairly diverse. There are people who are disabled, on welfare, and unable to work. There are people who are on welfare, while also working. And contrary to what images two and three would have you believe, some of the people are working full time and not on welfare. They are, to steal a quote from Mr Foxx, “on their feet”, working full time, and yet they are suffering from the trappings of poverty, such as poor quality housing.

The working poor are heavily taxed, and some are single parents who work full time. Not only are they taxed, but they pay for childcare and are charged in other ways. A friend of mine, a friend that I help, makes over $20 an hour and is a single mom, and deals with an ex that often isn’t very helpful. This is someone who has been denied certain forms of help, because on paper, she makes too much. While tonight is about Nova Scotia’s ESIA program, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the broader scope of poverty.  Having a job, even a $20+ an hour job, doesn’t guarantee escaping the trappings of poverty. We must widen our scope when considering poverty; take a hard look at taxation and a person’s circumstances, because having a job doesn’t mean you will leave poverty behind you. Currently, 17% of Feed Nova Scotia users are the working poor. Those who govern must stop asking those that they govern to trade one form of poverty (welfare) in for another (the working poor).

Life is very stressful when you don’t know how you will eat in a day or two

As I’ve mentioned, this friend is a single mom. I was also raised by a single mother. My mother raised me and my brother while on welfare. There were times where we had very little to eat. When I was old enough, I worked for a few hours a week in the school library, and I went to the food bank, but even with that, ends would never meet. Poverty has an effect on a person’s mental health. Life is very stressful when you don’t know how you will eat in a day or two, when you can’t go on the class field trip, or you don’t have a bagged lunch so that you can play basketball at lunch time. That was life.

“Why bother living when you can’t even afford to live?” Is an alarming statement. It’s even more alarming when it comes from a loved one who has a history of mental health issues. If you have any knowledge of the ESIA program, you know it is unfortunately common to have paperwork mysteriously vanish at DCS offices. Now put yourself in the shoes of someone suffering from a combination of mental and physical health issues, and you pass in whatever paperwork your caseworker asks for…and it vanishes. And then you lose your special diet or phone expense because someone at DCS says you didn’t get the paperwork done. Then imagine that you have no one to advocate for you. You don’t know what agency can help you, because the illness you have leads you to socially isolate yourself. This happens.

As I’ve said, I was a child on the system. Dealing with my home life, which was complicated by poverty, caused me to contemplate suicide as a child. I had ulcers at 8 years old due to stress. I grew up in the 80s and 90s. According to a recent Chronicle Herald article, 806 Nova Scotian children were hospitalized in 2016 due to mental health concerns. As an adult, I still suffer from anxiety and depression. Looking back at my childhood, I know having just enough money to not worry about food, just enough money that getting a dental procedure didn’t mean going without food for a few days, just enough to have adequate clothing, would have made a big difference in my life and would’ve given me a better foundation to start life on.

About two years ago, I learned about the 100% child support clawback for ESIA recipients. Until recently, if you are on ESIA and you are supposed to receive child support from your ex, you didn’t get a dime of it. 100% of it went to the Department of Community Services. Like most people, I was outraged to find out about this. I wrote an article for the Nova Scotia Advocate, that also includes excerpts by Jackie Torrens.

I am particularly proud of this article, because I feel it helped start a movement. It wasn’t until sometime after my child support article that I realized the child support clawback already existed when I was a child. With everything I went through in my childhood, even if my father were around and wanted to help financially, he couldn’t. It would’ve been all taken away. Having my father in my life would’ve made no difference at all in my battles with poverty.

This revelation was reflected during a speech I gave on Oct 4th 2017, during a My Week on Welfare screening. After that, some fellow activists joined with me, including the Dartmouth North MLA. We went door to door with a petition, and heard other people’s stories about the clawback and ESIA in general. When the premier became aware of the clawback, he called the practice “unfair”. The child support clawback was ended in Aug 2018. I’ve learned recently that Nova Scotia Housing, a division of the Department of Community Services, counts child support as income when calculating tenants rent.

Thanks again for coming out tonight. This is our sixth screening of My Week on Welfare in 15 months. We have one five days from now for the Canadian Mental Health Association that is just for their members. We also have another on Oct 30th 6:30 pm at the Sackville Public Library. That one is open to the public. These nights came about because I had an idea and two other colleagues had an idea, and we put those three ideas together, and these My Week on Welfare screenings are what we came up with. At these events, members of the audience speak up and share their stories, they ask questions, and in some cases are able to get help with a struggle they are having with the Department of Community Services.

The image up on the screen now is another quote from the Social Determinants of Health book that I am reading. It reads as follows

“Even if we make great strides to improve our systems of health care in Canada, our genuine gains in health will be hindered unless we pay serious attention to the other determinants of health. At present there are too many children going to school and to bed hungry, too many people living in our urban streets, an increasing number of working poor, and too many people feeling like they are on the outside looking in when it comes to decision making in our communities.” This quote is from Roy Romanow, former Premier of Saskatchewan.

I am not rare. Like many others, I find myself in a combination of circumstances. I am a caregiver. I live with mental illness. I also have a rarely diagnosed genetic condition, coupled with rare symptoms, called Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.   I was diagnosed with Alpha 1 10 years ago, and I have been sick with it for at least 15 years, in addition to tackling diabetes and dealing with non-epileptic events.

Like many others, my knowledge of poverty is a combination of lived experience, observing and listening to others, and research. Like many others, I know what some of the problems are, and I want to be part of a solution. Those who are on Income Assistance, as well as their advocates, want to have meaningful consultation in regards to the ESIA transformation. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative, between the legal system, the health care system, and lost productivity, poverty costs us 2.4 billion dollars annually.  I will end my speech with a question that is clear and simple: DCS, why aren’t you having meaningful consultation with us?

Thank you.

Changing the definition of welfare cheats – My Week on Welfare screening in Dartmouth North

My week on Welfare, four months later

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Like BRAG on Facebook, and find out about their meetings and other news.

The post News release: Film screening and discussion: My week on welfare appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

The documentary offers a no holds barred view into the lives of people caught up in Nova Scotia’s welfare system. People who struggle to survive on grossly inadequate benefits and who face prejudice all the time.

People featured in the documentary will be at the screening to talk about their experiences.

The event is organized by the Benefits Reform Action Group (BRAG), people on welfare and their supporters who want rates raised and dignified lives for people on social assistance. The Nova Scotia Advocate is proudly sponsoring the event.

For Tim Blades, a BRAG member who worked hard to pull the event together, this is much more than just a screening.

“This is an opportunity to give a voice to people who don’t typically get heard, and also an opportunity to share their experiences,” Blades says. “It’s also a safe place to do so, there will be no media.”

An earlier screening of the documentary, at the public library on Gottingen Street, was very successful, Blades says.

“We had people line up for the microphone. It was very moving. When you share your stories it gets so that other people also want to share. It’s like a domino effect,” says Blades.

We need to change how we think about welfare cheats, Blades believes. The real welfare cheat is Community Services.

“I hate that term,” he says. “In my mind, a welfare cheat is someone who takes the child support from a single mother, or someone who only allows you to keep $150 of your earnings and takes everything else. “A welfare cheat is someone who all of a sudden cuts your benefit back.”

Like BRAG on Facebook, and find out about their meetings and other news. Or come to the screening of My Week on Welfare, and meet BRAG members, on October 4 at the Dartmouth North Community Centre. 

The post Changing the definition of welfare cheats — My Week on Welfare screening in Dartmouth North. appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

Hello everyone, Thank you for coming out for this screening of My Week on Welfare. My name is Tim Blades. I am a member of BRAG (the Benefits Reform Action Group), a group of citizens concerned about the state of welfare in Nova Scotia. I am also a contributor to the Nova Scotia Advocate.

Click to view slideshow.

There is also an anonymous series on the Nova Scotia Advocate called Lives on Welfare, where people share their personal stories about surviving on welfare. For that series, my name is “John”.

At the end of my speech, there will be a web address where you can access all of the articles, documents, and other information mentioned in my speech, as well the speech itself.

When discussing this event on social media, we invite you to use of the hashtags #RaiseTheRates #FacesOfNSWelfare or #BenefitsReformAction. In addition you can search for those hashtags on social media to view personal stories from people who live or have lived dealing with our welfare system. We also have a display set up featuring some of those stories. Please feel free to share your story on social media, using the same hashtags.

To live in poverty is to live a life where your health and safety are compromised. As we saw with Robin’s story, those who are on ESIA (Employment Support and Income Assistance, or “welfare”)  often live in substandard housing. The current shelter allowances for those on welfare are $535 for a single person, $570 for two people, and $620 for 3 or more people. These rates are supposed to include power and heat/HW.

Sometimes a person is allotted just $300 for shelter. The current shelter/rent allowances are based on 1995 rates. With these shelter rates, monies from other areas of a client’s budget (Personal Allowance or “Special Needs” like Special Diet, Transportation or Phone), are reallocated to cover the insufficient shelter allowance or to pay a power bill.  As we’ve seen in the documentary, it’s getting harder and harder for clients to procure these “Special Needs” funds. All of this can, and often does, lead to people living in poor quality housing, going without food or medication, which puts further strain on our food banks and our healthcare system.

Recently, Feed Nova Scotia reported that food bank usage has jumped 20.9% in the last year.  56% of food bank clients are welfare recipients. Feed Nova Scotia receives $12,000 annually from the Province of Nova Scotia, merely 1/3 of 1 percent of its 3.5 million dollar annual operating budget.

Now let’s talk about child support. As mentioned during Sherreace’s portion of the documentary, welfare recipients do not get to keep a single cent of child support. 100% goes to the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services (DCS). As a welfare recipient, you have two options: You can sign over your payments to DCS, and the money will go to DCS. Your cheque is unaffected. Payments can also be made directly to you, by the non-custodial parent. In this case DCS deducts 100% of the child support from your monthly cheque.

While neither option is good – How can we call it “Child Support” when the money doesn’t support a child?–problems are rampant with the second option. I wrote an article in the Nova Scotia Advocate with the help of Jackie Torrens. In the article, Jackie explains how DCS would deduct the money from her cheque, even when her ex didn’t pay. In cases like this, the welfare client has to make attempts to procure payment from the non-custodial parent. As Jackie wrote, this is not only a further financial burden for the parent; it can also put the welfare client in a position where they have to deal with an ex who was abusive (in her case, physically abusive). As Jackie writes, “It brought him more into my life and my baby’s life. We needed less of him, not more.”

The child support claw back is not unique to Nova Scotia. This practice is found in almost every welfare system in Canada, the exceptions being BC (which ended the practice in 2015) and Ontario, which ended the claw back this year. The Ontario government (Liberals) states that parents are more likely to pay child support if they know that their children will directly benefit from the money. In other words, they will pay their child support, if the money goes to supporting their children. Ontario also states that combating child poverty is vital to their  economic plan to strengthen Ontario as a province.

My answer to the child support issue is simple: end the child support claw back. Allow welfare clients to keep 100% of their child support. Allow Child Support to support children. Ending the child support claw back would put 4 million dollars into our Nova Scotia economy. That is, on average, $167 a month per child on the system. That is money for clothing, a school trip, or a birthday present. It could even be used for a child’s special diet, since DCS doesn’t fund special diets for children.

Recently, our Premier has promised to “enhance our Maintenance and Enforcement program to ensure parents entitled to child support get that support.” If he is sincere, then our provincial government must end the child support claw back for welfare recipients. Ending the claw back would also help prevent situations like Jackie’s from happening. 

A recent report from the CBC states that women in Nova Scotia are returning to abusive relationships to avoid poverty. The article cited the shelter allowances for welfare clients. I showed this article to a friend, who has worked at various women’s shelters. I asked her “How on earth is this happening?” All my friend could muster was “It happens. I’ve seen it happen.”

In essence, these women (many with children) have to choose between themselves being abused, or having their children live in poverty.  It’s a brutal choice to make. I realize that when a woman has to choose between abuse or poverty, we are failing as a society. We must do better. The CBC article clearly shows that there is indeed a connection between poverty and safety; poverty and mental/physical health.

Since 2015, the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services has been involved in an ongoing welfare reform. Millions of dollars has been spent on out-of-province firms, focus groups and surveys. In regards to healthcare, crime, lost productivity, etc, etc, poverty costs Nova Scotians between 1.5 and 2.2 billion dollars annually.

In the recent Provincial budget, no increases to ESIA were announced. Welfare rates will remain stagnant for at least the next year. A stagnant rate is as good as a decrease when you consider inflation. With everything we know about the effects of poverty, raising the rates to an adequate, liveable level is the morally correct and fiscally responsible thing for our province to do. There is no doubt of that.

Thank you.

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