Thursday, 23 April 2026

Welfare

Announced poverty reduction tax credit increase for income assistance recipients mostly bullshit

5 Comments

Community Services deputy minister Lynn Hartwell announced a couple of changes for income assistance recipients. None of these changes are as problem-free as the CBC story suggests. Over the next week or so the NS Advocate will look at all the announcements. Today we take a closer look at the supposed raise in the poverty reduction tax credit. In reality it’s not reducing a whole lot of poverty at all.

Book review: A wholesome horror. Poor houses in Nova Scotia.

6 Comments

There’s a wonderful new book on the history or poor houses and poor farms in Nova Scotia, written by poverty activist and frequent NS Advocate contributor Brenda Thompson. Things are better now, of course, but in a way not much has changed for people who are very poor.

Lives on welfare: The system traps you from generation to generation

We first met Sophia a couple of months ago, and did a Lives on Welfare story about her  efforts to provide for her family while struggling with chronic pain. Here are more of Sophia’s memories about growing up on and off welfare. Unable to afford a computer, Sophia wrote this on her phone, because born story tellers like Sophia will always find a way.

Kendall Worth: Waive the fee for criminal record checks for people on social assistance!

These days you pretty well need a criminal record check for any job that’s out there., says Kendall Worth. But these things cost $50, and when you’re on welfare and all you get is $275 then that’s a lot of money. If society really wants people on social assistance to find jobs, then either the police should waive the fee, or Community Services should pick up the bill.

Lives on welfare: An invisible disability

Another episode in our series Lives on Welfare where people living in poverty tell their stories: Things went relatively well for Emma, a mother who lives with her daughter in a town an hour or so away from Halifax. Then she got sick, lost her job, and ended up on social assistance. Then her daughter also got sick.

‘This isn’t solved by giving somebody a bag of food.’ An interview with food insecurity expert Valerie Tarasuk

1 Comment

We interview food security expert Dr. Valerie Tarasuk, who will be visiting Nova Scotia later this week. She talks about hunger counts that don’t count hunger, food banks that don’t solve food insecurity, and income thresholds that don’t reflect it. Also, why people who are food insecure get sick so much, even if the illness has nothing to do with diet. And finally, what we should do to fix the problem.