2010 Homeless Champions
(Life in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver)
"This website is dedicated to telling the stories of the unfortunate individuals living in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver in the hope that awareness of this problem will spur people to get involved, to let all levels of government know that something has to be done to alleviate this misery rooted in addiction, homelessness and depravity. To point the way to recovery from addiction, which we believe is the root of most of this situation. With the 2010 Olympics coming to Vancouver it is our mandate to record the transition and the extreme changes that are even now occurring and will continue to unfold in the Downtown Eastside."

Action Committee of People With Disabilities
The Action Committee of People with Disabilities, or ACPD, is a charitable cross-disability society located in Victoria, British Columbia.
(...) ACPD serves all people, regardless of disability type: physical, psychiatric, developmental, sensory and/or emotional. We are operated by and for people with disabilities. Whenever possible, our programs and services are offered by consumers.

Anti-Poverty Committee (APC)
"The Anti-Poverty Committee is an organization of poor and working people, who fight for poor people, their rights and an end to poverty by any means necessary. The poor face constant attack under the capitalist system and these attacks have only intensified under the BC Liberal government. APC is committed to fighting the brutal policies of the BC Liberals through direct action, mass mobilization, and casework."
- incl. links to : Home | Campaigns & Issues | Publications | Calendar | Archive | Links

APC CAMPAIGNS:
Safe Streets Act - Welfare Campaign - Housing Campaign - Police Brutality - Skwelkwek'welt Support - Immigrant and Refugee Solidarity - Legal Defense - Harm Reduction - Cheam Solidarity

BC Association for Community Living
"The BC Association for Community Living is a provincial association dedicated to promoting the participation of people with developmental disabilities in all aspects community life. We also support activities dedicated to building inclusive communities that value the diverse abilities of all people.."
- incl. links to : About Us - Self-Advocacy - Social Policy Positions - Government Relations - Special Projects - COmmunity Living Month - Calendar - Resources - Issues

BC Association of Social Workers
"BCASW is a voluntary, not-for-profit membership association that provides support and professional development services to its members and a strong voice for professional and social advocacy. BCASW is one of eleven provincial/territorial social work associations belonging to the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)."
- incl. links to : | About us | Join BCASW | Contact us | News | Home | | Member Benefits& Services | A Career in Social Work | Social Work Links | Coming Events | The Whistle | Job Postings | Current Affairs | Message Board | Private Practice Roster | Perspective Newsmagazine

Time to “Open the Door” to our Human Rights Obligations,
says BC Association of Social Workers
Media Release
March 27, 2006
The BC Association of Social Workers supports a call for an in-depth public review of the legislation, policies and practices that have closed the front door to welfare in BC. This call comes after the release of the report Denied Assistance: Closing the Front Door on Welfare by the Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG) and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
Source:
BC Association of Social Workers

BC Blogs from The Tyee
- links to hundreds of BC-based blogs organized under the following categories:
* Activism * Arts & Culture * Beyond B.C. * Commerce & Law * Environment & Ecology * Health & Lifestyle * Politics: Commentary * Regional * Tech & Media * Travel & Global Culture * Video Blogs & Podcasts

TIP: set some time aside to explore these blogs at a more leisurely pace --- this list is broader in scope than just social programs, so you'll find some surprise "pundit nuggets", like Norman's Spectator: Norm Spector's own blog, and you'll also find links to some totally irrelevant but quite interesting blogs like Purl this!: Life, knitting, and other ramblings from the Okanagan, and many more...

Source:
The Tyee

BC Child Care Advocacy Forum
Established in the spring of 1999, the Child Care Advocacy Forum is an alliance of six provincial child care organizations that brings together over 4000 individuals, groups and child care providers in BC. While continuing to work on their own organizational priorities, the member organizations of the Forum work together to advance a Common Vision and Agenda for Child Care in BC.

B.C. CEDAW
(CEDAW= Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women)

THE B.C. CEDAW GROUP IS A COALITION of women’s non-governmental and non-profit British Columbia organizations that are committed to advancing the equality interests of women and girls.

THE B.C. CEDAW GROUP MADE SUBMISSIONS to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at the time of its reviews of Canada in 2003 and 2008.

THE B.C. CEDAW GROUP ALSO MADE SUBMISSIONS to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2006, and participated in the preparation of the Canadian non-governmental report for the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Canada in 2009.

THE GOAL OF THE COALITION is to ensure that governments in British Columbia comply with their human rights obligations to women.

BC CEDAW reports:

Feb 16, 2010
Olympic Games: Stark Contrast to Poverty and Violence
Open Letter to Prime Minister Harper and Premier Campbell
Dear Sirs,
400,000 visitors will come to British Columbia from around the world for the 2010 Olympics. We can show them beautiful mountains, new sports venues, and a new subway line. We can show them the extraordinary talents of Canadian athletes and artists. Tragically, the splendour and expense of the Olympic Games stand in stark contrast to the poverty and violence experienced by the most marginalized women in this rich country.
On February 2, 2010, the BC CEDAW Group, with the endorsement of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and many other organizations, filed a report with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on these issues. [see the link below]
Source:
Union of BC Indian Chiefs
and
B.C. CEDAW Group
[CEDAW=United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women]
The B.C. CEDAW GROUP is a coalition of women’s non-governmental and non-profit
British Columbia organizations that are committed to advancing the equality interests of
women and girls.

The report:

nothing to report (PDF - 83K, 15 pages)
Submission of the B.C. CEDAW Group
To the United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
A Report on Progress in Implementing Priority Recommendations made by
the Committee in its 2008 Concluding Observations on Canada
JANUARY 2010
(...) The Government of British Columbia has failed to act on either of these central issues:
• women’s poverty and the lack of adequate social assistance, and
• police and government failure to prevent or effectively investigate violence against Aboriginal women and girls.
The Government of British Columbia stands in violation of its obligations under Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

9 February 2010
Information provided by the Government of the
Canada under the follow-up procedure to the
concluding observations of the Committee (PDF - 121K, 39 pages)
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Interim Report in follow-up to the review of Canada’s Sixth and Seventh Reports
February 2010
On October 22, 2008, Canada appeared before the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the Committee) for the review of its Sixth and Seventh Reports on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In its concluding observations following the review, the Committee asked Canada to submit, within one year, information with respect to two of its recommendations (paragraphs 14 and 32).
Additional information can be found in
Canada’s Sixth and Seventh Reports on CEDAW

BC Coalition of People with Disabilities
The BC Coalition of People with Disabilities is a provincial, cross-disability advocacy organization. Our mandate is to raise public and political awareness of issues that concern us.
- includes links to : Current Issues and Campaigns - Ongoing Programs and Publications - Advocacy Access Program - Wellness and Disability Initiative - Publications Catalogue - AIDS & Disability Action Program - Transition Magazine - Individualized Funding Project - Alternatives to Restraints - CARMA Project

Selected site content:

Disability Community Stunned by Provincial Cuts to Crucial Medical Goods and Services
March 5, 2010
VANCOUVER – People with disabilities who are already struggling to manage on provincial disability benefits have been told by the Province it will no longer pay for some of the medically essential items and services they depend on. Beginning April 1st, the Province will no longer fund a range of health items including pre-made foot orthotics, diabetic glucometers and a bottled water supplement of $20 a month for people with conditions such as HIV/AIDS.
[NOTE: After clicking the link above, you'll have to scroll to the bottom of the page to read the entire news release. The first part of the page is a more detailed list of the cuts.]
Source:
BC Coalition of People with Disabilities
For over 30 years, the BC Coalition of People with Disabilities (BCCPD) has been a provincial, cross-disability voice in British Columbia. Our mission is to raise awareness around issues that affect the lives of people who live with a disability.

Related link:

Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Regulation
- amendments made under BC Regulation 67/2010 appear in red text.

Help Sheets online (PDF files, unless otherwise noted)
Checklist to help you fill out your PWD Application - The Persons with Disabilities Benefit Application - Checklist for the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Benefit - Appealing denial of the PWD benefit: The Reconsideration - Appealing denial of the PWD benefit: The Appeal Tribunal - Persons with Persistent and Multiple Barriers (PPMB) to Employment - Enhanced medical coverage - Trusts for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) - Employment and People with Disabilities - Employment, Education and Training Supplements for People with Disabilities - Appealing Denial of the PPMB Benefit: The Reconsideration Request - Appealing Denial of the PPMB Benefit: The Appeal Tribunal - Income Assistance Application Process for People with Disabilities - Rate Amounts for PWD and PPMB Benefits

People who must re-apply for disability benefits
Former beneficiaries of Disability Benefits ("DB II" Benefits) must complete the designation review form.
Changes to Income Assistance: Important Updates - find out here why people with disabilities are required to re-apply for financial assistance.

October 3, 2002
- Analysis of Changes to Disability Benefits Legislation
- Update on changes to Income Assistance programs in BC
- Update on the new definition of disability and application form for Disability Benefits
- Disability Benefits level one will be eliminated as of October 1,2002

Community Alert : Update on the new definition and application form for disability benefits
September 19, 2002
"...individuals who currently have disability status will be reassessed under the new criteria of the definition of disability..."

BC Coalition of People with Disabilities responds to Ministers Coell and Cheema
April 18 and April 24, 2002
"Minister of Human Resources Murray Coell has written a letter to BC's news editors suggesting that disability advocates have made incorrect statements about the changes to disability benefits legislation. The Minister has also co-authored a letter with Minister of State for Mental Health Gulzar Cheema in which they say that incorrect rumours are circulating in the disability community about the impact of the changes on people with mental health disabilities. "
Links to the original letters by the Ministers on the Government website (this link was dead on December 28/02, so I've removed the URL... )

Analysis of Changes to Disability Benefits Legislation

Proposed New Act means thousands of British Columbians with Disabilities will lose their Benefits
April 15th 2002
"The practical ramifications of these changes are devastating. They will set the disability community back 20 years.”

BC Coalition of Women's Centres
"The mission of the BC Coalition of Women's Centres is to seek an end to the violence, poverty and other human rights abuses experienced by women in British Columbia, by supporting and promoting both independent and coordinated social change action among women's centres and other equity-seeking organizations."
- incl. links to :
Action! [Grade the BC Government on Prevention of Violence Against Women | Get the FAMOUS Women's Bucks | Operation: Application | contact MLAs | links]
Archives IMPACT of BC Cuts on Women | Silent protest of BC women's minister | Prevention of Violence Report Card for BC Gov't | Alert to UN: BC's Human Rights violations]
Info [contact information | BCCWC mission and values | find a women's centre in your community]
Media

.....................................
On March 31, 2004, the provincial government eliminated 100 percent of the funding to all women’s centres in B.C.
.....................................

Making JAM 2004 - Stop the Death of BC's Women's Centres!
March 8, 2004
International Women's Day
"On March 31, 2004, BC Liberal Government will eliminate 100% of operational funding for all 37 of BC's Women's Centres. More than half will be forced to close, and many more will have to struggle to keep providing services to women."
Call your MLA - and show your support for BC's Women's Centres!
JAM the phone and fax lines. JAM up the E-mail inboxes. JAM between 11 am to 3 pm on March 8 to kick off the JAM Campaign
Send a Eulogy for BC's Women's Centres to Premier Campbell and Your MLA!
MLA Contact Info
More...

Prevention of Violence Against Women:
Report Card for the Government of British Columbia
April 2002
- incl. links to: Report Card Highlights -Report Card Details - Grade the Government's Record - Media Release

More sleight-of-hand from BC Liberal Government:
Minister Lynn Stephens follows in footsteps of Premier Vander Zalm
News Release
February 12, 2003
"The BC Coalition of Women’s Centres demands that Child Care subsidies and grants be restored to pre-April 2002 levels."

Child care cuts – a huge blow to women’s equality in BC:
Accumulated cuts will devastate many daycares
November 7, 2002
"Cuts to BC’s Contribution and Compensation Staff Incentive Program, as reported recently in the media, are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to cuts affecting childcare in British Columbia. The accumulation of these cuts will be a huge blow to women in BC, setting the women’s equality clock back as far as forty years. Cuts will also devastate many daycares in BC, especially those run by small, non-profit organizations, which must seek funding from as many as five different BC Ministries in order to keep their doors open."

IMPACT of BC Government Cutbacks on Women
Updated July 9, 2002
"Elimination of Women's Rights = Violence Against Women and Children | Cuts to Income = Increased Poverty | Cuts to Health = Increased Risk | Cuts to Housing = Homelessness | Elimination of Justice = Violation of Human Rights | Elimination of Right to Education and Training"

Prevention of Violence Against Women:
Report Card for the Government of British Columbia
April 2002
- incl. links to: Report Card Highlights -Report Card Details - Grade the Government's Record - Media Release

BC Community Living Coalition
"The Community Living Coalition is an open and inclusive gathering of people and organizations dedicated to empowering individuals and families to make decisions about how they lead their lives in the community."
Founding Organizations:
Individualized Funding Families Coalition
BC Association for Community Living
Vision for Community Living
Visit these sites to find out the effects of BC Government cuts to community living programs for people with disabilities in British Columbia.

BC Council for Families
The BC Council for Families works to strengthen, encourage and support families through information, education, research and advocacy.
Site map

The BC Courthouse Library Society
The B.C. Courthouse Library Society is a non-profit organization providing access to legal information resources and information services to members of the legal community and the public of British Columbia.

BC Federation of Labour (BCFL)
"...where you can learn about: workers' rights, labour news and policies, the campaigns of BC's unions, and more."
The BC Federation of Labour represents 450,000 members of affiliated unions in more than 1,100 locals, working in every aspect of the BC economy.

Selected reports:

From the
BC Federation of Labour:

From best to last--young workers call frozen minimum
wage an embarrassment as BC set to claim last place
August 31, 2009
Victoria-Tomorrow British Columbia will become the lowest minimum wage province in all of Canada as New Brunswick raises its minimum wage to $8.25. A group of young workers gathered in front of the provincial legislature called BC's minimum wage freeze an embarrassment.
Source:
British Columbia
Federation of Labour

---

Related article:

B.C. about to have lowest minimum wage in Canada
August 31, 2009
VICTORIA — The B.C. Federation of Labour is painting British Columbia as an embarrassment as the province is on the eve of having the lowest minimum wage in Canada. The federation said when New Brunswick raises its minimum wage to $8.25, B.C. will join Prince Edward Island as the only province in Canada still holding to an $8 minimum.
Source:
Canada.com

---

Related links from the
Labour Program, Human Resources and Social Development Canada:

Current And Forthcoming Minimum Hourly Wage Rates For Adult Workers in Canada
(this is the best resource for info on current and upcoming minimum wage levels)

Minimum Hourly Wages for Canadian Adult Workers since 1965
NOTE: this information is broken up into five files - one for each decade.
The link takes you to the latest decade (2005 to 2014); click the date links at the top of the page for pages for earlier decades.

Source:
Minimum Wage Database
[ Employment Standards Legislation in Canada ]
[ Labour Program, Human Resources and Social Development Canada ]

- Go to the Minimum Wage /Living Wage Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm

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Shameless self-promotion of "new era" for women another waste of taxpayer money
February 25, 2004
Source:
BC Government and Service Employees' Union
NOTE: for links to more info about the government pamphlet entitled A New Era for Women (PDF file), go to the Canadian Social Research Links Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (C-W) page

Note: For more links to BC Budget 2004 (February 17, 2004) information and NGO analysis of that BC Budget,
see also the British Columbia NGO Links (C-W) page of this site

A Path to Poverty: A Review of Child and Family Poverty Conditions in British Columbia (PDF file - 46K, 14 pages)
Report prepared for B.C. Federation of Labour
By Michael Goldberg and Andrea Long
Social Planning and Research Council of BC
August 2003
"By making it more difficult for the working poor to earn a decent wage, further reducing the value of welfare benefits, and increasing the cost of needed services like childcare and healthcare, poor families have little to look forward to from the Liberals’ ‘New Era’."
Related Link:
Social Planning and Research Council (SPARC) of British Columbia

BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU)

Fund all women’s services, BCGEU tells women’s services minister
News Release
February 10, 2004
"The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) reacted angrily today to public comments by Ida Chong, minister of state for women’s services, that funding for women’s centres will instead go to counselling and shelters because ‘they directly help women and children.’ (...) On March 31, 2004, the provincial government will eliminate 100 percent of the funding to all women’s centres in B.C. [emphasis added]. This amounts to about $47,000 a year for each of the 37 women’s centres, or a total of $1.7 million. The cost translates into just over $5 per woman helped by a women’s centre, or 91 cents for every woman and girl in the province, according to the B.C. Coalition of Women’s Centres."

The BC Coalition of Women's Centres is asking for the support of British Columbians in calling on Ida Chong and the BC Liberals to continue funding the 37 Women's Centres in this province. To join the fight please go to www.bcwomen.cjb.net or www.SaveWomensCentres.ca

BC Human Rights Coalition
The B.C. Human Rights Coalition is a charitable non-profit community based organization that seeks to promote and strengthen human rights throughout B.C. and Canada.

Information - incl. links to : Pamphlets and Manuals - Newsletters - Information Bulletins and Notices - Position Papers - Media Materials - Annual Reports

BC Human Rights Defenders
"The BC Human Rights Defenders is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the advancement of human rights provincially, nationally and internationally. (...) The Defenders have been active since May 2002, when the BC Liberal government eliminated the BC Human Rights Commission, making BC the first province without a government agency to advocate and promote respect for human rights in British Columbia. The new system created by the Liberals make it more difficult for people who are disadvantaged by poverty, disability, race, ancestry, gender, family status, sexual orientation, and religion, to access justice through an open and supportive human rights system."

Route 64 - Another Detour on the Road to Equality:
An Examination of the Current Human Rights System in British Columbia
March 2006
The BC Human Rights Defenders is pleased to make available the report from the International and Human Rights Law Association of the University of Victoria.

Complete report:

Route 64 - Another Detour on the Road to Equality:
An Examination of the Current Human Rights System in British Columbia(PDF file - 481K, 78 pages)
March 2006
"On March 31, 2003, Bill 64, the Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2002, was brought into force. The bill enacted sweeping amendments to British Columbia’s Human Rights Code and abolished the B.C. Human Rights Commission, the body formerly responsible for administering the Code through a variety of functions including research, education, monitoring, investigation and dispute resolution."

Backgrounder (PDF file - 47K, 2 pages)

BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre - Human and equality rights

Ombudsman report reveals underlying problems in welfare ministry (PDF file - 55K, 1 page)
News Release
March 28, 2006
(Vancouver) Fifteen anti-poverty groups across BC are welcoming the Ombudsman’s report, released today, into complaints about unfairness at the BC Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance. As a result of the Ombudsman’s investigation, the Ministry has been making sweeping changes to policies and procedures, including to the application process and three week work search, reconsideration and appeal rights, and Ministry home visits.
Source:
British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC)

Related Link:

Ombudsman Investigation of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre’s
Complaints about the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance(PDF file - 121K, 22 pages)
March 2006
Source:
BC Ombudsman

Anti-poverty groups across BC complain to Ombudsman
about unfairness at Ministry of Human Resources
News Release
February 2, 2005
"Vancouver, BC - The BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre, on behalf of a coalition of 15 organizations from communities across BC, has filed a systemic complaint with the Ombudsman about the Ministry of Human Resources because of concerns about unfair practices experienced by poor people who need assistance from the Ministry."

EXPOSING THE BARRIERS:
Administrative Unfairness at the Ministry of Human Resources
Community groups complaint to the Ombudsman of British Columbia
February 2005

Welfare recipients preparing constitutional challenge to time limit seek clarification about new exemption
News Release
February 13, 2004
"Vancouver - Lawyers with the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) wrote to Human Resources Minister Stan Hagen and Attorney General Geoff Plant on February 12, 2004 to ask whether their clients have been exempted from the provincial government’s 24-month time limit on social assistance. BCPIAC, in association with the Poverty and Human Rights Project, has been preparing a constitutional challenge to the time limit. BCPIAC represents several community groups and four individual clients who stand to be affected by the time limit.
Source:
BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Related links - see the Canadian Social Research Links BC Welfare Time Limits

Caring for All Canadians : Brief to the Standing Committee on Finance
Pre-Budget Consultation
Posted September 11, 2003
"This autumn the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) will be urging the federal government to consider poor Canadians when it drafts Canada’s next budget. On behalf of seven organizations, the PIAC’s articled student Jess Hadley will be asking the government to earmark transfer payments for social assistance, affordable housing, and legal aid. She will also ask Parliament to implement a national drug insurance scheme, and to make the Disability Tax Credit program fairer.
Read the press release (September 9, 2003)
Complete document (PDF file - 143K, 9 pages)

BC Teachers' Federation

BCTF Status of Women Program

Poverty: A Student Learning Resource A co-operative initiative of End Legislated Poverty and the B.C. Teachers' Federation.

BC Work-Life Summit 2003 - Linking Vision With Reality
November 19, 2003
Vancouver
"The B.C. economy has been facing enormous challenges including: increasing global competition for scarce resources, massive forest fires that have displaced families and hurt businesses, recent threats from SARS, and myriad business concerns. In this complex environment, work-life issues are of vital concern to corporate CEOs, government, industry, and labour leaders. Recognizing that “business only succeeds when people succeed,” we are addressing work-life issues from both research and practice-based perspectives. (...) Discussion of new research findings and practical applications in the business world will be the main agenda."
Program (PDF file - 186K, 8 pages)

Successful Summit Inspires BC
November 21, 2003
"BC organizations representing a cross-section of the public, private and not-for-profit sectors were WOW'd by an exceptional presentation by Dr. Linda Duxbury at the first ever, BC Work-Life Summit held at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver on November 19, 2003. Dr. Duxbury focused on how British Columbia is doing in terms of work-life balance as compared to the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes."
http://www.westwaves.ca/

Where to Work in Canada?
An Examination of Regional Differences in Work-Life Practices
Linda Duxbury, Chris Higgins
November 2003
Executive Summary (PDF file - 69K, 10 pages)
Cover, Table of Contents and Preface (PDF file - 344K, 10 pages)
Complete report* (PDF file - 495K, 72 pages)
[*except for the cover, table of contents and preface]

NOTE: For links to more work-life balance content, go to the Canadian Social Research Links Work-Life Balance page

Caledon Institute of Social Policy

A New Era in British Columbia: A Profile of Budget Cuts Across Social Programs (PDF file - 36K, 10 pages)
Caledon Institute of Social Policy
July 2002
"This paper is a summary of the wide range of reductions and cuts the BC Liberals have introduced to social programs over the past year. It documents changes in the areas of health care, education, income security, justice, and services for children, women and persons with disabilities."
Resources (excerpt):
www.gov.bc.ca for Budget 2002 and Ministry Service Plans
www.povnet.org for updates on general cuts across sector sand links to other sites
www.policyalternatives.ca/bc for general analysis and commentary
www.tenants.bc.ca for information on Residential Tenancy Act
www.bccpd.bc.ca for information on cuts to programs serving people with disabilities
www.bctf.bc.ca for information regarding K-12 education changes and cuts
www.cfs-fcee.ca for information regarding postsecondary education changes and cuts
www.sparc.bc.ca for information and commentary regarding income assistance
www.firstcallbc.org for information regarding changes and cuts to children's programs
www.vcn.bc.ca for information regarding community living changes and cuts
www.vsw.ca for information regarding women's programs
www.vcn.bc.ca/srsnetbc for information regarding seniors' programs

Canada.com

Many problems found with welfare law
(Cutting off welfare and disability payments
to people who have outstanding criminal warrants)
June 1, 2010
The provincial government's plan to refuse welfare and disability payments to people who have outstanding criminal warrants has one major flaw: It relies on the honesty of those charged with crimes to tell social service workers that they have outstanding warrants. It's not the only problem with this new law that comes into affect today. This new regulation is punitive, pointless and counterproductive. It punishes people who may be charged but never convicted of a crime. It's counterproductive because it is likely it will force some people to steal just to survive, if they are honest enough to admit that they have an outstanding warrant and then have their request for welfare denied.

Related BC Government link:

Outstanding Warrants (PDF - 34K, 3 pages)
March 19, 2010
Information Factsheet
Effective June 1, 2010, changes to the BC Employment and Assistance Program will restrict eligibility for income assistance or disability assistance for persons who have outstanding arrest warrants for indictable offences in BC or other provinces, as well as arrest warrants under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada).
Source:
Ministry of Housing and Social Development

Related video:

Welfare crackdown (video, 1:25 )
Pivot Legal Society's John Richardson reacts to the B.C. government suing hundreds of welfare recipients to try to recover overpayments
[ NOTE: After you've viewed the above video, check the right-hand column next to the video screen for more poverty-related videos from BC. ]
Source:
MSN Canada

Canada West Foundation

Canada West Foundation survey respondents rate homelessness as high priority
News Release
May 25, 2007
CALGARY -- The Canada West Foundation today released a public opinion survey which shows that the majority of urbanites in western Canada and Toronto rate reducing homelessness as a high priority. The most popular ways to address homelessness, according to the survey's respondents, are increased affordable housing and increased programs and services for homeless people rather than more shelter beds.

Complete study:

LOOKING WEST 2007
Segment 4: Urban Social Challenges (PDF file - 1.12MB, 12 pages)
May 2007

Related link:

Looking West - links to all five segments of Looking West 2007 and to earlier editions (back to 2001)

Source:
Canada West Foundation

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Leading the Way: The BC/Alberta economy
December 2006
In 2004 and 2005, BC and Alberta were the top two provinces in terms of economic growth. This strong performance has been due in large part to conditions in natural resource markets, notably high commodity prices and strong foreign demand. A by-product of this prosperity is a level of employment not witnessed in many years. Sustained job growth and ample economic opportunities have enticed people to move to BC and Alberta from other parts of the country, as evidenced by recent trends in interprovincial migration.

Complete report (PDF file - 1.2MB, 10 pages)

Source:
Canada West Foundation
Related link:
British Columbia Business Council

Counterpoint:

The Family Benefit Packages in Alberta and BC Do Not Measure Up (PDF file - 60K, 2 pages)
News Release
March 7, 2007
Author Paul Kershaw (University of British Columbia) examines overall family benefits packages in Alberta and BC for different types of families and then compares them with those of other industrialized countries. His findings show that Alberta and BC rank low by international standards in terms of their combined investment in family benefits. The study serves as a reminder that promoting gender equity, raising healthy children and supporting parents in the quest to balance work and family requires more than rhetoric, it requires real investment.

Summary (PDF file - 48K, 1 page)
Policy Brief (PDF file - 112 K, 2 pages)
Complete study (PDF file - 625K, 44 pages)

Source:
Institute for Research on Public Policy

Canadian Association of Food Banks

Food bank use by B.C. children up 42 per cent
November 11, 2004
"VICTORIA — A national report on the use of food banks by children in Canada has put British Columbia on its trend watch. The B.C. Liberal government said it's concerned about the results which found 41.7 per cent more children needed emergency food in B.C. in 2004 over 2003 - some 8,000 more kids. Human Resources Minister Susan Brice, however, said the conclusions in the Canadian Association of Food Banks' annual report reflect a North American problem."
Source:
CTV

Related Links:

HungerCount 2004
News Release (Winnipeg, October 15, 2004)
Complete report (PDF file - 347K, 32 pages)
Source:
Research Studies - incl. links to hunger counts for 2004 and earlier years (back to 1997

CBC British Columbia
[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]

British Columbia coalition launches legal aid commission
June 28, 2010
Concerns over cuts to legal aid services in B.C. have prompted a coalition of justice groups to launch a public examination of the system. The Public Commission on Legal Aid will visit 10 B.C. communities this fall to gather input from British Columbians in order to make recommendations to the provincial government. The commission is a joint project of several groups, including the Law Society of B.C., the Vancouver Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association's B.C. branch.
Source:
CBC British Columbia

The Public Commission on Legal Aid has been established and is supported by the following six funding partners:
* Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch
* Law Society of British Columbia
* Law Foundation of British Columbia
* British Columbia Crown Counsel Association
* Vancouver Bar Association
* Victoria Bar Association

Related links:

June 24, 2010
The New Public Commission on Legal Aid Wants to Hear From You

A timeline of cuts to BC legal aid (from 2002 to April 2010)
Posted January 25, 2010
Source:
PovNet.org

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Protest shuts down Olympic Village condo sale
May 15, 2010
Protesters crashed an open house at Vancouver's Olympic Village on Saturday, forcing police to lock the area down. Brandishing signs and chanting, dozens of people were there to protest what they say is a lack of social housing at the development. (...) About 475 units at the $1.1-billion waterfront development in False Creek went on the market Saturday. Another 260 were sold during pre-sales in 2007. About 250 rental units will be reserved for civic workers and low-income residents. The project has been mired in controversy. Last month, the city voted to halve the amount of social housing it had promised to provide in the Olympic Village development. The project also had to be rescued by the City of Vancouver with loan guarantees in order to get it ready for the Olympic Games in February.

Cut Olympic Village social housing: report
April 20, 2010
(...) "It's unfortunate that we couldn't have more social housing on the site. The financial realities are forcing us to scale back somewhat," Vancouver Mayor Gregor Roberston told reporters.

---

From the
Vancouver Media Co-Op:

False Promises on False Creek
Mayor hires hundred more police in response to growing homeless population;
hands promised social housing units at Olympic Village over to police
May 11, 2010
By Nathan Crompton
Mayor Gregor Robertson’s recent homeless count shows a 12% increase in homelessness since 2008, the year of his election to office. While Gregor ran on a platform to end homelessness, he and the Vision caucus have responded to this increase with the unaccompanied strategy of millions of dollars for increased policing. Now, as of April 20, the vast majority of the promised low-income units in the Olympic Village are being handed over to the police and other “essential” City workers.
[TIP : If you scroll to the bottom of the above article, you'll find 10 links to related information.]

Canadian Council on Social Development

May 2009
The Best Place on Earth? Contemporary and Historical Perspectives
on Poverty Reduction Policies and Programs in British Columbia (PDF - 410K, 38 pages)
By Scott Graham, Jill Atkey, Crystal Reeves, and Michael Goldberg

Source:
Poverty Reduction Policies and Programs
Social Development Report Series, 2009
[ Canadian Council on Social Development ]

Also from CCSD :

Poverty Reduction Policies and Programs in Canada (PDF - 341K, 29 pages)
By David I. Hay, Information Partnership

Related links ===> Go to the Anti-poverty Strategies and Campaigns page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - British Columbia Office

Publications - links to over 300 reports from the CCPA-BC Office

Selected reports from BC-CCPA:

BC’s legal aid system is “broken”
Thousands lack access to justice, leading to high economic and social costs
News Release
November 9, 2010
(Vancouver) It’s time for a complete overhaul of BC’s legal aid system, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and West Coast LEAF (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund). (...) Rights-Based Legal Aid: Rebuilding BC’s Broken System examines the serious deterioration of legal aid services over the past 15 years, and particularly since deep cuts began in 2002.

Complete report:

Rights-Based Legal Aid:
Rebuilding BC’s Broken System (PDF - 1.4MB, 28 pages)
(...) We propose that instead of trying to fix our damaged legal aid system, we build a new, rights-based system that would ensure legal representation for low income people, improve the justice system for all British Columbians, and reduce social and economic costs. (Excerpt from page 5)

---

Every bite counts: Government must set
menu for BC's food system in face of climate change
News Release
November 2, 2010
(Vancouver) A new report is calling on the BC government to take action to make BC’s food system work better for farmers, eliminate hunger, shift away from imported products, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report, Every Bite Counts: Climate Justice and BC’s Food System, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), calls for a rethink of BC's food system in light of climate change. The report acknowledges grassroots efforts to move to local, sustainable agriculture have found support at the local government level. Largely missing, it says, are actions by the provincial government to accelerate change.

Complete report:

Every Bite Counts: Climate Justice and BC’s Food System (PDF - 1.9MB, 39 pages)
November 2010
By Marc Lee, Herb Barbolet, Tegan Adams and Matt Thomson
"(...) Thinking about climate justice and food in BC reveals tremendous potential to develop win-win arrangements that cascade across health, education, nutrition, poverty and the environment." (Conclusion, page 35)

Report Highlights (PDF - 1.8MB, 8 pages)

---

Social housing reality check:
Ministry’s own service plans show few net new units since 2006
News Release
September 13, 2010
(Vancouver) A new report shows that despite some positive recent developments on rental assistance and homelessness, BC’s progress in building new social housing units has been minimal. Unpacking the Housing Numbers: How Much New Social Housing is BC Building? is being released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Social Planning and Research Council of BC. The authors conducted a detailed examination of BC Housing’s service plans for 2006 to 2011. (...) In fact, the government’s own data indicate an overall net increase of only 280 new housing units over the past five years, a sobering and concerning finding.

Complete report:

Unpacking the Housing Numbers:
How Much New Social Housing is BC Building? (PDF File, 559K, 12 pages)

---

Meaningful Training Programs for BC Welfare Recipients with Multiple Barriers
Help First, Not Work First (PDF - 625K, 28 pages)
By Shauna Butterwick
July 26, 2010
Welfare "reform" in BC has made it more difficult to qualify for welfare, and many of those who have managed to remain on income assistance have multiple barriers to employment, including addiction, mental and physical health problems, learning disabilities, lack of English skills, unstable housing and homelessness. These recipients have not been well served by the “reformed” system, particularly employment training programs. This study examined the experiences of welfare recipients participating in two types of pre-employment programs: the BC Employment Program (BCEP) and the Community Assistance Program (CAP). The study makes recommendations for providing more effective and relevant services for people with multiple barriers.

---

2010 living wage shows the real costs
of raising a family in Metro Vancouver
News Release
May 4, 2010
Vancouver --- $18.17 is the 2010 family living wage, according to a report released today that calculates an hourly wage based on the real costs of raising a family in Vancouver. Working for a Living Wage 2010: Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Metro Vancouver updates the first Metro Vancouver calculation published in 2008, and was released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, and the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families Campaign.

Working for a Living Wage 2010
Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Metro Vancouver (PDF - 419K, 8 pages)
by Tim Richards, Marcy Cohen, Seth Klein
May 2010

Related links:

* Working for a Living Wage 2008 (PDF - 2.9MB, 52 pages)
(Original complete report)
September 2008

---

A Closer Look at Low Wages in BC (PDF - 269K, 9 pages)
February 2010
By Steve Kerstetter for the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Workers in British Columbia earned an average of $21.46 an hour in 2008, according to the latest annual wage data published by Statistics Canada. This was good news for workers at the average wage or better, and well above the minimum wage of $8. The average wage has gone up 25 per cent over the past decade (pre-inflation adjustment). However, a closer look at the situation of workers in BC reveals some troubling facts about wages and hours of work, and the workers who are most likely to have low wages and/or insufficient hours. Hundreds of thousands of workers are still at wage levels that either trap them in poverty or put them at high risk of falling into poverty.

---

A Living Wage for Families
To get involved or to become a Living Wage employer, you can start by visiting this website, which is the home page of the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families Campaign
- incl. links to :
* Home * What is a Living Wage? * Get Involved * Learn More * Living Wage Employers * About Us

Latest News:

Sign up and endorse the Living Wage For Families Campaign (PDF - 321K, 1 page)
July 2009

Living Wage Campaign launched in Ottawa
June 2009

Related links from the BC Office of the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives:

Living wage shows real cost of raising a family
Would lift thousands out of poverty, share prosperity of BC’s economy
Press Release
September 25, 2008
(Vancouver) A new study calls on major public and private sector employers to pay a living wage that would lift low-income families out of poverty and severe financial stress.

Working for a Living Wage:
Ensuring Paid Work Meets Basic Family Needs in Vancouver and Victoria - 2008
Summary (PDF file - , 753K, 8 pages)
Complete report (PDF - 2.9MB, 52 pages)

Living Wage Calculation Spreadsheet (Excel spreadsheet - 56 K)
September 2008

Living Wage Calculation Guide (pdf - 738k, 24 PAGES)
- September 2008
Note: While this guide is most appropriate for BC communities, its methodology should be fairly easily transferable to other Canadian communities."
Calculating the Living Wage in six stages:
* Family Expenses * Government Transfers * Government Deductions and Taxes * Determining the Living Wage Amount * BC Child Care Subsidy * Verifying the Calculations

---

BC Commentary:
A Review of Provincial Social and Economic Trends (PDF - 644K, pages)
Spring 2009, Volume 12, Number 2
April 21, 2009
Inside this pre-election special edition:
BC’s Growing Gap
Vanilla, No Sprinkles: A Review of BC Budget 2009
A Closer Look at Single Transferable Vote
* An STV Primer
* The Case for STV
* The Case Against STV
* Reflections on the Citizens’ Assembly
* STV is Worth Trying
* The Ghost of Elections Past: STV in the 1952 and 1953 BC Elections
Source:
CCPA BC Office Publications
[ CCPA British Columbia Office ]
[ Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)]

Related links found in the above BC Commentary:

No to BC-STV:
www.nostv.org

British Columbians for STV:
www.stv.ca

Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform:
www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public

The Time is Now
A Poverty Reduction Plan for BC (video slideshow)
by Goh Iromoto, Shannon Daub & Seth Klein
March 27, 2009

Poverty Amid Plenty:
A Slideshow About Welfare in BC (video slideshow)
by Goh Iromoto, Shannon Daub & Seth Klein
March 27, 2009

BC Budget 2009: Vanilla, No Sprinkles
February 17, 2009
By Marc Lee
Faced with a nasty recession at its doorstep, the BC budget is uninspiring and underwhelming in its ambition. Overall there is little that actively plans for a recession, preferring instead a steady-as-she-goes budget, perhaps aimed at cultivating the image of responsible economic managers in a time of crisis. There are no tax cuts or drastic spending cuts, thankfully, but nor is there any short-term assistance to the most vulnerable, nor any meaningful investments towards a long-term strategic vision.
Source:
The Lead-Up
BC Election Commentary from the CCPA
---
NOTE:More BC Budget 2009 information (budget papers, analysis, etc.):
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm#bc
(from the Canadian Social Research Links Budgets 2009-2010 Links page)
---

Ground-breaking study follows BC welfare recipients for two years
Reveals welfare rules and rates cause disturbing harm to most vulnerable
News Release
April 22, 2008
Vancouver - A ground-breaking study that for two years followed British Columbians living on welfare paints a disturbing picture of how people are forced to make ends meet under new welfare rules and low rates. (...) Living on Welfare in BC: Experiences of Longer-Term “Expected to Work” Recipients followed 62 people from Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna.
(co-published by the CCPA–BC office and Raise the Rates)

Living on Welfare in BC:
Experiences of Longer-Term “Expected to Work” Recipients
April 2008
By Seth Klein and Jane Pulkingham
With Sylvia Parusel, Kathryn Plancke, Jewelles Smith, Dixon Sookraj, Thi Vu, Bruce Wallace and Jane Worton
"(...) "Only a small fraction of the participants in this study left poverty. Those who remain on assistance remain very poor, even if re-categorized. Those forced off even more so. And while those who shifted from income assistance to the labour market were better off, most are now counted among the working poor.""
Complete report (PDF - 2.7MB)
Summary (PDF - 1.1MB

CCPA Reports and Studies - links to 800+ reports

Source:
Economic Security Project <==== incl. links to 25 related studies
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) - British Columbia Office
[ CCPA National Office ]

Related links:

Poverty Built into BC's System
Two-year study looks at welfare policies' effects on people.
By Andrew MacLeod
April 22, 2008
- incl. links to three related Tyee articles and more resources
Source:
The Tyee

Related Web/News/Blog links:

Google Search Results Links - always current results!
Using the following search terms (without the quote marks):
"CCPA, BC, welfare report"
- Web search results page
- News search results page
- Blog Search Results page
Source:
Google.ca

Make work possible for more people with significant disabilities: study
Press Release
February 22, 2008
(Vancouver) People living with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and serious conditions such as MS often find themselves in a catch-22 - unable to take on full-time year-round employment, but willing and able to work with the right supports and flexibility. A study released today urges the provincial government to adopt a series of creative recommendations that would make employment possible for many more British Columbians with significant disabilities. "Current income assistance policies often discourage rather than encourage people with disabilities to work," says Michael Goldberg, co-author of Removing Barriers to Work: Flexible Employment Options for People with Disabilities in BC and a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Removing Barriers to Work:
Flexible Employment Options for People with Disabilities in BC
Complete report (PDF file - 1.3MB, 65 pages)
Summary (PDF file, 1.4MB, 25 pages)

Panhandling should not be criminalized, says study
Press Release
September 20, 2007
Restrictions on peaceful panhandling—such as City of Winnipeg Bylaw No. 128/2005—constitute an illegitimate use of state power, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study, by Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, says there is no moral or legal justification for turning peaceful beggars into criminals.

Complete report:

The Expressive Liberty of Beggars:
Why it matters to them, and to us (PDF file - 282K, 28 pages)

Towards a More Democratic and Credible BC Budget
Submission to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
September 21, 2007

BC surplus to top $3 billion this year and next
CCPA calls for bold action on poverty and homelessness
Press Release
January 31, 2007
(Vancouver) BC’s budget forecasts have become more fiction than fact, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in its BC Solutions Budget 2007. Since 2002, provincial budgets have underestimated the year-end balance by a total of $10 billion (based on financial reports from the Ministry of Finance) due to extremely pessimistic revenue projections.

* BC Solutions Budget 2007 - PDF file, 330K, 16 pages
* SUMMARY: BC Solutions Budget 2007 - PDF file, 218K, 4 pages

A better way to set welfare rates - British Columbia
Editorial
November 1, 2006
Last week’s announcement by Premier Campbell that the government will increase the shelter allowance for people receiving welfare is welcome news. This long-overdue policy reversal shouldn’t wait until February’s Provincial Budget to be implemented. And overall rates must be increased (not just the shelter allowance). But at least the Premier has acknowledged that rates are too low. The Premier’s promise also lays bare how arbitrary and deeply political the process of setting rates and eligibility rules has become. Rates have remained frozen for years, as inflation eats away at their real value. They are only now being increased because the rise in homelessness has become impossible to ignore, and the resulting political pressure is finally forcing our leaders to act.
- incl. links to the following CCPA resources:
* Editorial: A call for accountability at the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance
* Press Release: Study finds BC’s welfare system denying assistance to people in need, ‘diverting’ many to homelessness and hardship
* Press Release: CCPA calls on province to raise welfare rates
* Study - Denied Assistance: Closing the Front Door on Welfare in BC
* Summary - Denied Assistance: Closing the Front Door on Welfare in BC

All BC-CCPA Research & Publications by Topic:
Click on the drop-down "Topic"menu --- here are two sample topics:
- Housing & homelessness
- Inequality & poverty

2007 BC Budget must tackle poverty, homelessness
Press Release
September 27, 2006
(Vancouver) Amid rising public concern about poverty and homelessness, the provincial government is being urged to adopt a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy in its next budget. “With a surplus that is likely to pass the $4 billion mark next year, there is no reason why we can’t address the growing problem of poverty amidst plenty,” says Marc Lee, CCPA–BC’s Senior Economist.

Complete report:

Taking Action on Poverty:
Submission to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services,
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
BC Budget 2007 Consultation (PDF file - 281K, 11 pages)
September 2006
Presented by Seth Klein, BC Director and Marc Lee, Senior Economist
"There is no excuse for poverty in a province as wealthy as BC (projected GDP in 2007 will be approximately $187 billion). There is nothing inevitable about our unacceptably high poverty rates, our growing inequality and our rising homelessness. These facts result from poor policy choices, and jurisdictions that choose to prioritize these issues have been very successful in substantially reducing poverty."

CCPA calls on province to raise welfare rates
Arbitrary cuts, inflation have driven down benefit rates by 30% since mid-90s
Press Release
April 24, 2006
(Vancouver) The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is calling on the provincial government to immediately raise welfare rates, so that people can meet basic needs. Arbitrary cuts since the mid-1990s mean rates are now lower in absolute dollars than they were twelve years ago, and combined with inflation their value has plummeted by about 30%. (Rates for disabled recipients have increased slightly in absolute dollars but after inflation have also decreased.) 'In 2002, the province made a series of arbitrary cuts to welfare benefits as part of its budget reduction plan. The cuts took more than $92 million directly out of the poorest British Columbians’ pockets in the two years after they were made,' says Seth Klein, the CCPA’s BC Director and author of Budget Savings on the Backs of the Poor: Who Paid the Price for Welfare Benefit Cuts in BC, released today. The $92 million savings to government was calculated using figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests.

Complete report:

Budget Savings on the Backs of the Poor:
Who Paid the Price for Welfare Benefit Cuts in BC (PDF file - 585K, 4 pages)
April 2006
By Seth Klein and Andrea Smith
In January 2002, in the wake of tax cuts that induced the largest deficit in the history of British Columbia, the provincial government announced a massive budget cut at the Ministry of Human Resources (the ministry responsible for welfare). MHR’s operating budget was to be reduced by $581 million, or 30 per cent, over the course of three years.

Related Links:

A Better Way to Set Welfare Rates (PDF file - 588K, 4 pages)
April 2006
By Steve Kerstetter
There are many shortcomings in the BC welfare system, but none as fundamental or appalling as the meager amount of financial support it provides to people in need. In its most recent budget, the provincial government once again chose not to increase welfare benefit rates, even though rates have not increased in 12 years, and over that time inflation has eaten away at the real value of a welfare cheque.

Welfare rates opinion poll results (PDF file - 67K, 1 page)
March 17, 2006
An Ipsos-Reid poll commissioned by the CCPA last month shows that 74% of British Columbians would support an increase in welfare rates.

------------------------

Study finds BC’s welfare system denying assistance
to people in need, ‘diverting’ many to homelessness and hardship
Press Release
March 27, 2006
(Vancouver) A major study released today finds that BC’s welfare system is systematically discouraging, delaying and denying assistance to many of the people most in need of help, with harmful consequences for some of the province’s most vulnerable residents.
"Denied Assistance: Closing the Front Door on Welfare in BC" examines why the number of people receiving welfare has plummeted in the wake of changes to eligibility rules and the application system, and looks at what is happening to people who seek and are denied welfare. It is the first in-depth assessment of the new application system, drawing on data obtained through Freedom of Information requests and extensive interviews with people who have applied for welfare, front-line community advocates and Ministry workers.

Denied Assistance:
Closing the Front Door on Welfare in BC
March 2006
* Complete report - PDF File, 564K, 69 pages
* Summary - PDF File, 362K, 8 pages
* Access to welfare opinion poll results - PDF File, 65K - 1 page

------------------------

BC Solutions Budget 2006:
Budgeting for Women's Equality
February 16, 2006

Big budget surplus a good time to bridge the gender gap
Editorial

Wanted: An honest budget debate
Press Release

BC Solutions Budget 2006 - PDF file (104K, 4 pages)
Summary

BC Solutions Budget 2006: Budgeting for Women's Equality - PDF file (275K, 41 pages)
Complete report

------------------------

Investing in education for low-income adults pays off
Press Release
February 1, 2006
"(Vancouver) The province must invest in education programs for low-income adults with upgrading needs if it wants achieve its goal of making BC the best-educated and most literate jurisdiction in North America. Shauna Butterwick, an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at UBC, is the author of “A Path out of Poverty: Helping Low-Income Adults Upgrade Their Education,” released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study calls on the provincial government to:
* Restore tuition-free Adult Basic Education (upgrading for those who haven’t completed high school) at BC’s public colleges;
* Change welfare rules so recipients can participate in upgrading, literacy, and English as a Second Language programs without losing their income assistance benefits;
* Restore and increase targeted funding to post-secondary institutions to support income assistance recipients who participate in these programs;
* Support colleges and institutes in meeting the specific education needs of adults who have experienced long-term poverty.

Complete report:

A Path Out of Poverty:
Helping BC Income Assistance Recipients Upgrade Their Education (PDF file - 240K, 33 pages)
February 2006

------------------------

Provincial budget fails to address BC's social deficits
News Release
February 15, 2005
"Vancouver - The provincial government’s pre-election budget, tabled today, fails to address BC’s social deficits, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. 'The government claims that its approach is balanced. Its approach for the last four years, however, has been anything but,' says Seth Klein, the CCPA’s BC Director. 'BC has seen a significant redistribution of income from the poorest among us to the wealthiest. This budget fails to restore the deep and painful spending cuts of recent years. Spending outside health and education remains $1.2 billion lower than in 2001/02.'”

Related Link:

Surplus should be reinvested in people and communities
CCPA outlines budget choices in 2005 BC Solutions Budget
News Release
February 7, 2005
(Vancouver) The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says the priority for this year’s provincial budget should be reinvestment in people and communities. “The government is set to finish the year with a record surplus of over $2 billion, and a projected surplus in 2005/06 of $1.4 billion,” says Seth Klein, Director of the CCPA’s BC Office. “Our number one priority should be to undo the damage from deep spending cuts. We should not lock them in place with further tax cuts or make payments on the provincial debt.”

Summary: BC Solutions Budget 2005 - PDF File, 98 Kb
BC Solutions Budget 2005 - PDF File, 457 Kb

------------------------

Inequality on the rise in BC
News Release
December 22, 2004
"BC's rich got richer and our poor got poorer, according to a new report on inequality. And that is before the sweeping policy changes undertaken by the current provincial government. New Perspectives on Income Inequality in BC, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, looks at three data sources on inequality - survey data, tax data and census data - to assess inequality trends in the 1990s."

Complete report:
New Perspectives on Income Inequality in BC - PDF file (456K, 31 pages)

40 BC Economists Call On the BC Government to Reconsider Spending Cuts
News Release
February 7, 2002
"In advance of the February 19 provincial budget, the economists have issued an open letter to Premier Campbell and Finance Minister Collins. The Premier and Finance Minister claim a looming "structural deficit" gives them no choice but to significantly cut spending over the next three years. The signatories to today's letter dispute this view."

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) - BC Office

Related link:

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - National Office
"The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates. By combining solid research with extensive outreach, we work to enrich democratic dialogue and ensure Canadians know there are workable solutions to the issues we face. "

Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN)

R.I.P. CPRN

More of the Same?
The Position of the Four Largest Canadian Provinces in the World of Welfare Regimes
November 5, 2004
by Paul Bernard, Sébastien Saint-Arnaud
"In More of the Same? The Position of the Four Largest Canadian Provinces in the World of Welfare Regimes, Paul Bernard and Sébastien Saint-Arnaud locate the welfare regimes of Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia among those of a group of advanced countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD]. They compare them in terms of a wide set of indicators representing public policy, social situations and level of public participation."

NOTE: This article is based partly on Gøsta Esping-Andersen's 1990 typology of welfare regimes in advanced capitalist societies and more recent related work. It's not a detailed comparison of welfare programs in certain Canadian jurisdictions, but rather an academic analysis of how the welfare systems in four Canadian provinces fit within the international typology. It should be emphasized that the analysis of welfare regimes in the four Canadian jurisdictions focuses on the mid-1990s, which was a tumultuous period in the evolution of the Canadian welfare system. Programs (and governments, except for Emperor Klein...) have changed since then, but ten years later, it's still true that "Alberta somewhat resembles the 'ultra-liberal' United States, while Quebec leans in the direction of Europe, and to some extent, of social-democracy." [Excerpt from the Abstract].

Complete report:

More of the Same? The Position of the Four Largest Canadian Provinces
in the World of Welfare Regimes (PDF file - 1.5MB, 32 pages)
November 2004
[translation of an article initially published in French in the
Canadian Journal of Sociology, Spring 2004]

Source:
Family Network (CPRN)

CBC British Columbia

MLA goes homeless, for a cause
August 26, 2004
"VANCOUVER - Vancouver Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt says he's worried that city council is throwing people out of low-rent hotel rooms in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside."

MLA calls for ban on squeegee kids
May 7 2004
VANCOUVER - Vancouver Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt wants to ban squeegee kids and aggressive panhandlers, and he's introduced a private member's bill to do it. (...) He began work on the Safe Streets Act 18 months ago, basing it on similar legislation in Alberta and Ontario. The act would make it illegal for squeegee kids and panhandlers to approach people for money. Mayencourt has the backing of the Vancouver Board of Trade. But others aren't so supportive. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is denouncing the bill, saying that in a democratic society, people have a right to ask for spare change – as long as they do it peacefully."We don't need this legislation," says Murray Mollard, the executive director of the association. "It's offensive in a variety of ways, and it prohibits behaviour that just shouldn't be prohibited." Others agree. Vancouver city councillor Jim Green says the bill is a desperate bid to get attention before the next election."

Related Links:

Poverty tourism shows contempt for the poor
Tourists merely visiting the lives of the poor will not be the harbingers of social change
by Derrick O'Keefe
September 3, 2004
"Lorne Mayencourt, BC Liberal MLA, recently spent five nights living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), getting an up close view of the lives of those people his government has helped to keep in, or push into, abject poverty. Mayencourt's brief poverty tourism does not appear to have won him any new friends in the DTES, perhaps because earlier this year he introduced the Safe Streets Act into the legislature, which aims at criminalizing the poor under the pretext of reducing 'aggressive pan-handling.'”
Source:
rabble.ca

Lorne Mayencourt (Liberal MLA, Vancouver - Burrard) - personal page, BC Government

Lorne's Blog - daily first-person accounts of Lorne's week of roughing it in DTES
"The City of Vancouver and the Vancouver P.D. have closed two Eastside hotels in the last few weeks, the Marr and the American, with more closures probably on the way, their tenants are being evicted. I'm going to spend a few days and nights living as some of the poorest residents in this city, in the hope of hearing their ideas on how to improve their housing and their security. Maybe I can find a new perspective on the neighborhood. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with a better idea than simply evicting people with nowhere else to go."

Welfare reforms triggered internal warnings
July 7, 2003
"VICTORIA - Senior bureaucrats warned the Ministry of Human Resources last year that B.C.'s welfare reforms could create hardship for some people, according to just-released documents. The heavily-censored files were obtained by CBC News under the Freedom of Information Act."
- incl. links to copies of internal briefing notes from July 2002 concerning potential impacts of the welfare time limits (two years of every five-year period) and the two-year financial independence test.

CTV British Columbia

Child Poverty in British Columbia
March/April 2009
"Our province has the highest child poverty rate in Canada.
It's a damning statistic that advocates are calling B.C.'s Shame."

Clicking the link above opens the main page of this four-part series from CTV-BC, where you'll find links to articles and videos on the following topics:
* BC - The highest child poverty rate in Canada
* One woman's struggle to provide
* Food banks jammed with kids
* Poverty's dangerous consequences
Source:
CTV British Columbia

Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA) - Simon Fraser University

Housing and Support for Adults with
Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia (PDF file - 765K, 150 pages)
February 2008
By Michelle Patterson, Julian Somers, Karen McIntosh, Alan Shiell and Charles Frankish
Source:

Related links:

The high cost of homelessness
Every homeless person costs system $55,000, an amount that could buy supported housing for each of them
By Lori Culbert
March 21, 2008
VANCOUVER - We've been counting them and governments have been scrambling to try to help them, but a recent university study has been looking at a new question about homeless people in B.C. - what each one costs taxpayers a year. The answer is $55,000 per person, or an annual total of $644.3 million in health, corrections and social services spending for all the homeless in B.C.
Source:
Vancouver Sun

Front page news points out the obvious:
Homelessness costs us money
March 22, 2008
Source:
The Vancouver Manifesto

Centre for Public Sector Studies
The Centre for Public Sector Studies was established in 1978 to encourage interdisciplinary research in public policy at the University of Victoria.
- North American Institute - "NAMI's mission is to examine all aspects of the North American regional relationship, recognizing the challenges facing the governments, peoples and cultures of North America, and to develop better approaches to this changing relationship"
- Center for North American Studies (Duke University) Interdisciplinary international center focusing on the political, social, and cultural consequences of regionalization, and attempts to place them within the long history of the interaction of Canada and Mexico with the United States.
- Local Government Institute (LGI) - Created in 1995, LGI is a group of University of Victoria faculty dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments.

Centre for Research in Women's Studies and Gender Relations
[ University of British Columbia ]

Report Card On Women and Children in B.C. (PDF file - 146K, 4 pages)
March 15, 2004
By Michelle Stack
"Whether we like it or not, the media is part of governing."

Centre for Research on Economic and Social Policy - CRESP (University of British Columbia)
"equality, security + community: explaining and improving the distribution of well being in canada"

- incl. links to : Project Objectives - Research Team - Project Outcome - Colloquium Series - ESC Project Survey - Useful Links - Contact Information

Research Series - links to almost 50 papers organized in the following clusters : Measuring and Explaining Inequality and Insecurity - Social Capital, Community, and Political Processes - Formulation and Assessment of Policy Responses.

A few sample papers:

Fixing BC's Structural Deficit--What, Why, When, How? (PDF file - 140K, 41 pages)
Jonathan Kesselman
February 2002

Base Reforms and Rate Cuts for a Revitalized Personal Tax
Jonathan R. Kesselman (1999).
Growing calls for cuts in Canadian personal income taxes have focused on the rates of tax but neglected a deeper analysis of the structural priorities for fairness and growth. This paper offers an economic analysis of the combined needs for base reforms and rate cuts.
Abstract
Complete paper (PDF file 37 pages, 142K)

Income Redistribution in Canada: Minimum Wages versus Other Policy Instruments
Nicole M. Fortin and Thomas Lemieux
Revised December 1998
Complete report (PDF file - 56 pages, 419K)

City of Vancouver

Vancouver homelessness:

Welfare rolls down, homelessness up
New report blames provincial changes to eligibility rules for Vancouver's worsening situation
By Rod Mickleburgh
May 26, 2005
VANCOUVER -- Provincial government changes to welfare rules have doubled the severity of Vancouver's dire and growing homeless problem, according to the city's policy co-ordinator for the homeless. Jill Davidson said new requirements for receiving welfare the Liberals brought in are too onerous and bureaucratic for many of those eligible to receive social assistance. 'We think we could probably almost halve the number of people on the street if you just got people on welfare who were eligible for welfare,' said Ms. Davidson, the author of a 100-page report and action plan to eliminate homelessness in Vancouver within 10 years."
Source:
The Globe and Mail

Report lays out new strategy for homeless - Vancouver
By Mike Howell-Staff writer
May 23, 2005
"Increase mental health and addiction services, build more social housing and make changes to the province's employment and assistance program. Those are the key priorities to reducing homelessness as outlined in a lengthy city report, Homeless Action Plan, going before city council May 25 at a public meeting. Written by senior housing planner Jill Davidson, who has worked on the plan for more than a year, the report comes at a time when the streets are filling up with homeless people. The city's conservative estimates are that 600 people sleep on the streets in the winter months and up to 1,200 in the summer. That's double the number from three years ago."
Source:
The Vancouver Courier

Complete report:

Vancouver Homeless Action Plan (PDF file - 1.2MB, 105 pages)
By Jill Davidson
Homeless Policy Coordinator
Housing Centre
May 2005
Source:
The Housing Centre - City of Vancouver Community Services
The Housing Centre delivers social housing projects and undertakes policy and program development. The Tenant Assistance Program provides direct assistance to displaced tenants and homeless individuals in the City.
[City of Vancouver]

More Housing Centre Council reports - links to dozens more reports on housing and homelessness in Vancouver produced in the past few years by the Housing Centre.

Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC (CCCABC)
The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC is a registered society, incorporated under the Society Act on November 2, 1995. The original child care advocacy organization, the BC Daycare Action Coalition, was formed in 1982. The purposes of the Society are to promote and support quality community-based child care services that benefit children, families and the public and in the best interests of society.
- incl. links to: * About Us * What's New * CCCABC Materials * Take Action * Advocacy resources * Calendar

CCCABC Materials
- links to materials published by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC:
* Position & Policy Papers
* Briefs
* Letters
* Newsletters

Advocacy Resources
* News articles
* Publications
* Advocate's quick facts
* Timeline of child care in BC
* Advocacy Tools
* Links

Selected site content:

Community Plan for a Public System of Integrated Early Care and Learning
April 2011
The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and the Early Childhood Educators of BC are pleased to share our Community Plan for a Public System of Integrated Early Care and Learning. Our Plan offers a concrete, innovative and ambitious way forward and provides a framework for significant and lasting system change in British Columbia.

Download the Plan (PDF - 2.2MB, 23 pages)
(...) Good early childhood education (ECE) practice recognizes that to support a child, one needs to understand the environment in which children live: their families, communities, cultures, and broader society. Children do best when they are supported by strong and healthy relationships, first in their families and then in their communities and beyond. The same is true for systems like this proposed Community Plan for a Public System of Integrated Early Care and Learning. To grow and thrive, this system needs a strong and supportive environment. This Plan includes four conditions to support a system of early care and learning: strong family policy, commitment from federal and provincial governments, First Nations and Aboriginal community control, and adequate and stable funding.

Endorse the Plan!

Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ)

Partners:

Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC (CCCABC)
CCCABC ia a voluntary organization of interested citizens – parents, child care providers, community organizations, and unions - whose purpose is to promote and support quality community-based child care services that benefit children, families and the public and in the best interests of society.
[ CCCABC Advocacy Resources ]
[ Child Care Links (BC/Canada/International) ]

Early Childhood Educators of BC
Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia (ECEBC) educates early childhood educators and the broader community about the importance of early childhood education and care. We provide professional development opportunities to early childhood educators across the province.

Child-care crisis is a B.C. election issue
April 28, 2009
[ Author Rita Chudnovsky is a consultant with the
Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. ]

BC CHILD CARE - NOT FOR SALE
October 23, 2007
On October 1, 2007, the BC government announced that, for the first time, private companies could receive major capital child care grants. The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC predicted that this change in public policy would make BC attractive to large foreign owned child care corporations. Our worst fears have now been confirmed. We have learned that a foreign-based corporation is actively trying to take over community-based child care providers across BC. If they succeed - the face of child care in BC will be dramatically changed now and for a long time to come.
This is not the solution to child care in BC.

Hindsight from Australia - Foresight for BC (PDF file - 200K, 4 pages)
October 23, 2007
"(...)Analysis from Australia suggests that the domination of corporate child care has decreased accountability, quality, affordability and accessibility. Increased public spending on child care has not produced child care services in the public domain ñ in other words an infrastructure for the long term."

Coalition for Public Legal Services
What does the perfect justice system look like?
Why is justice so difficult to access by so many people in British Columbia?
These are the questions that the Coalition for Public Legal Services (CPLS) strives to answer.
We are a group of stakeholders advocating for an accessible justice system in our province.
- incl. links to :
* Legal Aid in BC : History of BC Legal Services Society Cuts - LSS Cuts of 2009 - Justice For All? Video
* Coalition for Public Legal Services : Our Cause - Who We Are - Member Organizations - Join the Coalition
* News : Latest News - News Archive - Press Releases - Access to Justice Campaign Blog - Events
* Get involved : Facebook Group - Petition - Love Is Not Enough Bike Tour - Write to your Local Council - Write to your MLA - Write to the Ministry of Attorney General
* Renewing our Commitment to Legal Aid : Background: The Emergence of Legal Aid - Legal Aid and the Constitution - Legal Aid in BC - Legal Aid in Ontario - Conclusion
* Blog

------------

British Columbia Public Hearings
on Legal Aid - September/October 2010

The BC Public Commission on Legal Aid is holding hearings across the province in September and October 2010 to hear from the public about problems accessing legal help. You can help promote awareness and participation in the hearings on legal aid in your area by using the posters on the CPLS website's home page. Download and print out any or all of these files. Share, distribute, post and help get the word out to encourage attendance at these Public Commission hearings.
Hearings to be held in:
Chilliwack - Cranbrook - Kamloops - Kelowna - Nanaimo - Prince George - Surrey - Terrace - Vancouver - Victoria - Williams Lake
[ Double the impact of your submission – send a copy to the Finance Committee. Go to the CPLS home page for more information.]

Columbia Journal
The Columbia Journal is a positive progressive alternative to the conservative corporate press in B.C. Dedicated to inform, entertain and advocate for the people of B.C., it is an independent publication, promising free and open debate on all issues, a voice for people throughout B.C.

Welfare Rates Still Suck
September 2007
Ron Carten
“Punitive!” That is the word Jean Swanson, a community organizer in the Downtown Eastside and author of Poor Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion, uses to describe welfare policy in B.C. And if anyone thinks the increase in welfare rates announced in the provincial budget marks a change in that policy they would be dead wrong. Those familiar with welfare in B.C. will see no change in such barriers to accessing the program as the three-week wait, the two-year independence test, the two-year limit, the 1-800 number enquiry and the mandatory internet application process. These barriers combined with a lack of affordable housing are what have contributed to the rising rate of homelessness not only in Vancouver but across the province, according to Swanson who now helps coordinate the province-wide Raise the Rates campaign from Carnegie Centre.
Source:
September 2007 issue of the Columbia Journal

Related links:

Downtown Eastside Revitalization Program
Raise the Rates is a coalition of community groups and organisations concerned with the level of poverty and homelessness in British Columbia.
Carnegie Centre - The Downtown Eastside’s Livingroom
--- The Carnegie Newsletter is published twice a month and contains a lively range of articles, news and views, prose and poetry about life in the Downtown Eastside

Also from the same issue of the Columbia Journal:

BC “Boom” going Bust for People
By Marco Procaccini
Two reports released earlier this month show that the current “boom” is not benefiting large number of people in BC, as increasing numbers of people are experiencing worsening poverty. The B.C. Progress Board report, which came down Tuesday, showed British Columbia is falling behind the rest of Canada on issues like poverty, crime and other social conditions. This despite a public accounts report Wednesday that showed the province’s budget surplus had ballooned to $4.1 billion.

Related links:

BC Progress Board Releases 2007 Interim Report
and Special Discussion Paper on Strategic Considerations for BC's Future
News Release - July 10, 2007
Executive Summary (PDF - 59K)
Entire Report - Issues and Trends (PDF - 1,267K)
Entire Report - Interim (PDF - 2,667K)
[ Request a hard copy be mailed to you ]

---

Despite Green Reputation, Northwest Comes up Short on Key Trends
Cutbacks in gasoline and improving health are bright spots
Press Release
June 12, 2007
Seattle, WA – According to new research by Seattle-based Sightline Institute, the Northwest is making only slow progress on key trends that shape our prosperity and environmental health. The region especially lags behind world leaders when it comes to energy efficiency and curbing sprawl, and is stalled on economic security for middle- and low-income northwesterners.
Source:
Sightline
"Cascadia's sustainability think tank --- We create tools to help you build a better Northwest."

BC Scorecard 2007
"(...) In 2005, the most recent year that complete data were available, British Columbia’s rates of poverty (17.6 percent) and child poverty (20.9 percent) were higher than in the early 1990s, even while Canada’s poverty level has declined..."

Compare BC's scorecard with those of Idaho, Oregon and Washington

Source:
Cascadia Scorecard 2007
June 2007
The 2007 edition of the Cascadia Scorecard, the Pacific Northwest’s annual progress report, reveals that the region lags behind world leaders on trends such as energy, sprawl, and economic security. The good news is that we are making progress—and adopting smart solutions will accelerate those gains.

Attention, BC history buffs:

Community Health Online Digital Archive Research Resource (CHODARR)
The goal of CHODARR is to improve health and social welfare research and advocacy by providing academic and community-based health researchers and social justice advocates a resource to share and preserve share their research products. CHODARR is a permanent, catalogued and publicly accessible online digital archive of research materials related to health and social welfare, with an emphasis on housing, gender, aboriginal issues, HIV and mental health.

BROWSE the CHODARR collection
- archived newsletters, reports and research going back to the early 1990s from a number of organizations including:
» AIDS Vancouver Collection (31 Records)
» British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society Collection (78 Records)
» Carnegie Newsletter Collection (17347 Records back to 1986)
» Centre for Native Policy and Research Collection (14 Records)
» Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre Collection (137 Records)
» End Legislated Poverty Collection (66 Records)
» General collection (29 Records)
» Health and Home Collection (83 Records)
» Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users Collection (575 Records)
» Vancouver Women’s Health Collective Collection (407 Records)

Thanks for this archival tip to my friend Penny of PovNet,
an online anti-poverty community without equal in Canada.
I heartily recommend PovNet!

Community Legal Assistance Society
"The Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS) was incorporated as a non-profit legal aid society in 1971. Our mission is to provide legal assistance to people throughout British Columbia who are physically, mentally, socially, economically or otherwise disadvantaged and to develop law that benefits disadvantaged groups as a whole."

Vision for Community Living
Vision for Community Living is a project of the community living service providers of BC, with input from other stakeholders.
Community Living Coalition - Nov 1, 2001
Founding members:
BC Association for Community Living
The BC Association for Community Living is a federation that advocates for children, youth and adults with developmental disabilities and their families to ensure justice, rights and opportunities in all areas of their lives.
Individualized Funding Family Coalition
Community Living Service Providers
Purpose: To present one proposal to government that addresses the Core Review and the Budget process, and has the broad support of the Community Living Movement. This proposal will allow the Community Living movement to make the changes necessary to the service system in a consultative manner that avoids disruption of direct services to people with disabilities.
Service Providers' Submission (concerning the Core Review)
- incl. links to the executive summary and the complete submission

Individualized Funding Family Coalition
The Individualized Funding Family Coalition believes that people with developmental disabilities have the same rights as other citizens to self-determination, freedom and equality. We also believe that flexible and innovative approaches are needed to change the status quo, and ensure that each person has the means necessary to participate as a valued and contributing member in their communities. We therefore support the implementation of Individualized Funding in British Columbia as an option for individuals and families so they can have real choices in how they lead their lives. This web page serves as a resource for anyone who supports our vision for the future.

Cowichan Women Against Violence (CWAV)
"Cowichan Women Against Violence Society works from a feminist perspective to provide a supportive environment for victims and children who have been affected by abuse. We support diversity, change, choice and growth through counselling, advocacy, emergency shelter, community development and education"
CWAV Programs
Children Who Witness Violence - offers individual counselling and support groups for children of battered women.
Horizons Program is a personal development and pre-employment bridging program.
Safer Futures Program is a community research and development program that works to create and maintain community environments that promote safety of women and children in public places, in work places and in their homes.
Somenos Transition House - provides emergency shelter and emotional support primarily for battered women and their children.
Women Against Violence Against Women - counselling, emotional support, information, court support and referrals for survivors of sexual assault, childhood and adulthood abuse.

Creative Resistance
- incl. links to : British Columbia - Canada - US - World - Finding Strength - Action Toolkit - Communitas

- incl. links to 125+ articles and other resources concerning over two dozen election issues - highly recommended!
Issues : Aquaculture - BC Economy - Child and Family Services - Child Care - Disability Issues - Education - Employment - Women - Employment Standards - Energy - Environment - Freedom of Information - Gambling - Health Care - Housing and Homelessness - Human Rights - Income Inequality - Legal Aid - Lobbying - Long Term Care - P3s - Pharmacare - Policing - Prison System - Responsible Government - Seniors' Issues - Social Housing - Taxes - Welfare - Workers' Right

Online Resources : Homelessness and Affordable Housing
[from Creative Resistance]
Affordable Housing in Vancouver (City of Vancouver)
Affordable Housing in BC (BC Housing)
Articles on Homelessness (from PovNet)
Shelter Net BC (NGO)
BC Homelessness and Health Research Network (University of British Columbia)
Creative Resistance: Housing and Homelessness

See also:
- British Columbia NGO Links (D-W)
- British Columbia Government Links

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Site created and maintained by:
Gilles Séguin(This link takes you to my personal page)

E-MAIL: gilseg@rogers.com