Dietitians of Canada
Dietitians of Canada represents over 5500 dietitians across Canada and is committed to promoting the health and well-being of consumers through food and nutrition.

Food costs take a big bite of the income pie for low-income British Columbians
News Release
November 28, 2007
Vancouver, British Columbia – Imagine spending 42% of your income after taxes on food. That’s how much a family of four receiving income assistance in BC would need to spend to purchase enough healthy food. Combine this with the estimated 65% required for shelter, and this family is in the hole before purchasing any other necessities of daily living, such as clothing, transportation, and personal care items. Compare these circumstances with a family of four with an average income; that family would spend about 17% of their income on food and 33% on shelter.

The Cost of Eating in BC 2007 Report (528K, 12 pages)
"... profiles the hardships faced by families trying to purchase healthy food while living on a low-income"

The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006
November 23, 2006
Dietitians of Canada, BC Region in partnership with the Community Nutritionists Council of BC produced this 2006 report to demonstrate that some groups within our population are denied the right to safe and nutritious food due to limited financial resources. Individuals and families receiving income assistance and those working in low paying jobs are at high risk for food insecurity. The 2006 report was endorsed by 17 provincial agencies.
- the link above includes all of the links below as well as links to the same report for earlier years (annual, back to 2001)

Related Documents:

* The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006 - Media Backgrounder (PDF file - 268K, 1 page)
* The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006 - Complete report (PDF file - 1.56MB, 19 pages)
* The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006- Overview (PDF file - 481K, 2 pages)

Earlier reports:

Welfare leaves people hungry: Two new reports show that despite BC’s
booming economy over 100,000 people on welfare are left behind
News Release
December 01, 2005
"Vancouver, British Columbia – Thousands of British Columbians with low incomes, especially those on income assistance, do not have enough money to secure safe and adequate shelter or food. Two new reports released jointly today by the Dietitians of Canada, BC Region and the Social Planning and Research Council of BC highlight the stark realities of living on income assistance."

Complete reports:

The Cost of Eating in BC 2005
Little Money for Food—The Reality for Some BC Families
November 2005
- incl. links to the complete 22-page report and a two-page overview for 2005 as well as links to earlier editions of the report back to 2001

Left Behind: A Comparison of Living Costs and Employment and Assistance Rates in BC (PDF file - 593K, 36 pages)
December 2005
"The primary finding of this report is that it is harder for income assistance recipients to make ends meet in 2005 than it was three years ago following cuts to welfare benefit rates in 2002. Few material changes have been made to welfare policy since the last edition of this report in 2002, in which we described the significant reforms to welfare in BC made that year. However, in the intervening years, inflation has continued to erode the meagre incomes available to people receiving social assistance in BC. The already inadequate benefit levels have remained static in spite of increasing costs, particularly for shelter, heating, and transportation."
Source:
Social Planning and Research Council of BC

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Cost of Eating Reports for earlier years (back to 2001)

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The Cost of Eating in BC 2004 : Low-income families are more desperate than ever September 2004 "Dietitians of Canada, BC Region in partnership with the Community Nutritionists Council of BC produced this 2004 report to demonstrate that those living on a low income will have difficulty accessing safe and healthy food in a dignified manner." Full report (PDF file - 316K, 21 pages) Two page overview (80K, 2 pages) Source: Dietitians of Canada

Low income British Columbians can't afford to buy healthy food
News Release
October 6, 2003
"With rising food and housing costs, low-income families are more desperate than ever. A low income family would need to spend up to 44% of their disposable income on a nutritious diet compared to the average Canadian spending 17%. Twenty percent of the population has been defined as low income ... that's more than 800,000 British Columbians! The Cost of Eating in BC 2003 report profiles the struggles of many low-income families in BC. According to 2003 report, published by the Community Nutritionists Council of BC and Dietitians of Canada - BC Region, the monthly cost to feed a family of four increased by 9% since 2000 yet the income for the same family on income assistance declined by 6%."
Complete report:
The Cost of Eating in BC 2003 (PDF file - 147K, 25 pages)

The Cost of Eating In BC : The challenge of feeding a family on a low income (PDF file - 147K, 25 pages)
October 2002
Endorsed by a number of organizations from the BC Association of Social Workers to the Social Planning and Research Council of BC.
Published by Dietitians of Canada, BC Region and the Community Nutritionists Council of BC.
News Release
October 11, 2002
"Some have little on the table to give thanks for this Thanksgiving"

Disability Resource Network of BC (DRN) --- British Columbia
"The Disability Resource Network (DRN) is a provincial organization committed to providing programs and services, professional development, resources and news events that affect individuals who have a disability (disabilities), in the British Columbia Post Secondary Education system."
- incl. online info and links to BC Institutions - the World Health Organization definition of disability - news and events - materials - info by type of disability - etc.

Domestic Abuse Must Stop - (BC)
"Women, Information and Advocacy --- Having survived Domestic Abuse in all its forms we believe that Domestic Abuse Must Stop. We are a non-profit, non-funded association of women committed to that end."
Links - 15+ BC and national resources for victims of domestic abuse
- incl. links to : about us - hot topics - information - workshops - events - links - contact us

End Legislated Poverty (ELP)
"End Legislated Poverty (ELP) is a coalition of over 40 groups in BC, working together to educate and organize in order to make governments reduce and end poverty. ELP is part of a larger international movement fighting for the rights of people living in poverty."

- incl. links to : About ELP - News Releases - Welfare Time Limits - Long Haul/Flaw line - Current Campaigns - Resources for people in poverty in Greater Vancouver - Factoids about Poverty - Panhandling Rights - Welfare Cuts and Violence Against Women - Local Bylaws and Poverty - Links - Contact Us / Get Involved - Mental Patients Rights

Family Connections


Family Support Institute
The Family Support Institute is a province wide organization whose purpose is to support and strengthen families faced with the extraordinary circumstances that come with having a family member who has a disability

Family Services of Greater Vancouver
Strengthening People, Families and Community
Incl. Counselling, Education & Adoption Services - Parenting - Specialized Counselling - Youth - Diverse Communities - Sponsors - Events - Courses - In Focus


Federated anti-poverty group of BC
Advocates Manual Online (PDF file - 202K, 31 pages) - Revised to November 2002
"The federated anti-poverty group of BC has made available their advocates' manual: guide for advocates: knowing your rights. The manual is in PDF format and covers a wide range of information advocates will find useful in their work."

First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition
"The First Call: BC Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition is a cross-sectoral, non-partisan coalition in BC. Our coalition is made up of over 60 provincial organizations and 25 mobilizing communities. In addition, we have a network of thousands of community groups and individuals. Our partners work together on public education, community mobilization, and policy advocacy to ensure that all children and youth have the opportunities and resources required to achieve their full potential and to participate in the challenges of creating a better society."

First Call Coalition Provincial/Regional Partners
- incl. list of all 60+ coalition partners and links to their websites.

First Call Publications

Recent First Call Publications:

2007 Child Poverty Report Card (PDF file - 196K, 19 pages) November 2007 Source: First Call BC Related link: BC's Child Poverty Rate Tops Again Or is this headline just trying to manipulate you? By Rob Annandale November 26, 2007 "(...)To say a Vancouverite who earns $20,000 per year is living in poverty would indeed seem preposterous to many of the more than one billion people worldwide who survive on less than a dollar a day." Source: The Tyee <begin Leap of Logic rant:> EH? Comparing the incomes of someone living in Vancouver with someone in Africa or Asia? Reality check: It's the cost of living, Stupid. </end Leap of Logic rant.>

B.C.'s child poverty rate worst in Canada: report
November 26
Source:
CBC

Fact Sheets on Child Poverty in British Columbia, 2006 [pdf, 14pp, 300KB]
November 2006

Other provincial report cards
Click on this link to access child poverty report cards for BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Related Links from Campaign 2000:

Canada’s Child Poverty Levels not Budging -
New report shows child poverty “entrenched” in Canada over 25 Years
Campaign 2000
23 November 2006
The rate of child and family poverty in Canada has been stalled at 17-18% over the past 5 years despite strong economic growth and low unemployment, according to a new report by Campaign 2000.

Oh Canada! Too Many Children in Poverty for Too Long [pdf, 6pp, 311KB]
2006 report card on child poverty in Canada

Earlier editions of the
report card on child poverty in Canada - reports in English and French going back to 2002
TIP: if you scroll to the bottom of the earlier editions page, you'll also find links to a 2002 report to the UN Special Session on Children entitled A report on a decade of child and family poverty in Canada and a November 2001 Campaign 2000 Bulletin entitled Family Security in Insecure Times: Tackling Canada's Social Deficit.

Fact Sheets on Child Poverty in British Columbia, 2005 [pdf, 14pp, 300KB]
BC Campaign 2000
November 2005
Source:
First Call BC

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

Related Link (national child poverty report):

New from Campaign 2000:

First Ministers told to take action to lower shameful poverty rates
News alert - Campaign 2000
Kelowna, BC, 23 Nov 05
"Activists took their annual child poverty report directly to the First Ministers meeting here today. The findings are discouraging. For almost 30 years the poverty rate has been stuck at one-in-six children. Whether families are mother-led, have two parents, are working full time or on social assistance the numbers are static. A particularly disturbing finding is that child poverty rates for Aboriginal, immigrant, and visible minority children are twice the national rate. Campaign 2000 National Coordinator Laurel Rothman, whose organization prepares the annual update, was joined by Peter Dinsdale of the National Association of Friendship Centres. They are clearly frustrated by misplaced government priorities and jurisdictional wrangling."

Complete report:

Decision Time for Canada: Let’s Make Poverty History
2005 Report Card on Child Poverty in Canada [pdf, 12pp, 500KB]

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Fact Sheets on Child Poverty in British Columbia [pdf, 13pp, 202KB]
BC Campaign 2000, First Call BC
November 2004

Related Links: Child poverty: setting new goals November 24, 2004 CAROL GOAR "Giving up is not an option. But clinging to a faded dream is not a solution. So today, on the 15th anniversary of his parliamentary resolution to end child poverty by 2000, Ed Broadbent will set a new goal. He will challenge Canadians to reduce the child poverty rate to 5 per cent within 10 years. His new target lacks the tidy finality of the one he persuaded all MPs to endorse on Nov. 24, 1989, shortly before his retirement as leader of the New Democratic Party. It is less ambitious, less appealing.But Broadbent, who returned to active politics this year, believes it is realistic and achievable. He calls it 'a new agenda for a new time.' The child poverty rate currently stands at 15 per cent. It was 15.2 per cent when Broadbent issued his clarion call 15 years ago." Source: The Toronto Star Complete report: One million too many: Implementing solutions to child poverty in Canada 2004 report card on child poverty in Canada [pdf, 12pp, 186KB] November 24, 2004 Source: Provincial Child Poverty Report Cards: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia NOTE: click the link above to access current and historical poverty reports for all six provinces. Source: Campaign 2000

The 2005 British Columbia Budget: Time for Profound Changes : First Call's pre-budget submission
to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services (PDF file - 78K, 6 pages)
October 14, 2004
"This submission makes the case for restoring funding to social, educational and labour market programs that were cut in previous years, and it offers some recommendations to guide future government policies."
Source:
First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition

Report on Child Poverty in BC in 2003 (PDF file - 369K, 8 pages)
November 24, 2003
Campaign 2000
"The latest figures from Statistics Canada show 17 percent of BC children living in poverty in 2001. That’s 146,000 poor children or one of every six children. The poverty rate for children in two-parent families was 11.6 percent, while the poverty rate for children in families headed by single-parent mothers was 48 percent.
In 1989, when the House of Commons voted unanimously to work to end child poverty by 2000, the BC child poverty rates were 14.2 percent for all children, 8.4 percent for children in two-parent families, and 62 percent for children of single-parent mothers."

BC Campaign 2000: Poverty Fact Sheets for 2003
(small PDF files)
November 2003
1. What is Child Poverty
2. Child Poverty in BC
3. Child Poverty By Family Type
4. Duration of Poverty
5. Government Actions Can Make a Difference
6. What Needs to be Done

Child Poverty: A Challenge for Paul Martin
News Release
November 24, 2003

The Chretien Legacy for Children and Youth: Too Much Rhetoric, Too Many Missed Opportunities
November 2003
First Call Media Release
"Jean Chrétien is leaving the prime minister’s office the way he came in - with lots of rhetoric about children and youth - but the legacy of the Chrétien years is meagre at best."

An Overview of Initiatives Affecting Early Childhood Development in BC (PDF file - 239K, 11 pages)
November 2002
Eleven pages of international, national and BC resources on ECD, includes links to websites of government and NGO sources

BC Campaign 2000 (First Call BC) Report Card on Child Poverty in 2002 ( November 25, 2002)
Fact Sheet #1 What is Child Poverty?
Fact Sheet #2 Child Poverty In British Columbia
Fact Sheet #3 Child Poverty by Family Type
Fact Sheet #4 Making Ends Meet
Fact Sheet #5 Child Poverty and BC Employment and Assistance
Fact Sheet #6 School Fees
Fact Sheet #7 Humiliation and Shame

Attack on our poorest and most vulnerable children in B.C.!
Media Release
January 29, 2002 (Revised March 27)

Provincial Government Impacts on Early Childhood Development
February 13, 2002

Youth Hit Hard by Provincial Gov't Agenda
January 21, 2002

2000 Report Card on Child Poverty in BC (PDF file - 617K, 2 pages)
First Call Position Paper on Early Childhood Development - May 2000 (PDF file - 116K, 4 pages)

Child and Youth Issues - incl. Early Childhood - Youth Transitions - Economic Equality - Safe Communities

Links - good collection of links to provincial (BC), national and international sites, mostly NGO.

Fraser Institute - "Competitive Market Solutions for Public Policy Problems"
The Fraser Institute was founded in 1974 to redirect public attention to the role markets can play in providing for the economic and social well-being of Canadians.
NOTE: for more about the Fraser Institute, see the Canadian Social Research Links Social Research Organizations in Canada page.

Round Table Luncheon : Reforming Welfare Series (Part 1)
Providing An Alternative to Welfare
Vancouver
Date: January 23, 2003
Speaker:
Mike Cardinal
MLA, Athabasca-Wabasca, Alberta
"...As the Minister of Family and Social Services and also the person responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, [Mike Cardinal] began his welfare reforms in 1993. Believing that the emphasis of funding should be on job retraining and skills upgrading rather than simple cash payments, the welfare rates were reduced by 20%. The ultimate result has been the decrease in caseloads from over 94,000 files to less than 28,000 with people working once again. Mr. Cardinal will explain the reforms in greater detail..."

BC Welfare Reform Receives a “B” : Province Leaps to Forefront of Intelligent Welfare Reform and Sets New Standard for Canadian Welfare The Fraser Institute October 21, 2002 "BC’s recently announced welfare reforms have catapulted it beyond any Canadian jurisdiction and into the realm of reform-minded US states such as Wisconsin, says a new report, Welfare Reform in British Columbia: A Report Card, released today by the Fraser Institute." News Release and Summary Welfare Reform in British Columbia: A Report Card (PDF file - 208K, 30 pages) Source: Fraser Institute - "Competitive Market Solutions for Public Policy Problems" The Fraser Institute was founded in 1974 to redirect public attention to the role markets can play in providing for the economic and social well-being of Canadians. ----------------------------------- Wow - it's not often that the conservative Fraser Institute is on the same wavelength as the British Columbia social advocacy community, but there ya go, folks. Here's what authors Chris Schafer and Jason Clemens say about incentives to work: "The government should move to immediately re-instate earnings exemptions as they existed prior to the change. Furthermore, the government should consider enhancing the opportunities to “make work pay” by extending earnings exemptions further." "Hear, hear!" say the social advocates --- but then, the Fraser report also gives the BC government high marks for being the first Canadian jurisdiction to set a time limit to welfare eligibility regardless of personal circumstances or the economic situation --- definitely not a popular feature with those who work with and speak for the most disadvantaged in BC... ----------------------------------- Re. Wisconsin: Wisconsin Studies (W-2) - The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) of the University of Wisconsin has a section of its Welfare Reform website that includes links to over a dozen studies on the outcomes and impacts of welfare reform in Wisconsin. Pick one or two, read them and decide for yourself how successful Wisconsin's reforms have been... Source : Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) ---------------------------------- Caveat : "The welfare caseload composition of Canadian provincial welfare rolls and US state welfare rolls varies on a number of different levels. While female single- parent families comprise the bulk of US welfare caseloads, in Canada that figure is approximately 29 percent (CCSD, 1998). In addition, Canadian caseloads also consist of disabled persons, whereas in the US disabled persons fall under alternative support programs not categorized as “welfare.” - Footnote #4, page 25 [Fraser Institute report] There are indeed a number of differences between the current Canadian and American social safety nets - certainly enough that the Fraser Institute should have considered posting the disclaimer/caveat just a bit more prominently. For example... - poor single people and childless couples in the U.S. can't even apply for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and states decide individually whether or not to grant residual welfare to applicants without dependants - 35 percent of the total U.S. caseload is "child-only cases", i.e., kids outside the parental home (in Canada, the vast majority of these kids are covered by child protection) - Canadian welfare is broader than TANF plus the Food Stamp Program plus Medicaid... - and so on. Related Links (welfare in Canada and the U.S.): Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) : Fourth Annual Report to Congress April 2002 Source : Department of Health and Human Services Canadian equivalent to the 4th annual TANF report to Congress : None. There is no requirement within the framework of the Canada Health and Social Transfer for a report by government to Parliament on the administration of the welfare portion of the CHST (or any other portion, for that matter) by provincial and territorial governments. Pity... Other Canadian (national) welfare information resources: Canadian Social Research Links Key Government Welfare Links Page National Council of Welfare Canadian Council on Social Development Caledon Institute of Social Policy Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Friends of the Woodwards Squat
"The Coalition of Woodwards Squatters and Supporters formed to fight for social housing as a solution to the housing crisis in Vancouver and all across British Columbia. When the Liberals froze social housing spending in March of 2002 they made a bad situation worse for poor people in the province. Homelessness, wretched living conditions and ridiculously high rental fees have made life dangerously unstable and difficult for many people in BC. The Coalition opened the long empty Woodwards Building on Saturday September 14th to challenge and expose the government’s negligence in addressing the needs of the poor and to directly meet the housing needs of the homeless in the city’s core. The Coalition drafted a list of demands to define the movement for housing unfolding against the Campbell Government."

The Fulcrum Project
"Our goal is to raise awareness among the public and the media to humanize poverty in order to make reducing poverty a provincial election issue."

Report Card on Women and Children in B.C. (PDF file - 118K, 4 pages)
June 15, 2004
Charitable Food Banks or the Right to Food: Which Way for BC?
Graham Riches

The Georgia Straight (Vancouver weekly)

Sample content from The Georgia Straight:

Mothers under siege
By Charlie Smith
June 7, 2007
"Some say the B.C. government has violated the human rights of single moms with its punitive social policies. (...) thousands of single parents across the province struggle with trying to earn a decent income, finding daycare, and ensuring their kids get a good start in life. But new data from Statistics Canada show that whereas the incomes of Vancouver single fathers have increased in recent years, the incomes of single mothers are in decline. This has some women’s rights and antipoverty activists claiming that B.C. Liberal government policies discriminate against single mothers, who are among the poorest citizens of the province. In a curious twist, the premier and the attorney general were both raised by single mothers.

It's a bad time to be poor
By Carlito Pablo
May 31, 2007
On May 7, the Impact of the Olympics on Community Coalition released a report urging the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) and its partners–the City of Vancouver and the British Columbia provincial government–to live up to their so-called Inner-City Inclusivity commitments. These include commitments to housing, environment, civil liberties, and transparency.

Critics slam welfare bump
By Carlito Pablo
March 1, 2007
Finance Minister Carole Tay­lor claims that the new budget ensures that all British Columbians share in the benefits of the province's thriving economy. Not by any stretch, counters the director of UBC's school of social work and family studies. Prof. Graham Riches told the Georgia Straight that there is something fundamentally flawed in the way the B.C. Liberal government carved the budget. “It's not a policy of redistribution,” he said. “It will prove inadequate.” Riches noted that the rich and middle class received $1.5 billion in tax cuts so that, according to the government, they'll have more money “to meet their housing challenges and help them with the high cost of housing in B.C.”. This amount constitutes three-quarters of the four-year $2 billion package, which the Liberals trumpeted as a housing legacy.

Related link:

Budget 2007
Government of British Columbia
February 20, 2007

Income-assistance cuts examined
By rob mcmahon
October 19, 2006
"(...) The total province-wide income-assistance caseload (one case consists of a single person or a family) has dropped by 36 percent since 2001, when the ministry began implementing a range of policy changes, including introducing more stringent eligibility criteria for income-assistance applicants and measures that allowed easier removal of cases, scaling back on staff, closing offices, and cutting social-assistance programs. The Income Assistance Project, a qualitative five-year study conducted by researchers from UBC, SFU, and UNBC, is keeping tabs on the effects of this policy. Researchers are investigating how low-income, lone-mother families have been affected by the 2002 policy changes. Beginning in 2003, researchers worked with 22 single mothers in urban Vancouver and the rural Bulkley Valley. So far, they have found that these parents have been hit hard."

Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society


Greater Vancouver Regional District

Homelessness - Greater Vancouver Regional District
"People have been homeless throughout Greater Vancouver for many years, but until recently little reliable information was available on the size and nature of this population. (...) Now, research data is availablbe on people who are homeless and at risk of homelessness in Greater Vancouver."
incl. links to : Regional Homelessness Plan - Research Data - Maps and Graphics - Links - Contact Us

2005 Greater Vancouver Homeless Count
September 2005

Complete report:

On our streets and in our shelters…
Results of the 2005 Greater Vancouver Homeless Count (PDF file - 1.2MB, 53 pages)
September 2005
Report produced by:
Michael Goldberg
Social Planning and Research Council of BC
[This report was produced for the Greater Vancouver Regional District - see the link below]

High(low)lights:

2005 Homeless Count Bulletin (PDF file - 140K, 4 pages)
- the number of street homeless in Vancouver regions increased 235% between 2002 and 2005, from 330 people to 1105 people.
- the number of homeless people has almost doubled since 2002, to 2,174 persons in 2005.
- the number of street homeless has grown by 238% or almost 800 persons since the last count in 2002.
- People with Aboriginal identity make up 2% of the population of Vancouver, but they represent 30% of the region’s homeless.
- Homeless seniors 55 and over grew from 51 persons in 2002 to 171 persons in 2005.

Source:
Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)
"The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) is a partnership of 21 municipalities and one electoral area that make up the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver."

GVRD - Regional Homelessness Reports
- incl. links to the Homeless Count 2005 reports (March and September 2005), Census Bulletin - At-Risk of Homelessness (April 2005), the 2004/2005 Inventory of Lower Mainland Shelters, and more...

Homelessness Research Virtual Library (University of British Columbia)
"The homelessness research virtual library was created in response to a call from stakeholders for easier access to homelessness research information. The Virtual Library website provides immediate access to past and current homelessness research from the province of British Columbia and the Yukon. The project is a partnership between the University of British Columbia, Human Resources Development Canada and Shelter Net BC."
- this site offers links to 80+ abstracts and full reports, mostly dealing with the BC situation, that you can search by : Author - Organization - Title - Location of Research - Publication Year - Subjects (Population) - Subjects (Keywords) - Subjects (Research Type) - List All Documents.
Source / Related Links:
University of British Columbia
Shelter Net BC

Hospital Employees' Union of British Columbia - "representing 46,000 front-line health care workers in hospitals, long-term care facilities and community agencies in British
Columbia, Canada. Affiliated with CUPE."

Ownership Matters: Lessons from Ontario's Long-Term Care Facilities
"On May 27, 2002 the Ontario Health Coalition released Ownership Matters: Lessons from Ontario's Long-Term Care Facilities. This is a report prepared for the Hospital Employees' Union of British Columbia by the OHC which examines the effect of the Ontario Tory government's privatization of Long Term Care on the quality of care and patients."
Complete report (25 printed pages)
Source: Ontario Health Coalition
Related Links:
Media Release
Ontario Health Coalition Report Paints Disturbing Picture of Ontario’s Privatized Long Term Care
Ontario Health Coalition
May 27, 2002
Source : DAWN DisAbled Women's Network - Ontario

Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP)
"HELP is a pioneering, interdisciplinary research partnership that is directing a world-leading contribution to new understandings and approaches to early child development. Directed by Dr. Clyde Hertzman, HELP is a network of faculty, researchers and graduate students from British Columbia's four major universities. HELP facilitates the creation of new knowledge, and helps apply this knowledge in the community by working directly with government and communities. HELP works in partnership with the BC Minister of State for Early Childhood Development. HELP is partially funded by MCFD and maintains a close liaison with other provincial government ministries."

- incl. links to the Vancouver Map Report - Early Development Instruments - View maps from the Vancouver Community Asset Mapping Project - LISTSERV (Sign up for our listserv and view archives) - BC Health Atlas (current provincial and Vancouver health maps) - References on child and population health - Dr. Clyde Hertzman's presentations and slides - other HELP publications.

Resources - "includes a variety of resources for researchers, government, community organizations, service providers, and parents".
- links to Publications (reports, other online articles and selected readings, Community Asset Mapping Project maps) - Reference Library (a searchable, electronic database with 8000+ articles on child health, human development, population health, and determinants of health - Journals (info about and access to the most common journals used by HELP researchers) - Community Resources ( provincial organizations and online resources in BC of interest to parents, service providers, and those working in the area of community development).

Satellite maps lead the way to healthier neighbourhoods:
$2.3 million SSHRC project analyzes impact of community resources on childhood development
May 6, 2003
"The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is investing $2.3 million in a study that will examine the link between the location of neighbourhood resources and the health and school readiness of children. (...) The Consortium for Health, Intervention, Learning and Development (CHILD) Project—led by the University of British Columbia’s Hillel Goelman, associate director of the Human Early Learning Partnership—will examine the physical, intellectual and social development of young children in various neighbourhoods and map their growth and well-being in light of community resources."...more
Related Link:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Early Development in Vancouver: Report of the Community Asset Mapping Project (CAMP) - (PDF file - 137K, 52 pages)
Clyde Hertzman, Sidney A.McLean, Dafna E.Kohen, Jim Dunn, Terry Evans
August 2002
Executive Summary
Accompanying Maps

The Information Partnership
The Information Partnership provides innovative and practical solutions for private-, public-, and voluntary-sector organizations wanting to become more efficient and effective in the way they develop, deliver and evaluate their operations.

Information Services Vancouver
Information Services Vancouver (ISV) is British Columbia's largest provider of information and referral (I&R) services - a citizens' link to thousands of community, social, and government agencies across the province.

Red Book : Directory of Services for the Lower Mainland
This is the most comprehensive online guide to community, social, and government services available across the Lower Mainland. It is considered by many professionals working in the human services field to be the "Bible" of community resources. This is a detailed A-to-Z listing of over 4,000 community,social, and government agencies and programs, including e-mail and Web site addresses.
HINT: Click The Red Book Online (in the left margin of the page) to access the list via a search page.

 

Institute for Research on Public Policy

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)

JobWaveBC
"JobWaveBC is brought to you by WCG International Consultants Ltd. - people who know BC’s job scene and what it takes to get those quality jobs…fast. Our successful jobs programs have now assisted over 11,000 British Columbians to find great jobs. (...) Based in Victoria, British Columbia. WCG International Consultants Ltd. delivers community and provincial employment programs, as well as progressive, internet-based solutions to employment and hiring, and proprietary technology business solutions."
- incl. links to information for job seekers and employers

The Law Centre

Law Courts Education Society of BC
The Law Courts Education Society is a non-profit organization providing educational programs and services about the justice system in Canada and British Columbia. Materials are designed to help the public understand how the justice system works and to help those people working within the system to better understand the justice-related issues that different people in the communities face.

Monday Magazine

Libs employment push fails (BC)
October 10, 2007
"A just-released government report shows the B.C. Liberal’s overhaul of the welfare system in 2002 failed to increase the number of people finding jobs. The six-page report from the ministry of employment and income assistance, “Outcomes of those Leaving Assistance,” uses tax data to track what happened to people who left welfare. About 75 percent of the people who left welfare had filed tax returns. (...) The government needs to take a closer look at how it measures “success,” says Seth Klein, the director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative’s B.C. office. In the past it has taken the reduction in the welfare caseload as a sign more people are working and people are better off. Instead, he says, the government needs to look at whether or not it is reducing poverty."

Money for Nothing
By Andrew MacLeod
June 22 2005
"When Ontario announced in April it was entering a contract with WCG International for a JobWave-modelled program called JobsNow, that province's social services minister, Sandra Pupatello, told the Windsor Star that the company has succesfully run a similar program in British Columbia." According to a report in the Victoria Business Examiner, the former B.C. human resources minister, Stan Hagen, had vouched for the program. (The Ontario program makes a key change from the B.C. program, by the way. Participants are only referred to the program after they've spent a year on welfare, unlike in B.C. where references are made before a person has even seen a welfare cheque. This likely means people referred to the program in Ontario may be more in need of the extra help, unlike here, where the majority would likely find work on their own.) The company has also pitched its program to the Alberta government, and it now has a website for JobWave America, though there's no indication that it has yet succeeded in selling its program anywhere other than Ontario and B.C..." (Excerpt from the full article)

British Columbia's JobWave program is a model for the McGuinty Government's welfare-to-work initiative, and WCG International Consultants is the BC-based company that won the contract. According to this article, BC JobWave pays WCGI a cash incentive of four to five thousand dollars per case for taking people off welfare and putting them into jobs --- even where the participant gives up on the program and finds a job himself, as in the situation profiled in the article. The Americans perfected the welfare exit strategy known as the "Jobs First" approach, where getting people off welfare is the primary goal, as opposed to offering them meaningful employment opportunities or training and supports to allow them to find and keep a decent job. Followup evaluations of the U.S. Jobs First approach have shown that a few years after they leave the program, many people were still jobless or employed in jobs that paid relatively little and offered few benefits, and there was little change in participants’ total income.

Related Links:

McGuinty Government Launches Innovative Pilot To Help People Leave Welfare For Work:
JobsNow Part Of Province's Plan To Restore Integrity To Social Assistance Programs
News Release
April 20, 2005
"TORONTO – The McGuinty government is launching an innovative pilot project that will help people move from working for welfare to working for a living, Minister of Community and Social Services Sandra Pupatello announced today. JobsNow will provide ongoing, individualized employment counselling, job placement and retention support to help people find jobs so that they can leave welfare for good. 'Social assistance recipients are not statistics – they are real people who want to work. It's time our welfare programs worked, too,' said Pupatello. 'Our plan will get thousands of people into the workforce, and that's good for our clients, our economy and our taxpayers.'"

Backgrounder

JobsNow Ontario
"JobsNow begins in April 2005 and continues to May 31, 2007, with a target of 12,000 participants referred to the JobsNow service."

Source:
Ministry of Community and Social Services

WCG International HR Solutions
WCG International will run the JobsNow pilot in six pilot communities in cooperation with municipal Ontario Works offices.

JobWave (WCG International)
"JobWave™ is the most successful employment program in the history of British Columbia, continually bringing innovation to the field of job placement."

National Council of Welfare

Another Look at Welfare Reform (Autumn 1997)
- an in-depth analysis by the National Council of Welfare of changes in Canadian welfare programs in the 1990s.
The report focuses on the provincial and territorial reforms that preceded the repeal of the Canada Assistance Plan and those that followed the implementation of the Canada Health and Social Transfer. 
Complete report online - large file (300K+) but well worth the wait for detailed information on welfare reforms in the 1990s in each Canadian jurisdiction, as well as a national overview of the broad issues of welfare reform and the setting for welfare reform in Canada

Nodice Elections: British Columbia

Source:
Nodice Elections
Related Links:
- Go to the Political Parties and Elections Links in Canada (Provinces and Territories) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/politics_prov_terr.htm

Peace, Earth and Justice News

British Columbians double-crossed over MSP contract with American corporation : B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union
vows to continue legal action to stop the government from handing over personal medical information to American-linked companies
November 4, 2004
"'British Columbians have been double-crossed,' said George Heyman, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU). 'The health services minister promised that a contract negotiated with Maximus corporation would ensure the privacy of British Columbians would not be compromised. Less than a week after the privacy commissioner confirmed in his report that the USA Patriot Act is a real threat to the privacy of British Columbians, the Campbell Liberals are rushing in to sign, seal and deliver a deal!'"

Related Govt. Links:

Government moves to improve the BC Medical Services Plan and Pharmacare services
November 4, 2004
"VICTORIA – The Province is moving to modernize and improve the administration of the Medical Service Plan and PharmaCare, Health Services Minister Colin Hansen said today."

Backgrounders (3) from the Ministry of Health Services:

Improving MSP and Pharmacare Services
Improving Privacy and Confidentiality
Maximus BC / Alternative Service Delivery

Related External Link:

MAXIMUS - "Helping Government Serve the People"

MAXIMUS Canada Signs $268 Million US Health Benefit Operations Contract with British Columbia
November 5, 2004
Press Release
"The Province of British Columbia Ministry of Health Services has finalized a $268 million (US)/$324 million (Canadian) fixed-price contract with MAXIMUS Canada, a subsidiary of MAXIMUS, Inc., to provide health benefit operations administrative services. (...) The term of the contract is 10 years. In addition, there is one, five-year renewal option the client may choose to exercise."

Pivot Legal Society
Pivot Legal Society is a non-profit legal advocacy organization located in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Pivot's mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins.

Pivot releases report on Vancouver’s low-income housing crisis
News Release, Vancouver, B.C.
September 21, 2006
Vancouver’s homelessness crisis is about to get a lot worse unless immediate action is taken, according to Pivot Legal Society’s new report, Cracks in the Foundation: Solving the Housing Crisis in Canada’s Poorest Neighbourhood. “If we continue to lose low-cost housing in the Downtown Eastside at the current rate, we can expect to be coping with at least three times the number of people living on Vancouver’s streets by the time the world arrives for the 2010 Olympics,” states lead report author and lawyer David Eby.

Cracks in the Foundation:
Solving the Housing Crisis in Canada’s Poorest Neighbourhood
September 2006
Complete report (PDF file - 4MB, 92 pages)
Executive summary (HTML)

MEDIA: press kit for Cracks in the Foundation (PDF file - 669K, 12 pages)

Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) - British Columbia
"PLAN is a registered non-profit charity created by and for families who have a relative with a disability.
We have two main functions:
1. To assist families plan a good life for their relative with a disability both now and in the future.
2. To ensure a safe and secure future by fulfilling the wishes of parents, after they die, or are otherwise unable to. We do this by supporting, monitoring and advocating for their son/daughter for the rest of their lives."
- incl. links to : About PLAN -Publications - Media Articles - Member Services - Forum - Our Vision & Our Beliefs - What We Do - Who We Are - Future Planning - Personal Networks - PLAN for Younger Families - Workshops - Join PLAN - Site Policy Statement - more...

Securing a Good Life for Our Family Members with Disabilities: A Proposal for Federal Reforms (PDF file - 179K, 7 pages)
August 22, 2003
- includes a number of proposals to help families plan for the time when they can no longer take care and provide financial assistance for their relative with a disability
- proposals include a new Registered Disability Savings Plan and Disability Expense Tax Deduction, improvement of the RRSP/RRIF rollover provisions, and better harmonization between Old Age Security with provincial disability pensions.

PLAN Affiliates
- contact and (where available) website URL for organizations in BC, Alberta, Sakatchewan, Ontario and Quebec as well as Seattle (Washington) that are affiliated with PLAN.

Related Links:

New Ingredients for the Fiscal Pie
December 2003
By Sherri Torjman
"...argues the need for exploring possible methods of expanding the ‘fiscal pie.’ It explores one possible model put forward by PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network), a group of parents of children with severe disabilities. The group proposes a combination of private savings and public spending to help develop caring communities. (...) The proposal represents one idea in a range of possible savings and investment mechanisms to expand the fiscal pie – a direction which we should be debating seriously as a nation."
Complete report (PDF file - 19K, 3 pages)
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

PovNet
"PovNet is for advocates, people on welfare, and community groups and individuals involved in anti-poverty work. It provides up-to-date information about welfare and housing laws and resources in British Columbia, Canada. PovNet links to current anti-poverty issues and also provides links to other anti-poverty organizations and resources in Canada and internationally."
- incl. links to : News - Issues - Advocacy - Find an Advocate - Regional - About us - Links

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

PovNet Winter 2007 update!
Here's just *some* of the new content that you'll find on the PovNet website home page:
[I've highlighted only the first link below - just click the PovNet link above to access all of the content below and much more]
* Is Child Poverty Up or Down?
The Tyee has an interesting article, Child Poverty is Down. No, it's Up, about two reports issued in the last couple months about child poverty. One report issued by the Fraser Institute claims that less than six per cent of Canadian children live in poverty; the other report issued by Campaign 2000 said the poverty rate for Canadian children was more than three times that, over 17 per cent. The Fraser Institute and Campaign 2000 define poverty very differently. The Fraser Institute includes the cost of only subsistence levels of food, clothing, housing and a few other necessities, while Campaign 2000 uses Stats Canada low income cutoffs below which families would find themselves living in "straitened circumstances."
* Poverty is a Medical Condition (Ontario)
* (Un)Civil City
* Poverty and Environmental Racism in Nova Scotia
* Hunger Count 2006
* Raising the Rates in BC
* The Annual New Year's Poor Peoples' Levee Tour
* Toronto Marks 500th Homeless Death
* Women's Occupation Results in Emergency Shelter
* Women Protesting Cuts on the Web
* Ottawa not Supporting the Rights of First Nations
* Six Nations Reclamation posted November 2006
* UN Adopts Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities
* Call for BC Government to Respect Court Ruling on Youth with Disabilities
* The Pluses and Minuses of Refugee and Immigration Policy in 2006
* much more...

Issues Page - links to information on a wide range of subjects, including the following : Disability - Seniors - Workfare - Activism - Housing - Poorbashing - Legal & Policy - Women - International - Human Rights - Welfare - Lobbying - First Nations - Workers' Rights - Employment Insurance - Immigrants/Refugees - Homelessness

Links : large collection, organized under the following categories : Advocacy - Anti-poverty - Community Organizing/Activism - Disability - First Nations/Aboriginal - Government - Homelessness/Housing - Human Rights - Immigrants & Refugees - International - Seniors - Women - Workers' Rights - Youth

PovNet Learning Network
"PovNet BC will work with other provincial and national anti-poverty organizations to develop a national online network of advocates, identify new modes of developing online community space and facilitate online training and continuous learning for advocates, and facilitate the linking of local, regional and national groups to the network."

Regional Poverty News and Issues - follow the links for news and issues in each Canadian province and territory.

Find an Advocate - links to advocates in each Canadian province and territory.

Advocacy Resources and Links

PovNet Fact Sheets
Series of 9 fact sheets covering a range of topics related to welfare:
- Applying for Welfare
- Welfare Benefits
- Welfare and Time Limits
- Welfare and Exemptions
- Welfare and Disability Benefits
- Welfare and Families
- Welfare and Health Benefits
- Welfare and Appeals Step 1 Reconsideration
- Welfare and Appeals Step 2 Appeal Tribunal Hearing

Welfare survey misses most ex-recipients : Those who could be located had found work or enrolled in school
Monday, October 21, 2002
Craig McInnes
Vancouver Sun
[Posted on the PovNet website]

Research Report - Ministry of Human Resources Exit Survey Results (PDF file - 48K, 7 pages) Ministry of Human Resources October 11, 2002 - the first in a series of quarterly reports on the activities and experiences of people who have left income assistance. - "[t]he information comes from interviews of 1,833 individuals who received income assistance in September 2001, and who did not return to income assistance (IA) before the sampling date in April 2002. The survey found that almost 97% of the cases left IA to either work, attend school, for other income, or because of a change in family or financial status. More than 50% left income assistance for work, while 35% left to attend school or training." Survey Questions (PDF file - 65K, 16 pages) Editorial comment : The number of completed surveys (1,833) represents just under 33% of the total "cohort" (the group of people who left IA after September 2001 and hadn't returned by April 2002), which was 5,578. The report says that the main reason others (over 2,200 people) didn't participate was because their contact numbers were found to be "Not In Service", showing "that many people move when they leave income assistance." Studies of welfare reforms since the mid-nineties in Alberta by the Canada West Foundation and by the municipal governments of Ottawa and Toronto in Ontario have shown that when they leave social assistance during welfare reforms, many people simply cannot afford a telephone... I don't know exit surveys very much, but I'm not inclined to assume that the survey results apply to the entire cohort, because the 66% who didn't reply would have been those (in my humble opinion) who would be least likely to be in a job, in school or in a training program. Lies, damn lies, and surveys...

Liberals to cut Human Rights Commission (Vancouver Sun article)
May 30, 2002
"B.C. will be the only province without commission, acting chief commissioner Harinder Mahil says."
Human Rights Code Amendment Act (Bill 53) - full text online
Human Rights Code - full text online

Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) is poised to expand from New Brunswick and Ontario to overhaul the BC welfare system - for profit.
Company looks a winner in welfare fight - January 04, 2002
"...company officials confirm Accenture is poised to bid on a contract for the same gig here in British Columbia. Don't be surprised to see Accenture land the job of slashing welfare costs in B.C."

Letter to the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
February 11, 2002
The Poverty and Human Rights Project (Vancouver), a coalition of federated anti-poverty groups of B.C., requests "urgent attention" to the actions of the Government of British Columbia by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The group accuses the BC Government of not respecting its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the rights set out in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
"The changes to social assistance and to social services announced on January 17, 2002 by the Government of British Columbia will have a drastic effect on the groups in British Columbia who are the most vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion. These groups include Aboriginal people, women, single mothers, people of colour, recent immigrants, refugee claimants, people with disabilities, older people, youth, and children."
This seven-page text contains excellent detailed information about cuts to welfare and social services and their impact on disadvantaged groups throughout the province.

Making Profits Out of Poverty - December 2001
"... the latest and lowest plan from the B.C. Liberal government: to privatize welfare, contracting out service delivery to corporations whose profits will come from increasing misery for the poor."

Pro Bono Net BC - "Linking Lawyers with communities for the public good"
"Pro Bono Law of BC built this site to support pro bono work by BC lawyers and to make legal services as accessible as possible.
Pro Bono Law of BC is a non-profit society formed in 2002 with funding from the Law Foundation of BC to promote, coordinate and facilitate the delivery of pro bono legal services in BC."
["Pro bono comes from the Latin term, pro bono publico, for the good of the public. Our definition of pro bono: “Free legal services for persons of limited means or not-for-profit organizations"]
Source:
Law Foundation of British Columbia
"The Law Foundation of B.C. is a non-profit foundation created by legislation to receive and distribute the interest on clients' funds held in lawyers' pooled trust accounts maintained in financial institutions."

Related Link:
Pro Bono Net - U.S.
"The mission of Pro Bono Net is simple. First, use information technology to increase the amount and quality of legal services provided to low-income individuals and communities by the public interest/pro bono lawyers. Second, create a virtual community of public interest lawyers that bridges private, legal services, and academic sectors of the profession and that serves as a model for similar networks in other legal communities."

Quickscribe Services - law library service (BC) ($)
"Quickscribe is a Victoria-based, family owned business offering clients access to provincial legislation both in hard copy and online formats. We've been in business since 1984 and offer a more affordable alternative to the subscription based Queens Printer legislation service. Our online service is fully searchable, printable and includes and email notification service that alerts clients to recent amendments.
See also QP LegalEze (Queen's Printer - $) - from the BC Legislative Assembly
See also Legislation : Statutes - Regulations - Orders-in-Council - B.C. Regulations Bulletins - Order in Council and Ministerial Order Resumes - Act/Ministry Responsibilities

Raise the Rates
In 2002, the BC government introduced new welfare policies that significantly reduced income assistance and increased the barriers to getting assistance. These changes have led to suffering and hardship for those in need. Please join us in pressing the provincial government to reduce poverty by improving the welfare system and raising the minimum wage. The campaign focuses on four principal areas: Welfare Rates | Barriers to Welfare | Employment | Minimum Wage. Follow the above link for more info on each of these issues.

October 27, 2006
Time to raise welfare rates
SFU economist Jon Kesselman makes the links between rising homelessness and BC’s abysmal welfare rates in this commentary from the Vancouver Sun:
"A whole $6! Every day! Imagine that you wake up each morning with six dollars burning a hole in your pocket. Let’s see: How might you spend your money? Maybe contemplate breakfast, a midday meal and supper at nightfall? (...) Welfare benefits for employable single persons in B.C. are $185 per month (the daily $6) plus a $325 monthly housing allowance, for a grand total of $510. These figures have been unchanged since 1994 despite a rise in living costs of nearly 30 per cent; the benefits are just one-third of what Statistics Canada computes as the low-income cutoff. So should we be surprised to find B.C.’s city streets and lanes looking increasingly like scenes from a Dickens novel? (...) A campaign endorsed by many community groups, called “Raise the Rates” (www.raisetherates.org), may help to heighten public awareness."
Posted October 27 by:
Marc Lee
Relentlessly Progressive Economics
"Commentary on Canadian economics and public policy"

Resist.ca is a project of the Resist! Collective
"The Resist! Collective is a group of Vancouver-based activists working to provide communications and technical services, information and education to the greater activist community. The Resist! Collective (Resist!) and resist.ca project grew out of the old Vancouver TAO collective.

We first set up our own server in the summer of 2000 and started letting people know about our email and list services in May of 2002. We currently host over 500 email accounts, lists for tens of thousands of subscribers and host dozens of domains."
News - browse the list of topics by jurisdiction (federal, provincial/regional/international) or theme (30+ themes, including: Arts and Culture · Corporate · Disabled · Drugs · Economics · Education · The Environment · Family · Food · Government · Health · Housing · etc.)

Save Low Income Housing Coalition - Vancouver
The Save Low Income Coalition is working to preserve and increase low-income housing units in the Greater Vancouver Area and to raise the rates of shelter allowance for income assistance recipients. Active coalition members include non-profit, staffed as well as volunteer-based community groups. Many of us are advocates and some of us are residents localized in the Downtown Eastside area.

Self Advocate Net
Sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resources, this great site from Abbotsford in BC's Fraser Valley is an excellent example of how well partnerships between government, the private sector and the NGO sector can nurture and support communities that might otherwise be marginalized.
"SelfAdvocateNet.com is a strong voice for people with intellectual disabilities during the good times and the difficult times. We like to let people know what is possible if they speak up and stand up for their rights. We want to share the positive experiences through other peoples' stories and learn from their situations. But we also want to let people know about the important issues that are coming up that we need to face so that we will be safe in our communities and treated with respect."
- incl. links to About Us - FAQ - Music - Movies - Health and Wellness - Dear Jill - Democracy Wall - Photos - Our Stories- Groups - News - Links - Guestbook - Maps - Useful Tools - Barb's Tidbits - James' Ideas - Site map
Links to 150+ sites of interest
News - 50+ links to relevant news and background information on health care and disability issues in British Columbia

Seniors Housing Information Program
"The Seniors Housing Information Program is a non-profit organization which provides information on housing and services for seniors living in or wishing to live in the Vancouver and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia."

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The Plight of Seniors and Homelessness (PDF file - 308K, 117 pages)
A report on homelessness and the risk of homelessness among seniors and vulnerable adults in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia
September 2003
Henry C. Hightower, Jill Hightower, M.J. (Greta) Smith
Published by

Housing Directory - supportive housing for seniors in the Lower Mainland of BC - 1200+ listings

Single Mothers Support Network
The Single Mothers Support Network is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization supporting low-income single mothers and fathers. Supports provided to low-income single-parent families include: Individual Self-care with registered practitioners (Acupuncture - Aromatherapy Massage - Counseling - Herbology - Reiki - Yoga Therapy) - Workshops (e.g.,art therapy, life skills, and non-violent communication) - Community building (potlucks, telephone tree, stuff for free and sale, help wanted, bartering, tool library, babysitting co-ops)
- incl. links to Services (see the list of supports above) - Events - Resources - Links - Newsletter - Background - and much more...

Social Planning and Research Council (SPARC) of British Columbia
"The Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC) works with communities in building a just and healthy society for all.."
SPARC Programs and Services :
- research and consulting services to communities, organizations, and governments on a fee-for-service basis.
- making life easier for people with mobility impairments.
- Community Development Institute (training and capacity building)
- SPARC News, a quarterly publication, highlights emerging social policy issues
NOTE : click on the SPARC News link for a selection of articles from two dozen back issues of this newsletter from spring 2003 back to summer 1999

SPARC Resources & Publications

Still Left behind : A Comparison of
Living Costs and Income Assistance in British Columbia
By Jill Atkey and Rebecca Siggner
February 2008
A comparison of Living Costs and Employment Assistance Rates in British Columbia. Report findings indicate that families and individuals receiving income assistance from the province of B.C. are not able to meet their minimal monthly living costs.

New report shows
BC welfare recipients still left behind (Word file - 44K, 2 pages)
News Release
February 20, 2008
The BC Liberals increases to income assistance in 2007 have had little effect in improving the lives of welfare recipients in British Columbia, who struggle daily to meet basic needs says a report released today by SPARC BC (Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia). With little in the 2008 BC Budget for poverty reduction, BC welfare recipients are still left behind. The report, entitled Still Left Behind, compares BC Employment and Assistance rates for individuals and families eligible for “temporary assistance” with the minimum monthly cost of the goods and services required for daily living.

Download the
complete report (PDF file - 676K, 63 pages)

Still Left Behind Fact Sheet (PDF file - 190K, 2 pages)

About SPARC BC Fact Sheet (PDF file - 52K, 2 pages)

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Left Behind: A Comparison of Living Costs and Employment and Assistance Rates in BC (PDF file - 593K, 36 pages)
December 2005
"The primary finding of this report is that it is harder for income assistance recipients to make ends meet in 2005 than it was three years ago following cuts to welfare benefit rates in 2002. Few material changes have been made to welfare policy since the last edition of this report in 2002, in which we described the significant reforms to welfare in BC made that year. However, in the intervening years, inflation has continued to erode the meagre incomes available to people receiving social assistance in BC. The already inadequate benefit levels have remained static in spite of increasing costs, particularly for shelter, heating, and transportation."

Reports provide wake-up call on future of Canada’s cities Media Release March 23, 2005 "‘Social inclusion’ reports were released today in five cities -- Saint John, Toronto, Burlington, Edmonton and Vancouver. They are the work of Inclusive Cities Canada, a unique, participatory research initiative that uses a social inclusion framework to build people-friendly cities, promote good urban governance and develop strategies for supporting urban diversity. The federally-funded initiative set up Civic Panels made of community and municipal leaders to conduct social inclusion ‘audits’. Over 1,000 participants contributed to the findings. The research examined important dimensions of social inclusion, such as how cities respond to diversity, levels of civic engagement, living conditions, opportunities for human development and community services." Download the report for Vancouver/North Vancouver: * Preliminary Findings (975K, 25 pages) The Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC) works with communities to build a just and healthy society for all. Founded in 1966, SPARC is a non-partisan organization whose members and directors are drawn from throughout British Columbia. SPARC BC is guided by the values of social justice, integrity, learning and inclusion and as such we conduct research, consulting, public education, and advocacy on issues of accessibility, income security, and community development. Source: Inclusive Cities Canada "Inclusive Cities Canada: A Cross-Canada Civic Initiative is a unique partnership of community leaders and elected municipal politicians working collaboratively to enhance social inclusion across Canada. The goals of Inclusive Cities Canada (ICC) are to strengthen the capacity of cities to create and sustain inclusive communities for the mutual benefit of all people, and to ensure that community voices of diversity are recognized as core Canadian ones." Related Link: Federation of Canadian Municipalities [Inclusive Cities Canada works in collaboration with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities] The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is a national organization of 1000 plus cities in Canada. Comprised of locally elected politicians, FCM endeavours to support local governments through conferences, research and information and acts as a lobby for the interests of cities with the Federal Government. Over the past 15 years besides issues of local infrastructure, FCM has advocated for a better quality of life in our local communities. To achieve our goals, FCM liaises and works with numerous other Canadian groups and organizations. - Go to the Municipalities Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/municipal.htm

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:
British Columbia Federation of Labour (BCFL)

Holiday Forecast Bleak for BC’s Poor:
New SPARC BC report reveals growing gap between BC welfare rates and the cost of living
Press Release
December 20, 2002
"BC's poorest families are having their bleakest holiday season in many years. That's the forecast from SPARC BC in its new report Falling Further Behind: A Comparison of Living Costs and Employment and Assistance Rates in BC, which conclusively illustrates that BC's Liberals have made it even harder for welfare recipients to make ends meet due to changes implemented in September under the new BC Employment and Assistance Act."

Falling Further Behind: A Comparison of Living Costs and Employment and Assistance Rates in BC
December 2002
Complete report (1.2MB, 44 pages)

Also from SPARC:

SPARC News - a quarterly publication, highlights emerging social policy issues
- links to over a dozen issues of the SPARC newsletter, going back to the summer of 1999
- contains selections from each issue and subscription information

Falling Behind: A Comparison of Living Costs and Income Assistance Rates in BC
"...provides detailed costs for food, clothing, personal care, transportation, shelter and other costs of daily living. Calculations are provided for a variety of family types and highlight the inadequacy of current welfare benefits."
News Release (December 6, 2001)
Complete report (PDF file - 427K, 36 pages)
Detailed analysis of BC Benefits income assistance (welfare) rates in relation to living costs in Vancouver; also compares BC welfare rates with StatCan's LICOs, welfare rates in 1997 and 2001, and more..

.

StrategicThoughts.com
This is the personal website of David Schreck - political pundit, former MLA and former Special Advisor to the (NDP) Premier, among other accomplishments.

My Stuff - collection of ~100 links to (mostly BC) online resources covering a wide range of topics, with a special focus on health economics, health unions, politics and advocacy.

Some samples of David Schreck's articles:

Stagnant Wages
February 23, 2008
The February 2008 edition of Statistics Canada's Perspectives on Labour and Income contains an article titled "Earnings in the last decade". It analyses average hourly earnings between 1997 and 2007. The results are not what the Campbell government usually spins. The Statistics Canada study found that in constant 2002 dollars the national increase in real wages was 6% over the decade, but it was only 3% in BC. What is more shocking is the study's finding that the average real wage of managers in BC increased by 15% over the decade while the real wages of other workers showed virtually no change.

Jan/Feb '08 articles from StrategicThoughts.com - PLUS a link to earlier articles at the bottom of the page

BC Welfare Caseload Up
February 5, 2008
The Campbell government continues to suffer from the excesses of its first term. Time will tell whether the bungled sale of BC Rail, details of which are unfolding in the courts, will inflict damage before the May 2009 election. It still has not escaped the consequences of cutting the Ministry of Children and Family Development as if it were any other government department, and this week it is being reminded of its 2001 decision to cut the Mental Health Advocate. For a surprise on the list of memories, who would have thought that under the hard-hearted Campbell government the welfare caseload would increase?

-----
Related links from the BC Ministry of Employment and Assistance:

Latest Employment and Assistance statistics- December 2007
Updated January 29, 2008
- incl. * Number of Cases by Program and Family Type * Number of Clients by Program and Family Type * Number of Cases by Region

BC Employment and Assistance Statistics
- links to earlier statistics
-----

A Lot for Those over $100,000 Income, Little for Welfare
February 23
"The 2007 Budget did not increase the support portion of the income assistance rates for most clients. Based on the Ministry's caseload statistics for December 2006, over 55,000 cases classified as disabled will receive no increase in their support allowance; they are part of the 62,638 cases who will receive no increase in support payments. The Campbell government deserves a little credit for increasing the support allowance for single employable clients, and for adjusting rates for children, but no one should think that all clients are receiving an increase - 40% receive no increase in shelter allowances and 64% receive no increase in support allowances."

Welfare Rates Paid with Caseload Cuts
February 22

Welfare Rate Increase
February 20

Budget 2007-08: Those that Got Get!
February 20, 2007
"BC Budget 2007 flaunts the statutory requirement for reporting major capital costs, and it repeats the pattern of the Campbell government for looking after those who least need it."

NOTE: for more BC Budget 2007 info, go to the British Columbia Government Links page of this site.

A Lot for Those over $100,000 Income, Little for Welfare
February 23, 2007
"The 2007 Budget did not increase the support portion of the income assistance rates for most clients. Based on the Ministry's caseload statistics for December 2006, over 55,000 cases classified as disabled will receive no increase in their support allowance; they are part of the 62,638 cases who will receive no increase in support payments. The Campbell government deserves a little credit for increasing the support allowance for single employable clients, and for adjusting rates for children, but no one should think that all clients are receiving an increase - 40% receive no increase in shelter allowances and 64% receive no increase in support allowances."

Welfare Rates Paid with Caseload Cuts
February 22, 2007

Welfare Rate Increase
February 20, 2007

Budget 2007-08: Those that Got Get!
February 20, 2007
"BC Budget 2007 flaunts the statutory requirement for reporting major capital costs, and it repeats the pattern of the Campbell government for looking after those who least need it."

October 28, 2006
Four Month or More Delay in Welfare Shelter
- includes a link to the Speech by Premier Campbell to the Union of B.C. Municipalities (October 27) where he vowed that he would increase the welfare shelter allowance; also includes links to other related resources, i.e., info about the new Rental Assistance Program for low-income families (excluding families receiving welfare) plus links to the current welfare shelter allowance levels and caseload statistics.

Lower Health Costs by Helping the Hungry
October 12, 2006
According to the Dietitians of Canada, about 10% of Canadians "lack the funds to purchase sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active healthy life." BC's Provincial Health Officer elaborated on hungry British Columbians in his latest annual report. In the highlights of his report, he stressed that: "Factors affecting the ability to afford nutritious food in BC include higher costs of a basic "market basket" of items, higher housing costs, inadequate social assistance rates, increased levels of homelessness, and a minimum wage level that can result in even full-time workers in some BC communities falling below the federal low-income cut-off." By raising both income assistance rates and the minimum wage, the Campbell government might lower health care costs and stimulate the economy.

Related Link:

Food, Health and Well-Being in British Columbia:
Provincial Health Officer's Annual Report for 2005: (PDF file - 4.6MB, 166 pages)
October 2006
Source:
British Columbia Office of the Provincial Health Officer
[Related News Release - October 4]

Campbell's New Era Fails Women
March 1, 2004
"Gordon Campbell seems to have a major disconnect with women; perhaps that is why a pamphlet has appeared on the government caucus website under the heading "A New Era for Women". It misrepresents what government has done in terms of communities, health services, child care and self-sufficiency (code language for kicking people off welfare). The word "equality" does not appear in the pamphlet."
Source:
Strategic Thoughts.com

NOTE: All 37 Women's Centres across the province of British Columbia saw their provincial funding cut by 100% on March 31, 2004.

Related Links:

A New Era for Women (PDF file - 392K, 3 pages)
February 2004
Source:
Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services

Arrogant Response to the Auditor General's Disability Report
February 25, 2004
"In a report released February 24th, the Auditor General criticized the disability review conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources, but the Ministry's response denied important conclusions of the Auditor's report."
Source:
Strategic Thoughts.com

NOTE: for more links to info about the Auditor General's report, see to the Canadian Social Research Links BC Government Links page

2004 Budget Highlights
"Endlessly repeating that the budget is balanced won't make it so"
February 17, 2004
"The government published its version of budget highlights but it overlooked many important facts. In an attempt to correct those deficiencies, here is a citizen's version of highlights from the 2004-05 budget."
* Provincial debt is $39.452 billion, $5.617 billion (16.6%) higher than it was when the BC Liberals took office.
* Revenue from income tax is projected to be $5.005 billion, $971 million lower than before the tax cuts.
* Revenue from corporate taxes is $506 million lower than before the tax cuts.
* The budget for the Ministry of Children and Family Development is $1.382 billion, $171 million lower than 2000-01 and a cut of $70 million from last year.
* The budget for Human Resources is $1.301 billion, a further cut of $117 million from last year.
* 14 Ministries are slated for budget cuts totaling $803 million.
* The forecast allowance, set at $750 million when the Liberals presented their first budget, was reduced to just $100 million - not much room for error, but errors won't be revealed until after the next election.
* $124 million was added to the bottom line by changing the method of accounting (fully including schools, universities, colleges and health authorities).
* Despite claims about more money for education, that money doesn't appear until 2006.
* People with valuable homes get a break with an increase in the threshold for clawing back the homeowner grant from $525,000 to $585,000.
* All of the income tax cuts for most middle and low income taxpayers have been clawed back with increases in regressive taxes and fees.

More Cuts to Welfare
February 18, 2004
"Just days after the government appeared to back down on its plan to kick thousands off welfare by being the first province in Canada to impose arbitrary time limits; it looks like balancing the budget will be at the cost of the poor."

CCPA helps Campbell with Unrealistic Proposals
Februar