Non-Governmental Sites |
See these related Canadian Social Research Links pages also: -
British Columbia NGO Links (A-C) PovNet - my friends and kindred spirits in BC, comprehensive site - highly recommended! | Media (HINT:
Try clicking each media link below and searching their archive for specific words,
e.g., welfare) |
![]()
Welfare
Hike Would Make BC 'Magnet' for Poor: Minister
Welfare
Minister Claude Richmond rejects call for 50 per cent raise.
By Andrew
MacLeod
May 5, 2008
A think tank's proposal to raise welfare rates by 50
per cent is "unreasonable" and would cause British Columbia to become
a "welfare magnet" for people from other provinces, says Employment
and Income Assistance Minister Claude Richmond.
Source:
TheTyee.ca
----------------------------------------------------
New from the Vancouver Sun:
Children
of Poverty: 14 years later
April 11, 2008
Fourteen
years ago, reporter Larry Pynn co-authored a 12-page special report in the Vancouver
Sun about poverty in Vancouver and in British Columbia. In this new series, Pynn
revisits two of the children whose circumstances he had profiled 14 years earlier,
Ayla
and Kandice
(links to separate articles). This special report also includes perspectives on
teen parents and youth issues in Terrace, along with the two following items that
I wanted to flag in particular:
Full
12-page section Children of Poverty from May 7, 1994 (PDF - 17.5 MB)
-
well worth the download time --- 12 pages of valuable historical information on
poverty and government programs in BC in 1994!
Opposing
signs on downtown eastside:
Booming economic activity of construction towers
over a community of the homeless, the mentally ill and the addicted
By
Larry Pynn
April 11, 2008
Fewer poor people but deeper poverty, say BC social
advocacy champions Jean Swanson and Michael Goldberg.
[Scroll to the bottom
of the article for the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition's ten-step plan
to alleviate child poverty in BC]
Related link:
First Call: B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition
First Call is
a coalition of individuals and organizations whose purpose is to create greater
understanding of and advocacy for legislation, policy, and practice 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.
Speaking of Michael Goldberg...
Brief
to the Senate on Urban Child Poverty (2008) (PDF - 187K, 14 pages)
In
February 2008, First Call Chair Michael Goldberg presented to the Senate Committee
on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on the topic of urban child poverty.
This briefing is an overview of topics including measuring poverty; child poverty
rates; and the interaction between market income, social security benefits, taxation
and statutory deductions, and income tested social programs.
![]()
|
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. Thats 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 BCs
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 FoodThe 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
----------------------------
Cost of Eating Reports for earlier years (back to 2001)
----------------------------
| 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
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
|
|
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.
Recent First Call Publications:
2007
Child Poverty Report Card (PDF file - 196K, 19 pages) Related link: BC's
Child Poverty Rate Tops Again |
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:
Canadas
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: Lets Make Poverty History
2005 Report Card on Child
Poverty in Canada [pdf, 12pp, 500KB]
----------------------------
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 Complete report: One
million too many: Implementing solutions to child poverty in Canada Source: |
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. Thats 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 ministers 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 "BCs 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 :
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. Related
Links (welfare in Canada and the U.S.): Other Canadian (national) welfare information
resources: |
|
|
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 womens
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 partnersthe City of Vancouver and the British
Columbia provincial governmentto 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
|
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 regions 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 Ontarios 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) Projectled by the University of British Columbias Hillel Goelman,
associate director of the Human Early Learning Partnershipwill 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.
|
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 BCs 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
|
|
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.
|
Libs
employment push fails (BC)
October 10, 2007
"A
just-released government report shows the B.C. Liberals 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 Alternatives
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.'"
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."
|
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
|
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 Vancouvers low-income housing crisis
News
Release, Vancouver, B.C.
September 21, 2006
Vancouvers homelessness
crisis is about to get a lot worse unless immediate action is taken, according
to Pivot Legal Societys new report, Cracks in the Foundation: Solving the
Housing Crisis in Canadas 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 Vancouvers
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 Canadas 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)
|
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
Web
Search Results : "Planned Lifetime Advocacy
Network"
Source:
Google.ca
|
Poverty
and Human Rights Centre (Canada, International, United Nations, etc.)
Centre
Directors: Gwen Brodsky, Shelagh Day
(formerly the Poverty and Human Rights
Project)
"The Poverty and Human Rights Centre is committed to eradicating
poverty and promoting social and economic equality through human rights.
The
Library is a searchable database of materials related
to social and economic rights. It includes texts of relevant international human
rights treaties, Canadian and other laws, court decisions, legal briefs, and articles.
To use the library, go to buttons at the top of the page (topics, documents,
resources).
Factum Library What's new
The Factum Library section contains factums, pleadings and other litigation
documents from selected Canadian human rights cases. The materials are organized
by case name, articles, and date."
- incl. links
to : Recently added links - Contact Us - About the Centre
- Centre Publications
Civil and Political Rights
in British Columbia 2005
The Poverty and Human Rights Centre submission
to the United Nations Human Rights Committee
on the occasion of its review
of Canadas 5th report on compliance with the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights
October 2005
Introduction
Full
Report (PDF file - 140K, 48 pages)
Source:
Poverty
and Human Rights Centre
Human
Rights Denied (PDF file - 93K, 2 pages)
B.C.
Government Discriminates
Against Poor Single Mothers report
Press
Release
April 28, 2005
"Vancouver - Four constitutional and human rights
experts are issuing a report today that condemns the Government of British Columbia
for its treatment of single mothers on social assistance. Shelagh Day, Margot
Young, Melina Buckley and Gwen Brodsky conclude in Human Rights Denied
that single mothers are discriminated against by the B.C. Government."
Complete report:
Human
Rights Denied:
Single Mothers on Social Assistance in British Columbia
(PDF file - 524K, 59 pages)
April 2005
By Gwen Brodsky, Melina Buckley,
Shelagh Day, and Margot Young
Source:
Poverty
and Human Rights Centre (Vancouver)
|
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.
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) 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... |
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 BCs 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. Lets 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)
-----------------------------------------------
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 Canadas cities Download
the report for Vancouver/North Vancouver: Source: Related Link: Federation of Canadian Municipalities - 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 BCs 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."