Atlantic Canadians on social assistance needed more help from budgets, advocates say
Atlantic Canada is home to the lowest social assistance rates in the country, and advocates say provincial budgets presented this week didn't do much to change that.
Robert MacKay said the modest increases to income assistance in New Brunswick's provincial budget won't make much of an impact on him. The community co-chair of the New Brunswick Common Front for Social Justice said he gets about $593 a month through the program, which he said isn't enough to cover basic food and living expenses.
The increase in Tuesday's budget works out to about $40 a month, leaving him "barely treading water."
"Right now, people, myself included, are just rubbing two nickels together at the end of the month -- if that -- living in rooming houses, that sort of thing, just to stay within any kind of a budget," MacKay said in an interview Friday.
A report from Toronto-based anti-poverty organization Maytree shows that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had the lowest social assistance rates in the country in 2021. New Brunswick offered the lowest rates: a single person considered employable received about $7,500 a year, and a single person with a disability made about $10,300. In Nova Scotia, a single employable person received about $8,400 a year, and a single person on disability got $11,560.
The poverty line in New Brunswick sits at around $22,400 for a single person, the Maytree report said.
With climbing food prices, MacKay said he's relying on credit to supplement his social assistance cheques. When he's able to work, he uses his wages to pay down debt.
Janelle LeBlanc, also with the New Brunswick Common Front for Social Justice, described the province's social assistance rates as "inhumane."
"People are living in extreme poverty," she said. "You can't live on that."
Alec Stratford, chair of the Nova Scotia Action Coalition for Community Well-Being, said it was "socially and fiscally reckless" for the Nova Scotia government not to include social assistance increases in its budget Thursday.
The government's decision to keep rates constant when the cost of living is soaring "increases despair" for those relying on social assistance, he said.
"I think it reinforces their belief already that nobody cares," he said in an interview Friday. "It increases stigmatization and isolation."
Low social assistance rates end up costing the province in other ways, because people living in poverty often require other government-funded services, Stratford said.
Both groups would like to see governments increase social assistance rates to match the poverty line.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Winning $70 million Lotto Max ticket sold in Toronto
A winning Lotto Max ticket was sold in Toronto from last nights draw.
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
What's a Barnacle? It's yellow, sticks and screams if you try to pry it off your car
Barnacles, bright yellow devices used to make sure parking scofflaws pay their tickets, could soon be making their way to cities across Canada.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Moscow says 50 Ukrainian drones shot down as attacks spark fires at Russian power stations
Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russia overnight, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said Saturday, in attacks that appeared to target the country's energy infrastructure.
A Nigerian chess champion plays the royal game for 60 hours - a new global chess record
A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City's Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.