Around 20 people gathered at St. Andrew’s United Church March 26 for a vigil supporting a Guaranteed Livable Income, part of a countrywide series of vigils on the same topic held through the United Church of Canada.
Since 1972, the United Church of Canada has advocated for a guaranteed livable income, which it says is more equitable, less expensive, and less complicated to administer than the existing patchwork systems forming our social net.
The Sudbury event, framed as a “funeral for those Canada left behind,” combined worship, discussion, and action to make clear our critical responsibility to care for the poor and marginalized.
The participants then marched toward Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe’s office in downtown Sudbury.
Torrin Maag, minister of the Young Adults United Church of Sudbury, said a guaranteed livable income is a policy where every citizen is entitled to a basic salary that would bring them up to the basic income required to live.
He said the United Church proposes that if you file your taxes, and you’re below the poverty line, “a certain amount of money would be given to you to bring you up to an amount of money where you can comfortably live.”
Right now, in terms of social welfare, “we have dozens of policies that different people can apply to, or get rejected to more commonly, which means small amounts. And if you add all that together, you don't get a living wage, it is not enough to live off.”
One woman who attended the event said in the 1990s, she was on a social assistance program called Mother’s Allowance, she was reasonably well taken care of. But she said this program was eliminated by the Harris Progressive Conservatives with welfare reforms.
“We found out what latchkey kids meant,” she said. “So because we have to either go to school full time, or go to work full time, we weren't there for our children. It created a lot of mayhem within the home. So I was on survival mode. Before I wasn't.”
Another woman, who said she’s making slightly more than minimum wage at her pharmacy job, said she likes her job, and feels like she’s contributing to society.
But she can hardly afford to take care of herself, and feels like she’s constantly in survival mode.
She said she would like more money, but can’t just demand a massive pay increase from her employers.
“I don't know if there's much good in trying to take my chances of quitting and looking elsewhere,” she said.
“If I did kind of have more of those basic income needs met, I would still be able to do my little minimum wage job and be more OK with it and feel like it is more worth it, because I know I'm helping people.”
The vigil event was attended by two Greater Sudbury city councillors, Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée and Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh.
Labbée spoke of the challenges that could be posed by the Guaranteed Livable Income, given it would replace social welfare programs, including subsidized housing.
She gave the example of a senior on Canada pension living off around $1,600 per month and paying around $530 a month for rent through subsidized housing.
“So it's a gamble for them to say yes, you're going to give us $2,000,” Labbée said. “So yay, we get an extra $400. But if we no longer qualify for our rent to be at that rate, then I don't want to gamble with that because I've been managing where I'm at right now.”
Maag said that as the guaranteed liveable income is implemented, it would have to be paired with measures to deal with concerns such as these.
He said the program would solve a lot of problems, but “it’s not a silver bullet.
“There are some problems that it might exacerbate. Housing is definitely one of them. So I think it's an excellent good concern, and I'm very glad you brought it up. I'm not so educated on the housing market that I could offer the brilliant solution to prevent that. But it is something that is being thought about.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s associate content editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
