The BCCPD is a member of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. In collaboration with BC ACORN, the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition has coordinated the “BC’s Hardest Working” initiative to show what the gap between rich and poor actually looks like.

“BC’s Hardest Working”

(Project coordinated by BC Poverty Reduction Coalition and BC ACORN)

If you are living on no or low income, we invite you to come forward and tell your story as part of the “BC’s Hardest Working” project. This list will be published online through our website at bcpovertyreduction.ca at the same time as the “14^th Annual Rich 100” to emphasize the fact that BC has the highest inequality rate in Canada.

Your participation is significant because together all these stories will provide a rich account of inequality in BC and what’s really happening to people and their families. They will make a compelling argument about the personal and social costs of inequality, and convince people of the need for the government to do something about it. And that will make a difference, not only to you, but to so many people around the province.

So, we would like to talk to you individually or in a group and use that conversation to tell your story online. If you’re comfortable, it would be great to have a photograph of you or of something that you feel represents your story. We will support you in telling your story through digital media, and help connect your story to the bigger picture of what’s happening in this province through the government’s lack of action.

We want to provide a representation of both the depth and breadth of poverty in BC so we would like to feature those on welfare, the “working poor” and those with no income at all. We would also like a diverse selection of people from around the province including people with disabilities, Aboriginal and First Nations people, single mothers, poor seniors, and recent immigrants and refugees.

Please email Trish at trish@bcpovertyreduction.ca for more information or to get involved.

This project is being coordinated by the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition in collaboration with BC ACORN as part of our campaign to raise public awareness about poverty in BC and convince the government to commit to a comprehensive poverty reduction plan.

The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition includes community and non-profit groups, neighbourhood houses, faith groups, health organizations, and First Nations and Aboriginal groups. For more information, go to bcpovertyreduction.ca.

Changes to disability benefits in B.C. welcome but fail to address the real problem.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vancouver, B.C., June 11, 2012 – While the government’s changes to income assistance are welcome, they fail to address the real problem, especially for the many individuals with disabilities who are relying on the Province’s Disability Benefits. The Disability Without Poverty Network* is calling on the Province of B.C. to increase the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Benefit to reflect the cost of living in this province.

Some of the changes announced today by the Ministry of Social Development include an increase from $500 per month to $800 per month in the earnings exemption (the amount of money a person can earn from employment before their PWD benefits are clawed back) and greater flexibility around earnings calculations (people receiving PWD benefits will be able to calculate earnings yearly instead of monthly). Monthly assistance rates, however, remain unchanged.

“An increase in the earnings exemption is a positive step forward,” says Jane Dyson, Executive Director of the BC Coalition of People with Disabilities. “It will give people with disabilities who are able to work more opportunities, but without an increase in rates, people with disabilities who cannot work will continue to slide deeper and deeper into poverty.”

“As other provinces across the country increase their disability benefit rates, B.C. is rapidly falling behind,” says Faith Bodnar, Executive Director of the BC Association for Community Living. “People with disabilities are forced to choose between rent and food; the time for an increase in benefits is long overdue.”

The Facts – PWD Rates in B.C.

• Over the last decade the cost of living has increased dramatically in B.C. but the disability benefit rates have not kept pace.
• Since 2001, the PWD rate has increased by only $120 per month, while the cost of basic essentials such as food, shelter and basic communication has continued to increase. This means that there is a growing gap between the basic cost of living and what a PWD recipient can afford.
• A person receiving PWD benefits receives $375 per month for housing and $531 per month for basic living expenses such as food, clothing, housing, and personal care. As shelter costs increase, people are forced to use an even greater portion of their support to pay for housing and cannot afford the basic necessities.
• In 2005 B.C. the assistance available to people with disabilities was second highest among all of the Provinces. Since 2005, B.C. has continued to fall behind as other provinces and territories make adjustments to their rates. In July, B.C. will have fallen to 4th place among all of the Province’s and 6th place overall in terms of the assistance provided with Alberta, the Yukon and Saskatchewan have recently increasing their rates.
• Research produced by the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary observed that the level of assistance available to a single person with a disability in B.C. is approximately $300 per month below the income deemed acceptable for a low income senior based on the standards established under the Federal OAS/GIS programs.
• The Disability Without Poverty Network proposes an increase to the PWD rate to a minimum of $1200 per month to better reflect the actual cost of living in B.C. and to bring the rates in line with other vulnerable groups such as seniors. (Overdue: the Case for Increasing the Persons with Disability Benefit in B.C.)

                                                                         -30-

  Media Contacts:

• Faith Bodnar, Executive Director, BC Association for Community Living, 604-764-2591
• Jane Dyson, Executive Director, BC Coalition of People with Disabilities, 604-875-0188 
• Lorraine Copas, Executive Director, Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC), 604-718-7736

*The Disability Without Poverty Network includes the BC Association for Community Living (BCACL), BC Coalition of People with Disabilities (BCCPD), Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division (CMHA), Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS) and Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC)