A guaranteed basic income would represent a significant philosophical shift, moving away from requiring people to prove that they “deserve” income to treating all Canadians as worthy of having their basic needs met. Is the grocery rebate a step in that direction? Read the article.
PEI Basic Income Advocates meet with Jagmeet Singh
The Green Resilience Project releases its final report
The Green Resilience Project held community discussions across Canada on income security, transitioning to a greener economy, and building resilience. From these discussions, four overarching recommendations emerged:
1. Incorporate basic income into Canada’s plan for a just transition.
2. Design income security and climate policy solutions to focus on improving individual and collective quality of life.
3. Empower people and communities with the tools and resources they need to build or strengthen resilience.
4. Ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.
PEI Party Leaders call for a province-wide BIG
Leaders of all 3 parties signed a letter this April urging the federal government to engage with the province to provide the funding necessary to create a basic income program in PEI.
Canada Coalition Basic Income, 2022 pre-budget submission
Recommendations
1. Introduce a livable national Basic Income Guarantee using local costs of living, indexed annually and delivered monthly, to residents of Canada aged 18 to 64.
2. Recognize that indigenous people must be key players with the Federal Government in designing a Basic Income Guarantee in ways suited to the needs of their communities both on reserve and off.
3. Design a national Basic Income Guarantee program conditional only on income and residency in Canada that delivers the greatest support to working-aged adults with lowest incomes.
4. Engage with each province and territory to harmonize the income transfers they receive as the federal government assumes responsibility for income transfers to working-age adults, starting with Prince Edward Island.
Halifax Marches for Basic Income
Royal Society of Canada Report on COVID-19 Recovery
Background on the Policy Briefing Report Process
Established by the President of the Royal Society of Canada in April 2020, the RSC Task Force on COVID-19 was mandated to provide evidence-informed perspectives on major societal challenges in response to and recovery from COVID-19.
The Task Force established a series of Working Groups to rapidly develop Policy Briefings, with the objective of supporting policy makers with evidence to inform their decisions.
https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/Econ%20PB_EN_3.pdf
Recommendation #1 under Renewing Social Contract
Establish a basic income guarantee (BIG) that is universally available to provide adequate income support to all persons and be responsive to economic shocks.
Nunavut to look at guaranteed basic income program
Wow! Go Nunavut! The government announced a feasibility study with the goal being to come up with solutions for how a Basic Income could be implemented. This is what we have been calling for in Nova Scotia! Let's map the way forward!
https://www.cbc.ca/.../nunavut-to-look-at-guaranteed...
“When there's a political will and you have support from the public, there's not a lot that can really stop a project moving forward. - And once the project is in place … we can learn from it and see if it worked, or where to go from there.”
John Main, Nunavut MLA
In Support of a Guaranteed Basic Income by Anna Quon
If I had enough money,
I wouldn't worry
about spending a bus ticket
to go to the dentist
to get my teeth fixed
so I could smile again.
If I had enough money
to get my teeth fixed,
I might choose
to take a course
in plumbing or art history
instead
because that would make me smile too
and give me something to think about at night
besides how to magically stretch
dollars I don't have.
If I had enough money,
I might take up baking
or buy second hand clothes
or shop the two-for-one specials
because that would save me money
that I could stretch
to cover the holes in my life,
where my education
and my safe place to live ought to be.
Money can’t buy happiness, they say.
But as for me I'd be glad of an income
That allows me to have a roof tonight,
food tomorrow, and the same the day after that.
I like to know what to expect,
especially when it's not hunger, or homelessness.
Sometimes a toonie buys me happiness, when I need a coffee.
Sometimes a loonie, because it's worth a roll of toilet paper.
(And try to be happy when you need one and don't have one.)
Sometimes a quarter buys me happiness,
because it means I can call the one I love.
Money can't guarantee happiness
and neither can food or shelter
but you still want those, don't you?
Money can't buy happiness, you say?
No?
Well, maybe you should try poverty.
Anna Quon is a Halifax poet, novelist, visual artist and filmmaker who likes to make paintings and short animated films of her original poetry. She is also a middle-aged, mixed race Mad woman, a writing workshop facilitator, and maker of messes. Anna holds a BA in English literature and has worked contracts in the not for profit sector all her adult life, except for several years as a freelance writer. She has traveled as far as the Czech Republic and Russia to work on her writing, spent a year of her life in the mental hospital, likes to swim and walk and and spends way too much time on social media for her own good. Anna's motto is "Be kind, be careful, be curious, but above all be kind."
Anna Quon reflects on two weeks during a pandemic. (Anna Quon)
See CBC : A Halifax poet wrote 48 poems in less than two weeks of the pandemic
Basic Income Canada Network Newsletter
Hi All,
what follows is a copy of the original Newsletter from BICN. If you wish to receive the original version of the Newsletter (recommended), visit https://www.basicincomecanada.org/subscribe and subscribe to the newsletter. The copy you see here misses , digital graphics, images and other features.
Exciting news -- we now have a confirmed date for NABIG 2020! It will be held May 21-24, 2020, in Hamilton, Ontario. Please see below for the full announcement!
In this newsletter you'll also find: highlights from The Horizons Fall 2019 Issue on Poverty and Health, recent media coverage on BI -- including a new study of the Canada Child Benefit -- a UBI essay contest, and details for the upcoming OIBN Lobby Day on Nov. 20.
SAVE THE DATE - NABIG 2020!
The Basic Income Canada Network and the United States Basic Income Guarantee Networkare pleased to announce the 2020 Congress. The 19th North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress will be held on 21 – 24 May, 2020 in Hamilton, Ontario.
We are very grateful to The Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University for partnering with us to make this gathering possible, and to other community organizations and volunteers. We hope for a large and diverse gathering, and together we will work to make it a great success.
Please stay tuned for further information. We will shortly put out a Call for Participation for those interested in submitting proposals for workshop presentations and other structured contributions to the program.
For everyone interested in coming to learn, exchange and advance the basic income movement, more information on the program, location, how to register, and travel and accommodation will be provided in the coming weeks.
Highlights from Horizons Fall 2019 issue on Poverty and Health
Queen's University's Department of Family Medicine Global Health program has released its Fall publication on Poverty and Health.
It includes articles from BICN Board member Tara Kainer and Elaine Power at the OBIP. We've included highlights below. The read the full issue, click here.
By Tara Kainer
From The Tyee to The National Post, Globe & Mail, Huffington Post and The Star, journalists describe the housing situation in Canada as a “crisis.” Foreign investment, speculation, low interest rates, inadequate supply, and higher construction costs have all led to a dramatic spike in the cost of housing, leaving even those who earn reasonably good incomes struggling to afford home ownership or rentals.
To read the full article, click here (article begins on p.15).
By Elaine Power On July 31, 2018, recently elected MPP and then Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Lisa Macleod rose in the Ontario Legislature and announced the cancellation of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot (OBIP) project, which had been running for a little more than a year. In doing so, she broke Premier Doug Ford’s campaign promise from a few months earlier that a Conservative government, if elected, would continue the pilot. Macleod’s move stunned anti-poverty activists and pulled the rug out from the approximately 4,000 participants who had signed a three-year contract with the Ontario government and had been receiving their cheques.
To read the full article, click here (article begins on p. 20).
Canada Child Benefit helped reduce number of families with severe food insecurity: study The Canada Child Benefit has helped reduce food insecurity for some of the poorest Canadians, according to a new study by Valerie Tarasuk, a professor of nutritional sciences at U of T.
To read the Global News story, click here.
Economic Incentives don't always do what we want them to This is a profound and well-written editorial in the New York Times, from this year’s Nobel Prize winning economists:
To read the article, click here.
The case for finally adopting a universal basic income This recent editorial in the Toronto Star by Katie Davey, 2019/2020 Action Canada Fellow, makes a compelling case for universal BI.
To read the article, click here.
UBI Essay Prize The UBIEXP research group and the journal Ethics, Politics & Society (EPS), from the Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society, together with the Portuguese Basic Income association, invite submissions for the international essay prize competition on the following topic:
"What (if Anything) Can Justify Basic Income Experiments?"
• The journal EPS welcomes essays of 7,000 words or fewer addressing this topic.
• The essays must be written in English.
• All submissions should be headed “Unconditional Basic Income Prize Essay Competition” (with the author's name and address given in the e-mail, but NOT in the essay itself).
• Submissions are blind reviewed.
Contributions may be sent as email attachments in word format to: roberto.merrill@ilch.uminho.pt.
The winner of the best essay will receive €1000 and the essay will be published in the journal EPS.
Submission deadline: 15 January 2020
Upcoming Events
OBIN Lobby Day - November 20, 2019 The Ontario Basic Income Network is holding a Basic Income Lobby Day at Queen's Park November 20, 2019. The purpose of this event is to encourage relationship-building with the goal of getting issues surrounding basic income onto the Legislative agenda. Participation from all parties has been confirmed. There will be a reception for MPPs and individual meetings have been set up with several MPPs to share information about the importance of basic income.
Get in Touch With Us
To get in touch with BICN please contact our General Manager, Ben Earle by email at info@basicincomecanada.org.
As always, we welcome your feedback on this newsletter, as well as any contributions you may have to share with our community. To submit news, events, or other items of interest, please contact BICN’s communications liaison, Melissa Hughes, at media@basicincomecanada.org .
Sheila Regehr