WHY DO WE WANT SOCIAL ASSISTANCE TO BE RAISED?

 

 

1-Because it's a responsibility of government

Social assistance is a form of help that different provinces in Canada started putting in place as a last resort in the late 1930s. There is nothing to follow social assistance: it is last resort assistance . The supportive role of government remains essential, today more than ever as the modern economy continues to exclude large numbers of people.

2-Because the gap between rich and poor is getting larger at an increasing rate in NB.

In New Brunswick, the gap between the richest families and the poorest families is quickly getting larger. In 1993, the richest 10% of families earned an average of $150,417 while the poorest 10% earned $14,093. In 2004, the richest families earned $255,056 on average and the poorest families earned $16,938 .

3-Because the amounts of social assistance are the lowest in Canada.

Social assistance benefits in New Brunswick are the lowest in Atlantic Canada, which are in turn below the national average of social assistance benefits in Canada as a whole. Social assistance benefits in New Brunswick range between $276 and $582 per month for an unattached individual, and are far from sufficient to cover his or her basic expenses (housing, food, clothing).

PROPOSITION

 

1-TO IMMEDIATELY READJUST the various categories of social assistance benefits in New Brunswick to match the average in other Atlantic Provinces 3 , and to index them each year.

Categories	Monthly Benefits in NB	Average of monthly benefits in other Atlantic Provinces
Interim assistance (for persons deemed capable of working)	$276	$510
Extended benefits (for disabled persons or persons deemed to have permanent barriers to employment)	$582	$658
Transitional assistance (for persons deemed to have non-permanent barrier to employment)	$505	No comparable category in Canada; Proposed: $580

New Brunswick has a category that has no equivalent in other provinces, the transitional assistance category. The benefits for transitional assistance are never included in the National Council of Welfare (NCW) reports because the data on these benefits can't be compared with such data in other provinces. However, this is the category where the majority (81%) of social assistance recipients are registered in New Brunswick 4 ! Consequently, it is very important to immediately readjust this transitional assistance category AS WELL, to $580 monthly. These benefits would still remain higher than interim assistance and lower than extended benefits.

2-TO READJUST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE the amounts of social assistance so that everyone is guaranteed an income that covers their basic needs (food, clothing, housing). The Market Basket Measure (MBM) developed by Statistics Canada sets the minimum amounts needed to cover basic necessities in various communities in Canada. In New Brunswick this basic minimum is set at about $12,000 for a single individual and $24,000 for a family consisting of two adults and two children. Our proposition is to gradually increase social assistance incomes to $12,000 and $24,000 for individuals living alone and for families (4 persons), and to index them to the cost of living.

Here the term ‘families' means families with one or more children.

Source: Campaign 2000 (2006) Report Card on Child Family Poverty in New-Brunswick, Saint John Human Development Council.

3 Source: www.gnb.ca/0017/statistics/06-07-f.asp

4 Excluding health care and medication.