|
Killer cuts to welfare "These reforms have brought death," was how welfare rights spokesperson Nicole Jetté put it. The disappearance of a decades-old notion in Quebec--namely, that the government should provide the destitute with a minimum amount of money to ensure their survival--was directly responsible, Jetté said, for a rash of suicides that welfare support groups were hearing about in the course of their work. With the latest proposed welfare reform, the government would have every right to leave a destitute person penniless. >> Two welfare reform umbrella groups held a press conference this week to denounce cuts to welfare cheques. They presented the story of an unemployed 24-year-old single mother of two, who asked her welfare agent to find her a job. He found her one--in a factory far from her home, working nights. She refused it because of her child-care responsibilities, and saw her cheque promptly cut by $150 for the next year. Other cuts followed: $104, for sharing her apartment and another $100 when her oldest child turned five. Left $354 poorer per month, she killed herself. Money concerns haunted her to the end, and were mentioned in her suicide note. >> The groups are seeking a commitment from the government that all Quebecers can count on a minimum welfare amount (which they didn't specify) protected from any seizure, withdrawal, penalty or cut. They've sought all MNAs' signatures on a declaration stating as much, and have so far collected 13, including those of Nicole Loiselle, MNA for St-Henri-Ste-Anne, Jacques Chagnon of Westmount-St-Louis and Russell Copeman of NDG (the latter adding "except in cases of criminal fraud"). >> Jean Lalande of Point-St-Charles's Welfare Rights Committee described how easy it has become for welfare recipients to be cut: "You can be doing everything your welfare agent says, going to every meeting, following every requirement. And you make one wrong move, or show up late to one meeting. And your penalty for that is 30 per cent of your annual income." --Jacquie Charlton
|