Thursday, April 06, 2006

[Canada] Local poverty advocates prompt goverment action

from Campbell River Mirror

By Grant Warkentin

A local advocacy group has been instrumental in getting the government to start fixing problems with the welfare system.

"We are really pleased with the ombudsman's findings, it is unfortunate that it took a complaint like this to get the government's attention," said Sian Thomson, director of the North Island Advocacy Coalition Society. "Regardless of how one feels about "welfare," our complaint dealt with the ways in which people are unfairly denied benefits that they are entitled to under the law."

In Feb. 2005, a coalition of 15 advocacy groups around B.C. filed a complaint with B.C.'s ombudsman Howard Kushner. Their complaint prompted the ombudsman to look into how people relying on provincial income assistance were being treated by the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance.

"This office takes complaints about income assistance issues very seriously. We are mindful that individuals who must rely on support from the ministry for basic food and shelter need a timely response, clear information and to be treated fairly,"

Kushner said in his report. "To date, I am encouraged by the ministry's responses to the matters identified in this report and I am hopeful that the changes that have been made will have a positive effect on both ministry clients and staff."

The government has already started making changes to the way it helps income assistance clients based on Kushner's report, including the income assistance application process, how ministry staff conduct home visits and clients' rights to appeal decisions.

"We look forward to the ministry fully implementing the changes that it says it will make as a result of the investigation," Thomson said. "We are also looking forward to subsequent reports from the ombudsman in this regard."

Thomson said the ministry has been improving since last year.
"Since filing our complaint, we have noticed that the ministry has been taking steps to improve service delivery. These changes represent a good start and we look forward to more dialogue. The jury is still out on this I think," she said.

Kushner's investigation will continue but he has been able to respond to three of the five concerns raised by the coalition. However, he is still investigating complaints about how the ministry treats people with persistent, multiple barriers to employment - i.e. someone who cannot work because of a permanent disability - and is also still investigating ministry requirements for medical and other documents before granting assistance.

"I intend to report publicly on the outcome of these two complaints," Kushner said.
Statistics provided by Thomson suggest that in the last three years while the government has been insisting its programs have been helping people get jobs and off welfare, in fact homelessness has become a bigger problem in B.C. than ever before.
n There has been a significant growth in homeless counted in the Vancouver region, almost doubling from 2002 to 2005.

The number of homeless on Vancouver streets has grown by 235 per cent or 800 persons since the last count in 2002.

Thomson said the statistics are representative of Vancouver Island as well as Vancouver.

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