Getting welfare no walk in park
By John Mohan

An estimated 60,000 Manitobans are recipients of Employment and Income Assistance (EIA), commonly known as social assistance or welfare.

In Manitoba a single person considered employable receives about $195 per month ($6.50/day) for all living expenses -- clothes, bus passes, food etc. Another $271 is provided for whatever shelter and utilities that amount can afford -- usually boarding houses or aged Main Street hotels. Totalling $466 per month, EIA doesn't afford much quality of life.

Anti-poverty groups advocate for higher EIA rates for the needy. The way we treat the less fortunate reflects the character and values of our society and government. However, higher rates alone won't necessarily resolve the stigmas or dignity issues that go with receiving social assistance.

Dan Ingalls directs Siloam Mission's holistic employment training program for those who are homeless and at risk of being homeless people. In MOST (Mission: Off the Streets Team), trainees work for pay six hours a day on sidewalk cleaning projects and also participate in various life skills classes. The goal is to develop previously hard-to-employ people to the point where they can secure good paying jobs and move into stable housing. With few exceptions, trainees have received social assistance in the past.

Recently, Ingalls took the group through a development exercise by asking if any thought it was a positive experience to receive social assistance, though they hadn't worked for the money. Tax-paying citizens typically assume those on assistance like the system. However, each one shook their heads and looked downward to express displeasure.

Dan pressed them further about their responses.

There were several reasons. Never having enough money to do anything. Relying on non-profit agencies to make ends meet. The sheer embarrassment of being on welfare. One person summed up everyone's thoughts when they recounted how much they hated cashing the social assistance cheques, because bank tellers often looked at them with disdain.

In contrast, as they discussed the benefits of payday cheques, there was a sense of pride and excitement. They used words like self-respect, self-esteem, dignity, independence, opportunity and new clothes. One said they spend their paycheques more carefully than assistance cheques because they had earned the money themselves.

Sometimes people fall on hard times and need EIA for a season. Some people have physical or intellectual limitations that restrict their employment possibilities. In those cases, social assistance may become the only safety net that protects them from hunger or homelessness.

Receiving social assistance without expectation or opportunity to contribute to a better community or create something to have pride in is inhumane. Summarily cutting people off EIA or leaving the rates at current levels is unlikely to motivate people.

However, a graduated program where assistance recipients can progress toward good-paying full-time employment without immediately losing all EIA benefits would help people feel braver about the risks of getting off assistance and getting back their dignity.

Originally printed in the Winnipeg Sun, Wednesday, May 28, 2008.
Reprinted with the permission of Sun Media Corporation.