Basic Income Now
Websites:
Resources:
1. Basic Income and Food Security, Dr. Valerie Tarasuk, 2017
2. A Proposal for a Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit in Prince Edward Island, 2023
3. To get a real sense of how inadequate our income assistance system is - the Maytree Foundation offers one of the best analysis. Their latest report on Welfare in Canada is for 2023 (published in July, 2024). https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/Welfare_in_Canada_2023.pdf Their charts are really well done and clearly compare the amount people receive and how far below the poverty line the amount is. (Note that the first report in this series was published in 1987 - so Maytree has almost 4 decades of experience doing this analysis). Maytree also publishes a report called The Latest Count of Social Assistance Recipients Across Canada (published March 2025) - also interesting: https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/Social_Assistance_Summaries_2024.pdf
Take Action
Coalition Canada is doing a real push right now to try and get the PEI demonstration project included in the fall budget.
Meet with your MP
It would be great if we could get as many Vancouver Food Justice Coalition members as we can to meet with their MP’s this summer (it is always more effective if someone in their riding calls for the meeting, as some MPs can and will refuse to meet if there is no one from their riding present in the meeting). Here are some talking points you can use when you meet with your MP.
Parliamentary Petitions
It is important to tell your MP that the Government of Canada has a specific process to enable Canadians to petition their government. The MP presenting a petition in the House of Commons does not have to be a supporter of the petitioners' request. Their role is to enable their constituents to have their concerns voiced in the House.
Here is a link to the Basic Income BC site - federal petition (https://basicincomebc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/final-petition-2-gov-of-canada.pdf).
The Vancouver Food Justice Coalition invites all members to help collect petition signatures for us to present to our local MPs.
Please contact vanfoodjustice@gmail.com for more information on how you can get involved.