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.
Parliamentary Petition
An e-petition 6772 on the Government of Canada website calling for the implementation of the Prince Edward Island Guaranteed Basic Income Demonstration Project (PEI GBI), a critical first step toward a national GBI. A national GBI would set a secure income floor for all Canadians and reduce poverty from about 10% (and rising) to just 2%. It is designed to work alongside—not replace—existing supports such as minimum wage, disability programs, labour rights, reconciliation efforts, and other vital services. No one should ever be worse off under a GBI. Please take a moment to sign the petition and share it through your networks. This is our chance to show broad support and move Canada closer to a fair, inclusive income system.
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. (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.
Print Petition
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.
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