“The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized our interconnectedness …Our collective experience during this time presents a vital opportunity…Together we can take steps to protect the health and safety of all Canadians.”
—Moderator Richard Bott
A guaranteed livable income would help address the persistent inequities within our country. Some pandemic-related relief programs (such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, CERB) have demonstrated that it is possible to provide a kind of universal basic income.
What Is Basic Income?
A guaranteed livable income (GLI) is a payment to individuals or families by government that covers the cost of basic necessities (food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and community participation) and is not conditional on meeting employment criteria in order to qualify for the benefit. It ensures everyone an income adequate for meeting basic needs, allowing all people to live with dignity regardless of work status. Such a program would be part of the national fabric of services that preserve and protect Canadians; or, as Jesus put it, “to love our neighbours as ourselves.”
Rather than have a rules-based, bureaucratically driven application process (during which applications must prove they are "really poor" before being approved), all Canadian citizens are ensured an automatic top-up when their income collapses for whatever reason. The incomes would be unconditional, automatic, non-withdrawable, individual, and a right of every legal resident.
A guaranteed livable income is an effective way to support the reduction and elimination of poverty and insecurity; the narrowing of extreme income and wealth inequalities; shared citizenship; and improved democratic and economic functioning.
Take Action
1. WRITE to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (pm@pm.gc.ca) and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland (Chrystia.Freeland@parl.gc.ca) and ask them to develop and implement a guaranteed livable income program, in collaboration with the provinces, territories, and Indigenous leadership. Please cc your own Member of Parliament. You can write your own letter or personalize the template below. You can multiply your efforts by sharing your letter with friends and encouraging them to write their own. Here are some “talking points”:
• a program that provides an adequate living level for everyone and addresses the persistent inequities that exist within the current wage and social benefit structures of our country
• a program that addresses systemic barriers experienced by Indigenous peoples in accessing relief programs
. build a program that is universally accessible and preserves human dignity rather than creating stigma, removes discriminatory barriers, does not penalize people for the work that they do, is available with a minimum of bureaucracy, and exists alongside other social supports, including health care, pharmacare, pension, and education supports.
2. WATCH some videos:
• United Church members and ministers speak out:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQDu-SgFb3Rh9FcZ_M6cK_by8n4UHWg9w
• “Lift the Floor: Would a universal basic income guarantee a good life for all Canadians?” (webinar by the Broadbent Institute, May 2020):
https://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/would_a_universal_basic_income_guarantee_ a_good_life_for_all_canadians
• Massey Dialogues: Hugh Segal on Judgement-free Money Efficiently Distributed: Time for a Basic Income?” (webinar, April 2020):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjkDeccemBs
3. LEARN by reviewing the following resources:
• “Nuts and Bolts of a Guaranteed Livable Income”: https://unitedchurch.ca/sites/default/files/2021-02/backgrounder_guaranteed-livableincome.pdf
• “Universal basic income” (Broadview article): https://broadview.org/universalbasic-income/
• “The Intended and Unexpected Benefits of Guaranteed Basic Income (Citizens
for Public Justice, 2019): https://cpj.ca/the-intended-and-unexpected-benefits-ofguaranteed-basic-income/
• “Basic Income: Rethinking Social Policy: (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2016): https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/basicincome
• Basic Income Canada: https://basicincomecanada.org/
E-mail Template: Guaranteed Livable Income
NB: The main content can be adapted to send directly to your MP or others inside or outside government. We encourage you to personalize the message, especially if you know the person you are writing to.
(Date)
Dear Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance:
Subject: A guaranteed livable income program
As a member of The United Church of Canada, I call on you to build on the positive experience of the CERB and recent cross-party and jurisdictional cooperation and roll out a guaranteed livable income program that ensures an adequate living income level for everyone and addresses the persistent inequities that exist within the present wage and social benefit structures in our country.
I urge you to build a program that is universally accessible, preserves human dignity rather than creates stigma, removes discriminatory barriers, does not penalize people for the work that they do, and is available with a minimum of bureaucracy. Particular attention should address the barriers experienced by Indigenous peoples in accessing relief programs related to COVID-19, recognizing that these are manifestations of a system that leaves Indigenous people out of decision-making and denies their rightful place in Canada’s economy.
Our collective experience as Canadians during COVID-19 and the growing momentum for such a program presents a vital opportunity. Drawing on Canadians’ realization that poverty can happen very quickly to anyone, together we can take important steps to protect the health, safety, and dignity of all Canadians going forward.
I look forward to hearing from your office.
Sincerely,
(your name)
(your address)
Cc: (your member of parliament)