Hon. Nancy J. Hartling: Honourable senators, I am speaking to you from the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people in my home in New Brunswick.

Today, I rise to support Bill S-233, An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income, or GLBI, one of the most critical bills that I have seen come before us. I will focus my remarks on poverty, women and New Brunswick.

I was appointed to the Senate, to this place, in 2016, following a 34-year career as the director of a non-profit agency in Moncton, New Brunswick, where I worked with single parents and vulnerable people, most of whom lived in poverty and who may also have experienced abuse and violence. I bring my experience and their voices here today to help us understand what living in the margins really means.

I am an optimistic person who tries to look at the positive side of what social justice activities can change. Two noteworthy studies that have come out of the Senate include the Croll Report — the 1971 Report of the Special Senate Committee on Poverty, which details the devastating impact of poverty in Canada — and the 2006 Kirby report — Out of the Shadows at Last, which revealed the interconnection between mental health and poverty.

When we met with former senators Art Eggleton and Hugh Segal, and listened to their wisdom and expertise on poverty and basic income, I felt encouraged and optimistic. Eggleton’s 2018 book The Poverty, Inequality, and Job Challenge: The Case for Basic Income in Canada confirmed that the time is right to pursue legislation for guaranteed livable basic income.

In Canada, poverty reduction strategies have been talked about for decades. One positive move was legislation that enacted the Canada child benefit which assists thousands of families so they may better provide for themselves and their children. According to Statistics Canada, the child poverty rate decreased from 15% to 8% between 2012 and 2018, largely because of this transfer.

I witnessed, like many of you, the creation of the first food banks — mine in Atlantic Canada — in the 1980s. They were only meant to be a temporary measure. Food banks have not only grown, but many families now depend on them as everything around them has become unaffordable. According to Food Banks Canada’s HungerCount 2021 report, food bank use had experienced sharp growth prior to the pandemic, but it exploded by 20% since the arrival of COVID-19. The top reasons cited for using them were the high cost of food, social assistance being too low and the cost of housing. It is worth mentioning that many of those who visit food banks are working but cannot make ends meet.

Across New Brunswick, rents have been increasing at a rapid rate. In the past months, some seniors and families faced eviction due to rent increases of up to $500 per month. For example, Moncton saw two-bedroom rentals increase on average by 9.1% in 2020, the highest increase in Canada.

Temporary rent control has just been implemented for the province, but will cap at a 3.8% increase for this year only. Then, what? As a result, some people are forced to choose between heating, eating or being homeless.

What has the pandemic done to exacerbate these problems? It’s been the most difficult for those who are marginalized and who already had income challenges: families, racialized people, people with disabilities, seniors, people with mental health or addiction issues and those who face violence and homelessness. We need to remember the intersectionality of the most vulnerable in our society.

The pandemic directly affected the economic security of many individuals. Many businesses had to shut down due to COVID health restrictions. Government financial aid programs were rolled out quickly to help, like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, wage subsidies, lockdown benefits, sickness benefits and caregiving benefits to name a few. Now, to be clear, not everyone was able to access these programs, often because they did not qualify for support. The most vulnerable remained vulnerable.

The impacts of COVID-19 have not been gender-neutral. As a result, women were likely to shoulder the disproportionate share of unpaid labour, experience poverty, be employed in minimum wage jobs, receive less in pensions and other benefits and experience gender-based violence or abuse. More than 56% of Canadian women are employed in work that we call the five C’s: caring, clerical, catering, cashiering or cleaning. These are the people who took on the most health risks, were at the highest risk of losing their jobs and are too often paid the least.

Recently, Senator Bernard and I hosted a panel with the Canadian Association of Social Workers for National Social Work Month. The discussion turned to how people who live in poverty are viewed that somehow it’s their fault they are poor, homeless, don’t have good jobs, have mental health issues or are trapped in intimate partner violence. Attitudes are still prevalent about the poor being undervalued people in our society. Could that be why public policies like guaranteed livable basic income aren’t seen as important? Do such people really deserve this money?

Senator Bernard said, astutely:

I think the way the government responded to Covid-19 with CERB was phenomenal and it was my hope and expectation that they would make a bold move to introduce a national strategy for a Guaranteed Livable basic Income.

The word “bold” struck me as it means accepting and acknowledging that the most vulnerable people deserve to have their basic needs met and live with dignity.

However, here we are 50 years after the 1971 Croll Report, and one in seven Canadians live in poverty according to the low-income measure. One in five racialized Canadians live in poverty. People living with disabilities are twice as likely to live below the poverty line, and 21% of single mothers raise their children while living in poverty. The statistics are even starker for Indigenous and northern communities. In New Brunswick, 30,000 children, or 21.8%, live in poverty. In one part of Moncton, that number is 39%. Most Indigenous communities in my province have child poverty rates exceeding 50%.

During my career, I had many opportunities to listen to the voices of those most affected by poverty. Between 2007 and 2011, our agency initiated a project called Photovoice to capture those voices. It was led by Dr. Lynne Duffy, a professor at the University of New Brunswick’s nursing school, who obtained a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant to undertake this project. We recruited women from our agency and the community to carry out a participatory community health assessment based upon, and from, a woman’s perspective and experience using Photovoice. Each participant was given a camera, and each week they were asked to take a photo that reflected their everyday challenges and the barriers they felt held them back. Several themes emerged, including finances, stress, transportation, support, personal development and, especially, abuse and intimate partner violence. The women created posters that shared their photos and their challenges, and made several public presentations.

We got to know these women deeply, as well as how that intimate partner violence impacted their lives and often led to poverty. Their struggle to make ends meet was like being at war — always trying to survive. They struggled to attend appointments in the justice system or family court, or attend counselling for themselves or their children. Many of the women had an education, but trying to work, find child care and transportation while dealing with mental health issues linked to the abuse and violence they had suffered was difficult.

I want to note that tonight I have heard two speeches referring to intimate partner violence. I’m pleased to have heard from two men in our chamber. These issues all intersect. For me, basic income is a part of the solution for helping people who live in intimate partner violence.

However, to go back to the women’s photos, they were often riveting. For example — I don’t have the picture, but you’ll understand the image I describe — there was a photo of two litres of milk alongside two litres of pop. The milk was triple the price, making it difficult to purchase. Other photos showed apartment rooms with mould around the floor, and there were photos of food banks with the caption, “It’s not a supermarket, you get what you are given.” One that remains with me is a photo of a cracked mirror with a caption reading, “Shattered lives.” Then, there were blank photo sheets labelled, “The pictures that aren’t: Too personal. Too painful.”

This not only created awareness, but also empowered the women to discuss with each other some of the issues they experience.

Therefore, honourable senators, today, I am sharing my experiences of these women so you will understand why a guaranteed livable basic income is imperative: because living in poverty traps people and forces them to live in substandard conditions without the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter and without the access to resources, such as counselling. After leaving a violent relationship, those are even more critical. This impacts their health with long-term costs for them and our systems.

I believe that guaranteed livable basic income can be an effective solution to lift Canadians out of poverty. GLBI is an unconditional and universal income granted to individuals to ensure that no person’s income falls below what is necessary for health, life and dignity. It is not EI or social assistance, although it could build on the existing social safety network rather than replacing it altogether. GLBI is available to everyone, subject only to residency and income. It is enough for a person to live securely and with dignity. GLBI is free of stigma while respecting the ability of recipients to choose to spend it how and where they feel is best, just as we do. It would be responsive to changing circumstances, being only gradually reduced as other income increases.

It is critical to ensure that the punitive and prescriptive methods used in the administration of other existing social assistance programs are not a part of the GLBI.

Canada has two great examples that demonstrate how effective basic income can be. The most notable is the 1974 Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment, or Mincome, and the 2017 Ontario Basic Income Pilot Project. The results of Mincome were promoted most effectively by economist Evelyn Forget, a professor at the University of Manitoba. Time does not permit me to go into detail on the implementation; however, many recipients reported improvements in their physical and mental health, labour market participation, education, food security, housing stability, financial status and social responsibility.

For women, the impact can be even more dramatic. For example, a GLBI would provide a source of income for unpaid work that is undertaken predominantly by women, such as child rearing and caregiving. It would provide better opportunities for safe housing and it would provide a stable source of income for women and their children who may be fleeing from intimate partner violence. A GLBI could be a stepping stone to better opportunities, such as providing opportunities to leave a low‑paying or unsafe job to start a business, or to give the space needed in order to obtain a higher education.

In areas of Canada where poverty rates tend to be higher and where employment is often precarious and seasonal, a GLBI could stabilize incomes, reduce stress and increase opportunities for those looking for a better education or more secure jobs.

Senator Griffin explained to us the report of the Legislation Assembly of Prince Edward Island’s Special Committee on Poverty in PEI, which had buy-in from all parties in Prince Edward Island. Their major recommendation was the creation of a basic income for the province. Premier King even noted the positive impact it was expected to have on labour participation, putting to rest the fears that many have about such a program.

I commissioned a report on the impact of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and similar supports on labour participation. Our findings revealed that labour shortages were systemic in nature, predated the pandemic and were not correlated to financial supports. This reflected the findings of the P.E.I. report. We need to keep watching P.E.I. because they are pushing forward for GLBI and it would be a good example for us to look at.

There are many supporters of GLBI, including former senators Eggleton and Segal; The Very Reverend the Honourable Lois Wilson; former MPs Bruce Stanton, Wayne Easter and Jean Crowder; 50 of us from this chamber; many national organizations, including Coalition Canada Basic Income, Basic Income Canada Network, Basic Income Canada Youth Network, UBI Works, The United Church of Canada; and many Canadian businesses.

In conclusion, I ask for your support for this important bill. Social justice means pushing beyond charity and making social policy changes that will impact future generations. As Senator Segal said, putting a floor under people by providing a basic income so they can live without worry and plan a life they deserve is the least we can do.

GLBI is an effective, just and evidence-based approach to create income security and directly address poverty. It would also offer women more choices and opportunities in many significant domains of their lives. As such, it is an important step forward in the pursuit of gender equality and in recognizing the role of women through specific public policy initiatives.

As I remember and honour the women’s voices from the Photovoice project, I sincerely believe this is a way forward. Thank you.

(On motion of Senator Duncan, debate adjourned.)