By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
For most couples, moving in together is a financial puzzle – figuring out who pays for what and how to divide everyday expenses such as the cost of hydro, internet and groceries. For tens of thousands of social assistance recipients, it’s even more complicated.
A single person on social assistance who is judged to be able to work receives $807 per month to cover everyday expenses; a couple receives a total of $1,224 per month, paid into the account of one person. Advocates for the rights of people living in poverty argue that this system is a recipe for domestic violence and financial exploitation. They say the policy leads some couples to stay apart when they would otherwise move in together to avoid having their cheques cut and maintain financial independence, while others stay together when they would otherwise split, to keep one member of the couple from ending up penniless. If a recipient is found to be “cohabiting” with a person who earns more than $20,000 per year, they lose access to social assistance payments because their “spouse” is expected to cover all of their financial needs, explained Fiona Brivilicas, the co-coordinator of Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi, a local advocacy group for people living in poverty.
The situation becomes even more complicated when people living with relatives or roommates are mistakenly assumed to be “living in a couple,” which could result in their cheques being garnished going back as far as 15 years, noted Catherine Trâgnée, spokesperson for the Front commun des personnes assistées sociales (FCPAS), a social assistance recipients’ lobby group. “You have a sword over your head – ‘If I stay over too often at my friend’s house, is it going to be considered marital life?”
Late last year, the FCPAS women’s committee launched a petition calling on the provincial government to do away with the “notion of marital life” and treat all social assistance recipients as individuals. The petition, sponsored by Québec Solidaire housing critic Andrés Fontecilla, is expected to be tabled at the National Assembly in mid-March. Trâgnée and her colleagues hope it will influence Social Solidarity Minister Chantal Rouleau, who is said to be working on a welfare reform bill. Last year, the province established a basic income program for people with certain disabilities (“severe constraints to employment”) who have been on social assistance for more than five-and-a-half years; people covered by the program receive payments regardless of their marital status or their spouse’s employment. Advocates argue that this program should be extended to all social assistance recipients.
“Our organization was formed in 1983 and we have been fighting for this [the end of “marital life] since the beginning,” Brivilicas said. “We need to modernize the law, because in our culture, we no longer do that – automatically support the [financial] needs of someone we’re living with.” She noted that social assistance cheques are also garnished if a recipient gets a gift worth more than $100 or earns more than $200 in a month through occasional work – a condition Liberal social solidarity critic Desirée McGraw is hoping to change through a new bill allowing recipients to earn up to $15,000 annually. “We encourage people to be resourceful, but then we penalize that resourcefulness,” Brivilicas said.
She and her colleagues emphasize that “no one dreams of living on social assistance” but people with disabilities, parents of young children, people dealing with or recovering from addictions and people in rural areas without the resources to move around can find themselves trapped there. “No one prefers living in extreme poverty over a job, especially in Brome-Missisquoi, where there’s almost no transit. If you can’t afford a car, it’s hard to imagine going to work if you have no way to get to work.”
Fontecilla and Rouleau could not immediately be reached for comment.