COME TO RALLY!! End Forced Poverty

  End Forced Poverty: It's Time to Change B.C.'s Disability and Social Assistance System

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

In British Columbia, people with disabilities are being forced into poverty by government policy. To receive disability benefits, they must first endure the hardship of living on Social Assistance, which is far below the poverty line. This system is not only cruel — it's broken.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

• Social Assistance (Income Assistance) for a single person: $935/month
• Disability (PWD) support: $1,535/month or less, depending on circumstances
• Canada’s poverty lines for 2024:
  • MBM (Market Basket Measure): $2,066.88/month
  • LICO (Low Income Cut-Off): $2,448.33/month

This means even people who receive disability benefits are living $500–$900/month below the poverty line. And it’s even worse for those stuck on Social Assistance while waiting for PWD approval — many are homeless or living in unsafe, degrading conditions.

The System Is Designed to Fail

Before anyone can access disability supports in B.C., they must go through Income Assistance first. That means:

• Living on just a few hundred dollars a month
• Being unable to afford safe housing, decent food, or medical care
• Proving your suffering, over and over, through paperwork and assessments
• Facing wait times that stretch months or even years

This system deliberately traps people in poverty — all to prove they “deserve” help.

We Say: No More.

We’re calling for immediate changes:

1. End the requirement to go through Social Assistance before qualifying for Disability
2. Raise PWD and Social Assistance rates to match the poverty line (MBM or LICO)
3. Ensure access to safe, subsidized housing for all low-income and disabled individuals
4. Reform the application process to be trauma-informed, transparent, and dignified

Join The Rally May 29th!

BC Legislature 

We're rallying for change:

• Rally, Music, Cake & Postcard Campaign
• May 29th – Details to come!
• Help us demand the eradication of government-imposed poverty for people with disabilities in B.C.

We deserve better. Poverty is not a personal failure — it's a policy choice. And together, we can change it.

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#RaiseTheRates #PWDJustice #EndPovertyBC #DisabilityRightsAreHumanRights #ZipolitaSpeaks