Cheantelle Fisher, the client resource representative at the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank, joined the NDP Official Opposition on May 16 to ask the provincial government to stop relying on food banks and other community-based organizations (CBOs) to fill gaps in social services.
“I was asked to be a representative of the Moose Jaw Food Bank,” Fisher told MooseJawToday.com. “My goal in this was to add the voices of my clients (and to) have their needs seen and heard, and request that their needs be met. They’re asking for something that I don’t think is too much to ask — they’re asking for enough money to live. I don’t think that’s a huge stretch.”
Fisher’s Syn’gage program is a newly-launched resource for food bank clients that helps them find the resources that they need above and beyond providing an emergency source of food.
Current social assistance policies are fuelling a crisis, NDP claims
Meara Conway, the Official Opposition’s Critic for Social Services, Housing, Human Rights, and CBOs, told media on Monday that Saskatchewan is currently facing a crisis.
The NDP is calling on the Sask Party to increase assistance amounts and end the practices of forcing SAID clients to apply for the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) early — then clawing back what they receive.
Conway told the story of James (Jim) MacLachlan, who was present for the event. In March 2022 he successfully appealed the Ministry of Social Services decision to claw back his CPP disability and long-term disability from his 20 years at SARCAN Saskatoon.
MacLachlan’s appeal was then overturned by the Ministry of Social Services Appeal Board, who found that clawing back income was consistent with the practices of the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) program — and only Social Services Minister Lori Carr can approve income exemptions.
MacLachlan lives in a care facility. He suffers from myotonic dystrophy and requires a wheelchair. He is 59. His sister Barb Sambasivam said that at this point he is short $600 a month in rent and care expenses. He and his family thought applying for the SAID program would help cover those costs.
“We were very wrong,” Sambasivam told the media. “In fact, they awarded him $83 a month … . We think the SAID benefits are wholly inadequate for anyone trying to survive with a long-term disability.”
Because of changes made by the provincial government in 2021, Saskatchewan currently counts all income in determining how much aid a person qualifies for — even if the sum total Social Services arrives at is far below the poverty line.
There has not been an increase in basic assistance for SAID clients in seven years, Conway reported.
Carr told reporters on Monday that Saskatchewan’s income assistance programs are meant to be a true last resort, and that "(if) you have the opportunity to earn income, one of those being your Canada pension benefits, then it's something you need to apply for before you apply for income assistance."
“The government of Manitoba appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada,” Conway said, “and the Supreme Court dismissed that appeal with costs — they refused to hear it, which is some indication that they think that judgment is sound.”
Food banks are not meant to be regular supports
Fisher explained that part of her goal at the Legislature was to remind the provincial government and the Ministry of Social Services that food banks and other CBOs were not created to prop up the failings of provincial services.
“We were not designed to feed people in this capacity. We are an emergency service, we provide five to seven days worth of food every 30 days,” Fisher said. “And Social Services refers people directly to us. That’s not fair, and it’s not right.”
The Moose Jaw & District Food Bank receives no regular government assistance — it depends on community support.
Asked whether Social Services is now relying on food banks to fill gaps in government assistance, Fisher said they were.
“The fact that they send their clients here, knowing that they don’t have enough to pay their bills and feed themselves... They’re funneling their clients into community-based organizations. And we work very hard to support every person that comes through the door, but we know it’s not enough … we’re next to their only source of food.”
Fisher said it was humbling to meet with the other people at the Legislature on Monday.
“Getting to sit with them and hear what’s going on for them helped remind me of why I’ve decided to do this program and that this is so important, that these folks are heard and that their needs are met.
“I’m hopeful that as members of the community continue to add their voices to this callout that the government recognizes that … forcing people to live in poverty, especially folks already living with disabilities, is an act of violence.”
Conway said, “It doesn’t need to be this way. It is well within the government’s power to right this wrong. The Official Opposition is calling today on the province and the Minister of Social Services Lori Carr to stop the cuts and wrongful clawbacks of hard-earned pensions.”
Carr said the province is in talks with the federal government about disability assistance, and that SAID might be adjusted once those talks were concluded.
“We do think we are being fair,” Carr said.
