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February 8, 2002
Response to cuts
Demand for social services will rise.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
Jewish communal organizations are bracing for major challenges
in the face of cuts by the provincial government. With reductions
in government social programs, volunteer agencies province-wide
are preparing for a wave of new clients and greater demand for services.
The Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA) had already seen demand
for some of its services skyrocket in the economic aftermath of
Sept. 11. The Job Match Program, which links applicants with employers
in the Jewish community, has seen a 300 per cent increase since
September over the same period a year earlier.
Joseph Kahn Tietz, executive director of the JFSA, said the government
should be helping those in economic hard times now, not cutting
their services.
"They've done the exact opposite at exactly the wrong time,"
he said. "This is going to create a society that is filled
with people who are so marginalized."
The freeze on affordable housing projects is a step toward increased
homelessness, warned Kahn Tietz, as is the creation of a variable
housing rate for people on welfare, based on where in the province
they live. These are just a few of the areas that will hit his agency
hard, he said.
"There's a [mistaken belief] that the Jewish community is insulated
and it's not," said Kahn Tietz. Those in the community, including
many newcomers to British Columbia, will turn to agencies like the
JFSA for help, possibly to no avail.
"We're not equipped to do that," he said.
Kahn Tietz said there is little his agency or individuals can do
to alter the policy direction of the government, but he did urge
concerned people to contact their MLAs and the premier to express
their concern. He also sent out a warning to those in the community
who are in a position to help that they will be called upon. For
example, he urged employers to come forward with possible job openings
in their firms. He also urged the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
to consider creating an emergency fund, possibly designating a specific
share of the annual campaign revenues to the fund to aid those in
desperate need. The community should also consider prioritizing
any planned projects and think about whether some plans should be
delayed while the funds are used for more urgent purposes, said
Kahn Tietz.
Ron Goodine, who co-ordinates the Job Match Program, despairs that
he is about to see cases of immense tragedy, due partly to the fact
that there is a 77 per cent cut in staffing to the Ministry of Children
and Families.
"The philosophy of this government is let's load all we can
on communities, families and individuals," said Goodine. "We're
going to see loss of lives."
He lamented the cuts to job training programs for people on welfare
while, at the same time, recipients will experience unprecedented
pressures to find work or lose welfare. This will be especially
harmful to people between the ages of 60 and 65, who are considered
employable by the government but whose real-life employment prospects
may be negligible.
Lily Lok, the JFSA's intake co-ordinator and case manager, is often
the first face a client meets when they arrive for services.
"I think there is going to be a marked increase in the number
of people asking for financial assistance," she said, something
that will further strain the capacity of the agency. Lok said that,
while people on welfare are being pressured to find work, training
programs are being cut and the withdrawal of free bus passes makes
transportation that much more difficult.
Michael Goldberg, research director of the nongovernmental agency
SPARC - the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C. - wrote
a report last year on poverty in the Jewish community. Released
at the community meeting that led to the creation of the Poverty
Coalition, the report shattered illusions that the Jewish community
is somehow immune to financial desperation.
He is critical of the tax cut handed out by the Liberal government
which, he said, greatly benefits the wealthy, while providing little
benefit to lower-income people. The rate of the tax cut is between
about 25 and 28 per cent within each tax bracket, but rounds out
to an average of about 26 per cent, he said. That means that someone
with gross earnings of $20,000 would save about $236 in a year,
while those with an income of $200,000 would save $7,797. And while
the wealthiest get the most back, there are those at the bottom
of the pile who actually lose.
"Those who don't pay provincial tax - those who don't have
enough income - get nothing," he said. "And, of course,
if you're on income assistance, you get a big reduction [in your
income]."
Although the Liberal government blames the New Demo-cratic government's
fiscal mismanagement for the crisis, Goldberg said the budget would
have been balanced or close to it, were it not for the tax cut.
There were miscalculations on softwood lumber and energy revenues
but, all other things being equal, there would not have been a substantial
shortfall this year without the reduction in taxes, he said.
Other specific concerns Goldberg cites are the impact on seniors.
For seniors without Canada Pension Plan eligibility and who subsist
on the federal Guaranteed Income Supplement or Old Age Pension,
the province had been giving a $49-per-month top-up from the provincial
welfare program. That top-up will be reduced, then eliminated over
the next couple of years. These people have also lost their free
annual bus passes.
Another example he cites is the effect of legal aid cuts. The B.C.
government will no longer be offering legal aid in areas of family
and poverty law.
To illustrate the point, Goldberg cited a hypothetical example where
a husband leaves his wife and sues for custody of the children.
"She's poor, she has no money," Goldberg said. "She's
no longer eligible for legal aid. He's got a high-priced lawyer
to get everything and she's got bubkes."
In addition, she may need to apply for welfare, said Goldberg. The
probability is that British Columbia will adopt an Ontario-style
privatized welfare service, which replaces human counsellors with
self-serve kiosks.
"She punches in her numbers, they say she's not eligible,"
Goldberg continued with the example. There is no longer help available
from legal aid to appeal the welfare ruling and the woman finds
herself with no funds and no children.
"Those are the kinds of horror stories we're going to see in
the next year or two for sure," he said.
In addition to the everyday costs that families face, there is an
additional cost to living an observant Jewish life, noted Lani Levine,
chair of Yad v'Yad, the umbrella Poverty Coalition set up a year
ago by many Jewish community agencies. Her group has been struggling
to address poverty issues and now sees the challenges mounting before
them.
"All this does is sort of exacerbate the situation," she
said.
However, the community is mobilizing, according to Zena Simces,
chair of the working group on advocacy of the Poverty Coalition.
"We're in the process of gathering specific data on the impact
to the Jewish community," she said. They hope to have that
information together for a public meeting Tuesday, Feb. 19, 7:30
p.m. at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Simces
hopes individuals and representatives of any affected organization
will come to the meeting. Participants and leaders will develop
a community response to economic realities.
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