Lowest social assistance rates in Canada keep many in N.B. in 'deep poverty,' report says

Robert MacKay, a Moncton advocate with the Common Front for Social Justice, is angry.

"New Brunswick is the bottom of the barrel."

MacKay, who is on social assistance, said a report that shows New Brunswick's rates are the lowest in Canada is jarring. He said he had not been aware of the differences among provinces.

"I didn't realize the discrepancy — that the same human being, and I am that human being in New Brunswick, receives $8,000 to live on because I really can't make it independently on my own," said MacKay, who's received social assistance since 2016. 

"I thought we're the same human beings and we're all Canadians."

The Welfare in Canada report was put together by the Maytree Foundation, an Ontario non-profit organization that works to eradicate poverty.

Their report uses "four example households" to measure total annual welfare income in Canada in 2022. According to their findings, "all four New Brunswick households were not only living in poverty in 2022, they were living in deep poverty."

In New Brunswick, single people considered employable, like MacKay, received about $8,030 annually. Single people living with a disability received $10,884. As for those with families, a single parent with one child gets $21,657 and a couple with two children $28,664.

Jennefer Laidley, co-author of the report, said the gap between how much social assistance New Brunswickers receive, compared to how much they would need just to get to the poverty line, is the widest compared to all other provinces in Canada. 

Although welfare rates are low across the country, Laidley said, New Brunswickers on social assistance are "living in extremely strained circumstances." 

For a single person deemed employable, the poverty line is $24,395 and the deep income poverty threshold is $18,296. "It would take $10,000 just to get those folks to the deep income poverty line, let alone to or above the poverty line," said Laidley. 

Similar to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia is on the lower end, with $9,493 for individuals considered employable and $33,449 for a couple with two kids. Yet, Prince Edward Island's social assistance rates for single people considered employable is $16,861 — double the amount compared to New Brunswick. 

Standing in stark contrast to these numbers is the harsh reality that some New Brunswickers would have received more money through social assistance 20 years ago. According to the report, a person living with a disability would have received $12,469 in 2002. In 2022, they received $10,884. 

And social assistance rates have not kept with the rate of inflation, at least not until this year. 

New Brunswick's Department of Social Development did not respond to requests for an interview, but said via email that social assistance rates are "now indexed to inflation" as of April 2022. 

Tobin LeBlanc Haley, a sociology professor at the University of New Brunswick researching poverty, said that there is "a lack of political will" to raise social assistance rates — not only in New Brunswick, but across Canada. 

Haley said there's an "enduring attitude that people who aren't earning an employment income are not deserving of assistance."

Rates are kept low, she added, so that people are forced to work, even though many living on social assistance face extenuating circumstances that make finding and keeping work more arduous. 

"People aren't working because child care is so expensive, people aren't working because they don't have a functional transportation system in this province," she said. "People aren't working for lots of reasons. Because of ill health, but they don't qualify for extended benefits as having a disability."

Disability plays a role, and not everyone qualifies 

This is the case for MacKay, who said he suffers from invisible disabilities, including a learning disability, which makes him an uncompetitive candidate in many fields. He added it also makes it difficult for him to maintain work. 

And with the rising cost of living, trips to the grocery store have been increasingly stressful.

Prices continue to rise and with "shrinkflation," he's seen many products get smaller in size while prices go up.

"That's crippling when you've really got only a disposable or a variable income, you know, of 100 bucks or 200 bucks a month," he said.

For MacKay, living on a meagre check is also a "social death," where participation in community activities becomes difficult, if not impossible, to afford.

"Live entertainment, movies, shows, things that people can do to get out there, cultural events and stuff. Most people in my building where I live get zero of that," said MacKay, who lives in a rooming house in Moncton.  

Haley called Canada's social assistance programs a "punitive system" and said that "people are being punished for not having access to employment."

"We all require support," said Haley. "We all access transportation systems, we all have this public education right. And social assistance is a public good and it is necessary for a functioning society."

The Department of Social Development said via email that "social assistance is tailored to the individual and the department works with each person on a case-by-case basis to find solutions that meet their needs best."

"There are many different types of support available in addition to the support rates offered through the social assistance program," said the department. This includes a health card covering drug and dental costs, transportation costs to medical appointments, or daycare costs.

But Haley said that these additional programs are beside the point.

"I mean those programs exist across the country," she said. "Those supports are important, and they should be available to every single recipient of social systems." 

She remains hopeful that rates could rise, especially given the province's $862.2 million budget surplus last fiscal year, and another, smaller surplus projected this year

"It would only be the right thing to do," she said. "To take some of our collective surplus and provide that to those of us who need it the most."

"This is an emergency situation," said MacKay. "People die prematurely for lack of income."