Canada: National Inquiry into violence against indigenous women reveals the necessity to eliminate poverty in the country

Canada: National Inquiry into violence against indigenous women reveals the necessity to eliminate poverty in the country

On the right: Anna Fowler (director of health & social development); on the left: Qajaq Robinson (lawyer, commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report), in 2016. Picture credit to: The Globe and Mail, Canada.

 

Research and historical evidence have firmly established that “poverty is a root cause of violence against women”. The words are from Qajaq Robinson, commissioner of the recent report National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The importance of this report has been enhanced by the event of its presentation by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself, at a ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec, on June 3rd 2019.

 

Story after story, among the more than 2300 testimonies gathered for the report, economic dependency was at the core of this continuous violence against girls and women (mostly, but also affected some boys and men). Wether it was to keep a roof over their heads, or because they had no other forms of income, the company of violent male partners was hard to avoid. Or even because sex work was the only source of income for these disadvantaged girls and women.

 

The report also exposes the situation of whole communities being “destitute by design”, in which federal or regional authorities have deliberately relocated indigenous communities onto areas where their economic emancipation would be difficult, or even impossible. That on top of obsolete laws that purposely prohibited indigenous people from selling their goods to the wider society, which constitute remains of harsher first occupation days, when the overt goal was to keep these people under siege, without a way to regain power over their lands.

 

To escape this spiral of violence, particularly directed to indigenous girls and women, in this case, Robinson assured that a ‘guaranteed annual income’ would be a “chance to move out of survival mode and live a life of dignity”.

 

More information at:

Emma Paling, “Why a governmental inquiry into endemic violence against women recommends a basic income for all Canadians as a call for justice”, Basic Income Today, June 12th 2019

Kristy Kirkup, “Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women Report Calls Violence ‘Genocide’”, Huffpost, March 6th 2019

Canada: Cross-party MP committee recommends the federal government to look into basic income

Canada: Cross-party MP committee recommends the federal government to look into basic income

House of Commons, in Canada

Earlier this month, a cross-party MP ‘commons’ committee released an internal report urging the present liberal government to take a serious look into “new types of income support “that do not depend upon someone having a job””.

The nature of work is changing, everywhere in the world. However, existent social security safety nets have been designed and implemented decades ago, when stable, full-time employment was the norm. Since that labour model is falling apart, and a new “gig economy” precarious employment system is taking its place, new social security models are being identified and studied. That was the realization and motivation for the report now issued by the referred committee.

Specifically, it calls for the revamping of the employment insurance system, widening the support for low-wage workers (with a particular focus on the self-employed) and in general reducing conditionalities in accessing social security benefits. The economic factors that people face is something that many political figures in the nation, such as Canadian political candidate Karim Jivraj, have kept a focused look on in the past, so it only makes sense that the committee has been formed to consider the options on the table at this pertinent time.

The committee report, not publicly available, indicates that a “minimum-income program”, in the context of a kind of no-strings-attached government-led program that could replace a tapestry of targeted benefits, is definitely an option to help all those workers who have fallen into precarious situations and for whom there is no adequate social security protection. Time will tell if this becomes an active line pursued for all citizens.

More information at:

Commons committee asks Liberals to look to basic income to help “gig” workers“, Canadian Payroll Reporter, June 12th 2019

Feds urged to consider basic income to help “gig” workers“, CTV News, June 11th 2019

United States: The National Academy of Social Insurance investigates the implementation of basic income

United States: The National Academy of Social Insurance investigates the implementation of basic income

The National Academy of Social Insurance recently (April 2019) published a paper where the idea of implementing a relatively small basic income ($200-$400 per month, at least initially) has been explored by authors William Arnone, Peter Barnes, Renée Landers and Griffin Murphy, supported by the Economic Security Project. The paper goes into detail on potential mechanisms by which this basic income might be implemented in the USA.

This study intents to deliver information on how to fulfil the vision outlined in the historical document “Need for Security”, from 1935, where it was clearly summoned that “the one almost all-embracing measure of security is an assured income. A program of economic security, as we vision it, must have as its primary aim the assurance of an adequate income to each human being in childhood, youth, middle age, or old age—in sickness or in health.”

 

From the paper synopsis it can be read:

This concept paper examines the possibility of providing a base level of income to certain subsets of, and perhaps to all, U.S. citizens as a means to increasing their economic security. The authors begin by highlighting the extent of contemporary financial insecurity and continue with a discussion on how an assured income program might complement existing social insurance and social assistance programs. This is followed by an examination of past and present programs that share goals with the assured income concept described, and an exploration of how these programs might provide a basis for the Social Security Administration’s administering an assured income benefit.

 

More information at:

William Arnone, Peter Barnes, Renée Landers and Griffin Murphy, “Assured Income”, National Academy of Social Insurance, March 2019

United States: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib backs up basic income bill for the United States

United States: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib backs up basic income bill for the United States

Rashida Tlaib. Picture credit to: HuffPost.

 

On the 30th of May, 2019, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib hosted the 13th Congressional District Women and Families Roundtable with community members and advocates from across the Redford district (Michigan) (1). The roundtable took place at the Redford Community Center in Redford Township, and was attended by elements of local advocacy groups, teachers, union members and community members at large.

 

She stated that “This roundtable was the first of many that we will have to make sure we are staying rooted in what the community needs back here at home, not in Washington, D.C”, concluding that “The LIFT+ Act is just one part of ensuring that our families have the resources they need to thrive”.

 

The bill LIFT+ (Plus) Act announcement was made at this roundtable venue, with community members and advocates from across the district. According to Tlaib, the bill can put money in people’s pockets, through a refundable tax credit that can be paid monthly, to buy just about anything people struggle to purchase today. Community members broadly agreed that the issues most affecting them are income equality, livable wages, leave policies, comprehensive and affordable health care, and affordable childcare.

 

The bill itself (LIFT – Livable Incomes for Families Today), now introduced by Rashida Tlaib, is complementary to a previous text (S.4 bill) introduced by Senator Kamala Harris earlier this year (January 3rd), under the same name (LIFT). It intends to “provide relief for low and moderate-income households by introducing a new tax credit for working class individuals and families”. Under this policy, a tax credit of up to 3000 $/year (250 $/month) per adult is attributed, while families can get up to 6000 $/year (500 $/month). Eligibility is not dependent on being filed for paying taxes, so any adult can qualify if earning less than 50000 $/year (or less than 100000 $/year for constituted families). No conditions are put on how beneficiaries spend the money.

 

The scheme is designed as a NIT (Negative Income Tax), being dispensed on the basis of the preceding year’s tax record of the individual/family, phased out linearly when individual gross earnings fall into the 30000-50000 $/year amount. According to the authors and their teams, the LIFT+ Act would lift about 3 million children and 9 million families out of poverty, and effectively increase the earnings of about 123 million workers.

 

Note (1) – Redford is a town on the western border of Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, with around 48400 inhabitants

UCL Institute for Global Prosperity issues report on Universal Basic Services

UCL Institute for Global Prosperity issues report on Universal Basic Services

According to a recent report (May 2019) by UCL Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP), guaranteeing universal basic services (UBS), such as health care, education, child care, transportation and digital information, would be more beneficial to low income groups than universal basic income (UBI).

It is argued, in the referred report authored by Anna Coote, Pritika Kasliwal and Andrew Percy, that “extending public services is likely to be more effective in addressing poverty, inequality and wellbeing than unconditional cash payments to individuals”. That assertion is linked to a yet to be published article by Coote and Yazici called “Universal Basic Income, A literature review”, while the present report does not “consider the case for UBI in any depth”. The discussion defending UBS, in the report, seems then to be unilateral. However, cost considerations between the two systems, for the United Kingdom reality, have been done in a previous report (from 2017). From these calculations, the authors have reached the conclusion (stated after the 2019 report’s release) that UBS would cost around 10% less than UBI to implement in the country.

Andrew Percy, co-author of the report (supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) and Citizen Sponsor at IGP, has said that “universal access to basic public services must be the foundation of 21st century welfare that delivers real social security, allows people to make meaningful choices about their work, and can be delivered in an affordable and practical way”, which doesn’t seem to pitch UBS against UBI. Others, like Will Stronge (Autonomy think tank) and Mathew Lawrence (Common Wealth think tank), explicitly consider UBI and UBS to be complementary in an evolving model for society.

Anna Coote. Picture credit to: Green European Journal

Anna Coote. Picture credit to: Green European Journal

Anna Coote and co-author Edanur Yazici have also recently (April 2019) published another report (signing for the New Economic Foundation), entiled “Universal Basic Income: A Union Perspective”, which clearly rejects UBI in favour of a UBS. That study has been published by the global trade union federation Public Services International (PSI), financially supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung foundation. This particular report was analysed by UBI activist Scott Santens, who has written that it is “a prime example of a disinformation campaign designed to manipulate public opinion against the idea of universal basic income”, and a “shameless propaganda” move.

The publication of the 2019 report on universal basic services, by the IPG, has also spurred a reaction in Guy Standing, a lifelong researcher, economist, author and activist for UBI. According to him, in an article published in Open Democracy, “there is no contradiction between having some public quasi-universal basic services and a basic income”. He adds, concluding, that these systems “address different needs and stem from different rationales. But having cash enhances freedom of choice, is potentially more empowering and can be more transformative. I plead with those advocating ‘Universal Basic Services’ to stop juxtaposing the idea of more and better public services with giving people basic income security.”

More information at:

Laurie MacFariane, “Universal services more effective than a Universal Basic Income, argues new report”, OpenDemocracy, May 16th 2019

Scott Santens, “‘Universal Basic Income Doesn’t Work’ Says New Prime Example of Fake News”, Medium, May 31st 2019

Guy Standing, “Why ‘Universal Basic Services’ is no alternative to Basic Income”, Open Democracy, June 6th 2019

World Health Organization’s High-level Conference on Health Equity

World Health Organization’s High-level Conference on Health Equity

The World Health Organization (WHO) is organizing a High-level Conference on Health Equity, happening on the 11–13th June 2019, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Hosted by the Government of Slovenia, it will provide evidence and information on the solutions that can be implemented to reduce health inequalities and accelerate progress towards better health, well-being and prosperity for all in the European Region.

This conference will envolve public health and other senior government officials from throughout the European region, and will be condensed in a report which will also be available in Russian. It will also feature an extensive paper on basic income, authored by Louise Haagh and Barbara Rohregger, where basic income policies are analysed under the light of health effects and inequities.