Vulnerable Canadians need a lifeline now

Financial security can be thought of as an island where everyone has enough money to meet their needs, now and in the future, while financial insecurity is the sea in which everyone else swims, desperate to keep their heads above water.  

 

This is a stark image, but no starker than the 8.2 million Canadians now facing unemployment or steeply reduced earnings, pushed off the metaphorical island by COVID-19.

 

But there is another group of Canadians who have been in the water all along. COVID-19 has just made their lives much worse – even putting their lives at risk. People with low incomes are more likely to have chronic health conditions that increase their risk from COVID-19, but are less able to social distance because they are more likely to work in essential jobs they cannot perform from home, rely on public transit, and live in crowded housing, shelters or on the street.

 

While Canadians earning a steady paycheque and able to work from home are reaping savings from social distancing, many of the in-kind services people with low incomes use to make ends meet have closed their doors or cut back operations – food banks; drop-ins with free laundry, clothing banks and transit tokens; and libraries offering free internet. The end result for people reliant on these services is “more month than money” and hardship as a result. 

 

Many community tax clinics have also shut down, leaving many low-income Canadians without the help they need to maintain their eligibility for many income benefits, drug insurance, housing and subsidy programs they rely on. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) reports that community clinics it supports had already filed over 400,000 returns pre-COVID-19, however they expect a larger caseload this year leaving as many as 500,000 people still to be filed. CRA has recently approved virtual tax clinics adapted for COVID-19, but it will take some time for clinics to figure out how to deliver virtually, reopen and tax file a growing backlog of individuals. 

 

While the federal government has taken steps to keep benefits flowing if recipients miss the June 1 filing deadline, it is not clear whether provincial governments are doing the same, leaving community nonprofits fielding countless calls from people concerned they will lose critical income, housing and supports.

 

Life in the water clearly has little in common with life on the island. What we all have in common though, is that we are human beings, equal and alike in our need for – and innate right to – dignity, opportunity, empathy and support in times of need. 

 

With so many Canadians now in the proverbial water together, a societal consensus is beginning to emerge in support of a different Canada post-pandemic – one in which every Canadian is afforded real opportunity to live on the island. 

 

In the meantime, how can we throw a lifeline to those in the water and pull them to shore? 

 

Our governments have responded with speed, focus and unanimity of purpose to mobilize extraordinary measures to stabilize households, jobs and businesses. While these are not perfect, public servants and elected leaders are listening and making changes as fast as they can to fill the gaps. 

 

But for these programs to work, we need to ensure they are reaching the most vulnerable Canadians, people who need help to tax file and navigate complex government programs – help that is no longer available to them. 

 

We are calling on governments to close the gap and connect these community members to the help they need to weather this crisis safely. Here are our prescriptions: 

 

 

When sailors receive a distress call at sea, they recognize and uphold the first law of the sea – the duty to render assistance. Invoking this same spirit, we are calling “mayday” on behalf of vulnerable Canadians, because they too need our help to make it safely to shore and there’s not a moment to lose.