A Fairytale Worth Re-visiting as NYE Approaches & BIG Work as Hope for the Year to Come

Anne Anderson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This morning I read a totally beautiful retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Matchgirl...on a substack post by Judith Hannah Weiss on her site called Dispatch from Bewilderness. Her post is called A little girl on the last day of the year.

https://judithhannahweiss.substack.com/

I unfortunately can't get a clean link beyond the basic link above but taking a moment to search and read her short post is worth your time. Reading it moved my heart (as her posts so often do) and I suddenly thought of how a basic income guarantee could have changed the fortunes of HCA's poor little matchgirl of 1845.

Close to two hundred years later, here we are still seeing needless poverty harm so many of our citizens, neighbours, friends. I cannot help but think that the time is long past for the change we seek.

Perhaps this little share of mine today may help to change some hearts and minds.

Here is the main text of my comment in response to her beautiful post:

I am from the smallest province in Canada, an island (PEI) where far too many children live in food insecure households. There is a serious push for a Basic Income Guarantee here which would lift people out of poverty in a dignified manner thereby giving people the chance to break cycles of poverty (which are as embedded in economic systems as cultures/cycles of wealth).

The most difficult part of the advocacy work has not been proving the viability of the demonstration project outlined for our small province. The fiscal viability has been worked through by the researchers. Rather, it is changing the hearts and minds of those who would still be the passerby's in HCA's Little Matchgirl story.

Ignoring poverty harms everyone. Providing dignity-based, structural alternatives rooted in a culture of caring lifts everyone's boats by making us less insular, more kind beings. It helps us all become creators of the world we live in instead of only those in the center. Look at how the little matchgirl was cast aside by everyone. Golly, it seems we live in an era when so many are being cast aside....and certainly in the US.

Wishing each of us the courage to be lights in the dark for those most suffering the harms of too many passerby's. How beautiful it is when we actually stop by/check in to care even/especially when the caring feels increasingly challenging.

In love and peace and dreaming of a kinder world.

Thank you so very much for moving my heart with your beautiful words, yet again, Judith! xo

As well, I share with you some of Basic Income Canada's Newsletters from Nov and Dec 2025:

Dear Friend

This month, the highlight is that Senator Kim Pate’s Bill S-206 for a national framework for a basic income guarantee in Canada has passed to the committee study stage. Why does this matter? Because we can all do something to help Senators (and their MP colleagues) understand what a moral and economic imperative basic income is. Over 50 years of evidence tells us that it works and that the status quo doesn’t.

Individual letters, stories, and calls can be very powerful—and briefs from organizations (local to national), support on social media, maybe request a Zoom meeting. Stay tuned for BICN’s brief.

In the news, there’s inspiration. The Marshall Islands have adopted a basic income, for example. Advances are being made in South Korea, and Ireland’s basic income program for artists has been made permanent. In Canada, we need resolve. The federal government has said ‘no’ to a PEI demonstration project. In the bigger picture, the federal budget has said ‘no’ to Canadians across the country; it offers no plan to make daily life less stressful and more affordable, stable, and productive for people. See this joint budget response from BICN and others. 

BICN’s Sheila Regehr and Josephine Grey also had an opinion piece published in the Hill Times. It talks about history repeating itself with the 1995 and 2025 austerity budgets coinciding with the first and second World Summits for Social Development, and hindering progress on the people-centred commitments made there. (Sheila and Josephine both had official roles at the first WSSD.) 

Warmest wishes,From Sheila and the BICN team

and also from BICN Nov newsletter

The federal budget has overwhelmingly focused on tax breaks and benefits for those with most. Meanwhile, Canada also loses tens of billions of dollars each year due to expensive and inadequate responses to those trapped in poverty.

Full Press Release

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” said Senator Kim Pate, sponsor of Bill S-206, which proposes the development of a national framework for guaranteed livable basic income. Many Senators agree and, last night, voted in support of committee study of Bill S-206.

and lastly but not lease from BICN Dec mailout referencing a petition to the gov't of Canada, open for signatures until January 2, 2026, at 1:31 p.m. (EDT)

We want to bring the following e-petition to your attention - Petition to the Government of Canada. While BICN does not support specific language in this petition, we encourage you to read the e-petition and decide for yourself if you wish to support this initiative.

Thanks for reading and may every goodness be yours to enjoy and share in 2026!

Jill

https://americanliterature.com/author/hans-christian-andersen/short-story/the-little-match-girl