Because I believe that everyone should have the ability to have their basic needs for food and shelter met with dignity, I am sharing info on Basic Income Guarantee compiled from The Cooper Institute's Marie Burge's correspondence (referencing PEI Working Group for a Livable Income—PEIWGLI-- as well as Coalition Canada: basic income/revenu de base ) and also from my independent source Basic Income Network Canada. Marie’s educational correspondence is part of her amazing work she does for Prince Edward Islanders.
From Marie Burge’s most recent mailout on BIG:
A goal of the PEI Working Group for a Livable Income is establishing PEI as an ideal launching place in which to implement Basic Income Guarantee as a full province (fully funded, federal-provincial) program, as an important step toward establishing BIG as a national Federal-Provincial system*.
The national NGO, Coalition Canada: basic income/revenu de base, has made the implementation of BIG in PEI one of its central objectives. This cross-Canada organization maintains a constant lobby with federal politicians/decision makers*.
*NOTE: both of the above organizations believe that Indigenous people may choose to design their specific basic income programs. Coalition Canada says: Indigenous autonomy and self-determination is basic: respecting the rights of Indigenous people to determine whether a basic income is delivered in their communities and, if so, what form it will take and how it will be implemented.
PEIWGLI produced a 7 pg document on livable income in April 2021 called Talking Points. It is very readable and informative and I can send it along for anyone requesting it through email.
Being a person who lives on the margins of the mainstream as a neurodivergent writer/ artist, carer, homeschooler and as a parent to children who are also artists, I believe that hope for dignity for all lies in assuring everyone’s basic needs are met regardless of what form or shape their contributions to this world take.
Capitalism rooted in patriarchy and exploitation of members of the BIPOC community, the environment, the LGBTQ2+ community, disabled persons as well as/including women and children should by no means be the grounds upon which we base our worth yet it is the system upon which our economies are based and the reason so many fall between the (intentional) gaps.
Being alive means you deserve to have your needs met respectfully.
It is the shared responsibility of every able citizen to ensure this becomes reality.
Please consider attending an upcoming virtual town hall on poverty eradication. More info here: https://dignityforall.ca/2021-virtual-townhall/
The more knowledge we share the better we can make change effectively.
Thanks for reading!
Be well,
Jill