Keynote speaker at the urban ministry gathering at Welcome Inn in October was Susan Eagle, United Church pastor, representative on The Inter-Faith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC), and a regional councillor in London, Ontario.
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She painted the picture of a woman on social assistance who is just "on the edge" of making it go. Her children are hungry; she is threatened with having her hydro cut off. Her ex-husband pays $500 each month, but not always on time. What does one do next? In Ontario, we appear to be on a dead-end journey, with increasing cutbacks to social services.
Eagle reflected on significant shifts in attitude. There is a growing sense of powerlessness as homelessness, housing insecurity and child poverty increase. There is a growing gap between rich and poor, on the local as well as global level. Some say, "Grab what you can, while you can," creating an atmosphere of self-protection and competition. We are tolerating now what a few years ago was unthinkable, she said.
In particular, we have moved from the language of "entitlement" to "deservedness." The government can now introduce a lifetime ban on social assistance to those who are deemed no longer deserving of it. Society has accepted the notion that there is a great deal of welfare abuse which needs to be cleaned up with such strict measures.
We no longer have a designated "bottom" beyond which nobody should be allowed to sink. In fact, there has been further stripping of assets from the poor (such as the child benefit "clawback" in Ontario).
Under the mounting weight of cutbacks and downloading to lower levels of government, we have moved from preventive to reactive policies. In this deep hole we have dug for ourselves, there is volunteer fatigue. How can one make a difference when resources are so limited?
From the public attitude shifts emerge policy shifts. Social assistance was cut 21 percent six years ago, and frozen. The "fraud squad" is implementing new punitive policies, including the "spouse-in-the-house" policy which states that a woman who is married or living with someone is cut off from welfare. This is now being appealed before the Supreme Court of Canada.
The $37 per month pregnancy benefit has been cut, and a welfare recipient may only own a vehicle worth less than $5,000. Bill 142 demands documentation for the past seven years, but banks charge prohibitive amounts for records that extend back that far. This bill also allows the system to identify classes of people who are not eligible for social assistance.
Strategies for response
Eagle offered four strategies for response: Perspective, persistent powerlessness, partnerships, prayer.
1) We need to reclaim the language of entitlement and empowerment, said Eagle. The church can offer an "absolute empowering vision," such as the Old Testament concern for the widow and the powerless in society.
"Hope continues to reject the opinion of reality, which is the majority opinion," she said. This is not a vague hope, but one based in solid analysis which gives credibility to the vision of a just society. It means doing an honest assessment of what the statistics mean when government claims that "Ontario works."
2) The parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow is a compelling story for the church. Our role is to tell the stories and keep society and government focused on the realities.
3) We need to find allies in many places, even among those we might assume have vested interests. If we keep the focus, bringing in allies will not diffuse our effectiveness. We have to break out of partisan perspectives.
4) "God's reign always lies beyond us," said Bishop Oscar Romero. "We plant seeds that one day will grow. We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We are ministers, not messiahs; we are the prophets of a future not our own."
Eagle added: "Unjust systems cannot stand forever. Unexpected things happen when we act with integrity, and pray."
What is the role of the church? was the underlying question in the discussion which followed. The group noted several things: We need to link charity and justice. We are in a position to humanize how we deal with people, when the government tends to institutionalize things. We need to reclaim church as a "parish" or neighbourhood, in which neighbours help neighbours.
We have to act, not give in to despair. We need to listen to the poor, not speak for them. We need to be aware that money is not the only indicator of poverty; the church can address poverty of relationships.
Eagle concluded with a story. A woman bought a fur coat at a thrift shop for $5.00 and wore it gladly. Then someone noticed that she no longer wore it and asked why. She explained that she had been refused food at a food bank because "anyone who spends money on a fur coat doesn't need food." This happened repeatedly, so she decided it was easier simply to get rid of the coat.
Meanwhile, the story probably spread, perpetuating the myth of the "undeserving poor" who are trying to abuse the system.
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