BCPRC COVID-19 Progress Alert: April 29th, 2020

Coalition Member Calls for Action as of April 2020

The Disability Alliance of BC urgently calls for COVID-19 supports for CPP-Disability Recipients as well as actions to protect the goals of the Registered Disability Savings Plan and the Disability Tax Credit. At this point many CPP-Disability recipients are not eligible for provincial emergency benefits specifically for low income people with disabilities. Read the letter here.

We are hearing from kinship caregivers who do not receive the additional $300 per child being added to the Canada Child Benefit. This is because for these families, the CCB is transferred to the Ministry for Children and Family Development to go towards family maintenance payments. We call on MCFD to announce that the $300 increase to the Canada Child Benefit will result in an increase of at least $300 per child in family maintenance permits so that these resources are used as intended: to support children and their families in dealing with the challenges and hardships associated with COVID-19.

BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres has requested emergency funding from the provincial government. Read more about how Friendship Centres are supporting communities during the pandemic.

The BC Federation of Students wrote to Minister Robinson asking her to relax the eligibility criteria for the Temporary Rental Supplement program and move towards a more universal system which would not require applicants to prove their loss of income or CERB eligibility. Read the letter here.

The $10aday Child Care Campaign shares updates and analysis about the government’s decision to use large financial incentives to encourage programs to remain rather than leading a province-wide coordinated plan. Read more here.

In recent weeks, BC’s provincial government announced extraordinary and positive measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the province’s long-term care and assisted living facilities. Specifically the public health order has required that most staff work at one facility only (“single-site order”); enabled public health officials to ensure compliance with the single-site order; required that all workers are paid the unionized industry standard; and, committed to full-time hours for workers required to work at a single site. These changes were necessary because many seniors’ care workers have to patch together a living by working multiple low-wage, part-time jobs in different health care facilities. The BC government will temporarily “top-up” wages to bring them in line with the industry standard for unionized staff.  Read more here.

The BC Ferry & Marine Workers’ Union shares updates about the legal actions that we shared in our last bulletin as they prepare for an arbitration process. Read the update here.

The Federal Government has announced the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), a program that will provide some relief to those students who do not qualify for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). While this new program addresses some of the gaps in eligibility for the CERB, it provides markedly less financial support to students. Read the BC Federation of Students’ full update here.

The Vancouver Tenants Union shares resources and their plans to help tenants survive and build collective power during the BC Rent Crisis. See their COVID-19 BC Rent Crisis page here.

The Parent Support Services of BC share their targeted services for families available during COVID-19. See the poster here.

The UFCW1518 reiterates calls on all employers to provide paid sick leave in light of the recent outbreaks at a poultry processing plant in Vancouver and a beef processing plant in Alberta. Read their post here.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives continues to provide a wealth of analysis on their PolicyNote blog including the need to end profit-making in seniors’ care, a comparison of provincial economic responses to COVID-19, and a look at how people detained in psychiatric settings have been left out of advocacy.

The BC Federation of Labour writes about the impact of the COVID-19 on workers and the need to build a better future. Read the column.

West Coast LEAF shares ways you can support our most marginalized communities during COVID-19. Read the article here.

A message from the BC Teachers’ Federation to parents: Read their letter here.

We are one of more than 30 signatories to this letter calling for an inquest into the tragic death of a person incarcerated at Mission Institution. During the COVID-19 pandemic and always, people in prison must have their safety and health protected. Human rights apply to all people everywhere–they must not end at the doors of a correctional facility. Read more here.