Concerns About Christmas 2022

The Nova Scotia community of people living on Income Assistance already have concerns about Christmas this year!

By Kendall Worth!

Although it is only close to the end of October, income assistance recipients and community supporters as I am writing this, have been clear that they want to resolve poverty in Nova Scotia and have already started talking about how people in poverty, are going to be celebrating Christmas this year.

This article about Christmas was written in 2020. However, even though COVID restrictions and Public Health measures are now lifted, the feeling in the air is that this Christmas will not be a lot different. When you look at what’s in the linked article, the major factor is not all Income Assistance recipients have the same resources as the financially better off community, to keep up with the news. While for some, this year, things may be more open, but many are still very concerned about ,or their relatives and friends are still concerned about COVID. And the impact on immune comprised individuals – and even other reasons for not celebrating.

Inflation is another major Issue coming into play in 2022. Considering the rapid inflation happening, it would be no surprise to anyone that even middle class families are having to cut back this Christmas. As many experienced at Thanksgiving The cost for a turkey dinner, with all the fixings, has gone up and may even be double compared to previous years.

The following are a list of statements from Income Assistance recipients themselves, about celebrating Christmas 2022:

• This year it is going to cost more to celebrate Christmas.

• Not getting any extra money from Income Assistance, for celebrating Christmas, has always been the case -- even before COVID.

• The 2 years that we were not able to be with family at Christmas (for those of us who have family that is,) because of COVID, made us appreciate (aware of??) being alone and socially isolated. (Appreciate?)

• Even though COVID restrictions have ended, COVID continues to be around, and we do not want to be around large Crowds. While with family we want no more than 10 people max, and our Christmas Social Circle not to include people with immune and compromised health conditions.

• 4 Income Assistance recipients pointed out that, in the past, pre-COVID, they would travel home to Cape Breton, but once again this year, they cannot, because the cost of taking the shuttle to and from Cape Breton has doubled.

But there is a lot more to say about celebrating Christmas 2022!

In Dec. 2018, I wrote a post about the wishes of Income Assistance recipients which repeats itself year after year. This year, however, two new items need to be added to that Christmas wish list:

#1 – The immediate creation of affordable housing, and solutions for the homeless, so they can stay warm during the winter months.

#2 – An Immediate increase in the Income Assistance rates, or introduction of another program/allowance to help with inflation. The $950.00 which is the standard house-hold rate in Nova Scotia is not enough to live on.

And another question that had been coming up in the community, lately, is how are we going to help the homeless celebrate Christmas this year? It is only October, but we got to start thinking creatively.

This year – 2022 - there is a wide range of feeling and emotion about celebrating Christmas. Members of the disability community are asking -- wouldn't receiving the first cheque of that Disability Benefit the federal government is working on, be a nice Christmas present for 2022? So let’s pretend that persons with disabilities did receive the first payment before Christmas. Would this make a good Christmas present this year? The reality is we do not know. If the amount received on the Disability Benefit was say $2000 for the first payment, pretending we were going to receive this payment in December, and again pretending it did not get clawed back from Income Assistance, then it would make a good Christmas present for 2022. But all we can do right now is imagine the answers when examining questions like this because the reality is we do not know who is going to qualify or the amount of the Disability Benefit.

Something else that is giving the community-of-people-I advocate-for anxiety, this Christmas, is deciding what to do about invites to parties and work get-togethers. In a previous article, for the Advocate, I talk about why people feel uncomfortable attending. It also explains that often invitations through work or volunteering are for parties that include significant others. When welfare recipients get these invites, they fear that, like attendance in the past, they find they are the only person in attendance who is at the event not accompanied by someone they call their good friend, spouse, or partner.

I have, in the past suggested, that if a social prescription organization existed in Halifax/or in Nova Scotia as a whole, then maybe it it would make it possible for Income Assistance recipients ,who are socially isolated, to meet someone through Social Prescriptions who can be their guest at such events. Income Assistance recipients complain that attending these Christmas events alone raises their anxiety. Income Assistance recipients, I talked to, have said that not receiving these invites for the last couple of years of COVID reduced their anxiety in December of 2020 and again in December of 2021.

An Increase in the Income Assistance rates or receiving the first payment of the disability benefit before Christmas is very unlikely to happen.

So let’s start planning for Christmas 2022 celebration of the quality of life improvements, and hope for the best results!

Watch for Part 2 of this BLOG post coming as we get closer to Christmas!