Let’s Call him Sak-Rye -- Not his real name!

 By Kendall Worth!

 

I am, as usual, using a fake name for Sak-Rye because when welfare recipients identify themselves they end up getting statements of stigma directed to them. This article and this article illustrate this stigma. When some welfare recipients publicly identify themselves as welfare recipients they end up suffering as in this article, where I explain that people I know personally, have been approached and stigmatized, right to their face, while minding their own business. Sak-Rye experiences a lot of this stigma directed toward him, from people who know him. He chose this very unusual name so that no one could identify him.

Sak-Rye, as a welfare (ESIA) recipient in Nova Scotia, gets the standard household rate of $950.00 plus the telephone allowance of $40.00 and the total of $148.00 for his various special dietary needs = $1138.00 per month. He does pick up a little part-time work here and there where he can keep the first $350.00 a month. His part time work is “on call”, so some weeks he does not have work, and sometimes ha has to refuse work because of his health. He has Seasonal affective disorder, along with learning disabilities, issues with anxiety, and OCD. He does attend mental health treatment and counselling regularly.

But there is something-else he experiences!

 

He gets approached, and spoken to, by police and private security about complaints about his body language which some people consider inappropriate. I have often talked about this issue and its effect on welfare recipients. YOU can see a number of posts, here. Then, this article in the Nova Scotia Advocate gives a full overview of the type of inappropriate body language I am talking about.

Time and again over the past few years, (Mostly while out doing his cheque day errands on income assistance cheque day) while minding his own business, and not causing trouble, Sak-Rye has had issues where police and private security approached him, informed him that they have receiving complaints and that he was making others around him feel uncomfortable. These complaints include him staring at people, fidgeting, and appearing to be intoxicated, though he was not drinking at the time. Sak-Rye told me he stays calm cool and collected when speaking to the police or security, as I advise in this article. Sak-Rye says that he does the best he can, making an effort to communicate even though he is not comfortable talking to them about his behaviours as they are not professionals like psychiatrists, psychologists, Social Workers, or Counsellors. Security and police tell him that People are within their rights to make these complaints when they are feeling uncomfortable with someone’s behaviour. Sak-Rye says that on a couple of occasions the police have asked him to take a breathalyser to confirm that he has not been drinking.

However, he is not alone of course, this has been an issue time and time again with different people who are part of the community of people I advocate for. I also wrote this open letter to Employers of private Security Companies where I asked them What type of mental health training do private Security Guards have, to behave like they are the psychiatrists, psychologists, Social Workers, or Counsellors? I basically asked in this letter how private security guards are qualified to address these type of complaints coming from the public. Then, in this BLOG post I point out that even though, I received no response, I did have a conversation over social media from someone who is employed with ICS (A security firm) who suggested that some people, perhaps, were in violation of a no loitering policy that the mall or the public building has in place. I did ask Sak-Rye during my interview with him, if he believed he might have been loitering and asked him to read that post on loitering, Sak-Rye answered this question by telling me, No, I was never loitering. I had business and purpose of being where I was, when these issues occurred.

I also addressed this issue to MLA'S in this letter where I talked about how MLA’s can play a part in resolving, not only Sak-Rye’s case, but the whole issue in general, by making sure that private security have significant mental health training.

Sak-Rye, told me that he had read the other posts where I talk about this, and is clear that this should be a mental health issue and not a criminal issue. His message is: the public should smarten up! People who believe they have the right to make complaints toward others who are just minding their own business and not causing trouble, need to check their manners, and understand the damage they are doing.

This past fall Sak-Rye got a letter from his doctor that he could carry with him to show police and security that he cannot handle getting spoken to about these complaints, e.g. starting, fidgeting and supposedly behaving as if intoxicated…. He had yet another incident in early December where, in a public building, and got approached by security, and accused of staring at 2 people while he was just minding his own business and causing no trouble. When he showed the privet security guard his doctor’s letter, the did not get the response he was hoping for. They told him that he cannot stare at people, and the complaint and follow up harassment were protocol.

Anyway, my message in this article is people who are doing this... SMARTEN UP! By making complaints, like this, you are discouraging people who are already living in poverty and have mental health issues… discouraging them even more.