I have written
extensively over the past few months on the impact that the recent set of
Government cuts will have directly on people in my community and beyond. I have also suggested possible responses to
these cuts, most usually in the form of community organizing and protests, as
well as lobbying and advocacy.
A big complication with this approach is that the challenges we face are province-wide in nature. The jobs being cut and organizations being de-funded are spread across the entire province.
But our responses and actions tend to be very local and community-based. This approach may work in HRM which has over half of the province’s population and a large number of engaged individuals and organizations. But it is much more difficult to do similar organizing and advocacy work across the province, from Cape Breton to Yarmouth. And it is extremely difficult to co-ordinate efforts between groups across the province, given all the different issues and priorities as well as the challenges of distance and geography.
Some sectors of not-for-profit organizations, like women’s centres, churches, affordable housing and environmental protection, have successfully established provincial networks that play a useful co-ordinating and leadership role. These networks bring together representatives of local groups to agree on province-wide actions and strategies.
But no such network is in place for my community. It has been a challenge to establish even local organizations of low income and marginalised individuals, never mind a province-wide network or alliance. As I have recounted in earlier BLOGs, it was a huge struggle to try to build and maintain a local union of vulnerable people in HRM such as the Benefits Reform Action Group (BRAG). To try something similar on a province-wide scale seems to be beyond our capacities.
Of course, it would be more possible if the province would support the work of a Social Prescribing Organization (SPO), as I have made the case repeatedly in recent years. A central feature of the social prescription approach is the building of community and strengthening of relations, which are core to efforts of improving the lives and well-being of marginalised people. However, at this point in time, it seems that the prospect for securing provincial funding for such an initiative is more remote than ever.
The dynamics may be a little different for those people in the process of losing their government jobs or contracts due to the various budget cuts. Many of these workers face a grim future, as I have written. But many are members of unions, such as NSGEU and CUPE, which have the resources to rally behind their laid off members and provide much needed support and solidarity. These unions have the capacity for outreach and networking, so that members from across the province (and in some cases across the country) are able to connect and inter-act, which is critical if we want to build resilient organizations with strong local leaders.
This approach is not really an option for grassroots organizations of the poor such as BRAG, simply because of all the related costs and logistics. For example, it would be possible for a Halifax-based group to organize and host a social hub, at which people are invited to gather to mix. Such events could be strictly social, or they could also be used to discuss issues and plan actions such as protests or lobbying. Some of these gatherings could even be framed as fund-raising events. (These ideas have emerged from my earlier discussions about the important role that a sober bar could play for people in my community, as I have written about here.)
However, it is not reasonable to expect low-income individuals from outside HRM to travel into the city for such an event, whether it is a social event or more of an organizing activity. It may be possible to secure some small funding from other agencies for occasional travel for group leaders from across the province to come to HRM, but such travel is both complicated and expensive. Perhaps we will need to rely on virtual meetings to engage people from across the province, but this technology has its own costs and complications.
In theory, an SPO could be of particular benefit to laid off government workers who are now facing a diminished life first on Employment Insurance benefits and then Income Assistance. The SPO could collaborate with the unions to provide both individual support services as well as group-based activities to ensure that laid off workers do not slip into isolation, depression and despair.
Providing such services to affected workers who live at a distance from HRM would be both complicated and expensive. It would likely involve either some form of outreach to the far corners of the province, or the costs and complications of bringing remote workers into HRM or perhaps regional centres. In the face of a non-responsive provincial government, the extent to which the unions of these workers can themselves provide these services and supports is doubtful.
In such circumstances, it is likely that HRM-based residents will dominate not only any organizations and protests that may emerge from this process, but also any messaging to government. Residents from other corners of the province such as Amherst, Digby and Glace Bay will again be marginalised and their voices diminished.
This is a problem, because each community has its own set of issues and perspectives. People in the Annapolis Valley may be pre-occupied with issues in the agricultural sector, while those in Petit de Grat will be more focused upon the fishery sector. How to secure the economic well being of their communities will look different from one community to another, and VERY different when compared to the situation in HRM. But the logistics and finances of how to get all these different voices to one table are clearly very problematic.
In Closing:
There has been a great amount of organizing work that has happened in HRM in response to the budget cuts approved by the Houston Government. But mobilizing the same levels of engagement and solidarity across the province remains a challenge.
Sometimes local actions can have impact across the province. For example, agencies that amplified the voices of small town seniors who were adversely affected by the budget cuts had a BIG impact, first on public opinion and then on MLAs who began feeling the heat locally. They then convinced the Premier to reinstate funding for senior care.
We need to find similar impactful messaging for those living in poverty, including the homeless, the disabled and those struggling with mental health issues. Otherwise, we will be facing further and more drastic cuts in services and benefits in the next budget. And the one after that.
Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.
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