Appointed: A Canadian Senator Bringing Margins to the Centre

On this episode of Appointed, Kim speaks with Senator Pat Duncan, Canadian Senator and former premier of Yukon. Kim and Senator Duncan are longtime friends and have an amazing conversation about the work being done to ensure Canadians can “rebound” out of poverty.  Senator Duncan draws on her more than 10 years of experience serving in the Yukon Legislative Assembly and working in the Yukon community to discuss how food security in the North differs from other parts of Canada. Senator Duncan shines a light on the work being done to grow Yukon’s agricultural sector. Kim and Senator Duncan advocate for placing guaranteed livable basic income (GLBI) at the top of the national agenda. To learn more about Senator Duncan’s work, please visit the Senate of Canada website [https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/duncan-pat/]. For details on the Putting People First report which reviewed Yukon’s health and social systems and programs, including the 76 recommendations to serve the needs of Yukoners better, please click here [https://yukon.ca/en/putting-people-first].  Please also see the Circumpolar Agricultural Association website [https://circumpolaragriculture.wordpress.com/]. You can read the Thumbs Up reports at their website [https://thethumbsupfoundation.com/]. More information about work being done to address poverty in Yukon can be found at Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition [https://yapc.ca/]. For information on the Yukon Agricultural Association, including a Farm Guide, please see here [https://yukonag.ca/].

On this episode of Appointed, Kim speaks with Dr. Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair in Behavioral Sustainability and Sauder Distinguished Scholar at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Zhao speaks about her incredible research into how resource scarcity impacts human cognition and behaviour.   Kim and Dr. Zhao discuss Dr. Zhao’s 2023 study which found that one-time, unconditional cash transfers of $7,500 to people living in poverty reduced homelessness in Vancouver. Dr. Zhao explains her work modelling the cost of a guaranteed livable basic income (GLBI), and her findings that a GLBI would go a long way to allowing people to rebound in tough economic times and help to eliminate poverty and homelessness, in addition to costing less than half of the $92B currently spent every year on measures that keep people in poverty. To learn more about Dr. Zhao’s research, please visit her Behavioral Sustainability Lab [https://zhaolab.psych.ubc.ca/publications.html] or her website at the University of British Columbia [https://psych.ubc.ca/profile/jiaying-zhao/]. You can read more about the unconditional cash transfer study here [https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2222103120]. More information about the work being done in British Colombia to address poverty and other social challenges can be found at Foundations for Social Change [https://forsocialchange.org/]. More information about our initiatives to assist governments to Spend Less on Poverty & More in People can be found at https://senpate.sencanada.ca/en/current-work/s-233/.

On this episode of Appointed, Kim speaks with Dan Huang-Taylor, executive director of Food Banks BC, a provincial association working to end hunger in British Colombia. Kim and Dan discuss the intersection of poverty and food security, and Dan’s extensive experience working in the non-profit sector. Dan speaks about his involvement with the Put Food Banks Out of Business initiative, which advocates for the implementation of a guaranteed livable basic income to ensure no Canadians fall below the poverty line, and shares his reflections on the true cost of poverty. To learn more about Dan’s work at Food Banks BC, please go here [https://foodbankscanada.ca/food-banker-spotlight-dan-huang-taylor/]. To read about the Put Food Banks Out of Business initiative, please click here [https://www.putfoodbanksoutofbusiness.com/]. More information about work being done by food banks in Ontario to end hunger can be found at Feed Ontario [https://feedontario.ca/]. For more information about our work on these issue, please visit our web site at https://senpate.sencanada.ca/en/current-work/s-233/. [https://senpate.sencanada.ca/en/current-work/s-233/]

On this episode of Appointed, Kim speaks with activist and artist Jessie Golem about her portrait series, Humans of Basic Income, and her work on guaranteed livable basic income. Humans of Basic Income tells the stories of people who took part in Ontario’s basic income pilot project, and what happened when the pilot was cancelled prematurely. Ms Golem speaks about the impact that the Humans of Basic Income series, and the pilot project itself, has had on her own life, and her perspective on the importance of creating art as an act of courage, especially during uncertain times. See the Humans of Basic Income portrait series here [https://www.jessiegolem.com/humans-of-basic-income], and associated film “A Human Picture” here [https://ahumanpicture.com/].   To get involved with work being done on basic income in your community, please see UBI Works [https://www.ubiworks.ca/] and Basic Income Canada Network [https://basicincomecanada.org/]. You can read about the cancelled Ontario basic income pilot project here [https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-basic-income-pilot]. More information about the basic income class action case can be found here. [https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/doug-ford-government-to-pay-320k-in-legal-fees-to-basic-income-class-action/]

On this episode of Appointed, Kim speaks with economist Benoit Robidoux about the 2023 guaranteed basic income (GBI) proposal for residents in Prince Edward Island. Mr. Robidoux was a key member of the team behind the proposal; a team made up of economists, public servants, politicians and advocates from across Canada. Mr. Robidoux discusses how the GBI program would provide a benefit of $19,000 for single adults and $27,000 for families in Prince Edward Island, and reduce poverty rates among working-age adults and their families. Read the PEI Basic Income Report, titled "A Proposal For A Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit For Prince Edward Island", here [https://www.gbireport.ca/].