The Beginning
There was once an idea that interested people; if you gave people autonomy and enough money you could shape their health and well-being. But was it true?
They took the idea and created an experiment called the Ontario Basic Income Pilot. 4000 households. 4 cities. 6000 lives.
Then it was cancelled.
Their stories are not fictional. They belong to real people. This is their lives. On basic income and off.
Today: COVID-19
The virus has radically changed our society. The Federal government has responded to what essentially amounts to a basic income for many working-age adults in Canada.
But it isn’t universal.
Too many have fallen through the cracks.
Share their stories.
Low income accounts during COVID-19:
Basic income needed - Hi good morning my name is ocean. I am born and raised in canada, a single mother, with 3 children ages 1, 7 and 9. My 9 year old has a severe life threatening disability. She has 18 specialists at sick kids hospital toronto and requires my 24 hour care. She needs heart and other...
Participants of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot:
living in fear of homelessness again! - i too was on ODSP with all its limitations for many years. because of poverty and trying to feed my kids that i got on weekends and holidays with no other support, i attempted t return to work in constant pain..after getting the OBIPP i was able to look for an apartment in Lindsay…i was...
BI=Healthier food=less seizures - I live in Thunder Bay, am 51 and have uncontrolled seizures from epilepsy. Before being accepted on BI, I was on ODSP. The increase in money while on BI allowed me to buy healthier food, which has helped decrease the amount and severity of the Grand Mal seizures I have. It was so nice knowing...
From PTSD and ODSP to Hope and Then Back to Hopelessness - Before I got onto the Basic Income Program I had been a recipient of ODSP for many years, due to PTSD. On ODSP I often had to pick between bills or groceries and frequented food banks. I had to buy all of my clothing used, only owning for myself 5 shirts and 4 pairs of...After 7 months on the BIP - -We were nearly stress free =Husbands hair had stopped falling out after we left ODSP and was growing back -Migraines and seizures have been cut in half meaning less pills and pain -Fainting spells have been reduced allowing me to take the pills less often -More able to focus on getting my memory problems under...
Basic Income and the Disabled - At twenty, I was diagnosed with four mental illnesses. It took most of 10 years to correctly diagnose my problems and figure out how to treat them; then, eight years ago, I lost all of the vision in my left eye and 90% in my right. During those ten years, in spite of my struggles,...