I’m a 24 year old woman from Thunder Bay, I have mental health issues and some physical issues that make it hard for me to become employed. I have applied to countless jobs and nothing wants me not even Mc Donalds (the only job I have had recently only paid $100 dollars monthly and I couldn’t afford a bus pass to work there anymore), I’m in constant pain and after being rejected constantly it wears down on you more than people think. My therapist recommended me the program and I was lucky to be accepted before the program my family was at risk of losing our home and everything felt hopeless, my widowed mother can’t work anymore from her own health issues.
On the program I was able to get help for my issues and get help for job skills that I need, while being able to volunteer to help build my resume. I was also able to look into looking into going back to school, my own apartment and work on my health (physical and mental). Now that its being cut we’re not being told whats happening, I don’t know if this month will be the last payment and if anything else is coming in. I had a plan to get on my feet and now I don’t know what I’m going to do anymore, I don’t know how the bills will be paid, I don’t know how my family will be fed, I don’t know if we’ll have a roof over our heads anymore, everything feels hopeless and its hurts that people that don’t understand how much the program helped people and act like we’re just too lazy to work when most of us would gladly work if we could. We were told that we’d have help for three years and suddenly the hope we were given was crushed, with just a vague answer and told that its a compassionate choice because the government decided they didn’t like the results without giving it a real chance and forgetting that we’re people not numbers that can just spring back from this.