A Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) ensures everyone an income sufficient to meet basic needs and live with dignity, regardless of work status.
Coalition Canada advocates for a Basic Income Guarantee, an income floor, that is sufficient to eliminate income insecurity and to enable everyone to live with dignity, regardless of work or relationship status.
Our current social assistance programs are unrelentingly miserly, punitive and debasing of human dignity. If Canada is to reduce suffering and build a healthy, resilient economy for people and the planet, we need to do better.
If a basic income had been in place prior to the COVID pandemic, income transfers could have been rolled out without people falling through the cracks.
A basic income provides a foundation of stability and security, which can generate a measure of confidence and trust in government that leads to good outcomes.
We respect Indigenous autonomy and self-determination
Coalition Canada respects the rights of Indigenous people to determine whether a basic income is delivered in their communities and, if so, what principles should govern it, what form it will take and how it will be implemented.
Our 6 principles
for a Basic Income Guarantee
Coalition Canada’s principles for a Basic Income Guarantee align with those for a just recovery and must be sufficient to provide recipients with a livable income.
1.
Universally accessible
Available to everyone when needed.
2.
Unconditional
Subject only to residency and income, regardless of work or relationship status.
3.
Sufficient
To live in dignity and security. Enough to achieve physical, mental and social well-being and to participate fully in the community. Enhanced for individuals with particular needs and vulnerabilities. Indexed to the cost of living.
4.
Respects Autonomy
Payable to individuals to be used at their sole discretion. Free of stigma and oversight. Portable to ensure free movement within Canada.
5.
Complements social services
Part of a broad social safety net of universal supports and services. Not a replacement for supports and services for individuals with particular needs and vulnerabilities. Not a replacement for livable minimum wage legislation or any other labour rights, laws and regulations. Leaves no one worse off as a result of receiving basic income.
6.
Reliable
Delivered monthly or bi-weekly. Responsive to changing circumstances. Gradually reduced as income increases.
These reflect principles identified by many of our members: Basic Income Canada Network, Basic Income Nova Scotia, Campaign-BIG PEI, Kingston Action Group for a Basic Income Guarantee, Lindsay Declaration for a Progressive Basic Income (developed at the 2017 annual workshop of Ontario Basic Income Network, Basic Income Peterborough Network, Basic Income Calgary, Basic Income Manitoba.
While supporting many of these principles and our advocacy to establish a Basic Income Guarantee in Canada, Revenu de Base Québec and Livable Income Vancouver aspire for a universal basic income delivered to everyone, regardless of need.