Ask youth what they would do with an extra $2,000 a month and the answers might surprise you.
Young people disproportionately struggle with mental health issues and undertake increasing student debts, all while facing a daunting post-pandemic-era job market at a time when many jobs are precarious, underpaid, or part of the gig economy.
In a recent webinar series held by the Ontario Council for International Cooperation’s Youth Policy-Makers Hub (OCIC’s YPH,) 92 per cent of respondents said they would support a guaranteed livable income (GLI) in Canada and most participants answered that $2,000 a month would give them better educational, health, and housing options.
Now, as CERB and CESB comes to an end amid the various ongoing socio-economic challenges that young people face, a guaranteed livable offers a permanent solution and is a policy tool that can help better support youth and many other communities.
There are results. Previous domestic and international basic income pilot projects have demonstrated positive socio-economic and educational impacts on people across all social strata. For example, the Ontario basic income pilot in 2018 resulted in an improved standard of living for the vast majority of participants.
This will support youth to overcome the high cost of living and give them the ability to make life choices based on what’s best for them rather than based on what they can afford. Given that youth aged 18-35 years will have lived through two major recessions (2008-2009 and the looming post-pandemic recession) by the end of this year alone, it is only rational that financial security, stability, and opportunity are concerns of both Millennials and Zoomers.
As Aug. 12 is the United Nations’ International Youth Day, the OCIC’s YPH, the Canadian Council of Young Feminists/Conseil Canadien de Jeunes Féministes, and the Basic Income Canada Youth Network, have organized a national day of action to send letters to MPs and cabinet ministers in order to advocate for GLI. Recently, 50 Canadian senators released a public letter calling for a GLI in Canada. Their support reinforces the growing national support for GLI.
“Building Back Better” is a commonly used phrase that refers to the process of creating and rebuilding futures that are even better than our pre-coronavirus pandemic ‘normal.’ Youth are the future of our country and we will be inheriting many of our society’s contemporary problems. Our meaningful participation in public policy debates is critical and many of us believe GLI will support Canada to build back better.
Additionally, a guaranteed livable income will not only be beneficial to youth. It will also support the most marginalized communities in Canada, including BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ communities. Recent data collected by Toronto Public Health revealed that the coronavirus pandemic is disproportionately impacting racialized and lower income communities. A guaranteed livable income could be one way to support such communities who are most vulnerable to the many impacts of the pandemic.
A recent op-ed by the Executive Director of FoodShare Paul Taylor analyzed that “cost is the biggest barrier to accessing good food, and food charity cannot solve poverty. To end food insecurity, we need good-paying jobs, livable wages, an adequate income floor and job stability.” A guaranteed livable income is one way to overcome the barrier of cost and better support those living with food insecurity as well as those living in unsafe and precarious housing conditions, facing mental health conditions, single income families, people with disabilities, seniors, and other Canadians.
Youth have a substantial stake in building back better, but we also need to be better supported to be able to sustain our contributions. We call on youth and youth allies to join us today in our day of action and call on our MPs and cabinet ministers to support placing a GLI on the federal policy agenda, a motion that will benefit all Canadians.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/08/12/an-extra-2000-a-month-helped-young-people-struggling-during-covid-19-now-we-need-to-support-them-with-a-guaranteed-livable-income.html
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