15TH ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE CONGRESS 2016
THURSDAY, MAY 12 - SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2016
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA
15TH ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE CONGRESS 2016
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS & SPONSORS:
WINNIPEG TRANSIT
NABIG CONGRESS 2016
MESSAGE FROM CONGRESS CHAIRS
We welcome you warmly to the 15th North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress. We are most pleased to be hosting the first NABIG Congress to be held in the western part of the continent. This is also the third joint American-Canadian Congress hosted by the Basic Income Canada Network -- NABIG 2012 took place in Toronto, and NABIG 2014 was held in Montreal in conjunction with the International Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network. Basic income has been discussed, debated, piloted, and promoted for many decades on both sides of the 49th parallel. It has surfaced as a possible direction in the current US presidential campaign. In recent months in Canada, the topic has been high profile and under active consideration by all levels of government. It is a most opportune time to be gathering at this NABIG Congress. These three days that we spend together will be valuable time to consider how the idea of basic income can gather broad social and political support, and how it can become a reality and help us to build more equitable, just, and sustainable societies. Our Congress theme focuses on Winnipeg as a meeting place, and this highlights the opportunity for activists, academics, civil servants and policy analysts to build an inclusive sustainable movement for basic income. It also highlights Winnipeg as a meeting place between First Nations and European settlers, and this is a meeting which often disadvantaged the Indigenous peoples throughout history. Therefore, at this Congress we will do our small part to promote reconciliation through engaging the indigenous communities both culturally and intellectually. Our NABIG Congress 2016 Planning Committee has worked hard to put together a stimulating and engaging programme. We hope that you find the various speakers and sessions worthwhile. We also hope that this Congress provides you with opportunities to connect with others from all over North America who are working towards economic security for all in their own communities.
Best wishes, Sid Frankel & Jim Mulvale Co-Chairs, NABIG Congress 2016 Planning Committee Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba MESSAGE FROM BICN
It is a great privilege for the Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) to welcome participants from the United States, Canada and beyond to this year’s North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress. We are especially fortunate to have Winnipeg as our meeting place and source of inspiration for coming together to share basic income ideas and experience. The Forks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, and the city of Winnipeg that formed around the Forks, have been the meeting place of Indigenous peoples, European traders and settlers, and waves of newcomers from all corners of the world. Also of historical significance, Winnipeg (along with the now well-known town of Dauphin) was a site of the 1970s Mincome experiments. Several landmark studies of the 60s and 70s in North America - on poverty and insecurity, on taxation and on the status of women - were bold in their language and shared a sense of possibility and determination that good public policy could make life better. Over recent decades, in contrast, the language of austerity and a sense of dampened expectations has been more the norm and it’s not easy to shake off. Now, however, in 2016, there are signs of a revival of boldness and recognition that governments do have options and must make better choices. There is growing awareness that the reasons for wanting a basic income, both moral and practical, are more important than ever. Many of these reasons are global, but each country context is different and that is where the very hard, usually messy and sometimes risky, work of turning idea into public policy unfolds. In Canada, one provincial government announced that it will pilot a basic income, another will examine how it can move in the direction of a basic income, and other provinces are interested as are many municipalities across the country. The federal government has shown interest and has increased the amount provided through our basic income-like system of child benefits. The really hard work for Canadians has truly begun. BICN is therefore particularly excited that there is such a wealth of knowledge and diversity of perspective that speakers, panelists and participants are bringing to NABIG this year. Attention to issues such as gender, race, Indigenous status and disability is far greater than at previous congresses. There are historical and futurist perspectives, pragmatic policy proposals and activist strategies. This is the exactly the kind of meeting place of ideas we need. And...when we leave, we can all take what we’ve learned, share it with the many people who could not be here, and use our varied talents and initiative to keep building the movement forward!
Sheila Regehr Chairperson NABIG CONGRESS 2016
MESSAGE FROM USBIG
On behalf of the US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG), I am pleased to welcome everyone to the 15th annual North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress. The Congress alternates each year between Canada and the US. Earlier congresses have all been held nearer the east coast of our continent. This meeting in Winnipeg is evidence of the widening geographical reach of a growing movement for a basic income guarantee. And, as the province that produced the important Dauphin mincome experiment, Manitoba is a fitting place to return, reflect upon, and renew interest in an idea that has been around for quite a long time. It is an idea that has seen surge of interest in recent years, after promising results internationally with cash transfer programs in Brazil, basic income experiments in Namibia and India, and now pilot projects in the works in Canada, Finland, and the Netherlands, a national referendum for a basic income in Switzerland later this year, growing news coverage, and media commentary that is making the connections between basic income and some of our most pressing social and environmental problems. This conference features many of the themes that have animated past congresses, from philosophical justifications of basic income to economic, legal and and social analyses of basic income schemes and opportunities, in relation to poverty, inequality, and other problems. But this congress stands out, first, for the number and range of presentations relating to colonialism, racism, gender oppression, and disability, and, second, for an emphasis on activism. We will hear about efforts to initiate basic income, or basic income pilot projects here in Canada, historically as well as currently, and in Finland. We will hear about activist initiatives and movement building from local to national levels in Canada and the US. We have panels and papers on how to engage in effective advocacy, avoid policy fiascos, and much more. I especially want to welcome participants from Canada’s indigenous communities, and express thanks for contributing a roundtable on Friday at the Neeganin Centre, followed by a reception and cultural event. And I want to thank the Basic Income Canada Network and the organizing committee for putting together such an exciting program, and the University of Manitoba for hosting the congress. Best wishes for an enlightening and inspiring four days of networking and discussion.
Michael Howard Coordinator, USBIG MESSAGE FROM MAYOR
Mayor’s Message
It is my pleasure to extend greetings to everyone attending the 2016 North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress in Winnipeg.
On behalf of the citizens of Winnipeg and my City Council colleagues, we welcome you as our guests for this very important conference. It is our honour to be your host for this special forum.
It is important that we take this opportunity to celebrate and pay tribute to the remarkable accomplishments of the Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) in the shaping of progressive and vibrant communities across our country. As Mayor, I truly believe that we build a better and stronger community through collaboration – and the important work our city’s scholars and researchers do to advise government on mechanisms to reduce poverty makes our city a better place for everyone who lives here.
If you are visiting from out of town, I hope that you will enjoy our warm hospitality and visit some of our iconic attractions, including our beautiful Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Journey to Churchill exhibit at the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Winnipeg has a diverse cultural and arts community, as well as a variety of restaurants, shopping experiences, and local sporting events for you to explore and enjoy.
It takes initiative, vision, and hard work to make a conference like this one happen and I would like to extend thanks to all of the organizers and volunteers who have worked diligently to make this event a success. I would also like to extend my best wishes for a productive meeting and many more years of growth and success.
Warmly,
Mayor Brian Bowman, City of Winnipeg
NABIG CONGRESS 2016
MESSAGE FROM UM PRESIDENT
NABIG CONGRESS 2016
PLENARY SPEAKER BIOS PLENARY SPEAKERS
MILES CORAK Miles Corak is a full professor of economics with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, and a visiting professor with the Department of Economics at Harvard University during the 2015/16 academic year. His publications focus on labour markets and social policy, including child poverty, access to university education, social mobility, and unemployment. He has edited three books, and his paper, “Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility,” examines the relationship between inequality and social mobility across countries, a relationship that has become known as the “Great Gatsby Curve.” It was awarded the 2014 Doug Purvis Prize by the Canadian Economics Association, which annually recognizes a highly significant contribution to Canadian economic policy. His research has been used by The White House, and cited by many of the major print and electronic media. Dr. Corak completed his PhD at Queen’s University. He joined the University of Ottawa in 2007 with 20 years experience in the Canadian federal government, and has held visiting appointments with UNICEF, the University of London, Princeton University, and the Russell Sage Foundation. Professor Corak maintains his own blog at milescorak.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @ MilesCorak.
GRACE-EDWARD GALABUZI Grace-Edward Galabuzi is an Associate Professor in the Politics and Public Administration Department, Ryerson University, Toronto and a Research Associate at the Centre for Social Justice in Toronto. He is the author of Canada’s Economic Apartheid: The Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century (CSPI, 2006) and co-editor of Race and Racialization: Essential Readings (CSPI, 2007) and Colonialism and Racism in Canada (Nelson/Thomson, 2009). His research interests include the experiences of recent immigrants and racialized groups in the Canadian labour market; the racialization of poverty; race, racialization and social exclusion/inclusion and the impact of global economic restructuring on local communities. He is an active member of the social justice community in Toronto and has been involved in a variety of social justice campaigns. He is a member of the steering committee of the Colour of Poverty Campaign. He is a member of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Council, a board member of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation. He is a founder member of the African Music Festival in Toronto. He holds a Ph.D in Political Science from York University. PLENARY SPEAKERS
LEAH GAZAN Leah Gazan is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota Nation, located in Treaty 4 territory. She is currently teaching in the Faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg. Leah’s career has focused on community capacity building and development, dedicating the majority of her efforts to supporting the advancement of First Nations across Canada. Leah is currently serving terms as a board member on the Board of Governors at Red River College and as a council member on the Manitoba Lotteries Research Council. Leah just completed serving a five year term as the President of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, a non-profit organization committed to providing leadership and support in the area of social planning and socially responsible policy development. Leah has been a very active participant in social movements including as a participant in Idle No More and most recently as a founder of the #WeCare campaign aimed at working with the boarder Canadian public to participate in ensuring the end of violence against Indigenous women and girls. In 2015, Leah was one of six people across Canada to be selected for the International Leadership Program with the United States Consulate. Leah was also recently selected to present at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women in Ottawa to testify about how the federal government has fared in addressing the issue of violence against Indigenous women and girls. I April 2015 Leah was one of two representatives selected by the Province of Manitoba to make at statement at the United Nations Permanent forum for Indigenous people about the need to acknowledge injustices that were perpetrated against Indigenous adoptees during the Sixties Scoop. Leah is also a regularly seen on local media and has been been featured and interviewed in main news broadcasts and print media throughout Canada. Leah has published chapters in books, including the Award Winning The Winter We Danced edited by The Kino-nda-niimi Collective. Leah recently completed a TedX Talk titled ‘The Eye of the Colonial Storm”. Her dedication towards the advancement of community self-sufficiency and self-determination has been the driving force that has guided her career in Winnipeg and First Nations across Canada. PLENARY SPEAKERS
RON HIKEL Over five decades, and half a dozen career platforms in three countries, Ron Hikel has pursued one fundamental interest: advancing government’s capacity to serve the public interest. After teaching political science at Canadian and American universities (degrees from Boston and Columbia), he sent up and managed the Mincome experiment; then took senior civil service positions in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. From 1980 to 1998 he was with KPMG Canada (executive director, the Centre for Government), managing projects for eight governments and numerous First nations. Since retiring, numerous projects included deputy minister of health (Manitoba), deputy chief of staff to a US Congressman during the Obama administration; and work on a book on fatal failure in delivering public services.
FELICIA KORNBLUH Felicia Kornbluh is an Associate Professor of History and Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s and Studies. Kornbluh’s book, The Battle for Welfare Rights, (University of Penn. Press 2007), is a study of the social movement for welfare rights, and its interactions with mainstream political and legal institutions, in New York City and nationally. It is now available in paperback and is used widely. She is now writing a monograph on the New York City World’s Fair of 1964-1965, and on the political movements that made that fair a failure. She is also in the middle of a long-term project on disability, gender and social welfare, which focuses on the activist and constitutional law scholar Jacobus tenBroek. Kornbluh has received fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the American Historical Association, and many other sources, and is an active member of scholarly communities in women’s history, women’s studies, legal history, legal studies, 20th-century U.S. history, urban history, and the history of public policy. In addition to her career as a scholar, she has a long career as an advocate and activist, especially on issues of women’s and children’s well-being, and has worked on these issues on Capitol Hill and at several Washington, D.C.-based research think tanks. She has written for numerous academic and non-academic journals. PLENARY SPEAKERS
RYAN MEILI Ryan Meili is a Family Doctor at the Westside Community Clinic in Saskatoon and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan where he serves as head of the Division of Social Accountability. He was involved in the establishment of the SWITCH student-run clinic and the Making the Links Certificate in Global Health, and is the author of A Healthy Society: how a focus on health can revive Canadian democracy. Ryan also serves as vice-chair of the national advocacy organization, Canadian Doctors for Medicare and is the founder of Upstream: Institute for A Healthy Society.
JURGEN DE WISPELAERE Jurgen De Wispelaere is a former occupational therapist turned political theorist and policy scholar. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Tampere (Finland), and in this capacity forms part of the Kela-led research team preparing the upcoming national basic income experiment in Finland. Previously he worked at universities in Montreal, Barcelona, Dublin and London. His major research interest is the political analysis of basic income, which was the topic of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Tampere. Jurgen De Wispelaere has published extensively on basic income in leading international journals, including most recently Journal of Social Policy, Journal of Public Policy, Politics, Political Studies, International Social Security Review and Social Service Review, as well as specialist edited volumes. He is a founding co-editor of the journal Basic Income Studies and recently co-edited Basic Income: An Anthology of Contemporary Research (Wiley 2013). Jurgen De Wispelaere is a board member of BICN/RCRG (currently taking a backseat due to his relocation to Europe) and was the co-convenor of the 2014 BIEN Congress in Montreal. He is a big fan of death metal and believes a basic income would provide much needed support for the underground music scene.
NABIG CONGRESS 2016
SCHEDULE THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016 SCHEDULE - MAY 12
OPENING THURSDAY SESSION 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
12:00 NOON REGISTRATION & SIGN IN OPENS
1:00 PM - 1:30 PM OPENING SESSION
Opening Remarks - Jim Mulvale, Co-Chairperson Planning Committee Opening Prayer & Drum Song - Elder George Spence Introduction of Hosts - Jim Mulvale, Co-Chairperson Planning Committee Greetings from Basic Income Canada Network - Sheila Regehr, Chairperson Greetings from U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network - Michael Howard, Coordinator Congress Information - Hosts
1:30 PM - 2:15 PM OPENING PLENARY PRESENTATION Leah Gazan, Faculty of Education, University of Winnipeg Topic: Poverty: How it Perpetuates Colonial Systems
2:15 PM - 2:35 PM REFRESHMENT BREAK 203 Robson Hall - Common Room
2:35 PM - 4:05 PM CONCURRENT PANEL PRESENTATIONS PANEL ONE - A 206 Robson Hall Topic: Creating a social movement: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally Pamela Cornell, Jamie Swift, and Roberta Hamilton, Kingston Action Group for a Basic Income Guarantee Jamie Swift - “Making the Case in Kingston And Beyond” Pamela Cornell - “The Politics of Language” Roberta Hamilton - “Making a Feminist Case”
PANEL ONE - B 207 Robson Hall Topic: Basic Income Organization and Women: Increasing Our Involvement and Raising Our Voices Ann Withorn, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Boston Liane Gale, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Minneapolis Sheila Regehr, Basic Income Canada Network Maria Wong, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter SCHEDULE - MAY 12
4:05 PM - 5:25 PM PAPER SESSION - ONE 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room Topic: Reforming Welfare State Policies and Programs Josh Brandon, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg - “Basic Income and EIA: Sidestepping the “Welfare Wall” Dario Cidro, Manitoba Basic Income Network - “Overcoming Homelessness in Winnipeg through Basic Income: Promise, Contradictions, and Potential” John Rook, Director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives, The Mustard Seed - “Thinking About Thinking: How Receiving Income Can Impact an Individual’s Outlook”
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM OPENING RECEPTION 203 Robson Hall - Common Room
NABIG CONGRESS 2016
SCHEDULE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016 SCHEDULE - MAY 13
FRIDAY SESSION 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM SECOND PLENARY PRESENTATION Felicia Kornbluh, History and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of Vermont Topic: Two, Three . . . Many Precariats: Basic Income and The Fight For Gender, Class, and Disability Justice
8:45 AM - 10:15 AM CONCURRENT PANEL PRESENTATIONS
PANEL TWO - A 206 Robson Hall Topic: Racialized Poverty and the Promise of the Basic Income Guarantee Grace Edward Galabuzi, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University Michel Kerr, Colour of Poverty Campaign
PANEL TWO - B 207 Robson Hall Topic: Basic Income and the Care-Centered Economy Ann Withorn, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Boston Liane Gale, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Minneapolis Lorna Turnbull, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba
10:15 AM - 10:35 AM REFRESHMENT BREAK 203 Robson Hall - Common Room
10:35 AM - 11:55 AM PAPER SESSION - TWO 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room Topic: Basic Income Experimentation and the Economic Context David Calnitsky, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison - “When Poverty Disappears: Work, Social Stigma, and Violence in the Manitoba Mincome Experiment” Karl Widerquist, SFS-Qatar, Georgetown University - “Possibilities and Pitfalls for a Basic Income Pilot Project” John Mills - “Where Capitalism Fails and How Basic Income Will Help” SCHEDULE - MAY 13
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM LUNCH PLENARY PRESENTATION 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room Daniel Blaikie, Member of Parliament for Elmwood – Transcona, Manitoba Topic: The Federal NDP and Guaranteed Annual Income
(Lunch available in 203 Robson Hall - Common Room)
1:15 PM - 1:55 PM BUS TO NEEGANIN CENTRE 181 Higgins Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba
1:55 PM - 3:15 PM PAPER SESSION - THREE Neeganin Centre Topic: Philosophical Issues William David Clegg - “Trading Dysfunction for Freedom” Ashley Engel, First Unitarian Society in Newton - “The Radical Egalitarian Case for Basic Income: The Importance of Time Inequalities and Cognitive Burdens” Karl Widerquist, SFS-Qatar, Georgetown University - “Justice as the Pursuit of Accord”
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM THIRD PLENARY PRESENTATION Neeganin Centre
Grace-Edward Galabuzi, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University Topic: The Racialization of Poverty: Canadian Perspectives
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM FOURTH PLENARY PRESENTATION Neeganin Centre
Jurgen De Wispelaere, University of Tampere (Finland) Topic: The Politics of Piloting A Basic Income: Reflections on the Finnish Experiment SCHEDULE - MAY 13
4:45 PM - 6:15 PM INDIGENOUS ROUNDTABLE Neeganin Centre Leslie Spillet, Executive Director, Ka Ni Kanichihk Marileen Bartlett, Executive Director, Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development Inc. Tammy Christenson, Executive Director, Ndinawe Trudy Lavallee, Executive Director, Ikwe Widdjiitiwin Damon Johnston (Moderator), President, Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg Inc.
6:15 PM - 8:15 PM RECEPTION & CULTURAL EVENT Neeganin Centre
8:15 PM BUS TO BEST WESTERN (PEMBINA HIGHWAY) & UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA NABIG CONGRESS 2016
SCHEDULE SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2016 SCHEDULE - MAY 14
SATURDAY SESSION 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM FIFTH PLENARY PRESENTATION Miles Corak, Professor of Economics with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa Topic: Inequality, Poverty And Intergenerational Mobility
8:45 AM - 10:05 AM CONCURRENT PAPER SESSION - FOUR
PAPER SESSION FOUR - A 206 Robson Hall
Topic: Effects of Basic Income - 1 Diane Delaney, RESOLVE, University of Manitoba - “The Potential for Real Income Security to Reduce Violence in Rural and Northern Manitoba” Karine Levasseur, University of Manitoba, Nathalia Carvalho Moreira, Fundaҫão Getúlio Vargas (São Paulo), and Stephanie Paterson, Concordia University - “Assessing the Implications of Basic Income for Gender” Lorna Turnbull, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, - “Gender, Caregiving and the Need for a Basic Income”
PAPER SESSION FOUR - B 207 Robson Hall
Topic: Effects of Basic Income - 2 Carter Vance, Algoma University - “Child Welfare Reform: The Possibilities of Basic Income” Maria Wong, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter - “Women for Freedom and Economic Security” Clayton Tucker - “Universal Social Security: How to Restart the American Dream”
10:05 AM - 10:25 AM REFRESHMENT BREAK 203 Robson Hall - Common Room SCHEDULE - MAY 14
10:25 AM - 11:45 AM CONCURRENT PAPER SESSION - FIVE
PAPER SESSION FIVE - A 206 Robson Hall
Topic: Advocacy for Basic Income Elizabeth McGuire, Chair, Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits - “Facilitating Basic Income In Your Town/City” Brandy Moore, Singer/Songwriter - “Just Because I’m Alive” Tim Rourke - “A Powerful Social Movement In Canada For Guaranteed Living Income; How Will It Come About?”
PAPER SESSION FIVE - B 207 Robson Hall
Topic: Economics of Basic Income Wolfgang Price, Council for a 21st Century Progressive Economy - “BIG in the Age of Robots” Tristan Roberts, Basic Income Action, Basic Income Project - “Digital Currencies as a Method for Equality” Mark Lo Scerbo and Dario Cidro, Manitoba Basic Income Network - “Crowdfunding through BasicIncomeWinnipeg.com: Status and Implications for the Basic Income Movement”
11:45 AM - 1:00 PM LUNCH PRESENTATIONS 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room James Mulvale (Session Chair), Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba Senator Art Eggleton - “Basic Income: Your Time is at Hand” Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development - “Working Together to Reduce Poverty in Canada”
(Lunch available in 203 Robson Hall - Common Room)
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM SIXTH PLENARY PRESENTATION 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room
Ryan Meili, Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan Topic: The Upstream Approach: Making the Health Case for Basic Income SCHEDULE - MAY 14
1:45 PM - 3:15 PM CONCURRENT PANEL PRESENTATIONS
PANEL THREE - A 206 Robson Hall Topic: Legal and Social Considerations for the Right to Basic Income Lorna Turnbull, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba Joelle Pastora Sala, Public Interest Law Centre Robert Lidstone, Public Interest Law Centre
PANEL THREE - B 207 Robson Hall Topic: Violence Against Women and Guaranteed Livable Income Maria Wong, Vancouver Rape Relief Jacquie Lewis, Vancouver Rape Relief Jaclyn Chang & Sarah Mah, Asian Women’s Coalition (Vancouver & Montreal) Angela Lavallee, Mama Wi Chi Itata (Winnipeg) Evelyn Forget, University of Manitoba
3:15 PM - 4:05 PM REFRESHMENT BREAK 203 Robson Hall - Common Room
4:05 PM - 5:25 PM CONCURRENT PAPER SESSION - SIX
PAPER SESSION SIX - A 206 Robson Hall
Topic: Advocacy for Basic Income - 2 Paul Vallée, Pythian - “Resetting rock bottom: What We Must Learn from the Movements to Abolish Slavery and Debtor’s Prison” Jenna van Draanen, University of California, Los Angeles - “An Analysis of Current Social Media Activity About Basic Income” Fredrick Petrie, Navigator Finance - “An Alternative to Basic Income - a JOB!” SCHEDULE - MAY 14
4:05 PM - 5:25 PM CONCURRENT PAPER SESSION - SIX
PAPER SESSION SIX - B 207 Robson Hall
Topic: Basic Income Schemes and Disasters Harvey Stevens and Wayne Simpson, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba - “The Design and Financing of A National Gai for Canada: A Refundable Tax Credit Financed by the Elimination of Non-Refundable Tax Credits” Tracy Smith-Carrier and Steven Green, School of Social Work, King’s University College at Western University and Green - “Another Low Road to Basic Income? Mapping A Pragmatic Model for Adopting A Basic Income in Ontario, Canada” Jurgen De Wispelaere, University of Tampere (Finland) and Lindsay Stirton, University of Sussex (UK) - “Implementing Universal Basic Income: Lessons from A Policy Fiasco Analysis”
5:25 PM - 6:55 PM CONCURRENT PANEL PRESENTATIONS
PANEL FOUR - A 206 Robson Hall Topic: A Template for an Advocacy on Basic Income David Northcott, Winnipeg Harvest Byron Williams, Public Interest Law Centre Garth Smorang, Myers Weinberg LLP
PANEL FOUR - B 207 Robson Hall Topic: Local Activism and Basic Income: How to Engage Local Communities to Take Action on Basic Income Ian Schlakman, Basic Income Action (Washington, DC) Liane Gale, Basic Income Women’s Group & BIG Minnesota Jason Burke-Murphy, BIEN & US Basic Income Guarantee Network Diane Pagen, BIG NYC
NABIG CONGRESS 2016
SCHEDULE SUNDAY MAY 15, 2016 SCHEDULE - MAY 15
SUNDAY SESSION 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM SEVENTH PLENARY PRESENTATION 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room
Ron Hikel, Hampshire Consulting Topic: Mincome’s Story: Origin, Conduct and Fate
8:45 AM - 10:05 AM PAPER SESSION SEVEN 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room
Topic: Implementation of Basic Income Sid Frankel, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba, Karen Duncan, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, and Dana Bazarkulova, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba - “Estimating the Cost of Raising Children for Basic Income” Michael W. Howard, Department of Philosophy, The University of Maine - “Maximal and Minimal Strategies for Introducing A Basic Income” Sheila Regehr, Basic Income Canada Network - “Getting the Policy and Politics Right on Basic Income”
10:05 AM - 10:25 AM REFRESHMENT BREAK 203 Robson Hall - Common Room
10:05 AM - 11:30 AM CLOSING 200 Robson Hall - Moot Court Room
Reflections on Congress - Sheila Regehr Reflections on Congress - Ann Withorn Announcement of 2017 Congress - Michael Howard Closing Prayer - Elder George Spence NABIG CONGRESS 2016
PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS ABSTRACTS
PANEL PRESENTATION ONE – A Pamela Cornell, Jamie Swift, and Roberta Hamilton, Kingston Action Group for a Basic Income Guarantee Creating a social movement: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally A basic, liveable income looms as a crucial issue, confronting a world fractured by inequality. There is increasing support in countries around the world and in Canada. But the politics are complex. People on the left and the right oppose BIG. This panel aims to discuss and provide some answers to the critics, and to clarify the progressive vision that we have been developing in Kingston.
Making the Case in Kingston and Beyond - Jamie Swift A group of people that became The Kingston Action Group for a Basic Income Guarantee first met in November 2013, and has met every month since then. Notably, two years later, an ideologically divided Kingston City Council unanimously supported a resolution backing basic income. This paper discusses how the Kingston group came together, its strategies, successes, disappointments, and its work in developing a progressive BIG, that rejects the vision of the right, and responds to the critics from the left. The group has BIG plans for 2016, and is open to contributions from the post-panel discussion.
The Politics of Language - Pamela Cornell A fervent advocate of the Basic Income Guarantee, I seize every opportunity to discuss its merits, especially with residents on my daily rounds as a letter carrier. I notice what catches people’s attention and what makes them glaze over. That experience informed the way I made our pitch that helped win unanimous support from Kingston City Council. In our Kingston group, economist Robin Boadway has mapped out a practical path to implementation. Given that the devil lies in the details, I will try to show how this approach could play out for several individuals at a range of income levels.
Making a Feminist Case - Roberta Hamilton In 1970s liberal and socialist feminists fought against Selma James and the Wages for Housework campaign on the grounds that it simply entrenched women more firmly in the home. This paper discusses the differences between that campaign and the struggle for a Basic Income Guarantee. The paper argues that a properly realized Basic Income Guarantee could revive aspects of the socialist feminist agenda, appealing to women across the class spectrum, including those in organized labour. ABSTRACTS
PANEL PRESENTATION ONE – B Ann Withorn, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Boston, Liane Gale, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Minneapolis, Sheila Regehr, Basic Income Canada Network, and Maria Wong, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter
Basic Income Organization and Women: Increasing Our Involvement and Raising Our Voices Our task will NOT be to make formal presentations, but to converse together, and with attendees, about:
a. Why it is important to present Basic Income as, especially, a classic “women’s issue” and why this means that many women need to be part of all BI activities
b. How to talk about this — essentially feminist --conception of BI both within the Basic Income community and as a way of explaining and promoting Basic Income in broader Progressive communities?
c. What roles do women play within the Basic Income movement? Do we have places in the “leadership” — whatever that means for us? What are structural ways to examine this and to figure out how our relative lack of a visible voice affects us all?
d. What are ideas and proposals for bringing more women and more of women’s concerns to the role; what we have been doing, and our challenges Maybe create a list of Next Steps? ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION ONE – REFORMING WELFARE STATE POLICIES AND PROGRAMS Josh Brandon, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg Basic Income and EIA: Sidestepping the “Welfare Wall” Anti-poverty advocates in Manitoba have identified increasing Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) rates as one of the most important measures to be taken for reducing poverty(1). The basic needs portion of EIA is far below what is needed to provide a healthy subsistence level income. Basic needs budgets provide only 40 to 60 percent the amount necessary for a healthy diet in Winnipeg(2). Government officials have raised concern that an increase in EIA rates would allow some households receiving EIA to obtain higher incomes than some working families not receiving EIA. However, understanding the extent of this problem would require more detailed analysis of actual EIA household budgets and low wage incomes. To the extent that this disparity presents a real barrier to raising EIA, one alternative is to provide increases in the form of a partial basic income benefit to low income households. This paper will explore options for how such a benefit could be implemented in Manitoba, its effects on poverty reduction as well as its feasibility. As Canada and Manitoba move towards a system of basic income type benefits for children, renters and - as proposed here – basic needs, we could move closer to a full basic income for all. Themes include: strategic alliances and coalitions with progressive social movements (1) Make Poverty History Manitoba. 2015. “Make Poverty History Manitoba Policy Priorities – 2016 Provincial Election”. Online: https://makepovertyhistorymb.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/mhpm-election-priorities-oct-2015. pdf (2) EIA Advocates Network. 2015. “The EIA Advocates Network calls on the Province to double the Basic Needs budget to reflect actual food costs in Manitoba”. Winnipeg, MB.
Dario Cidro, Manitoba Basic Income Network Overcoming Homelessness in Winnipeg through Basic Income: Promise, Contradictions, and Potential The quest to end homelessness in Winnipeg has received preferential attention in recent years both from the government sector, civil society, and other social organizations addressing poverty. The challenge to address homelessness and other housing-related issues has been in the forefront as well in academic research to identify the barriers and create long-term solutions to homelessness and housing problems. This study presents the current literature on homelessness and housing issues in Winnipeg including the programming and policy recommendations of these studies and reports (see Make Poverty History 2015, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-Manitoba) papers, etc.). It also examines the challenges and the contradictions presented in these studies and reports including the potential solutions that will ultimately reduce, if not eradicate, homelessness and other perennial housing problems. The relationship of basic income to the promise, contradictions, and potential of overcoming homelessness is presented to argue for doable and pragmatic solutions to homelessness and housing issues. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION ONE – REFORMING WELFARE STATE POLICIES AND PROGRAMS
John Rook, Director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives, The Mustard Seed Thinking About Thinking: How Receiving Income Can Impact an Individual’s Outlook A review of available literature revealed a prevalent research focus on the changes in consumerism and the labour supply of welfare and income support recipients. Existing studies have additionally explored the mentality of money, by investigating the relationship between money and happiness. While these factors are important pieces in determining the effects of income on an individual, they do not capture the whole picture. There remains a gap in the literature in regards to changes in how an individual thinks when they experience a change in income. By bringing this to light, it may be possible to more accurately predict the potential impacts of income on recipients. Proposed Research Study: The purpose of our study is to investigate whether people with no previous income think differently when they begin to receive income. We are primarily concerned with determining whether income impacts an individual’s thinking in four designated areas: individual happiness, self-worth and actualization, future aspirations and safety/ security. All clients with no income seeking the help of The Mustard Seed in applying for income supports will be offered the opportunity to participate in our study. Eligible participants will be asked a series of questions at the time of intake and during a single follow-up appointment. The questions have been created with the intention of capturing changes in individual thought processes when a person has no income compared to when they are acquiring income. Answers from both surveys will be compared, and results will be revealed.
PANEL PRESENTATION TWO - A
Grace Edward Galabuzi, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University, and Michel Kerr, Colour of Poverty Campaign
Racialized Poverty and the Promise of the Basic Income Guarantee The experience of poverty is differential in that it has different pathways and impacts particular populations in differential ways. This is the case with indigenous poverty and its roots in colonization, feminized poverty and its roots in patriarchy and racialized poverty and its roots in racialization and structural racism. These realities represent a challenge to the concept of a universal policy response to poverty and anti-poverty state action such as the Basic Income Guarantee. This panel seeks to explore the complexity associated with maintaining a differential analysis of poverty as we seek to establish anti-poverty action based on the universal application of the Basic Income Guarantee. To what extent does the universal principle represent the best approach to otherwise differential experiences of poverty? Could it instead reinforce the notion that poverty is a generic experience and serve to mask the differential experiences of poverty? How best do we advocate an approach to income security that also addressed the underlying causes of poverty such as racism? Finally, the roundtable will tackle the possible racialization of the politics of the Basic Income Guarantee. How do we address the stigmatization of racialized populations that could come with the implementation for the Basic Income Guarantee? Participants: Avvy Go, Metro Toronto South East Asian and Chinese Legal Clinic (Chair/Speaker), Grace-Edward Galabuzi (Department of Politics, Ryerson University, an indigenous person from Western Canada (TBC), a French speaker from Quebec (TBC)), Michael Kerr (Coordinator, Colour of Poverty Campaign) ABSTRACTS
PANEL PRESENTATION TWO - B
Ann Withorn, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Boston, Liane Gale, Basic Income Women’s Action Group, Minneapolis, and Lorna Turnbull, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba
Basic Income and the Care-Centered Economy Economists currently do not account for many activities that satisfy human needs, especially if they are provided in households and informal community settings, and if no money is exchanged. Several individuals and activist groups, especially from Europe, are now challenging this exclusion of production and provision of human capital and other care-activities and instead demand to establish “care as the center of a new economics oriented toward its original definition” (Ina Praetorius). The proposed session will include a video showing a collection of short interviews with women from Europe and North America, who are working actively towards a care-centered economy (20 minutes). A panel consisting of three people, representing caregivers or individuals from organizations that value or are engaged in care-work, will briefly summarize their activities and concerns. The remaining time will be spent in discussions with everyone present regarding on how a Basic Income would contribute towards establishing a care-centered economy, or at the least towards putting a higher value on care work in society.
PAPER SESSION TWO – BASIC INCOME EXPERIMENTATION AND THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT
David Calnitsky, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison When Poverty Disappears: Work, Social Stigma, and Violence in the Manitoba Mincome Experiment This paper reports on results from my dissertation, which examines a variety of hitherto unstudied social surveys from the Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment, or Mincome, a guaranteed income experiment from the late 1970s. While Mincome took place in three sites, my research focuses on the so-called “saturation” site located in the town of Dauphin, Manitoba, where all town residents were eligible for Mincome payments. Although the other two sites provide useful controls, it was the saturation site that was unprecedented: never before or since has a rich country tested a GAI at the level of an entire town. What would happen to a town if poverty were eliminated? While much has been learned from the experiment, most of the Dauphin survey data went undigitized, and much remains unexplored. Among other sources, I use a variety of raw surveys held in the Mincome archive. I digitized and analyzed this data, and will present a synthesis of work on three different domains: 1) labour market participation; 2) domestic assault and gender relations; and 3) social stigma. First, I found a decline in Dauphinite household labour market participation relative to controls. Second, I found a fall in aggregate violent assault during the Mincome years, and attribute much of the fall to the diminished financial stress and disagreement, which I found reported by married females. And third, drawing on qualitative participant accounts I show that the design and framing of Mincome led participants to view payments through a pragmatic lens, rather than the moralistic lens through which welfare is viewed. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION TWO – BASIC INCOME EXPERIMENTATION AND THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT
Karl Widerquist, SFS-Qatar, Georgetown University Possibilities and Pitfalls for a Basic Income Pilot Project This paper addresses some of the potential pitfalls of a basic income experiment or pilot project. It argues that although there are many potential benefits of a pilot project, there are also many substantial often not- well-understood difficulties. The first of these is that a true basic income is not really testable by social science techniques. The closest that could be tested would be a negative income tax, and even then many of the effects we would like to test, such as the overall labor market effects would not be testable. Another difficulty is that the results of any experiment or pilot project are vulnerable to negative spin by basic income opponents. And finally, an experiments or a pilot project might deflect political momentum away from introducing a nationwide basic income while such momentum exists and then report its results after that momentum has subsided. This presentation will also discuss how to minimize these difficulties assuming that tests are going to go forward.
John Mills Where Capitalism Fails and How Basic Income Will Help My 30-40 minute presentation will provide a summary of how capitalism has left us with increasing inequality and an economy that will eventually consist of precarious and contract positions for the majority. I will present my view of a non-taxable income for everyone over 18 years, why it is necessary that everyone receive it and how it will lead to a virtual poverty free population. It will also touch on the importance of keeping Canada’s current health care system, employment insurance and expanding the social safety net rather than contracting it. By providing at least a poverty level subsistence, many societal ills will be lessened. The talk will delve into women’s increased security and autonomy and how it will help overcome racist attitudes based in a lack of understanding by allowing more individuals to remain in school. It will deal with problems of poverty and its association with crime, mental and physical health issues and housing problems. The talk will address the economics of austerity and the fallacies attached to that notion. It will also speak to the ongoing labour transformation from full time jobs to precarious, just-in-time employment and how basic income will change the face of employment, wages, recreational activities and job creation as a result of having more money in the economy. The conclusion of the talk will revolve around organizational and collaborative efforts with groups that are concerned with failing aspects of society. In order to reach the 5% threshold to create change, collaboration is imperative. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION THREE – PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES William David Clegg Trading Dysfunction for Freedom The time has come to finally end the dysfunctional employee/employer relationship that has developed over the last 300 years and, in so doing, also enhance and expand upon the very concept of a free society. Free trade has provided business and industry the freedom to seek out markets and opportunities virtually anywhere in the world. Yet local governments and their constituencies are still tied to the dysfunctional and very limited premise that the only way a person can sustain themselves economically is to have a private means of support, or exchange their labour for wages or end up destitute and homeless. Employers are likewise trapped in this dysfunctional dichotomy when vilified for layoffs and plant closures irrespective of market conditions and profitability. Regardless of whether there ever was a time when “full” employment of a population was possible, today that idea is laughable as science and technology finds ways almost every day to replace the human component in the workplace. Therefore, since business and industry enjoys greater economic freedom regarding trade and markets than ever before, be it resolved that all citizens deserve the same economic freedom whereby we can choose, as the need arises, to be full-time parents; care for our elderly and/or infirm; volunteer in the community and, ultimately, to finally and freely choose how to spend the limited time allotted to each of us in this life involved in endeavours that enhance and enrich our own lives and, potentially, the lives of those around us as well.
Ashley Engel, First Unitarian Society in Newton The Radical Egalitarian Case for Basic Income: The Importance of Time Inequalities and Cognitive Burdens In this study, I explore the importance of a basic income (BI) to radical egalitarians. While there are many reasons to support a BI, I specifically focus on its ability to tackle both time and cognitive inequalities affecting the working-class. Because of the time-consuming and demanding nature of affective work, I pay particular attention to the experience of working-class women who bear a disproportionate share of care burdens. I first address how financial scarcity itself generates cognitive and temporal inequalities, utilizing first-hand accounts of working- class women as well as a scientific study. While largely neglected in BI literature and activist circles, I purposely base this study on the lived realities of the working-class in order to complement more abstract theories on time inequality put forth in the BI literature. Given that poverty leads to cognitive overload and time constraints, I then explore how a financial cushion in the form of a BI can tackle these concerns. Finally, I discuss potential implications of addressing cognitive and temporal inequalities via a BI. I postulate that a BI may help 1) raise the working-class’ systemic consciousness of the capitalist system, 2) democratize social movements, and 3) support the development of an egalitarian counter-hegemony. I purposely focus on these three implications because they are critical to developing a people-led, egalitarian alternative. In the conclusion, I consider further implications of this study, including the importance of experiential knowledge as well as cognitive and temporal inequalities to the BI movement as a whole. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION THREE – PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES
Karl Widerquist, SFS-Qatar, Georgetown University Justice as the Pursuit of Accord This presentation previews my book, Justice as the Pursuit of Accord, which is a follow up to my 2013 book, Freedom, Propertylessness, and Basic Income. The new book more fully lays out the indepentarian theory of justice introduced in the first book and applies that theory to the justification of government and property rights. It uses ideal and practical political theory to argue that both the justification of the state and the justification of private property require the payment of a basic income guarantee. This payment is necessary not only to preserve status freedom, as the first book argued, but also to compensate those who dissent from the institutions that powerful people have endowed with authority over land and natural resources. This conclusion is very different from contractualism, which usually assumes that it is possible to establish a consensus among all rational, reasonable people to the principles of justice that govern society. This book argues that no such consensus is like to be possible for any set of principles and that society owes compensation to the rational and reasonable dissenters. This conclusion is also very different from typically arguments for a natural right to private property, because such arguments usually ignore the loss of freedom forced onto propertyless people by any system that creates property without compensation to non-owners.
PAPER SESSION FOUR – EFFECTS OF BASIC INCOME 1 - A Diane Delaney, RESOLVE, University of Manitoba The Potential for Real Income Security to Reduce Violence in Rural and Northern Manitoba Since 2010, Research and Education for Solutions to Violence and Abuse (RESOLVE) has been conducting a research project entitled, Rural and Northern Community Response to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The purpose of the project is to enhance the understanding of effective community response to intimate partner violence in rural and northern regions of the Canadian Prairie Provinces and the Northwest Territories. This project is a joint university community project which has a goal of influencing public policy change in order to improve the lives of women and girls in our communities. The researchers are attempting to answer the following questions: What are the unique needs of victims of IPV living in rural and northern areas of these regions? What are the gaps that exist in meeting these needs? How do we create non-violent communities in these regions? The results of the research so far have led us to better understand the context for the high rates of reported violence which occur in the Prairie Provinces and Northwest Territories. In Manitoba specifically, some of the themes which have emerged are the normalization and denial of interpersonal violence, a lack of housing and transportation, problems in maintaining confidentiality, as well as poverty and addictions. This paper will explore the impact that a basic income could potentially have on addressing these and other issues to determine if basic income should be a policy advocated by those working to end interpersonal violence. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION FOUR – EFFECTS OF BASIC INCOME 1 - A Karine Levasseur, Political Studies, University of Manitoba, Nathalia Carvalho Moreira, Fundaҫão Getúlio Vargas (São Paulo), and Stephanie Paterson, Concordia University Assessing the Implications of Basic Income for Gender The concept of basic income (BI) has struggled to gain currency in Canada, despite a successful pilot program in Manitoba during the 1970s and a continually strong economy overall. Yet countries with emerging economies, such as Brazil and Mexico, have established popular BI programs that have shown some success in reducing poverty, improving child and maternal health outcomes, and facilitating improvements in the socio-economic status of women. The question we ask in this paper is: what do these past and current attempts to BI tell us about the implications for gender? To answer this question, we explore two programs, Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, and Manitoba’s Mincome experiment, in depth, using a gendered framework to guide the analysis. We then consider how this information might be used by states, particularly as it relates to ending social marginalization. Broadly, this research contributes to academic discussions of public policy, income, gender and social vulnerability. Specifically, it provides a reflective opportunity for policy makers in both countries.
Lorna Turnbull, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba Gender, Caregiving and the Need for A Basic Income This paper examines the gendered implications of a basic income guarantee, using equality provisions and language in international instruments with a focus on caregiving. The paper explores several examples of income support programs (such as the Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance) that require some measure of labour force attachment to be eligible for benefits. Such schemes have a negative impact on women whose labour force attachment is often affected by the heavier caregiving load they carry. Caregiving responsibilities and the attendant economic disadvantage also shape the power of women in marriage relationships, and the impact of a basic income on women’s ability to raise their children as single parents will also be considered. Finally, the rights of the child or other dependent in need of care will be considered as a basis for supporting a basic income that benefits caregivers. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION FOUR – EFFECTS OF BASIC INCOME 2 - B Carter Vance, Algoma University Child Welfare Reform: The Possibilities of Basic Income Presentation will investigate the possible implications and benefits of the implementation of a basic income policy from the perspective of child protection. It is known that across Canada, and particularly in Manitoba, children from low-income families and First Nations children are highly overrepresented within the child welfare system. Furthermore, the majority of investigations of these families are for reasons of neglect rather than abuse, meaning that their conditions of contact with the system are highly correlated with poverty-level living conditions. A basic income could therefore lessen pressure on child welfare systems, both by providing an adequate living standard for families and by alleviating the stressors of poverty which often lead to abuse. It could also be useful as a tool in promoting broader system reform, by refocusing child welfare activities from apprehension to support. Resources which are currently used to apprehend children in situation of poverty-related neglect could be redirected to family support services designed to support cohesion. This would further begin to promote reconciliation and understanding between First Nations and non-First Nations communities through the child welfare vector, by recognizing the systemic, rather than personal, roots of the overrepresentation of First Nations children in the system. The presentation investigates these possibilities via a systematic examination of data from child welfare agencies as well as the experiences of families within basic income pilot programs. It suggests that child welfare agencies and workers, particularly First Nations agencies, should be brought on board as key coalition partners for basic income.
Maria Wong, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter Women for Freedom and Economic Security We are a grassroots feminist organization that provides a 24 hour crisis line and transition house for women. We see the lack of economic welfare as one of the obstructions of women’s freedom from male violence. We work with women who experienced all forms of male violence including: rape, incest, prostitution, and battery. Women from all different race and class backgrounds call our crisis lines to resist male violence. Having a Guaranteed Livable Income would benefit all women, particularly poor women, women of color, and first nations’ women – women who are more vulnerable to exploitation and male violence. We know that violent men use violence and intimidation to control women’s finances. We know that men use their position in power to have access to women and women’s economic resources. We also know from our frontline work that basic necessities like food and shelter are not met by our current welfare system. This paper will outline our recent work in grouping with women who call our lines to talk about how anti-poverty strategies (including basic income) could aid in resisting male violence. We would like to argue for models of basic income that is universal, unconditional, and livable - for our campaign for women’s liberation and freedom from male violence. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION FOUR – EFFECTS OF BASIC INCOME 2 - B Clayton Tucker Universal Social Security: How to Restart the American Dream The way things are done matters. This is true for a great many things, including how to implement a basic income. I have devised a system that will not only give all Americans the security of a basic income, but should also work well within our evolving 21st century economy. Believing we should not put all of our eggs into one basket, Universal Social Security has many different sources of revenue: resource royalties, land use royalty, carbon tax, Social Security’s current revenue along with the removal of the wage cap, the estate tax, a financial transaction levy, partial public ownership of all corporations (via public ownership of 25-30% of all stocks), a fair pay incentive - which is an added corporate tax based on pay ratios, public ownership of stocks in many of the world’s great companies and markets, and from transferences from the federal government to help keep the amount steady. All taken together, and adding my parameters for the age when benefits start paying out, the average monthly basic income for Americans over the age of 25 is roughly $1,500. Given the fact that computer automation and 3D printing are only going to get better and thus take more jobs away over the decades, a basic income very well may save a great many of us, and Universal Social Security - or parts of it, very well may be that basic income.
PAPER SESSION FIVE – ADVOCACY FOR BASIC INCOME - A
Elizabeth McGuire, Chair, Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits Facilitating Basic Income in Your Town/City The alarming growth in disparity between upper and lower classes has to be addressed by our government if we are to avoid plunging our provinces into a country of despair needing a “Canadian Spring”. The long-term consequences of retaining this punitive system are skyrocketing long term healthcare costs and disenfranchised masses. This is not the Canada we were promised. To effect change and close the gap requires creating the desire in the groups that vote and pay taxes. They read the newspaper and drive cars and have careers. How do we reach them? And once we do, what do we say? We believe this is best done with a series of events to which the community, and politicians, would be invited. These events are designed to provide a spark, perhaps a flash-point, to turn the conversation toward ending punitive social assistance and focusing more on providing a guaranteed annual income. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION FIVE – ADVOCACY FOR BASIC INCOME - A Brandy Moore, Singer/Songwriter Performance of Original Song “Just Because I’m Alive” Singer/Songwriter Brandy Moore - Performance of Original Song “Just Because I’m Alive” (with brief introduction about the inspiration behind writing this song). As a human being, woman, performing artist, former temporary employee, and citizen who cares deeply about the inequality and injustice I see in my city and around the world, and the damage we are doing to our planet with our unchecked consumption, production and growth, I would like to share my feelings and support for the idea of a Basic Income using my latest original song “Just Because I’m Alive”. I passionately believe in the idea of Basic Income as a viable solution to the many social and environmental problems that we all face. I also believe that every living being on our planet has an unconditional, innate right to clean water, nutritious food, safe shelter and a decent quality of life. This song is my latest creation and is not yet recorded, but a studio recording will be released by April 2016. For samples of my music, please visit my website at www.brandymoore.ca.
Tim Rourke A Powerful Social Movement in Canada for Guaranteed Living Income; How Will it Come About? My theme is, what will be necessary for a serious movement for a Living Grant to develop and to succeed in Canada. The presentation is based on my observations of how social movements have succeeded or failed in Canada. It is specifically about Canada because Canada is a distinct polity from the U.S. The first thing is to move away from the negative connotations and ambiguity of “Basic Income” and adopt language which signifies what we are trying to get; a “Living Grant”. The next is to situate this aim historically. That is, within a frame of critical social theory and post industrialism. We are coming to a time when labor will be largely redundant and some form of income guarantee will be needed to make the social economy work. The political struggle will be about, not whether to have an income guarantee, but what kind. There are kinds which can foster deepening democracy and human progress, and kinds which would have very sinister effects. This is very important to grasp; that there can be very bad forms of Income Guarantee, as well as good kinds. To insure that a movement is aligned toward a positive form of Living Grant, it must be grounded in human rights. Toward that, control of the discourse needs to move from academic theorists to practical organizers. Once this is done, practical organizing and lobbying for a Living Grant in Canada becomes fairly straightforward. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION FIVE – ECONOMICS OF BASIC INCOME - B Wolfgang Price Council for a 21st Century Progressive Economy, “BIG” in the Age of Robots Advances in robot, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technology (among others) are set to transform the nature of enterprises, commercial activity, and the requirements for working age individuals in the labor market. In the course of these hasty developments the attending social, ethical and moral consequences for society, the public, and economy, are often obscure, neglected or helplessly ignored. How freely are robot devices to function in their increasingly unlimited applications? On what basis will these be ‘licensed’ to teach in the classroom? Or to compete for jobs as pilots, truck drivers or security guards? May these be recruited freely for military service? Do robots have legal ‘rights’? Are their application for industrial and commercial functions unrestricted? (Computers execute most of the trades on major stock exchanges.) May children rely on information secured from robots in questioning the information and opinions of their parents and teachers? What happens to youths when the dream of perpetual jobs and employment fades and the traditional prerogatives of manhood are unavailable? By 2050 the industry association estimates there will be 40 million robot workers added to the workforce. What reforms, and limits, should be considered as robot-life migrates into Western socio- economic life? How will the livelihood means for those displaced by robot labor be secured?
Tristan Roberts and Mark Witham, Basic Income Action, Basic Income Project Digital Currencies as a Method for Equality New methods for ledgering information in a distributed, transparent manner is making alternative currencies flourish. The Blockchain is a cyptographic algorithm that enables cooperative governance and radically novel monetary systems. We will overview the fundamentals of this new means of exchange before exploring some current and future implementations, many of which are seeking to digitally manifest basic income.
Mark Lo Scerbo, and Dario Cidro, Manitoba Basic Income Network Promoting Basic Income in Winnipeg through Crowdfunding: Status and its Implications in Gaining Public Support to Basic Income Movement The promotion of Basic Income concept in Winnipeg is a crucial initiative to create awareness among its constituents and to draw public support. The current organizational activities of the Manitoba Basic Income Network needs to be complemented by aggressively recruiting network members, increasing its visibility in print and media platforms, and creating public forum that will disseminate information on Basic Income. The Crowdfunding initiative in Winnipeg is similar to the crowdfunding initiatives done in Berlin (Germany) and San Francisco (USA) to promote the concept of basic income. The aim of the crowdfunding in Winnipeg is to secure adequate financial resource what will enable an individual live a decent standard of living with basic income. The impacts of the basic income on the individual will be monitored and compared to the lived experiences of those that have received funding support in London and San Francisco. The status of initiating a crowdfunding which include setting up the website domain, web development, and other activities will be presented. Moreover, the initial comments and other perceptions of supporters and funders will likewise be presented. The implications of crowdfunding towards gaining public support will conclude the presentation. ABSTRACTS
PANEL PRESENTATION THREE - A Lorna Turnbull, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, Joelle Pastora Sala, Public Interest Law Centre, and Robert Lidstone, Public Interest Law Centre
Legal and Social Considerations for the Right to Basic Income While basic income may serve as a means of poverty alleviation, the legal and constitutional foundations are broader. Constitutional and human rights code equality and social disadvantage protections, Aboriginal Treaty rights, and international arguments in favour of basic income point to a variety of intersecting grounds of potential discrimination. This panel will examine these broader legal and social aspects of the right to basic income to build an argument that could advance the position of currently marginalized members of our society while challenging the role of labour force participation as the primary measure of social value.
PANEL PRESENTATION THREE - B Maria Wong, Vancouver Rape Relief, Jacquie Lewis, Vancouver Rape Relief, Jaclyn Chang & Sarah Mah, Asian Women’s Coalition (Vancouver & Montreal), Angela Lavallee, Mama Wi Chi Itata (Winnipeg), and Evelyn Forget, University of Manitoba
Topic: Violence Against Women and Guaranteed Livable Income The epidemic of Violence against women is a result of sexist oppression. Women’s poverty is a result of class oppression. We acknowledge that racism plays a role in violence against women and women’s poverty. We believe – through the knowledge of our frontline and advocacy work, lived experiences, and research – that a Guaranteed Livable Income could be a tool for women to use in their fight against violence. This is a discussion among roundtable members - a conversation between allies - to be witnessed. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION SIX – ADVOCACY FOR BASIC INCOME - 2 Paul Vallée, Pythian Resetting Rock Bottom: What We Must Learn from the Movements to Abolish Slavery and Debtor’s Prison This paper analyzes the basic income movement as a broad social movement to abolish poverty and compares it to two historical abolitionist movements that redefined what “rock bottom” means. Western society meaningfully reset rock bottom twice in the 19th century as a result of two major successful abolitionist movements: to abolish slavery in the United States and to abolish debtor’s prison in the United Kingdom. Focusing on these two movements, I will attempt to elucidate strategies that led to the achievement of a vision for a society where rock bottom is markedly higher and more humane, unlocking more human potential. I explore the commonalities between those two movements and the modern basic income movement, place basic income in a historical context, and shed light on both winning strategies and the pitfalls that could delay efforts to abolish poverty.
Jenna van Draanen and Denis Flinn, University of California (Los Angeles, USA) An Analysis of Current Social Media Activity About Basic Income Social media platforms have become an important meeting place for people to exchange ideas about pressing issues, to congregate around shared values, and also to build community and grow social movements. Increasingly, we see interplay between online communities and social movements, with great support for and opposition to social policy changes coming from individuals acting though social media outlets. In the spirit of the conference theme on meeting places, we analyze and present a content analysis of the basic income discussions on several online meeting places including: twitter, reddit, and Facebook. The questions we seek to answers are descriptive ones, as there is a complete lack of social media content analyses on the issue of basic income. We will present the results of a content analysis that answers the questions: 1) what is the volume of support for and opposition to basic income in online communities, 2) what is the distribution of sentiment towards basic income from users who post on these platforms. Analyses will use prospective data gathered during the month of February, 2016. These results will offer leading insight into the currently understudied online communities that are forming around basic income. This represents an essential contribution to this NABIG congress, as there are many for whom conference participation is not feasible – and this analysis will share insight from the voices of those who participate in online discussions of basic income within the meeting place we cultivate at NABIG 2016. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION SIX – ADVOCACY FOR BASIC INCOME - 2 Fredrick Petrie An Alternative to Basic Income - a JOB! The presentation outlines a pragmatic model for delivery of a basic income. It proposes a job subsidy program that pays the minimum wage for a minimum full time job of 25 hours a week, approximately $1000/mo, The subsidy is universally available to any applicant but is paid directly to the applicant who then has the responsibility to create their own job. It would be administered through the tax system like a negative income tax, but in advance. It would also be aligned to equal the personal exemption. Everyone has a choice to take the direct payment to create their own job or to simply pay no tax on their first $12,000 of income. Beyond that, every dollar of additional income would be taxed at the same rate, in the order of 33%, so that the public purse breaks even at taxable income of $36,000; the total income for a job grant recipient of $48,000 would repay the wage subsidy. The presentation will suggest some tactics of implementation in a new strategic alliance – a coalition with the Right! Indeed, we should abandon the old left – right dichotomy and look for common progressive solutions to the challenges of wealth inequality while automation eliminates market economy jobs. The old “jobs” may be eliminated, but there is no end of worthwhile things to do. A universal minimum “wage” would allow people to do them.
PAPER SESSION SIX – BASIC INCOME SCHEMES AND DISASTERS Harvey Stevens and Wayne Simpson, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba The Design and Financing of a National GAI for Canada: A Refundable Tax Credit Financed by the Elimination of Non-Refundable Tax Credits Canada currently has two sets of Guaranteed Annual Incomes for its citizens: One for children and a second for seniors. What is lacking is a GAI for non-elderly adults without children who experience the greatest incidence and depth of poverty. This paper presents a proposal for the incremental reform of Canada’s existing tax and transfer system by designing a refundable tax credit for all adult Canadians financed by eliminating most of the non- refundable tax credits. Using Statistics Canada’s Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSDM), the authors estimate the additional revenues available from the elimination of the core federal fixed-value non-refundable tax credits and the federal Goods and Services Tax Credit at $51.5 Billion in 2014. With that level of revenue, the authors show that a national Refundable Tax Credit can be delivered to all adults, based on their net family income that provides a Guarantee of $5,050 for a single adult and $10,100 for a family of four. For families with incomes above 50% of the poverty line, the Guarantee is reduced at a rate of 15% with the result that families with incomes under 160 per cent of the After-tax LICO receive a net benefit. The authors show that such a reform of the tax and transfer system will lead to a 41 per cent reduction in rate and a 12 per cent reduction in the depth of economic family poverty in Canada. The paper addresses the theme of developing pragmatic models of delivering a GAI in Canada. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION SIX – BASIC INCOME SCHEMES AND DISASTERS Tracy Smith-Carrier and Steven Green, School of Social Work, King’s University College (Western University) Another Low Road to Basic Income? Mapping a Pragmatic Model for Adopting a Basic Income in Ontario, Canada Basic income (BI) is an idea whose time may finally have come. Drawing from both theoretical and empirical research, the literature on BI is now voluminous, promulgating both its merits and its limitations. In particular, burgeoning research documents the impacts of un/conditional cash transfers and negative income tax (NIT) programs, with many empirical studies and systematic reviews highlighting the effectiveness of these programs in reducing poverty, and improving a host of other social, economic and health outcomes. In this paper, we consider possible avenues for BI architecture to be adopted in the Province of Ontario, Canada. We begin by defining BI, and discussing the various avenues to this approach, including both universal demogrant and NIT schemes. Some advocates suggest applying an incremental approach to BI implementation, we explore if, and how, Ontario could effectively apply a BI within its existing constellation of social welfare and tax benefit programs. A multitude of tax and income assistance programs exist at the provincial level, we identify the scope of such programs and consider their suitability, recommending potential programs that might best be jettisoned, maintained or converted to a BI approach. While opponents decry the (alleged) exorbitant costs of BI schemes, we suggest that the existing approach not only produces an ineffective system, which actually engenders poverty and the health and social problems that accompany it, but an excessively costly one. Link to Conference Themes: Mapping pragmatic models for delivery of basic income, including the pros and cons, experimental, and demonstration projects.
Jurgen De Wispelaere, University of Tampere (Finland) and Lindsay Stirton, University of Sussex (UK) Implementing Universal Basic Income: Lessons from a Policy Fiasco Analysis The literature on risk analysis, regulation and governance acknowledges that many policy changes are at risk of becoming “policy fiascos”, defined as a major policy failure that either thwarts the intended goals or else manages to achieve those but only at excessive cost or unintended consequences. Building on the work of Sieber, Moran, Hood and Dunleavy (amongst others) the current paper looks at basic income design and implementation through the lens of the policy fiasco framework. We examine the extent to which basic income is vulnerable to a variety of policy conversion/reversal processes, but equally propose to think through possible solutions. This paper offers insights that go beyond basic income implementation in a strict sense, however. The analysis has a broader impact on the question to what extent basic income represents a new policy model (suggesting it is invulnerable to traditional instances of policy failure) or instead should be regarded as variant of existing policy (suggesting it can borrow solutions from existing policy). We argue that the truth of the matter lies somewhere in the middle: basic income is both “new” and “old”, which makes thinking through implementation challenges a task that basic income advocates must take very seriously. In line with our previous work, we demonstrate that basic income implementation is not merely about resolving technical problems but in fact constitutes an inherently political process. ABSTRACTS
PANEL PRESENTATION FOUR - A David Northcott, Winnipeg Harvest, Byron Williams, Public Interest Law Centre, and Garth Smorang, Myers Weinberg LLP A Template for an Advocacy on Basic Income Winnipeg Harvest, the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and Myers Weinberg LLP have undertaken a unique process to advocate for basic income. For many years, Winnipeg Harvest has championed basic income as a means to alleviate the need for food banks. With 2015 marking Winnipeg Harvest’s thirtieth anniversary and food bank use in Manitoba being on the rise, Winnipeg Harvest engaged in discussions with PILC on the right to basic income. Recognizing the magnitude of the task at hand, PILC engaged with a team of lawyers from Myers Weinberg who agreed to donate a significant amount of their time. Together, Winnipeg Harvest and the legal team have created a work plan involving a multi-disciplinary research team which may serve as a template for other jurisdictions in advocating for the right to basic income.
PANEL PRESENTATION FOUR - B
Ian Schlakman, Basic Income Action (Washington, DC) , Liane Gale, Basic Income Women’s Group & BIG Minnesota, Jason Burke-Murphy, BIEN & US Basic Income Guarantee Network, and Diane Pagen, BIG NYC Local Activism and Basic Income: How to Engage Local Communities to Take Action on Basic Income This pane will focus on strategies and models of engaging local communities and activites with the Basic Income movement. We willdiscuss the different approaches needed when considering the racial and economic makeup of different local communities and address the obstables that arise when sharing new ideas amongst different groups of people. Discussion topics would include the importance of including the community members at the local level in order to build a solid foundation for the Basic Income movement. We would discuss different methods of outreach including utilizing meet-ups, sign-up sessions as well as engaging communities through social media and other types of media. This will be sponsored and coordinated by BIA. Basic Income action was created to inspire and help local activists around the US communicate, advocate and win a Basic Income for the United States and the world. Since its inception just last year, BIA has had many different discussions and trials in terms of debating the merits of trying to engage locals in the fight for a national BI vs pushing through local initiatives around a BI. Local initiatives include ballot initiatives, messaging bills in support of a BI as well as contacting local Congress members to further push a Basic Income. The focus of this discussion as well as the main goal of Basic Income Action is to win a Basic Income by educating and organizing people to take action. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION SEVEN – IMPLEMENTATION OF BASIC INCOME Sid Frankel, Faculty of Social Work, Karen Duncan, Department of Community Health Sciences, and Dana Bazarkulova, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba Estimating the Cost of Raising Children for Basic Income The question “how much income does a family with children need compared to a childless family?” is central to the task of designing a full basic income, especially if one of the purposes of a basic income is to eliminate poverty. The methods for answering this question are fraught with theoretical and empirical difficulties and are often contested on ideological grounds. Given this state of the art, this paper critically reviews the literature and describes each method, including its theoretical basis (or lack thereof), as well as identifying its advantages and disadvantages. The approaches included are classified under two broad categories: the budget standard approach and expenditure survey approaches. The first refers to a method in which the cost of raising children is based on a basket of goods and services judged to provide children with a particular standard of living. Examples include Manitoba’s Budget Guides and Statistics Canada’s Market Basket Measure. The second includes a number of methods designed to measure the amount of money spent on children. These include the Engel method, the Rothbarth method, the use of complete demand systems, and the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) expenditures on children calculations. We conclude with a discussion of what “counts” and doesn’t count in estimating the cost of raising a child and, given the limitations of existing costing methods, recommend an approach for estimating the cost of children in designing a full basic income.
Michael W. Howard, Department of Philosophy, The University of Maine Maximal and Minimal Strategies for Introducing A Basic Income: Generating Support for A Carbon Dividend Proponents of basic income (BI) can be divided into two camps: those who think the best strategy is to push for a full basic income, and those who think that the best strategy is to start smaller, and work toward a full basic income by degrees. These are, I hope, not hostile camps. Some of us are in both camps, and it is possible to pursue both strategies simultaneously. So my aim is not to argue decisively for one over the other. But I will try to lay out the obstacles for both strategies, and make a case for taking seriously one of several possible minimal strategies, a campaign for a carbon dividend. ABSTRACTS
PAPER SESSION SEVEN – IMPLEMENTATION OF BASIC INCOME Sheila Regehr, Basic Income Canada Network Getting the Policy and Politics Right on Basic Income My focus is on advancing concrete basic income (BI) policy proposals in Canada. Beyond high level agreement about the need for a basic income there are design matters and diverse perspectives among BI advocates that have not been adequately addressed and worked out into well-defined proposals that can be promoted. In this gap, BI opponents have critiqued it based on their own views that may or may not reflect the views of BI proponents. I want to start shaping policy proposals to address both issues within and outside the growing movement for a basic income guarantee. I draw on Jurgen De Wispelaere’s political analysis, looking at the faces of BI in Canada and at some of the key drivers and challenges that matter most in our political and policy context. I also draw on the experience of an Ontario roundtable where policy principles and parameters were discussed. I then want to shine new light on 20 years of Canadian experience with a basic income for many working age adults that few people recognize or appreciate that we have. This is because it was named a child benefit. Once we start seeing it for what it is, it offers enormous potential in helping design an expanded benefit for other working age adults. I expect to have a written presentation but not an academic paper. These matters are important for diverse stakeholders to understand and I want to encourage discussion and feedback.
NABIG CONGRESS 2016
2016 PLANNING COMMITTEE
Janelle Duerksen, Winnipeg Harvest Sid Frankel, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba Florette Giasson, École de service social, Université de Saint-Boniface Damon Johnston, Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg Jim Mulvale, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba Sheila Regehr, Basic Income Canada Network Katie Streibel, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter Ann Withorn, United States Basic Income Guarantee Network
Support Personnel from the Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba Karen De Blonde, Berea Henderson, Jodi Petch, Shedlmor Sevillo
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the University of Manitoba Conference Sponsorship Program. We thank the City of Winnipeg Transit Department for its partnership in providing transportation for the Congress. We thank the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg and Neeganin Centre for their in-kind support of Friday’s afternoon and evening programme.