7/27/2019 Email explaining Letter to Premier Darrell Dexter

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Hi everyone,

Many of you will have read the piece in the Chronicle Herald on July 18 in response to areport on the changes to Special Needs regulations by CCPA-NS. The Minister of DCS saidthat the information is inaccurate, that very few people have been denied or cut off, andthat if this had been the case, there would have been an outcry; this hasnt happened, soshe concludes theres no problem.

As you undoubtedly know if you work with or know people on income assistance, manyrecipients may not even know about special needs assistance (because they are not told)and even if they do, when told by a case worker that they are not eligible, it is veryunlikely they will make a fuss or be able to find an agency advocate who has the time oris sufficiently up on IA policies and regulations to help them get what they need. Itspatently unfair, therefore, for the Minister to expect marginalized individuals on IA tocreate an outcry.

CCPA did the research to highlight the broader implications of the changes for people inincome assistance who may find it difficult to speak out. We wanted to make a rational,persuasive argument for the reinstatement of the previous Special Needs regulations that

would be listened to, not to create an outcry.

As many of you heard at the CSEP conference a few weeks ago, there is indeed a problemwith the 2011 Special Needs regulation and policy changes (see attached) and theramifications are broader than limiting what DCS regards as frivolous claims. Thedemise of the open ended clause in the regulations and the development of a limited listin the internal policy manual of items they will fund establishes a dangerous precedent. Itlimits the flexibility of case workers to address individual needs at the front end and thelist of allowable items which is already limited can be changed at any time. It means thatone of the very few avenues whereby an income assistance recipient could get help tomanage a chronic illness or a disabilityif they were lucky enough to get a helpfulcaseworker or find a community advocatehas been closed.

In an Information Morning Interview today (July 19) the Minister claims that the regulationchanges were only intended to close a loophole whereby a few people on IA got gymmemberships, medical marijuana, or hot tubs and dismisses the idea that the changesrestrict access. Our research shows, however, that its not simply people requiring hottubs or medical marijuana that are now being denied special needs assistance. In manycases a doctors note is no longer sufficient for clients with special dietary needs--theynow need a note from a hospital dietician (at their own expense); bus passes for medicalappointments are being denied; community agencies are spending more time advocatingor even spending their own money to support clients needs; and the Department isspending more of its time and money fighting special needs applications in the courtsthan it is addressing them.

Now because there hasnt been an outcry, our findings are being called into question andthe credibility of our arguments dismissed. Ignoring the fact that many, if not mostpeople on income assistance have chronic health issues or disabilities, in her radiointerview today, the Minister deliberately drives a wedge between people on incomeassistance and the working poor. She argued that it is difficult to justify all the spendingon special health needs because other low income people cant get the same assistance.

This divide and conquer strategy has been tried beforemost notably by theConservatives in the mid-1990s when they tried to justify mandatory employabilityregulations for single parents with young children.

7/27/2019 Email explaining Letter to Premier Darrell Dexter

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Some agencies who shared information for our research dont want to speak outindividually because they fear losing their funding. There is, however, power in numbers.We believe that if we stick together and speak out as an anti-poverty movement, it willbe more difficult for the Department to ignore this issue. We are, therefore, asking yourorganization or agency to do two things:

1) Send me an e-mail saying you endorse the attached statement to the Minister. Wewould like these endorsements by July 26 at the latest . In order not to putfunded agencies in jeopardy, we promise we will not send this statementunless we get at least 20 endorsements.

2) Share with us any specific information you have related to the need for, or denialof, special needs assistance, be it money for special diets or other health therapies,telephone, bus pass, dental care, etc. We wont quote you directly, but we willcompile a list of examples of needs/denials.

Yours sincerely,