Kelowna women participated in a province-wide campaign that launched on May 1, dropping a banner at the pedestrian bridge over Highway 97 that read “#WomenDemand Guaranteed Livable Income.”
According to Kelowna resident Jacqueline Gullion, similar banners were dropped by women living in locations such as Vancouver, Quesnel, Chase, Victoria and Nanaimo.
“We are proud to kick off this campaign to try to do something practical about inequities in our society,” said Gullion, a member of the BC Women’s Alliance who participated in the banner dropping over the pedestrian bridge.
Guillon pointed to the Canada Emergency Relief Benefit (CERB) as an example of how support for people can be provided, when the will is there.
“I think a lot of people in B.C. would agree that a guaranteed livable income would make a long-lasting and positive change for women,” she said.
She added that what’s good for women and children is good for everyone in society.
“As the federal and provincial governments plan for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we insist on women’s entitlement to better than a ‘return to normal’ since for many, the ‘old normal’ was based on economic and other inequalities of women, Indigenous people, and people of color,” she said. “Women require monumental, urgent change, including here in B.C. We have a chance to build a just future for women and for all, starting with a guaranteed livable income.”
On their website, the BC Women’s Alliance states that a feminist’s guaranteed livable income would be publicly funded and federally delivered, be universally applicable to all Canadians, be unconditional, be individual, be livable and ensures that “no one is worse off than we were before.”
“Guaranteed livable income frees women from worrying about basic survival,” states the website. “From such a base, women can more likely join the movements struggling for other urgent social transformation.”
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@aaron_hemensaaron.hemens@kelownacapnews.com
