As I re-read this, I feel I must bring it to an end. I have shared our experiences with you for a reason. It wasn't to tell you about the lack of money, although that is a struggle, a tough one.
It's the attitudes I've faced ever since the first worker walked through my door; the day-to-day hurts my kids experience; the loss of dignity and respect that hurt me; being judged and somehow blamed because I need help; my kids suffering because we need help.
My family is not a special case, not unique. According to the last survey done, by the University of Guelph in 1989, the average woman on family benefits is 32 years old, has two children, has at least one year of post-secondary education, and is enrolled in a program that will take her off the welfare rolls within 5 years.
Social Assistance has never been a 'free ride' for those of us on it. We work hard to raise our kids and have a some standard of living and we pay for it. The attitudes and prejudices we experience make the cost even higher. Think about us the next time you hear about the 'welfare gravy train' and please don't be one of those whose attitudes add to that cost.
The money paid for this article has been reported by the author to regional welfare, and deducted from her social assistance payments.
SOMETIMES OUR SMART phones are our friends, sometimes they seem like our lovers, and sometimes they’re our dope dealers. And no one, in the past 12 months at least, has done more than Tristan Harris to explain the complexity of this relationship. Harris is a former product manager at Google who has gone viral repeatedly by critiquing the way that the big platforms—Apple, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram—suck us into their products and take time that, in retrospect, we may wish we did not give.