It’s a fact that’s shown up in toxic drug death data for decades: deaths spike in the days following “Welfare Wednesday.” That’s the day in the middle of the month when people living in poverty get their cheque for an entire month’s worth of income assistance from the provincial government. The BC Centre on Substance Use has estimated that between 2 009 and 2013, 77 avoidable deaths could be attributed to the cheque policy. Both income assistance and disability benefits are distributed once per month, on the same day. BC Coroners Service data shows that in 2018, deaths were 37 per cent higher in the days after people received their income assistance cheques. By 2022, the average number of deaths during cheque week were 44 per cent higher than in other weeks ... CLICK HERE for the full story
A discussion on political, economic and social issues in British Columbia, and Canada