Where can people go to learn about the actions you folks are taking as you resist this treatment?
There are numerous basic income networks and groups all over the world, such as the Basic Income Earth Network and the Basic Income Canada Network. My own project, which I created in response to the program’s cancellation, is called Humans of Basic Income. I went and I took pictures of as many basic income recipients in Ontario as I could possibly find. I got around 70 portraits in total. You can see it on my website under the name Humans of Basic Income.
We have launched a class action lawsuit against the government for acting in bad faith and breaking a contract. That will take a very long time to complete unfortunately. It's really hard to find justice, but we have a lot of hope.
In the meantime, we’re raising awareness about basic income, advocating, and really showing the government that what they did was an absolute disgraceful thing. It's really brought a lot of strangers together.
One final question. You’ve experienced basic income as a force for good, but you also have a lived experience of the state not necessarily being trustworthy. How do you advocate for basic income in places where people quite rightly don't necessarily trust the state to follow through?
It's very hard in the face of untrustworthy governments to see any progress happening. When you break promises and you lose the people's trust, then other governments have to rebuild that trust unnecessarily. A lot of trust has been broken in Ontario. There’s now a candidate for the Liberal leadership who has promised that he will implement a basic income pilot should he succeed. I’ve talked to a lot of former recipients about it, and every single person has said, "Well, I don't trust him."
We need is more transparency and honesty. We need less power in governments and more power to the people because really we are the government's boss. Doug Ford is supposed to work for me and the fact that he is not is absolutely shameful.