Saskatoon rally pressures government to reverse social services cuts

Protesters in Saskatoon shared personal stories about their difficulties living on income support paymentsat a rally panningprogram cuts for people with disabilities on Friday.

About 2,700 people will see their benefits reduced when the province enforces changes to social assistance supplement programs being phased in by the provincial government.

• Protestors at Sask. Legislature rally against Social Services cuts
• 'I spent the weekend crying': Sask. residents deal with Social Services changes

The government will end the Saskatchewan Employment Supplement's practice of grandfatheringbenefits for families with children aged 13 and over.

It will also stop exemptingSeniors Income Plan and Guaranteed Income Supplement top-up benefits in the Saskatchewan Assistance Program (SAP) and the Saskatchewan Assured Income Disability (SAID) program.

Changes are streamlining: province

The government said it wasstreamliningthe programs to make them fair and equitable, because some clients were currently receiving triple rental supplements from different programs.

But the changes have been called "cruel" and "abhorrent" by program clients, who said they would struggle to pay their rent and bills.

People affected by the changes ralliedat City Hall Squarein Saskatoon on Friday to pressure the government to reverse the cuts.

'Not dead yet'

SAID recipientRoberta Fehrquestioned howthe affected social services clients would continue to pay rent.

"Where are you going to move us to? Where are we supposed to go?" said Fehr.

"There's not enough affordable housing. There's not enough people policing these landlords who can charge whatever they want."

She added thatSAID clients werenot dead yetand the government should be investing more to support them.

Doctor weighs in

Westside Community Clinicfamily doctor Ryan Meilisaid the province had ignored recommendations from the Poverty Costs program, which he said hadurged the government toinvest more in income supports.

"We did definitely recommend streamliningbut streamlining to make it easier to get the benefits for which you're qualified, to get what you really need," said Meili.

"Not streamlining to cut programs. That doesn't facilitate access, that makes people's lives worse."

Changes delayed

Earlier this month, the province dropped its Sept. 1 deadline for enforcing the changes.

• Sask. government extends timeline for social services program changes

It saidit wasslowing down the process so that all 2,700 clients would have time to meet and discuss their cases with Social Services individually.