Short film offers view of life before and after Ontario’s basic income pilot

About 100 people gathered in the public library’s community room on January 26 for a film screening and panel discussion focused on Ontario’s abandoned basic income pilot.

Presented by the Basic Income Peterborough Network (BIPN) and the Reframe Film Festival, the film, A Human Picture, centred on various pilot participants, detailing their lived experiences during and after the pilot. 

The basic income pilot program gave low-income participants in Hamilton, Thunder Bay, and Lindsay about $1,400 a month ($2,000 for couples) with few strings attached. The intention was to study how the money impacted people’s housing stability, workforce participation, food security, mental health, and other factors. The Ford government broke an election promise by canceling the pilot program after winning government in 2018.

In the film, pilot participants shared how poverty had negatively shaped their lives, and how basic income had given them the opportunity to “sustain life.”

Hamilton participant Tim Button emphasized how life in poverty had an adverse affect on his mental health. With basic income, he bought fruits, vegetables and vitamins, which he said improved his health and wellbeing. Now, without basic income, he said he isn’t able to take care of himself the same way as before.

Tessa Soderbergh of Thunder Bay used her basic income to put money aside for her guide dog’s medical expenses and to buy gardening supplies to grow food.

For these participants, basic income afforded them the opportunity to invest in their health, which ultimately contributed to their independence and empowerment. 

Jessie Golem, who was featured in the film and took part in the panel, noted that pilot participants tended to continue working during the pilot, except if they used the money to focus on parenting or training for a better job.   

Stephanie Benn, the chair of the Basic Income Peterborough Network, said she can see the need for basic income in Peterborough everywhere. “There are a lot of people who are just needing that extra bit of income to give them a bit of a lift.”

A former teacher, Benn said she witnessed the effects of poverty on the lives of families and children throughout her career, and that is what brought her to this work.

Recent statistics reveal just how much harder life is becoming for people living on a low income. According to Peterborough Public Health, 19 percent of households in the community faced food insecurity between 2020 and 2022 — the highest number ever recorded. Meanwhile, the average price for a two-bedroom apartment has increased by 84 percent since 2003, according to the United Way’s 2023 Housing is Fundamental report.

A chorus of boos came from the audience when the Ford government’s cancellation of the pilot was first mentioned. Golem acknowledged that the screening and panel may have been “preaching to the choir.”

“What else can one do besides come to meetings like this?” panelist Jamie Swift asked. One of his answers: “I think it’s a matter of forming coalitions with other social movements, particularly the trade union movement” and the women’s movement, he said.

Benn said she and BIPN wanted to screen the film to start a conversation that would “put poverty at the top as an election priority.”

“We’re hoping to dignify the conversation to get people thinking outside the box in terms of deserving and undeserving poor,” she said. 

Benn makes a distinction between “universal” basic income, which everyone would receive, and a “guaranteed” basic income, which would only go to people who are living in poverty. She and BIPN advocate for the latter. A guaranteed basic income would “raise people up to the point where they could pay for the basic things that we oftentimes take for granted” Benn said. 

“We want to see that our tax dollars are going towards uplifting people rather than policing them, stigmatizing them, and surveilling them.”

Peterborough Currents is happy to publish this story about the 2024 Reframe Film Festival. As a sponsor of the festival, Currents committed to providing coverage of it, but we maintained editorial independence over our content throughout.