FAPO warns gov't to keep its hands off Human Rights Act "Social Condition" 

amendment



(December 13, 2004) - The Fredericton Anti-Poverty Organization is warning the 

Lord government to keeps its hands off an amendment to the NB Human Rights Act that will allow welfare recipients to live together after January 1st.



Dan Weston of the Fredericton Anti-Poverty Organization says the Lord 

government will have a fight on its hands if it tries to weaken the Human Rights Act by exempting the controversial Economic Unit Policy. He calls the Economic Unit Policy "the single biggest creator of homelessness in New Brunswick."



FAPO and other groups working with the poor in New Brunswick expect Elizabeth 

Weir’s June  amendment to the Human Rights Act to be the death knoll for the discriminatory Economic Unit Policy. Currently two welfare recipients, each earning $264 per month, cannot live  together to share expenses. Weston says welfare recipients who receive $264, or even $485 a month for long term disability, cannot find adequate housing and are constantly on the verge of homelessness. 



"I challenge Bernard Lord to find a place to live in this province for $264 that also allows a person to eat, be warm and have a semblance of human dignity."  



He adds that a second policy, Rent Geared to Income, will also be on the chopping block after January 1. "If a person’s rent is $10 more than they make in welfare, they are 

deemed to be living beyond their means and their welfare is cut off," Weston says. "The high rental markets are determining whether people get assistance or not and is throwing people onto the streets."



Weston doesn’t trust the Lord government’s plan to amend so-called loopholes in 

the Act. The Conservatives say they need to prevent nuisance complaints such as rich people claiming discrimination based on their income. "We suspect that the government has more sinister plans than preventing rich people from claiming discrimination."



"It’s precisely because of the oppressive actions of government that Human 

Rights Acts  were created," says Weston, "If the Lord government thinks they can exempt their own discriminatory policies from the Human Rights Act, then they obviously don’t understand the Act."



For further information contact:



Dan Weston, Coordinator FAPO

242 Gibson Street, Fredericton, NB E3A 4E3

Tel: 506-458-9102

Cel: 506-474-3476

Email: fapo@antipoverty.com