Staggering losses in welfare incomes, NCW reports.

"Welfare Incomes has never been a good news report," the National Welfare Council says of its latest report on welfare incomes.

Conditions are going from bad to worse for people dependent on public assistance, the National Council of Welfare reports. The NCW recommends that the federal government work to develop a national, comprehensive antipoverty strategy.

More than 1.7 million people, five percent of the population, rely on welfare. Nearly half a million of those on welfare were children.

The NCW's annual report, Welfare Incomes 2005, points out that:

* In Alberta, the real income of a single person on welfare has decreased by almost 50 percent since 1986.

* Since 1992 in Ontario, the welfare income of a lone parent with one child decreased by almost $6,600 and a couple with two children has lost just over $8,700.

* When adjusted for inflation, many 2005 welfare incomes were lower than they were in 1986.

* Most welfare incomes peaked in 1994 or earlier.

* One third of households lost $3,000 or more.

* Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia recorded the lowest levels of welfare incomes between 2000 and 2005.

Welfare Incomes 2005 estimates welfare incomes for four types of households in each province and territory: single employable person, a single person with a disability, a lone-parent with a 2-year-old child, and a two-parent family with two children aged 10 and 15.

"The findings in Welfare Incomes 2005 argue compellingly that we need to embark on this process immediately," said Council Chairperson John Murphy. He calls the present situation "shameful and morally unsustainable in a rich country" but also notes, "The generally favourable economic climate at the federal level, and in most provinces, presents a real opportunity for governments to take concerted action to end this kind of deprivation."

The Council points out that many poor Canadians have been cast adrift by changing labour market conditions and restrictions in access to Employment Insurance and other income support programs. "The Council proposes that the reexamination of the place and purpose of welfare in our current income security system would be an essential element, a pan-Canadian version of strategies adopted by the governments of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador."

In the fall of 2006, the National Council of Welfare will be holding consultations to seek the views of Canadians on a national, comprehensive antipoverty strategy.

The National Council of Welfare is an advisory group to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development on matters of concern to low-income people in Canada.

The federal government and most provincial governments have not responded to the report. However, Alberta's Minister of Human Resources and Employment, Mike Cardinal, said that he could not understand why able-bodied people need welfare in Alberta's booming economy, but he said that a review of assistance for people with disabilities might be considered.

www.ncwcnbes.net

Lowest & highest rates of welfare

Single employable person:

N.B.-$3,427
N.L.-$8,198

Person with disability:

Alta.-$7,851
Ont.-$12,057

Lone parent with one child:

Alta.-$12,326
N.L.-$16,181

Couple with two children:

N.B.-$17,567
P.E.I.-$21,213

Rates highest in the Nunivut, Yukon and Northwest Territories. However, the cost of living is much higher in the north.