March 20, 2008 

By JEREMY LOOME, LEGISLATURE BUREAU

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 It's the burning question among social workers every time Alberta raises assistance for the handicapped: how severe does that handicap have to be before the province will provide a living wage?

Alberta raised its Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped rate this week, following through on an election promise by Premier Ed Stelmach to help AISH recipients deal with the province's inflationary economy.

But at $1,088 per month, up $35 from last year's rate and retroactive to Jan. 1, AISH is still only about $100 more than the average apartment rent in Edmonton.

That means a lot of AISH recipients are left wondering where their next meal is coming from, said Susan Morrissey with the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

"In our renters forums last year, there were a number of people who came forward and said that because they were on AISH, they were having a difficult time finding a place to live on $1,050 per month," said Morrissey.

"So there must be some sort of political disconnect there that people in government don't realize how hard it is for these people.

"There is always going to be a portion of the population that is not able to work, and we have to recognize their needs and provide for them."

Additionally, many on AISH have medical expenses that aren't covered by its broad medical allowances, or don't have family to lean on in any regard, said Morrissey.

Premier Ed Stelmach said yesterday the province recognizes the difficulties AISH recipients face, which is why it encourages as many recipients as possible to find part-time jobs to supplement their income.

"We've also increased the amount that people on AISH can earn monthly (without their AISH grant being clawed back) because many people can work, they want to work, but if they went out to work, would lose a lot of their benefits. We increased that by $500 per month, so that's going to help," he said.

But that betrays the reality that most AISH recipients are proven severely handicapped and will never be able to bridge the gap between their expenses and their support payments," said Morrissey.

"It's not as simple as saying that we can get them all back to work. That's just not the reality.

"That population - the mentally and physically challenged population on AISH - would be the first to say they want to be able to work if they can, they want to be contributing to society, and if they can be somewhat gainfully employed, they'd like to do that."

AISH critics don't understand how difficult it is to qualify for the program, said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, with the social lobby Public Interest Alberta, adding that it has been audited in the past and shown to be effectively free of people scamming a living.

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