Adult-education option for EIA recipients could improve lives of ‘fodder for bottom reaches of labour market,’ hearing told

A government bill to make adult education an option for Manitobans on welfare would lift the prospects for people who’ve been “fodder for the bottom reaches of the labour market.”

That’s what one presenter told a committee hearing on the proposed legislation Wednesday evening.

Bill 6 — The Manitoba Assistance Amendment Act, would require adult education to be considered as a legitimate path to work for Manitobans who receive social assistance payments. Under current legislation, some Manitobans enrolled in Employment and Income Assistance must meet work expectations to remain eligible for full benefits.

Adding adult education to the list of expectations allows people a shot at a better life and a better job, said University of Winnipeg urban and inner-city studies professor emeritus Jim Silver, who has advocated for the amendment since 2022.

“It makes it possible for people on EIA who want to improve their education to do so without losing their EIA benefits,” he said.

“People can do the hard work to earn their mature high school diploma — developing a range of skills in the process, and developing a sense of achievement and self-confidence that many would not have had before.”

Silver was presenting on behalf of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, where he is a research associate.

While it is standard practice for EIA staff to work with recipients to plan steps towards financial independence, the new legislation would require educational or vocational training programs to be considered in those assessments, the government has said.

“Education is one of the best ways to help people break through barriers to employment and create new opportunities for themselves,” Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said when she introduced the bill on Dec. 5.

Up until now there has been a “work first” mentality, rooted in legislation and regulations that pushed people on EIA into the paid labour force as quickly as possible, whether they were prepared or not, Silver said.

“They were fodder for the bottom reaches of the labour market,” he said.

Many who were pushed into whatever jobs could be found were paid such low wages that the work did not lift them out of poverty or improve their lives in any way, he said.

“I expect a good many such people just quit their lousy job, and felt yet another sense of failure as a result,” he said.

The amended legislation allowing them to get a basic education provides a base for them to move into a better job, or take some additional educational program that makes it possible for them to get a good job, he said.

“Families benefit and we all benefit when people move off EIA and into the paid labour force,” he said.

The bill states that the EIA director, when deciding on a path for an applicant or recipient, “must” consider whether adult education is the most appropriate employment enhancement measure.

The wording ensures that those on assistance who have the ability and the desire will have a right to improve their education, said Silver. His 2022 report, Adult Education in Manitoba: Unearth this Buried Treasure, found that Manitoba’s adult education “system” is poorly co-ordinated and severely underfunded.

Adult education centres serve as an anti-poverty initiative and a reconciliation effort, with Indigenous Manitobans enrolled at a rate 2 1/2 times their share of the population, Silver’s 43-page report said.

They add to Manitoba’s labour supply at time when more skilled workers are needed, he said.

“This is an important amendment, and I hope it will receive unanimous support when it comes back to the house for third reading,” he said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca