Government Document

Denied Assistance – Closing the Front Door on Welfare in BC

The number of people receiving welfare in BC has been on the decline since 1995. Despite this, in 2002, the provincial government introduced dramatic policy changes designed to further shrink the welfare "caseload." Some of these changes were unprecedented in Canada. Many of them dealt with how people access welfare—the eligibility rules and application processes that people must navigate in order to receive assistance.