Advocates call on B.C. government to reinstate Family Benefit bonus

A number of family advocacy organizations are calling on B.C.'s NDP government to reinstate a bonus payment for low-income parents.

Child advocates are raising urgent concerns about the B.C government’s decision to discontinue the Family Benefit bonus as of July 1.

The now-cancelled bonus provided as much as $713 annually to low-income families with two children.

The First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society is calling on the province to re-instate the bonus.

“They’re going back in time, putting more (families) – especially low-income families – in deeper poverty,” said executive director Adrienne Montani.

The decision comes as many parents are struggling to make ends meet, Montani added.

“Families are facing extraordinary cost pressures,” she said, noting that the reduction in support comes “just as children are out of school, and school meals and other services are unavailable.”

In a statement, B.C.’s Ministry of Finance told CTV News the benefit was always meant to be temporary, and was “provided at a time when inflation and interest rates were especially high.”

Montani said for the families in need of that extra support, “nothing has changed.”

“Rent is still too high and costing them too much,” she said. “Inflation may have slowed but that hasn’t affected their food costs, their basic family expenses.”

‘It’s a week full of groceries’

Among the parents eligible for the bonus was Prince George resident Meghan de Jong, a single mother with two children.

“Things like this may seem little to some people, but for someone like me it’s a week full of groceries,” she said.

“From where I’m sitting, things are getting harder especially when you’re trying to juggle the kids. They’re telling us that our struggles are being overlooked.”

While the Ministry of Finance noted families can still collect the normal Family Benefit, de Jong said it’s just not enough.

“For people in my situation, who count every penny, it’s a big cut,” she said.