In Conversation with NAWL – Dignity, Safety, and a Guaranteed Livable Income

Anishinaabe Territory / Ottawa, February 17th, 2026 –  On Wednesday, February 11th, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) had the honour of hosting an important discussion at the Senate about the role that a guaranteed livable income can play in strengthening economic security and stability for women and gender-diverse people in Canada.   

As Senators consider Bill S-206, An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income, this event provided an opportunity for civil society organizations to share evidence and lived realities from the fields of gender justice, disability rights, housing, and economic inequality. 

Participants included Senators Mary Coyle, Tony Loffreda, Julie Miville-Dechêne, Farah Mohamed, Chantal Petitclerc, Paulette Senior, a representative for Senator Brian Francis, and Member of Parliament Elizabeth May, alongside expert panelists representing the Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment, Disability Without Poverty, Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network, Women’s Network PEI/PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women and Yellowknife Women’s Society. 

From Welfare Strategy to Income Strategy 

“The test of national progress is surely not merely in providing more for those who have much—but also in providing enough for those who have too little. We must move from welfare strategy to income strategy; from services to money; from helplessness to hope; and from despair to destiny.”  

– Special Senate Committee on Poverty, 1971 

Opening the event, Amanda Therrien, Staff Lawyer at NAWL, emphasized the long-standing consensus around income security:   

“Over the last fifty years, lawmakers, commissions, committees, and expert panels have grappled with the issue of poverty and have reached the same conclusion: a guaranteed livable basic income is a crucial part of the solution.   

This recommendation has persisted, not because it is aspirational, but because poverty underpins a wide range of social harms and disproportionately affects women and gender-diverse people, making income stability one of the most effective tools available to interrupt those harms at their source.”

Panelists highlighted the intersecting realities that make income security a matter of dignity, safety, and equality. 

Rabia Khedr, National Director of Disability Without Poverty, spoke to the disproportionate impact of poverty on women with disabilities, noting that lower labour market attachment, higher living costs, and conditional income supports trap many in cycles of economic insecurity and dependency.  “Guaranteed Livable Income would provide a stable income floor that recognizes these realities and reduces exposure to poverty-related harms.” 

“By providing a reliable, dignified income floor sufficient to cover housing, food, transportation, and other basic essentials to survive, this policy would dismantle the poverty that drives housing instability and homelessness among women and gender-diverse people, and reduce their reliance on punitive, insufficient social assistance systems,” explained Stefania Seccia, Executive Director of Advocacy and Public Affairs at the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network. 

Arlene Hache, Interim Executive Director of the Yellowknife Women’s Society, described how income insecurity frequently acts as the precipitating factor trapping women in violent relationships or unsafe housing, particularly Indigenous women in the North, who are overrepresented among those cycling through shelters, unsafe housing, and survival economies. She stressed that a Guaranteed Livable Income would reduce immediate crisis pressures and enable women to meet essential needs such as rent, food, transportation, and childcare without navigating administratively burdensome assistance systems. 

Cee Strauss, Senior Staff Lawyer at LEAF, drew attention to the immense economic value of unpaid household and care work in Canada. “Between 2015 and 2019, the economic value of unpaid household work in Canada was between $516.9 billion and $860.2 billion in 2019 depending on the valuation method used. This caring labour falls disproportionately on low-income women—and racialized women in particular—reducing their capacity to participate in the waged labour market to the extent that they otherwise would. Set at an adequate level, a Guaranteed Livable Income could supplement or replace employment income when women are caring for their families, their communities, and themselves.” 

Meseret Haileyesus, Founder and Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment, addressed the central role of economic abuse in domestic violence. «Many women are denied access to money, have wages or benefits controlled or taken, and are left with damaged credit and hidden debts. In this context, a guaranteed and independent income is not a luxury. It is a lifeline that allows women to leave abusive situations, avoid homelessness, meet basic needs, and begin rebuilding a life with dignity. When income is reliable and not dependent on a partner, employer, or person causing harm, it directly reduces the power imbalance that sustains violence.” 

Trish Altass, Research Coordinator with Women’s Network PEI / PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women, highlighted Prince Edward Island’s experience, pointing to long-standing public support, sustained advocacy, and fully costed proposals demonstrating the feasibility of a Basic Income Guarantee both within PEI and beyond. 

In her closing remarks, Amanda Therrien underscored that income security is foundational to the safety, autonomy, and substantive equality of women and gender-diverse individuals.  

“Whether we are talking about disability-related poverty, housing instability, unpaid care work, or the realities of northern and Indigenous communities, a reliable income floor can help reduce the impossible trade-offs women and gender-diverse people are forced to make to survive, while also offering a non-carceral pathway to addressing and preventing intimate partner violence.” 

Our sincere thanks to Senator Kim Pate for sponsoring this timely discussion, and for her leadership in advancing laws that protect and strengthen women’s rights and equality in Canada. 

This event was made possible thanks to the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE).