I am not only a person who has been really poor, virtually homeless for a period, but also still on the edge of poverty. Although I am working as an Auxiliary on Call there is often no work available, so I filed for Employment Insurance, grateful that I will have enough hours to qualify. I want to work, but being an older woman, with a mobility disability, seems to make that difficult. When getting EI, I’m still trying to work whenever I can, and am concerned about February, when the EI runs out, again trying to find work.
When I work as an Auxiliary, I have to declare my hours to EI when earned, but wages are paid as an Auxiliary with a two week holdback.
No one can really live on social assistance. There are so many needs that are not covered for someone who is poor and trying to get out of that situation. I remember when I was living in my old trailer, with half the trailer shut off, the furnace not working, living in the kitchen and living room, with no running water or plumbing because everything had frozen, trying to heat the kitchen/living room with a little box heater. I was unemployed, looking for work, but it was really difficult.I had a serious car accident in January 2001, when I was returning from working in Beaver Creek. I came across a patch of road that had frozen into a sheet of ice. I lost control of my car, hit the bank and flipped into a ditch. Luckily I was discovered, by a Kluane Park Rescue Group, and taken to the Haines Junction Nursing Station, where I was medevaced to Whitehorse and then medevaced to Vancouver.
I ended up in the hospital in Vancouver, with no money, no identification, really virtually nothing. My daughter in Vancouver, luckily for me, went out and bought me a few clothes and came to see me.
After five days I was sent back to Whitehorse still so injured that I could not sit up without pillows. I couldn’t work, couldn’t get EI because I was self-employed, and couldn’t afford a lawyer to help me to negotiate with the insurance company over my car and trying to get some help. I was sent out to Vancouver twice for more surgery, and still have more surgery needed, but could never afford to go back to get the rest.
My trailer, because I had no money, ended up with frozen pipes, a broken down furnace, lots of problems. I couldn’t get assistance to fix it because, although I owned it, I didn’t own the land it was on, and no-one wanted to lend me money to fix it. I was told it had to be brought up to today’s code and that it would cost more than the trailer was worth to do that. My goal was to fix the trailer to be liveable. I wasn’t worried about bringing it up to today’s code; I just wanted to be able to live in it. The trailer is constantly being broken into, sometimes when I am in it. It is frightening and frustrating. Many things have been stolen.
Read the rest of Pam's story here.