Tracy Smith-Carrier is a full professor and the Canada Research Chair in Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. Dr. Smith-Carrier’s research touches upon many different fields in the social policy arena, including access to income and food security, social assistance receipt, health equity, basic income, and climate justice.
Drawing from recent research on the experiences of participants on the Ontario Basic Income Pilot project, her presentation will explore how a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) promotes environments favourable to advancing the social determinants of mental health (SDoMH).
While many feminists, and scholars interested in gender equity broadly, have historically applied moral and rights-based arguments to anchor their claims about the merits of basic income proposals, and rightfully so, there is also an increasingly pressing and poignant economic case to be considered, with the costs associated with not effectively mitigating poverty and its adverse consequences expected to dramatically increase over time.
Investing in mental health by providing people access to regular infusions of income will invariably yield substantial savings for both the public purse and the economy, presenting a solid economic case for the introduction of a robust BIG in Canada.
