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Criminalizing race, criminalizing poverty : welfare fraud enforcement in Canada / Kiran Mirchandani and Wendy Chan.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Mirchandani, Kiran, 1968-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Racism in social services--Canada.
- Racism in social services.
- Public welfare--Canada.
- Public welfare.
- Welfare state.
- Welfare recipients.
- Welfare fraud.
- Canada.
- Welfare fraud--Canada.
- Welfare recipients--Canada--Interviews.
- Welfare state--Canada.
- Poor--Canada.
- Poor.
- Genre:
- Interviews.
- Physical Description:
- 102 pages ; 23 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Black Point, N.S. : Fernwood Pub., [2007]
- Summary:
- The criminalization and penalization of poverty through increased surveillance and control of welfare recipients in recent years has led many poverty advocates to claim that "a war against the poor" is currently in progress. The authors argue that poor people in general and people of colour in particular are most often the casualties in governments' desire to roll back the welfare state. Relying on myths and stereotypes about racial difference, the enforcement and policing of welfare fraud policies constructs people of colour and the poor as potential "cheaters" and "abusers" of the system. This has allowed for the stigmatizing and discriminatory treatment of these people to persist unchallenged within the welfare system.
- Contents:
- 2 Welfare Fraud Legislation in British Columbia and Ontario 12
- Ontario-The "Battle" against Welfare Fraud 13
- British Columbia-The Road to Perdition? 18
- 3 Discussions of Welfare Fraud in the Canadian News Media 22
- Media Analyses of Welfare and Poverty 24
- Media Portrayals of Welfare Fraud in Three Canadian Papers 27
- The Contextualization of Welfare Fraud and Poverty 28
- 4 Methodology 45
- Gendered Racialization: Developing Understandings of the Processes of Welfare Enforcement 45
- Interviewing Welfare Recipients of Colour 49
- 5 The Effects of the Welfare Control System on People of Colour 52
- Inadequate Financial Support 55
- Language Barriers 57
- Negative Interactions with Case Workers 58
- Structural Barriers to Employment 59
- Depression and Shame 63
- 6 Criminalizing Welfare Recipients of Colour 66
- The Impact of Fraud "Policing" 67
- The Role of the State 68
- Recipients' Views 69
- Welfare Surveillance 70
- Dehumanizing Treatment 76
- 7 Racism and the Canadian Welfare System 81
- Language Barriers 82
- Differential Treatment 84
- 8 Racism and Neo-Liberalism in Canadian Society 87
- Canada's "Welfare" Racism 88
- Case Workers: The Agents of Neo-liberal Policies 90
- The Call for a Proactive Response to Racialization and Poverty Reduction 91.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references: pages 95-102.
- ISBN:
- 9781552662502
- 1552662500
- OCLC:
- 145429192
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