Marginalization Through a Custom of Deservingness: Sole-Support Mothers and Welfare Law in Canada

• Author: Rebecca Crookshanks
• Position: Was born and raised in Saskatoon, and is a Political Science graduate from the University of Saskatchewan
• Pages: 97-109

APPEAL VOLUM E 17

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97

AR T I C L E

MARGINALIZATION THROUGH A CUSTOM

OF DESERVINGNESS: SOLESUPPORT

MOTHERS AND WELFARE LAW IN CANADA

By Rebecca Crookshanks*

CITED: (2012) 17 Appeal 97-113

INTRODUCTION

Despite t he reluctance of most liberal states to provide forms of income securit y and

social supports to t hose in need, some from within their rank s have managed to be seen

as more “deserving” of modest forms of support. Ca nada’s welfa re system has always

been s tructured usin g a “custom of deservi ngness.” H istorically, sole-support mothers

were a mong t hose considered, however pre cariously and unevenly, to merit the statu s

of most “deserving” a s recipients of public funding. Unfortun ately, however, exten sive

welfare law and policy reform s since the neo-liberal re(formation) have ef‌fectively erased

the category of sole-support mothers as being a “deservi ng poor.” By synthesizing welfare

law then and now, it is possible to identify the continuitie s and discontinuities that

have shaped and reshaped the l ives and experiences of sole-support mothers. Analyses of

how increasingly punitive treat ment has rendered them undeservi ng can help illuminate

the profound changes that have occurred under neo-liberalism. e path from past to

present has been marked by sh ifts from public responsibility to private self-reliance, a nd

from social welfare entitlement rights to individualized support and workfare obligations

aimed at combating dependency. e “custom of de servingness” and work fare system’s

emphasis on erasing the “ dependent” category has resulted in the ma rginalization of

sole-support mothers.

ere has been a large body of feminist historical work that has traced the socio-legal roots

and administr ation of mothers’ allowances and pensions in British C olumbia during the

f‌irst half of the twentieth century throug h to the current neo-liberal welfare regime. is

paper will adopt a historical, feminist lens in order to understand the changes and content

of Canadia n welfare law, with a focus on British Columbia leg islation, as they relate to

sole-support mothers . is art icle wi ll f‌irst ex amine the cu rrent reality of sole-support

mothers on income assist ance in Canadian socie ty. Next, the his torical position of sole-

support mothers and the way in which the “custom of deservingness” wa s emphasized

will be traced through the pre-Keynesian, Key nesian and neo-libera l periods, resulting

in the classif‌ication of sole-support mothers as the never deserv ing poor, whose bodie s

are subjected to ongoing moral regulation. Finally, the article will exa mine reactions

against a nd proposed alternatives to t he current welfare system in Canada .