HALIFAX – Local poverty activists are launching a social media campaign tackling the stigma associated with receiving social assistance.
The Benefits Action Reform Group are using the hashtag “#facesofnswelfare.”
The social media campaign will feature photos of people known in the community who are (or were) on welfare or disability.
Each picture will also include a brief write-up of a personal experience with social assistance.
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Those behind the campaign say the purpose is to break the common misconceptions some people have.
“These stereotypes are damaging. They undermine someone’s self-esteem, someone’s sense of belonging and attachment. And having to get by on $550 or $790 a month is difficult enough than when you have social attitudes of folks in your community. In terms of attachment and feeling part of a community, it’s isolating,” said Evan Coole, a member of the Benefits Action Reform Group.
The campaign will be in full swing leading up to the Halifax march to end poverty on Oct. 17.
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