These principles are intended as a lens through which to assess any proposed pilot, demonstration, or implementation of a Guaranteed Livable Income (Also referred to as a Basic Income Guarantee) program. We believe these are essential for building a just, equitable, and inclusive system.
This includes action on Call for Justice 4.5 from the Reclaiming Power and Place: Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which calls on all governments to establish a guaranteed annual livable income for all people in Canada, to meet all social and economic needs. Governments have a responsibility to implement this Call in ways that reflect the diverse needs, realities, and geographic locations of all recipients. The implementation of any Guaranteed Livable Income must respect and uphold Indigenous rights, self-determination, and jurisdiction. It must not be tied to Indigenous status and must be available to people living on or off reserve. Indigenous Peoples must be full and equal partners in the program’s design, governance, and delivery.
A Guaranteed Livable Income, from Feminist Perspectives, will:
- Raise the income floor through an income supplement model, while not being limited solely to a one-size-fits-all tax system. It must be responsive to people’s changing life circumstances and crises, including for those fleeing violence, navigating immigration transitions, or experiencing sudden income loss. It must include real-time access and rapid-response mechanisms that are accessible and barrier-free, ensuring people don’t have to wait until tax season or rely on a partner’s consent to receive support.
- Be universal, unconditional, and individually assessed, available to all adults as well as minors with established need, subject to income but regardless of work status, relationship status, or immigration status. No one should be forced to access income through a partner, or risk exclusion due to how their household is structured.
- Be sufficient to meet people’s basic needs with dignity, including safe housing, nutritious food, healthcare and medicine, disability related costs, dependent care (including child and elder care), transportation, education, participation in civic and community life, the ability to respond to emergencies and meet the needs of those fleeing gender-based violence. Sufficiency must reflect local needs and be indexed to the cost of living.
- Be implemented alongside strong public services. Not everyone starts from the same place, and some individuals will need additional supports. A Guaranteed Livable Income must be part of a broader commitment to public investment. It must exist in tandem with well-funded, accessible public services, not as a substitute for them. A Guaranteed Livable Income must complement, not replace, services like disability benefits and support programs, services including gender based violence shelters, sexual assault centres, mental health and substance use supports, or housing programs.
- Be grounded in human rights, not framed as charity or conditional aid. It must uphold economic dignity, personal autonomy, and collective care.
- Recognize the value of unpaid and underpaid care work and domestic labour, disproportionately carried by women and marginalized communities. A Guaranteed Livable Income must account for and rebalance gendered divisions of labour, recognizing the societal value of caregiving, such as childcare, eldercare, dependent care, reproductive labour, and emotional labour.
- Be designed and evaluated through an intersectional framework, examining the impacts that gender, race, ethnicity, immigration status, disability, Indigeneity, geography, language, age, sexual identity, intergenerational impacts of poverty, living unhoused, and socioeconomic status, among others, have on people’s experiences of poverty and economic exclusion.
- Include meaningful, ongoing participation by communities, especially those most affected by poverty and marginalization. Those with lived expertise must be included in a Guaranteed Livable Income’s design, implementation, and evaluation.
- Be part of a broader shift toward economic and social justice, where effective progressive taxation ensures those with high economic wealth contribute sufficiently so that everyone can live with health and dignity, and investment in people is prioritized over profits. It should aim to create a caring economy rooted in collective wellbeing and environmental sustainability.
- Be implemented alongside robust employment standards. A Guaranteed Livable Income must be part of a broader commitment to worker protections. Employment equity group members, such as women and gender diverse people, often face structural economic disadvantage due to gendered pay inequalities. A Guaranteed Livable Income must exist in tandem with high employment standards, flexible work arrangements, living wages, and the right to live and work with dignity.
- Be delivered and administered equitably, transparently, consistently, accessibly and in a manner that is accountable and upholds the inherent rights and dignity of its recipients.
These principles are a work in progress and will continue to be further developed in consultation with feminist organizations as the work of the coalition continues