This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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It seems like a New Democrat MLA from Surrey, B.C., Jagrup Brar is living this month on $610, the current welfare rate for a single, employable adult in the province. Brar has been living in a middle-class house in Newton with eight other welfare recipients.
“It’s been tough. Living in poverty is really tough, it’s demoralizing,” says Brar.
The politician admits that he’s exhausted, and suspects it’s mostly from a lack of proper nutrition. Brar is halfway through the welfare challenge issued by Raise the Rates, an anti-poverty agency. He traded his MLA’s life with perks for a life of poverty on the first day of 2012, promising to live on $610 in order to emphasize of insufficient welfare rates in B.C.
“My money will run out, I know that,” Brar says. “I meet with different groups every day to listen to their stories.”
Brar says he calls his wife Rajwant and kids every night and misses them. He keeps two cards from his kids on his night table. On the night table, Brar also keeps a survival pamphlet and a bus schedule.
“That’s my bible,” he jokes.
In order to save his $42 bus fare, Brar tries to walk shorter distances. At times, people on the bus recognize him as “that welfare MLA.”
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