‘You're just invisible and you don't matter at all’: The structural violence of the COVID-19 Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)

Abstract

In March of 2020, the Canadian government introduced the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), a taxable income transfer of $2000 CAD a month received by millions of Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that CERB is an example of structural violence because the eligibility requirements excluded many Canadians living in poverty. CERB provided a window into the structure of power in Canada, differentiating those ‘deserving’ of government support (i.e., temporarily unemployed workers) from those who were not. We undertook this qualitative research to document the experiences and perspectives of individuals living in poverty who were ineligible for CERB. An analysis of 28 interviews shows that participants felt their suffering was invisible to policymakers, particularly in relation to unmet basic needs, including food and shelter; stigma and lack of dignity; and the ongoing stress of economic precarity. Participants were unanimous that CERB should become permanent and made available to all in poverty. Although millions of Canadians experienced a temporary form of basic income during a time of crisis, it is unclear how to mobilize that experience to pressure government to provide everyone with a permanent income floor sufficient to meet basic needs.