When almost 40 per cent of BC’s population is illiterate in some way, people have need for assistance with tenancy issues and filling out legal paperwork. Poverty Law Advocate Gillian Andrew provides this service to Powell River.
According to Literacy BC, nearly two in five residents cannot read or write beyond basic comprehension. Andrew explained that people living in poverty don’t always have tools or skills to access the help they need to get housing or disability assistance.
“I’m dealing with a guy right now; 57, grade seven, had a wonderful time working at the mill,” she said. “He can write his name and address but soon as he looks at a page of printed stuff he just can’t take it in. That’s the way with so many people. They get so completely frazzled. They were just having to go without.”
Funded by the Law Foundation of BC in 2007, the Poverty Law Advocacy Group assists people with filling out forms, applying for income assistance and disability and medical benefits. Andrew also helps people with Canada Pension Plan applications and appeals, tenancy problems, debt, employment problems and seniors’ benefits.
Unlike the former Powell River Legal Services office, which closed in 2002, Andrew doesn’t deal with family, criminal or immigration cases.
Those are things Maggie Hathaway, constituency assistant in Powell River for MLA Nicholas Simons and who formerly worked for the legal services office, called a “huge void” in the community. There is currently no legal aid office in Powell River. Those who need services not provided by the advocacy group must go to Vancouver Island or the Lower Mainland.
Andrew was a lawyer in Langley and Vancouver for 30 years. She said she now helps people of any age who are couch surfing or homeless.
“I’m quite well known to anyone who is dealing with the ministry [of social development],” she said. “I’d say over half my clientele comes from the ministry. And then another portion from the government agent, Service BC. I get quite a few calls from mental health.”
She said the advocacy group does a lot of paperwork for people who don’t understand the processes of applying for income assistance, as it is important to get all the information right.
“We do quite a lot of form-filling,” she said. “We correspond with doctors quite a bit to try and get the doctors to word things in a way that will help their patient get what the doctor thinks they need. But if they don’t word it in quite the right way then the powers that be will say no.”
Once upon a time, Andrew said, people could get by on not being able to read or write at higher levels. But that has changed, especially for the work world and the paperwork that comes with it.
“In the old days you learned from someone else doing it. You didn’t have to be able to read manuals and write exams. It’s a different world we’re living in now.”
Andrew can be contacted at her office by phone at 604.485.0950 or by email at povertylaw@telus.net.
