Galvanizing a Movement: The Pan-Canadian Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) Forum

Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier received a SSHRC Connection Grant to host a Pan-Canadian Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) Forum for multiple stakeholders to mobilize knowledge and further outreach activities.

In the face of rising inflation, increasing hunger (Food Banks Canada, 2022), growing health crises, and intensifying income inequalities (Osberg, 2021), the need for greater income security through a basic income guarantee (BIG) is now being recognized across Canada (Bernstein, 2021) and elsewhere (Gentilini et al., 2020). Indeed, in an article in The Washington Post, journalist and editor Megan Greenwall (2022, para. 8) argued that "if empirical evidence ruled the world, guaranteed income would be available to every poor person in America, and many of those people would no longer be poor." Substantial Canadian research literature exists on BIG, based on experimental and quasi-experimental studies, and various pilots and simulations (e.g., Forget, 2011). The evidence is clear in demonstrating the efficacy of a BIG in eradicating poverty (Forget, 2020), improving health, community, and environmental well-being (Mulvale, 2019), and building inclusion with marginalized groups in society (Frankel & Mulvale, 2013). A BIG would also help usher in a just transition, addressing the climate emergency, and providing a buffer for people in between work after ecological, health, or economic crises (Mulvale, 2019). Despite good intentions, however, many leaders lack the political courage and agency to make the changes needed, and individuals and communities are increasingly "losing faith" in governments to adequately respond to the challenges that confront us (Lilley, 2022).

The Pan-Canadian BIG Forum will be held in the nation's capital at the University of Ottawa, the largest French/English bilingual university in the world, from May 23-26, 2024. To encourage attendance among Members of Parliament and Senators, we will hold a pre-forum reception (4pm-6pm) on Parliament Hill earlier that week. The Forum will then be launched with a large inspiring public event on the Thursday evening, followed by three days of meetings, workshops, posters, art exhibits, oral presentations, and events, including a distinguished list of keynote speakers. This hybrid event will be the first of its kind to include practical skills workshops, concurrent conference presentations, multi-media contests, prominent speakers, podcasts, and arts-based knowledge mobilization strategies with people interested in advancing BIG to improve the social, environmental, and economic wellbeing of all Canadians.

The overall goal of the Pan-Canadian BIG Forum is to mobilize and engage with diverse forms of knowledge and stakeholders to: (1) Bring together researchers, students, policy experts, practitioners, politicians, community activists, and the public interested in BIG as a pragmatic approach for improving social, environmental, and economic wellbeing; (2) Mobilize national and international research evidence, policy learnings, and experiential knowledge, and highlight BIG's unique features as a sustainable income security policy model that works in complementarity with existing social programs and services; (3) Provide opportunities for networking and engaging in different ways of knowing that include art and arts-based knowledge mobilization strategies; (4) Facilitate connections and partnerships among individuals, groups, and organizations to inspire and grow interdisciplinary research, advocacy, and activism for BIG; and (5) Advance outreach activities that will extend beyond the Forum. Responding to 2022 SSHRC Impact Award winner Cindy Blackstock's invitation to move beyond traditional forms of knowledge transfer towards more active advocacy approaches (Rynor, 2023), this event seeks to galvanize a social movement and mobilize a unified call for BIG across Canada.