Our work over the years features regular and periodic activity, such as news on the website and newsletters to keep people abreast of the latest research and developments concerning basic income and relevant human rights approaches, such as municipalities passing resolutions, and providing briefs to government as part of their consultations, or getting information out through podcasts. Other activity is geared to larger projects such as events that take many months of planning and organizing.
2008 – 2014
BICN was founded in 2008 and accepted as the Canadian affiliate of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a charity registered in the United Kingdom.
In 2010, BICN hosted the North American Basic Income Congress (NABIG) in Montreal, the first time it was co-organized by both the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network and BICN. It alternated between the United States and Canada annually from this point until the pandemic period. The congresses brought together academics, activists, and policymakers to discuss basic income policies and explore practical solutions to related challenges. When BICN hosted NABIGs, we did so with supporting academic partner institutions (McGill in 2010, and University of Toronto in 2012). By 2014, we hosted the combined 13th NABIG and 15th BIEN international congress at McGill.
This was a challenging period in Canada. Despite support from parliamentarians from different parties and important new research findings from the Mincome experiments of the 1970’s which generated excitement, the era was one of austerity and cutbacks. BICN became incorporated during this time, we defined the principles of the basic income we want, and through public education efforts such as our Primer Series, we changed public discourse such that the public, media and policy makers understand and acknowledge that Canada already has forms of unconditional basic income guarantees, but only for seniors and children.
2015 – 2020
BICN’s advice was sought by the Ontario government as the Ontario Basic Income Pilot (OBIP) was being conceived and we brought our expertise to both research tables and public consultations once it was announced. When BICN hosted the 2016 NABIG (with the University of Manitoba) Ontario public servants participated to learn and connect with experts gathered there. At the 2018 NABIG (at McMaster University) we ensured that the voices of pilot participants were prominent. The pilot was cancelled early but because of the data base we had built with pilot participants we were able to survey a good sample of recipients and share their experiences in our Signposts to Success report.
As OBIP rolled out in 2017, BICN began a two-year project of research, design and statistical modelling of Canada-wide policy options. Basic Income: Some Policy Options for Canada is unique: its design decisions were all based on the principles we laid out both for the design of the benefit itself and the ways to fund it; the key principles were measurable making their impact visible on adequacy (poverty prevention), security (up to middle income brackets) and equality (including equality between women and men); and showed that similar results could be achieved with a universal model (BIEN’s standard) and a guaranteed model (the model of existing child benefits in Canada, and also in the OBIP).
Adequacy is of great importance to us. When the pandemic struck just weeks after BICN published Policy Options, we commended the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) monthly amount as it matched our own proposed benefit level. But CERB was not a basic income, and the Covid stories we gathered and shared highlight the positive experience of those who were helped by CERB and the hardship of those who needed help most and didn’t get it.
BICN’s work also serves as a catalyst for others. A former board member founded UBIWorks to advance basic income to business and economic interests. BICN started a youth network, which matured into an independent group, now the Basic Income Youth Collective, reaching younger generations. Regional and local groups expanded or strengthened during this period. Allies wanting to work with BICN increased as well.
2021 –
As American and Canadian policy contexts diverged, especially as Bills were being brought forward in Parliament, for which we provided expertise, BICN concentrated on specific Canadian activities. We joined a partnership with Energy Mix Productions for the Green Resilience Project funded by the federal government, exploring connections between climate change, income security, affordability issues, and community resilience. BICN provided leadership and expertise to co-author the report of a foundational basic income guarantee project for Alternatives North funded in part by the Government of the NorthWest Territories.
In 2024, BICN, with partners at Royal Roads University and the University of Ottawa, convened the first of its kind pan-Canadian basic income guarantee forum (BIG Forum), the culmination of over two years of planning and organizing. BICN’s published Report of the event highlights its successes, and the key themes that emerged that provide the evidence-base and hope for the future. They inform our approach to recommendations we make to the federal government.
