The name Bruce Johnson will mean little to the vast majority of Albertans. But it is a name that anyone with a semblance of humanity ought to know. Johnson died earlier this month. Mounties found his body responding to a fire at a home in the Village of Empress on the Alberta side of the provincial boundary with Saskatchewan. It is believed he took his own life, as Johnson posted a lengthy message to Facebook saying he could no longer go on. In death, Johnson's words may now be louder than they ever were in life.
A Struggle for Survival
According to noted Canadian businesswoman Arlene Dickinson, who detailed the circumstances leading up to Johnson's death, Johnson, 57, had lived with severe mental health challenges since he was 10 years old. For nearly three decades, he survived on the meagre stipend he received under the Alberta Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH). While his AISH monthly payments did not even meet the poverty line threshold for people living in a city like Calgary or Edmonton, the province, as of July 1, was going to move Johnson to a new program, the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP), which would have reduced his monthly payment by $200.
As Dickinson noted, the new program might require Johnson “to participate in employment programs and job searches, or risk losing support entirely.” She wrote: “So he was a man who’d struggled with mental illness since childhood. A man who’d already tried employment and knew his limits. A man already living below the poverty line who was now told he would receive less, and be expected to do more to keep it.”
A Cry for Help Ignored
Johnson tried to reach out to the government, the media and advocates, but to no avail. “The Alberta government kicked me in the teeth with the introduction of ADAP,” he wrote. “Just something that has finally pushed me to end everything.” There has been no indication that anyone has attempted to judicially challenge the province’s decision to move some disabled individuals from AISH to ADAP. That is not surprising, as it is unlikely that individuals living below the poverty line would have the wherewithal, let alone the financial clout, to find a lawyer to take up their cause.
A Call to Action
Effectively, the government of Premier Danielle Smith has been able to pick on some of the weakest members of society to save a few bucks, while, as Dickinson noted, it is ready to spend up to $100 million on a fall referendum focusing on whether Alberta should consider separating from Canada. Kevin Martin argues that all Albertans should get on the phone to government officials and say this wrong should not be repeated. The tragic story of Bruce Johnson brings attention to a harmful government policy that must be reconsidered.
