Criminalizing Race, Criminalizing Poverty: Welfare Fraud Enforcement in Canada Book

Acknowledgements     7
Introduction     8
Welfare Fraud Legislation in British Columbia and Ontario     12
Introduction     12
Ontario-The "Battle" against Welfare Fraud     13
British Columbia-The Road to Perdition?     18
Note     21
Discussions of Welfare Fraud in the Canadian News Media     22
Media Analyses of Welfare and Poverty     24
Media Portrayals of Welfare Fraud in Three Canadian Papers     27
The Contextualization of Welfare Fraud and Poverty     28
Discussion     42
Note     44
Methodology     45
Introduction     45
Gendered Racialization: Developing Understandings of the Processes of Welfare Enforcement     45
Interviewing Welfare Recipients of Colour     49
The Effects of the Welfare Control System on People of Colour     52
Introduction     52
Inadequate Financial Support     55
Language Barriers     57
Negative Interactions with Case Workers     58
Structural Barriers to Employment     59
Depression and Shame     63
Criminalizing Welfare Recipients of Colour     66
Introduction     66
The Impact of Fraud "Policing"     67
The Role of the State     68
Recipients' Views     69
Welfare Surveillance     70
Dehumanizing Treatment     76
Racism and the Canadian Welfare System     81
Introduction     81
Language Barriers     82
Differential Treatment     84
Racism and Neo-Liberalism in Canadian Society     87
Canada's "Welfare" Racism     88
Case Workers: The Agents of Neo-liberal Policies     90
The Call for a Proactive Response to Racialization and Poverty Reduction     91
Note     94
References     95