A Cardigan man is on a hunger strike in a one-man protest outside Access PEI in Montague.
Wade Howatt, 49, said his family has been cut off social assistance and told they owe government $3,300 in unpaid rent.
Mr Howatt said officials with the Department of Community Services terminated his family’s monthly financial assistance without sufficient notification and won’t reinstate it until he provides receipts proving he paid rent between the months of January and May 2013.
“I was into the office at least once a month during that time to drop off papers or talk to someone and they never once asked for receipts until last Friday,” said Mr Howatt, who has a five-year old son and an 11-week old daughter with his partner of six years, Becky McQuillan.
Mr Howatt said he was asked to provide only one receipt for the first month’s rent at the residence his family moved into last December.
“The social assistance program has eligibility parameters clients are expected to meet,” Bob Creed, Director of Social Programs for the Department of Community Services, said.
Mr Creed said due to client confidentiality, he could not comment on Mr Howatt’s specific case. However, he said Mr Howatt is entitled to carry out his demonstration.
“The gentleman protesting in front of the building in Montague has the right to inform people of his situation,” Mr Creed said. “But I can’t comment on any one case.”
The money the department claims Mr Howatt owes stems from circumstances his family experienced following a house fire.
In December of 2012, Mr Howatt and his family were left homeless after the home they were renting on Allie’s Mill Road, just outside Cardigan burned.
The family stayed in a motel for a few weeks following the blaze, then moved into a vacant property in Murray River.
“It was just an open basement with a bathroom and a kitchen, but it was convenient because we had no place to go,” Mr Howatt said.
An agreement was made between the property owner and Social Services to cover the $750 rent but an issue arose over the electric bill.
Mr Howatt said they used an electric heater and the power bill jumped to $1,200.
Because they had no money to cover the bill, the power was disconnected and the family moved at the first of May.
“Everyone thinks people on social assistance are lazy,” Mr Howatt said. “But I’d love to be able to work and provide for my family.”
Mr Howatt can’t work due to an injury he suffered in 2009.
“We just don’t make enough,” Ms McQuillan said. “I don’t care if I don’t eat but what about my kids?”
Mr Howatt said if it was just him he had to worry about, he’d live in the woods. But he can’t understand how government isn’t concerned about his children.
Mr Howatt said he was told if he can provide the documentation to prove he paid the rent, the department will “look into the matter.”
However, he worries that won’t happen in time and his family will be left without the money they need to get by.
Mr Creed said all clients have to meet specific criteria to continue to be eligible for assistance and the department reviews cases on a regular basis.
“We process applications daily, Monday through Friday,”Mr Creed said, adding that he was unable to provide an example of any past situation or time frame in which a client’s assistance was reinstated after being terminated.
Mr Howatt said he doesn’t care how long it takes, he is prepared to protest and carry out his hunger strike for as long as needed.
“I’ll do it till I drop,” he said.
Photo: Wade Howatt, of Cardigan, launched a hunger strike and was protesting in front of Montague's Access PEI building Tuesday morning. Mr Howatt is upset his social assistance was terminated and worries his family will have nowhere to live at the end of the month. Melanie Jackson photo
First appeared in The Eastern Graphic May 29, 2013
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