Jagrup Brar, nearing the end of his money, and living in SRO on the Downtown Eastside, is learning about poverty
On May 25, 2011, Jagrup Brar, MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood, B.C., received a letter from a group called Raise the Rates entitled ‘MLA Welfare Challenge’. The coalition, which is concerned about poverty, inequality and homelessness in British Columbia, was inviting the province’s MLAs to spend a month living on what an individual would receive on income assistance—$610 a month. Fast forward to January 2012, and Jagrup Brar—the only MLA who signed up for the month-long Welfare Challenge—has recently settled into an SRO living space on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and is running low on money. He’s noticeably thinner than he was at the start of the month. Jagrup Brar is blogging about his experiences online.
We speak with Jagrup Brar, who is a member of the New Democratic Party and represents the British Columbia constituency of Surrey-Fleetwood.
