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BC Chamber of Commerce
#1201, 750 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2T8

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Advocacy & Policy

2010 - 2011 Policy & Positions Manual

<< back to Statements of Policy

Social Services

Providing social services is a primary role of the Provincial Government. Issues that fall under the commonly understood umbrella of social services include, but may not be limited to, housing, income assistance, childcare, training and education, rehabilitation, policing and justice, and healthcare. Either directly or indirectly, the Provincial Government provides funding and services in all these areas through a number of ministries and funded agencies.

While it is Government’s role to provide social services in the province, it is clear that social issues affect business. Whether it is the growing ranks of the homeless congregating in business doorways for shelter, the occurrences of property crime associated with the expensive habits of the drug-addicted, the lack of childcare spaces rendering valuable employees unable to return to work, to highlight just a few issues, businesses feel the impacts of social issues on a daily basis. Some of these impacts are not limited to business, but rather are realized in neighbourhoods, and the broader community.

Assessing the effectiveness of social services is a difficult task. The very nature of social service delivery requires working in a dynamic environment with a wide spectrum of individuals with diverse needs. Even so, The Chamber contends that the framework for the provision of social services requires a focus on the positive outcome for the whole community. That community outcome should be set out as the strategic goal and used to shape and evaluate all social service programs. 

The Chamber believes that the social services policies of the Provincial Government should take into consideration the following:

  1. that our social service, policies and programs recognize that most British Columbians can, and wish to, provide for their own needs;
  1. that all social service programs be developed with provincially standardized, measurable results that prove a tangible benefit to the community as a whole, and that one measurable objective be economic in nature;
  1. that the basic needs of shelter and food be addressed as an integral part of any larger social service program;
  1. that all social service programs prioritize those situations, issues, and individuals that have the greatest degree of negative community impact;
  1. that social services provide every possible incentive for individuals to more fully participate in society at the highest level of independence they are able to achieve;
  1. that every effort is made to rehabilitate, train, and integrate individuals into the productive labour force;
  1. that improved co-ordination be actively sought between the various Provincial Government ministries to ensure adequate funds and services are available to all those in real need, while at all times avoiding duplication of services;
  1. that a greater incentive for those individuals on income assistance be provided to encourage self-support and that consideration be given to establishing an “easement formula;”
  1. that all social service programs be evaluated on a regular basis against strategic goals, individual and community outcome goals, and economic goals; and
  1. where social service programs fail to prove measurable and sustained benefits to the community as a whole, they be adapted appropriately or discontinued entirely.