By Her Worship, Mayor Lisa Pineault, Village of Daajing Giids
I was pleased to receive a text from MP Taylor Bachrach on December 16, 2024
advising that our initiative advocating for the restoration of the full Northern Living Tax Deduction was in the Fall Economic Statement tabled minutes before. The 2024 Fall Economic Statement proposes to re-classify the islands of Haida Gwaii from the Intermediate Zone (B) to the Northern Zone (A), which would allow residents to claim up to the maximum value of the deductions. It felt like all of Haida Gwaii was receiving an early Christmas present! I went from elation to asking Taylor about the likelihood of
success and he confirmed the legislation still has to be passed to enact the change. Its not a done deal yet… In our December 19, 2023 letter to Honourable Chrystia Freeland, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, VDG Council urged the federal government to amend the Income Tax Act as the aim of the Northern Residents Deduction, defined in the government’s website, is to recognize and provide relief for people of a prescribed zone facing a “higher cost of living, environmental hardships and access to limited services”. These exceptional circumstances described are fully met and endured by the people living on Haida Gwaii.
Village of Daajing Giids Living Wage BC Study 2022, 2023, 2024 A living wage is the hourly amount that someone needs to earn to support a family of four with two parents working full-time. In 2022, Daajing Giids was calculated at $25.87 the highest participating in the study that year. The 2023 Living Wage Study had Daajing Giids with the second-highest living wage in the province ($26.25) after Clayoquot Sound.
VDG participation in the study quantifies what my Council and residents have known for many years; the cost of living in Northern, remote and isolated places is expensive and higher than elsewhere in the province. While the Living Wage Study has proved to be a very useful and worthwhile study for our area, it does not reflect the actual cost of things such as of food, (averaged from 6 grocery stores in an area from Haida Gwaii east to Houston and Kitimat, then north to the Yukon border), transportation; (as we have no public transportation our calculation reflects the cost of two cars per family with no consideration for fuel or repair costs specific to Haida Gwaii), while 3 round-trip ferry trips to Prince Rupert per year are factored in the study, (it does not reflect the reality of what most Canadians access for healthcare in an afternoon requires a great deal of travel, cost and time for our residents), and currently a reflection of access to post-secondary education is not part of the calculation (which in our case is limited).
Our intention with participating in the Living Wage BC Study was to quantify our higher costs to aide our advocacy primarily about the Northern Living Deduction. To use it create a case and to share it with our provincial and federal partners to enlist their support of our advocacy. When receiving our package, provincial MLA Murray Rankin and MLA Anne Kang both raised the issue with their federal counterparts.
The Daajing Giids Living Wage BC study as well as MIEDS’s petition have been referenced as evidence by our MP Taylor Bacharach in his effort to have Haida Gwaii’s deduction fully restored and we greatly appreciate his work on our behalf.
We also wrote to North Coast Regional District (NCRD) and the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) to thank them for their support and to share that in 2022, Prince Rupert participated and calculated a Living Wage of $22.69, Daajing Giids’ was calculated at $25.87, the highest in the study.
Path Forward
We don’t know what mix of support from the Liberal, NDP minority government, provincial and Haida Gwaii advocacy impelled the inclusion of the proposal to re-classify the islands of Haida Gwaii in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement.
While it is a huge step forward to be in the queue, January 6, 2025’s resignation from Prime Minister Trudeau and our Federal Government prorogued until March 24, 2025, will impact moving forward of the budget legislation that is still required to be passed to restore the full Northern Living Tax Deduction to Haida Gwaii. Upon returning, if the NDP brings or supports a non-confidence vote a federal election will follow and it is uncertain if our restoration of the full Northern Living Tax Deduction with be supported or a priority of the other party’s.
Along with the Council of the Haida Nation, our municipality and others on Haida Gwaii have been working to push forward this initiative for many years, that it has happened at a time of such upheaval and uncertainty in our federal government is a cause of real consternation. The new Prime Minister is scheduled for to bring forth the budget appropriations on March 26, 2025 and they would require support from either the Bloc or NDP to pass. I remain hopeful because it is undeniable it would benefit all our resident’s, particularity working families, and it is so clear that the current legislation is inequitable to Haida Gwaii. There is still a possibility, we are currently in the queue and we will continue to advocate until it is restored.