B.C.’s housing minister defended yesterday his ministry’s decision to sue hundreds of welfare recipients in small claims court to recoup $3 million in overpayments.
The province has filed 317 cases in small claims court since the beginning of May, exceeding the 60 or so filed each year in the past half decade.
“I think it is important to send the message that you don’t get to cheat on welfare in B.C.,” Rich Coleman said.
“That’s why we pursue welfare fraud. If we didn’t, then we’d have people thinking that they could just come for a free ride and cheat money from the taxpayers of B.C.”
He said there were a number of ways that people could have been overpaid, including listing false information about where they live or their family mix.
According to statistics from the B.C. Housing Ministry, 3,000 welfare cases could land in small claims each year because of debts of more than $1,000.
Coleman said government investigators have filed hundreds of cases in the past months in order to beat a statute of limitations deadline.
New Democrat MLA Shane Simpson, the critic for social development, questioned the timing of the court cases and suggested that it may be to deflect attention away from the uproar over the HST.
Hugh Lampkin, vice-president of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, called the lawsuits a waste of resources during a welfare rally in the Downtown Eastside. They might cost more than they recoup, he said.
WITH FILES FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS AND KYLE FARQUHARSON
