Sorry SIS

‘Jesus loves you’ even if you get an abortion

bodie robinson staff writer

You have your double-double. The radio is playing either Nickelback or The Tragically Hip. You’re surrounded by drivers that don’t understand how a passing lane works. Yes, it’s the Saskatchewan road trip.

If you’re lucky, you get to see the sun set over the plains on a calm, clear evening. But often that view is interrupted by a slew of corny billboards that ensure you Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Even more irksome is the plethora of anti-abortion billboards that punctuate the otherwise unremarkable landscape.

Megan Johnston recently had a similar experience. Then she had an idea. Last month, Megan formed Abortion is Healthcare Signs Inc. This non-profit organization intends to spread its message by erecting billboards all over Saskatchewan to remind everyone what abortion is really about: healthcare. I spoke to Megan about the project.

What is your organization’s mission?

The first half is that I would like to plaster Canada with pro-abortion billboards. The second half is that I would like to amplify voices of already existing non-profit organizations and businesses that support abortion. I would like to do some work with them to improve understanding about the laws about abortion in Canada, as well as the procedure of abortion itself, in order to reduce stigma and shame.

What is the origin story of the organization?

A couple things. Obviously, the current climate in the USA has brought abortion laws, access, and equity into the forefront of everyone’s minds. Even though [abortion] is legal here, I think a lot of us now understand we aren’t guaranteed that. Another part was that I took a road trip on August long weekend with a friend. We passed 13 anti-abortion or Christian-related billboards. So, I expressed frustration about that and wondered: what can I do about this? I just want to put up a pro-abortion billboard. My friend was like, “Why not?”

You have a GoFundMe set up to raise $50,000 for this project. So far, over $20,000 has been raised. What’s the plan?

Everything with the social media pages started taking off a lot faster than I thought it was going to. I made the GoFundMe because people kept asking how they could help, and where they could donate. The GoFundMe is temporary. Once we get our non-profit status, we will start fundraising by selling merchandise and billboards, and people will be able to donate directly to the website.

You started a Google map of all the anti-abortion billboards around Saskatchewan. How many billboards have you identified so far?

Photo: Abortionishealthcaresigns.inc Roadside scenery just got a little bit better than farm equipment and canola fields.

About 60. Altogether, I think there’s around 80 in Saskatchewan.

Ideally, how many pro-abortion billboards would you like to put up?

I’m hopeful to get one pro-abortion sign within a 100-kilometre radius of every anti-abortion sign. There are at least eight anti-abortion signs in the Weyburn and Estevan area. I don’t think we need to put up eight of our signs there, but at least two or three would be good. us to rent a large billboard space from a company would cost us between $8,000-$12,000 a year. But we can make our own smaller signs for around $1,000, and then pay a lease fee to a landowner for about $300 a year. If anyone wants to get involved, if they know landowners willing to lease some space for us, that would be the most helpful way. Then we’ll have our merch, which will include lawn signs, some clothing, and so on. Those should be out in the next couple weeks.

Besides helping raise funds, how else can people get involved and spread the message of the organization?

The most difficult thing for us will be finding locations to put the billboards. For example, for

Are there any other organizations you would like the readers to know about?

The Regina and Saskatoon Abortion Support Networks. They’re both fairly new organizations, so they’re fundraising to help people access abortion care. It would be great if more people knew about these organizations. Another thing that other news articles haven’t mentioned – that I think is amazing – is that we have started working with the United Church. We’re for sure working with one church to set up a billboard. I’m sending a letter to the rest of the United Churches in Saskatchewan this week. I’m really hopeful to get more of them on board as well. I think it’s a very loud statement that will mean a lot to a lot of people.

You can follow Abortion is Healthcare on Instagram and TikTok: @skabortionsigns.

Education support programs cannot be supplemented by SIS

Shifting programs will be like going from sailing a yacht to a paper boat

It’s like they’re trying to make people’s lives more difficult at this point.

Photo: jimmemersonDVM via Flickr

Until recently, the Provincial Training Allowance (PTA) has been available to assist applicants with educational training, work readiness, and employment training. Instead, those in need of such supports have been guided to apply for Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS), or in some cases, Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID).

SIS is somewhat of a controversial program, considering that in October 2021 a tent city emerged in Pepsi Park due to SIS replacing the Saskatchewan Assistance Programming (SAP). SIS, unlike SAP, gave cheques directly to residents rather than to the landlords so residents could have more autonomy over their spending. In an article written by Arthur White-Crummey with the Regina Leader-Post, many residents received less money than they received on SAP because costs of utilities and shelter were wrapped into one.

White-Crummey also visited a tent-city called Camp Hope. It was a place where people could go because programs like SIS were not working, creating more homelessness and poverty rather than eliminating it. While there are of course other homeless shelters in Regina, they had been found to fill up quickly as well. Global News reporter Daz Dhaliwal said options for people experiencing homelessness were sparse; while they offered to house people in hotels for two days, they would then be returned to the streets.

PTA had no income exceptions, which was something the government wanted to address. But the one provided from SIS is rather low, being under $400 per month. However, due to PTA not having an income exemption, one cannot be working while on it. Though, the training and or schooling had a good turn around for employment being achieved afterwards.

Unfortunately, SIS has had its fair share of other criticisms. The biggest regarding the switch from PTA to SIS that would involve a difficult application process, limitations based on the number of children one has, and the location they live in. As an example, if a family has more than three children, the amount received is the same as someone who only has three children. This is because the max amount given for children is listed as “three plus,” meaning the amount is the same regardless. In terms of location, both Saskatoon and Regina residents receive the same amount, as they’re the two largest cities for the shelter benefit. However, the rest of the province is lumped together to receive the same amount. This can be seen as problematic as there may be factors regarding housing not considered in smaller or rural areas such as cost of rent, quality of low-cost housing, pay, and hours available work-wise to eventually get off assistance.

Another thing to consider are the frequent complaints about the ability to survive off minimum wage, being that Saskatchewan has the lowest rate in Canada. This includes those on disability as well who are historically in the most underemployed sectors of society, leaving many at the mercy of these programs. This often leads to also being on food stamps, having a lower quality of care, and a lower quality of life, as there’s often very minimal ability if any for hobbies, social outings, and the like.

Lastly, it’s important to consider those in high needs of medication and or medical care who need to worry about travel expenses or coverage for health needs, such as the elderly or pregnant people for example. These factors among many others are what have led to concerns from landlords as well, as it damages their profit when people can’t afford to pay, and it denies the tenants a home – something which should be considered a basic human right.

Instead, it is often not considered, as anyone who is not able to work to provide revenue to the society they live in often lives in lower quality conditions. From a business standpoint they become a liability in terms of what they cost, as profit incentivizes welfare. Hence why, until recently, and only after much scrutiny, it was adjusted to have direct payments to landlords and utilities again.