Sarah Y. Khan

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  thetyee.ca/News/2009/04/13/BrokenWelfare/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/13/2009    Last Visited: 6/30/2009  

  "A lot of these problems have been really bad for seven years," said Sarah Khan, a lawyer with the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre. "Many of them have been chronic since 2002."
  
  The problems go back to the period after Premier Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal Party first formed government. As the Tyee reported in a 2004 series, Campbell's reforms led to a huge drop in the welfare caseload. While the government claimed the drop was from people going back to work, much of it with the help of private job placement companies, there was plenty of evidence the new rules were being used to rule ineligible people who would previously have gotten help.
  
  In 2005, after trying to get the government to change many of the policies, Khan filed a complaint with the Ombudsman's office.
  
  That complaint led to the recent release of Ombudsman Kim Carter's Last Resort, a 121-page report that found the welfare system is "overly complex" and not designed to meet the needs of the people applying for help. Kafkaesque bureaucracy was keeping people from getting assistance, she found.
  
  Communities suffer
  
  That broken system affected not just the people denied assistance, said Khan, but communities across the province.
  
  ADVERTISEMENT Communicate your message to The Tyee's loyal connectors.
  
  "We think the increases in homelessness are directly attributable to the problems identified in this report," Khan said. Had the Liberals fixed these problems years ago, or not created them in the first place, she said, "There's no way we could have seen the levels of homelessness we see now."

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  www.bcuc.com/ApplicationView.aspx?ApplicationId=174 - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 2/26/2008  

  BRITISH COLUMBIA OLD AGE PENSIONERS' ORGANIZATION ET AL (BCOAPO) - Letter dated February 1, 2008 requesting Intervenor Status for Sarah Khan, Counsel, and Bill Harper, Econalysis Consult

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  www.saobserver.net/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=29&cat=2 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/9/2005    Last Visited: 2/11/2005  

  Public Interest Advocacy lawyer Sarah Khan said as well as identifying problems, the group has identified several steps the ministry could take to make the process more fair.

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  www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/7297.cfm - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/28/2004    Last Visited: 8/7/2008  

  But not everyone applauds the move. ?Our view is that this (the legislation) would criminalize poor people and punish them,? says Sarah Khan, a lawyer with the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
  ...
  Khan says the B.C. Liberal government is to blame for the proliferation of panhandlers because of its cutbacks to social services programs.She also believes the legislation is not needed.
  
  ?Criminal charges can be laid.There are lots of laws in place that can deal with the kind of behaviour that people object to,? she says.

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  www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/7297.cfm - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/28/2004    Last Visited: 2/27/2009  

  But not everyone applauds the move. Our view is that this (the legislation) would criminalize poor people and punish them, says Sarah Khan, a lawyer with the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
  
  Photos by Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
  
  Passive panhandlers such as this man arent the problem.
  
  Khan says the B.C. Liberal government is to blame for the proliferation of panhandlers because of its cutbacks to social services programs. She also believes the legislation is not needed.
  
  Criminal charges can be laid. There are lots of laws in place that can deal with the kind of behaviour that people object to, she says.

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  www.kamloopsthisweek.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=15 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/6/2005    Last Visited: 2/6/2005  

  Sarah Khan of the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) said she's hopeful the ombudsman will review the complaint and make recommendations for changes to the social-welfare system.Khan said she's optimistic the government would work with BCPIAC and other agencies because, during the past year, changes have been made to programs and policies that have taken into account concerns like these.She included the government adding a new classification to the welfare program that reduced the number of people taken from the rolls after the prescribed two-year period to receive benefits, changes to the way allegations of overpayment are handled and boosting the disability pension by $70 a month.

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  www.mapleridgenews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=46&c - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 3/26/2005    Last Visited: 3/27/2005  

  Staff lawyer Sarah Khan said that's when ICBC watchers will be able to better judge whether premiums should be lower."We're of the view that ICBC is a very well run corporation and it does offer competitive rates," she said.

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  probononet.bc.ca/content/news2006.php - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/1/2006    Last Visited: 10/18/2009  

  Sarah Khan of the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre challenged the law that stated that anyone receiving social assistance who lived with another person and shared what the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance called "the necessities of life" was declared part of a couple for benefit purposes. Ms. Khan's Charter challenge was successful and following promised legislative amendments, the onus will be on the Ministry to prove that two people who receive social assistance and who share a home are a couple.

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  www.cle.bc.ca/CLE/Publications/Individual+Publications/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/1/2007    Last Visited: 3/4/2007  

  Sarah Khan - BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Vancouver

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  www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/7297.cfm - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/28/2004    Last Visited: 12/16/2008  

  But not everyone applauds the move. Our view is that this (the legislation) would criminalize poor people and punish them, says Sarah Khan, a lawyer with the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
  ...
  Khan says the B.C. Liberal government is to blame for the proliferation of panhandlers because of its cutbacks to social services programs. She also believes the legislation is not needed.
  
  Criminal charges can be laid. There are lots of laws in place that can deal with the kind of behaviour that people object to, she says.

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