Case Study 1 - Poverty in Canada
Kimberly Rogers died alone in her apartment during a record-breaking heat wave on August 6th or 7th , no one can say exactly when. Ms. Rogers was serving a six-month criminal sentence in her apartment after pleading guilty to welfare fraud. While receiving student loans to pay for her studies at a local college, she had also collected welfare, which is illegal since student loans are considered income.
At the time of her sentencing, Kimberly had just earned a diploma in social services, graduating near the top of her class. The judge sentenced Kimberly Rogers, who was pregnant, to six months of in-house arrest. She was also to repay the $13,000 dollars that she had taken from the government in welfare payments over the 4 years she went to school.
During her six-month sentence, Kimberley Rogers had to stay inside her apartment twenty-four hours a day. She was allowed outside every Wednesday morning between 9 am and noon to buy the necessities of life. Since she could not work while serving her term, the government eventually gave her $468 a month. Rent cost $450, leaving Kimberly with $18 dollars month to pay for food and expenses. Ms. Rogers was eight months pregnant when she died. She had a history of insomnia, anxiety and depression, which she treated with medication. On the day she was found, the temperature in the apartment was 34 C with the fan on. Police found garbage littering the apartment floor, dishes in the sink and unpacked grocery bags containing crackers and soft drinks in the kitchen. There was also an empty bottle of pills in the bedroom, and a coroners report revealed that she had overdosed on medication, though no one can say whether she meant to kill herself.
A Coroner's Inquest into the causes of Kimberly Rogers' death was held in the fall of 2002.
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