The Understanding Precarity in BC (UP-BC) partnership is a research and public engagement initiative investigating precarious work and multi-dimensional precarity in British Columbia.
UP-BC is jointly led by Kendra Strauss, Director of Simon Fraser University’s Labour Studies Program and the Morgan Centre for Labour Research, and Iglika Ivanova, Senior Economist and Public Interest Researcher with the CCPA-BC. The project brings together four BC universities, 26 community-based organizations with deep connections to populations most impacted by precarity and more than 80 academic and community researchers and collaborators.
The goals of UP-BC are to generate much-needed data on the extent and nature of precarious employment in our province and to study the impacts of precarity on the lives of British Columbians so we can develop effective, evidence-based solutions to tackle it. We hope to encourage policy debate and further research with the ultimate goal of reducing systemic inequalities and enhancing the economic security of British Columbians.
The partnership is supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Our publications are available to all at no cost. Please support the CCPA and help make important research and ideas available to everyone. Make a donation today.
The newly elected federal government has promised major military spending increases and tax cuts. To pay for it, the government is seeking 15 per cent…
The United States has proposed to develop the “Golden Dome,” the most ambitious missile defence system ever envisioned. The aim is to build a multi-layered…
The word “poverty” has been conspicuously absent from the Ontario government’s 2025 budget and any plans to “protect Ontario” from tariff-related uncertainty. This is bad…
Canada is facing an affordability crisis. But instead of confronting the root causes, political leaders have turned to an old culprit: low productivity. If we…
The housing challenges we are experiencing in Canada are not unique, but Canada is falling behind other countries.
Provinces and territories that have not joined the new national universal pharmacare program are missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in potential federal…
Supports to First Nations, veterans, new Canadians, and international aid could be on the chopping block—just for starters
The end of 2025 will mark a decade since the Paris Agreement on climate change was negotiated. This review of the CleanBC plan is occurring…
Through all the talk of Trump, tariffs and interprovincial trade, direct-to-consumer (DTC) alcohol sales have emerged as a somewhat unexpected cause célèbre among policymakers. During…
In the post-Covid world, workers face an ever more alienated and isolated environment.
By early 2026 parents in Canada should be able to put their young kids in child care for an average of $10 a day. With less than a year to go only six of 13 provinces and territories have met the target.
D’ici le début de l’année 2026, les parents canadiens sont censés pouvoir inscrire leurs jeunes enfants à des services de garde pour une moyenne de 10 dollars par jour. À moins d’un an de l’échéance, seulement six des treize provinces et territoires ont atteint cet objectif.
Read the latest research, analysis and commentary on issues that matter to you.
CCPA Updates