I'd also like to note that in order to qualify for social assistance, you usually have to get rid of almost all of your assets. If you have a home, you may have to remortgage it and use that money to live on until the equity you have in your own home is below the level set by the province. You may have to sell a second car or other things.
We know that once you get to that level of poverty, it is increasingly difficult to get out. We also know that for an adult, being two to three years on social assistance is traumatic; for children, it may change the whole direction of their lives.