For those with a good memory...

Back in the early 90s... were we talking about people on welfare with a clean record, or was it more about those receiving emergency humanitarian aid?
If anyone actually remembers how it worked back then, I'd really appreciate the help. Thanks!

Olivia Lewis27 said:Back in the early 90s (around '91-'92), were welfare recipients carrying those little white cards, or was that specifically for people getting humanitarian aid?
If anyone actually remembers this stuff, I’d really appreciate the help. THANKS!

If I recall correctly, the card was yellow and was meant for folks receiving humanitarian aid.

The yellow card went to the asylum seekers and refugees.

I don’t know what their service records actually looked like, but I do know my old man was out there in '91, hauling food and supplies to them before he headed off to the front lines—and now those guys are sitting on $2667 pensions and living in houses they basically seized after families were forced out. Meanwhile, my dad is left with $667 pensions and a whole lot of nothing.

redmarlin3 said:The ones getting yellow cards were the asylum seekers.

Green (well, at least in my case)

Refugees used to carry around these little yellow cards—you know, the folded ones with four sides—to prove they were eligible for things like humanitarian aid, free city transit, student subsidies, and all that... but back before that, like during the influx in the early '90s, people arriving in the States would first get issued a single-sided white card just to verify their residency status.

Susan Taylor72 said:Refugees used to carry a yellow card—it was folded, basically four pages long—to verify their eligibility for things like humanitarian aid, free city transit, student grants, and so on. But before that, back when we were dealing with refugees arriving in the States in 1992, they first received a white card, which was just a single page, to confirm their residency status.

Exactly. That’s spot on. 👍

Look, this isn't about refugees or whatever. We’re talking about a family of six who lived on the island full-time. A ton of people were pulling from food banks back then, ourselves included. I know for sure there was some paperwork for white card status, but as for the humanitarian aid... I’m not positive if there even was a specific category for permanent residents, or if it was just standard welfare assistance. I was way too young to be keeping track of all that bureaucracy, and nobody else in the family can really vouch for the specifics either... Did anyone else here actually deal with social services back in those days?

Susan Taylor72 said:Refugees used to carry this yellow card—it was folded, kind of like it had four sides—to prove they were eligible for things like humanitarian aid, free city transit, student grants, and stuff like that. But back before that, like during the 1992 refugee situation, people would first get a white card, just a single-sided one, to confirm they were actually staying in the country.

I’m talking about the displaced persons status, which stayed in effect until the Midwest was fully reintegrated.