Key Provincial and Territorial |  -
L'aide sociale - |
|
 |
"Rahim
Jaffer pleads guilty to careless driving:
Former Conservative MP fined $500; cocaine possession charge dropped." --- A Bronx Cheer for the Conservative Party of Canada: Tough on Crime! (except when it's one of our own, that is.) March 9, 2010 |
|
|
|
If
you're not sure how welfare works in Canada, I highly recommend the first chapter
of Welfare Incomes 2006 and 2007 [ What
is Welfare? (PDF - 1.2MB, 34 pages) ] from the National Council of
Welfare. It contains information on the administrative rules and financial eligibility
criteria (asset and income exemptions) and the estimated total income of selected
types of households receiving welfare in each province and territory. Another source of information on how welfare works in Canada: Social
Assistance in Canada: An Overview (9 pages) |
Department responsible for welfare Name
of the welfare program Legislation Policy Manual
Welfare statistics Welfare rates (benefits)
Latest
search results on Google.ca for Related Links -
Go to the Canadian Social Research Links Newfoundland and Labrador page -
|
Department responsible for welfare Name
of the welfare program Legislation Social
Assistance Act (PDF file - 488K, 10 pages) Policy
Manual Social Assistance Policy Manual Welfare statistics Welfare rates (benefits) Latest
search results on Google.ca for Related Links -
Go to the Canadian Social Research Links Prince Edward Island page -
|
Department responsible for welfare Name of the welfare program
Legislation Individual
and Family Assistance Act Policy
Manual Welfare
statistics Welfare rates (benefits)
Latest search results
on Google.ca for Related Links - Go to the Québec
Links (English) page:
-
Rendez-vous à la page de liens de recherche sociale au Québec:
|
Department responsible for welfare Name of the
welfare program Legislation Ontario
Disability Support Program Act Policy Manual
Welfare statistics Welfare rates (benefits) Latest search results
on Google.ca for Related Links -
Go to the Guide to Welfare in Ontario page:
-
Go to the Ontario Government Links page: -
Go to the Ontario Spouse-in-the-House Links page: -
Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page:
-
Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page:
-
Rendez-vous à la page de liens aux sites de recherche sociale en Ontario
:
|
Department responsible for welfare Name of the
welfare program Legislation Policy Manual Welfare statistics Welfare rates (benefits)
Latest search results on Google.ca
for Related Links
-
Go to the Canadian Social Research Links Manitoba page - |
Department responsible for welfare Name of the welfare program Legislation
Policy
Manual Welfare
statistics Welfare rates (benefits) Latest
search results on Google.ca for Related Links 2006-2007
Annual Report (PDF file - 816K, 33 pages) - Go to the Canadian Social Research
Links Saskatchewan page - |
Old wine in new bottles? The Alberta and British
Columbia governments have both recently changed the name of their Department/Ministry
responsible for welfare. Editorial
comment: I'm less concerned about
the effective dates of the name changes (they're available from the relevant departmental/Ministry
websites) than I am about the upheaval of website content and the confusion that
result from frequent departmental name and mandate changes, both provincially
and federally. For governments to be truly accountable, qualitative and quantitative
information on their operations and programs must be available not only for the
current government's mandate, but right back to the mid-nineties when governments
first started posting annual reports and program information to the World Wide
Web. If governments and mandates change - as they always do - then it's a governmental
responsibility to ensure that their sites include links to comprehensive archival
material from previous governments. | |||
Department responsible for welfare Name
of the welfare program Legislation Policy Manual Welfare rates (benefits) Related
Links Latest search results
on Google.ca for - Go to the Canadian Social
Research Links Alberta Links page - |
Department responsible for welfare Name of the welfare program Legislation
Policy Manual
Welfare
statistics Welfare rates (benefits)
Latest
search results on Google.ca for Related Links -------------------------------------------------- -
Go to the BC Government Links page: -
Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (A-C) page: -
Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (C-W) page:
-
Go to the BC Welfare Time Limits Links page:
| ||
Department responsible for welfare Name of the
welfare program Legislation Policy Manual * Contact Information Welfare statistics Welfare rates (benefits) Latest
search results on Google.ca for Related Links -
Go to the Canadian Social Research Links Yukon page |
Department responsible for welfare Name of the welfare
program Policy Manuals Legislation
Welfare
statistics Welfare rates (benefits)
Latest search results
on Google.ca for Related Links Income
Security Reform begins [Sept /07] with Improvements to Income Assistance
(PDF file - 19K, 1 page) -
Go to the Canadian Social Research Links Northwest Territories page - | ||
Department responsible for welfare Name of the welfare program Legislation Policy Manual Welfare
statistics Welfare rates (benefits)
Latest search results on Google.ca
for Related Links -
Go to the Canadian Social Research Links Nunavut page - |
This
space reserved for Canada's
| ||
| Welfare rates |
Welfare Incomes 2008
With the recession starting in 2008, more and more Canadians are having
to deal with one of the 13 different social assistance systems, discovering
how complicated, cumbersome and stigmatizing most are.
Bulletins No. 1 through 4 give you a snapshot
of the welfare incomes situation in 2008 for 4 types of families, and a fifth
document provides detail on the methodology. Each bulletin focuses on one family
type and provides, for the 2008 calendar year, the following information for
a household in that situation:
* the total annual estimated income for the household (including government
benefits and any exempted income) in each jurisdiction
* the total annual estimated income of a household receiving welfare compared
with the Low-Income Cutoffs, the Market Basket Measure and average incomes in
all provinces (but not the territories)
* asset exemption rules for all jurisdictions (how much an applicant can have
in assets and remain eligible for welfare)
* the extent of the decline in welfare incomes in recent years
* earnings exemption provisions (what portion of work income is excluded when
calculating entitlement)
* Bulletin
No. 1: Single person considered employable (PDF - 1.8MB, 6 pages)
* Bulletin
No. 2: Single person with a disability (PDF - 1.7MB, 6 pages)
* Bulletin
No. 3: Lone parent with a child aged two (PDF - 1.7MB, 6 pages)
* Bulletin
No. 4: Couple with two children aged 10 and 15 (PDF - 1.6MB, 4 pages)
* Methodology
(PDF - 1.3MB, 5 pages)
Source:
Welfare
Income reports (back to 1999)
Source:
National Council of Welfare
The National Council of Welfare advises the Minister of Human Resources and
Skills Development in respect of any matters relating to social development
that the Minister may refer to the Council for its consideration or that the
Council considers appropriate.
|
|
Welfare Incomes, 2006 and 2007
December 2008
PDF
version (16.6MB, 157 pages)
HTML
version - table of contents with links to smaller PDF files for each
chapter
Table of contents: * Message from the Chairperson * Patterns and Trends * What
is Welfare? * Adequacy of Welfare Incomes * Welfare Incomes Over Time * Welfare
Incomes and Child Benefits * Total Welfare Incomes and Poverty Over Time * Concluding
Thoughts * Appendices * Fact Sheet: 2007 Provincial Welfare Rates Compared to
the MBM
NOTE : the HTML version of the report also includes links to earlier editions
of this report back to 1999
Fact Sheet:
2007
Provincial Welfare Rates
Compared to the Market Basket Measure (MBM)
- (PDF - 18K, 2 pages)
Source:
National
Council of Welfare
The mandate of the National Council of Welfare is
to advise the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development in respect of
any matters relating to social development that the Minister may refer to the
Council for its consideration or that the Council considers appropriate.
Related links:
|
A
cross-Canada look at welfare rates |
Market Basket Measure links
from Human Resources and Social
Development Canada:
Low
Income in Canada: 2000-2004 Using the Market Basket Measure
November
2007 (PDF file date)
Low
Income in Canada: 2000-2002 Using the Market Basket Measure
June
2006
---
Welfare Income series of reports - includes previous editions back to 1999
National
Council of Welfare Research and Publications
- links to NCW research
areas and collections of fact sheets
Source:
National
Council of Welfare
The Council was created in 1969, and its mandate is
"to advise the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development in respect
of any matters relating to social development that the Minister may refer to the
Council for its consideration or that the Council considers appropriate."
Google.ca
Web Search : "welfare incomes report,
canada"
Google.ca News Search : "welfare
incomes report, canada"
Source:
Google.ca
Important
note for anyone
comparing welfare rates across different Canadian jurisdictions:
Since its launch in the summer of 1998, the federal-provincial-territorial National Child Benefit (NCB) initiative has imposed a change in the way welfare rates for families with children can be compared across Canadian jurisdictions. The federal Canada Child Tax Benefit is now integrated with income support (welfare) for families with children in a number of Canadian jurisdictions - but not all. This means that any interprovincial comparison of welfare rates for families must, for the sake of comparability, include the basic welfare benefit for the household AND the total of any federal/provincial/territorial child benefits that the family receives on behalf of each child.
Canadian jurisdictions
have adopted different approaches in their treatment of the CCTB and provincial-territorial
child benefits for welfare rate calculations.
See Approaches
to Replacing Social Assistance Benefits for Children - from the 2006
National child Benefit Progress Report.
|
---------------------------
Comparing
welfare rates for families in different provinces?
Be careful...
When I added the above links to the CCTB amounts for all tax years, I thought I should also update the list of provincial and territorial child benefit programs that are related to the CCTB, all under the umbrella of the National Child Benefit (NCB) initiative. As I read that list for myself, my heart went out to the hapless analysts in government and non-governmental researchers whose job duties include comparing welfare rates across jurisdictions, especially for families with kids. Since the launch of the NCB initiative in 1998, many provinces and territories have been creating separate children's benefits programs for all children in low-income families, not only those on social assistance. And thus I came to understand what David Ross (former Director of the Canadian Council on Social Development and a respected champion of social justice issues) had meant when he said back in the early 1990s something about "taking kids off welfare". In the case of families in receipt of welfare, it's generally child-related costs that constitute the so-called "welfare wall", which is the loss of non-cash benefits like vision, drug and dental coverage when a household head leaves welfare for a job. I wholeheartedly support the provincial-territorial government trend towards paying child-related financial benefits to *all* low-income households outside of welfare, so that families can leave welfare more readily without losing their children's benefits. HOWEVER, because Canadian jurisdictions have adopted different approaches in their treatment of the CCTB and provincial-territorial child benefits for welfare rate calculations, it's getting exceptionally difficult to compare welfare rates across provinces and territories, especially for families with children.
The National Council of Welfare has been doing interprovincial welfare rate comparisons going back to 1986 (annually since 1989) for various family types and sizes, and their rate information is always vetted for factual accuracy by government officials in each jurisdiction prior to release. The latest complete annual report in this series is Welfare Incomes, 2006 and 2007 (December 2008). The comparative rate tables in this report take into account the treatment of child benefits in the welfare system of each jurisdiction. There's also a brief overview of the different approaches that provinces and territories have adopted concerning child benefits and welfare. For more detailed information on child benefit clawbacks and pass-ons, see Approaches to Replacing Social Assistance Benefits for Children - from the 2006 National child Benefit Progress Report.
For
more than 20 of my 30 years in the federal civil service, I was responsible for
producing and maintaining detailed welfare rate information for each province
and territory for the administration of the Canada
Assistance Plan. Part of my job was supporting the Council in the production
of their welfare incomes series, and I can vouch for the rigid verification process
that the Council followed to ensure a high-quality report.
See
the Council's Welfare Incomes series of reports (only recent years
are posted on the Council's website).
It's the ONLY source that I'd recommend
for longitudinal welfare rate comparisons across Canada.
On behalf of welfare
researchers everywhere, I'd like to thank the provincial and territorial government
officials who take the time to provide feedback on rates for their jurisdiction
in each edition of Welfare Incomes and thus ensure that the series is a
factually-accurate, credible resource for all to use freely.
---
Related information :
NCB Progress Report: 2006
Table of contents of the report:
Message from Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Social Services
Executive Summary
* Chapter 1 – The National Child Benefit Supplement
* Chapter 2 – National Child Benefit Programs and Services for Low-income
Families with Children
-----------
NOTE: Chapter
2 of the report contains detailed information about the three different approaches
used to harmonize/integrate federal and provincial-territorial children's benefits
paid to Canadian families. This is compulsory reading for
anyone who does welfare rate comparisons for families with children across Canadian
provinces and territories.
-----------
* Chapter 3 – The
First Nations National Child Benefit Reinvestment Initiative
* Chapter 4 –
Monitoring Progress - Societal Level Indicators
* Chapter 5 – Assessing
the Direct Impact of the National Child Benefit Initiative
* Chapter 6 –
The Way Ahead
List of Appendices
* Appendix 1 – Glossary
* Appendix
2 – Provincial, Territorial and First Nations National Child Benefit Reinvestments
and Investments
* Appendix 3 – Results of the Survey of Labour and Income
Dynamics (SLID) Analysis
* Appendix 4 – Additional Statistical Information
The NCB Progress Report: 2006 – Pamphlet
News Release:
---
Earlier reports in this series
Source:
National
Child Benefit website
See also:
* Child and Family Benefits Page [ Canada Revenue Agency ]
* Welfare Incomes, 2006 and 2007 (from the National Council of Welfare) includes a section that covers the treatment of federal children's benefits under provincial-territorial welfare programs.
See
the Unofficial Social Union Links page for more about the
NCB and NCB reports
See also the Unofficial Provincial/Territorial
Social Union/NCB Links page of this site for over 200 links to information
from all provinces and territories about their programs under the NCB initiative.
| Income Assistance (welfare)
for members of First Nations living on a reserve |
From the website of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada:
Income assistance
(welfare / social assistance) for
Members of First Nations living on reserve*:
Income
Assistance Program - from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC)
INAC
has engaged in on-reserve income assistance activities since 1964, with the broad
objective of providing individuals and families with the means to meet basic needs
for food, clothing and shelter. (...) As a matter of policy, INAC follows the
terms and conditions of provincial and territorial general assistance [welfare]
programs. While INAC may directly deliver the income assistance program, the program
has been largely devolved. The Department's present involvement in income assistance
activities is primarily to provide funding to First Nations who in turn deliver
programs and services to community members. In 2006-2007, 534 First Nations administered
their own program (This figure does not include First Nations functioning under
self-government arrangements).
[ * First Nations members living off-reserve must apply for welfare to the provincial authority where they reside. ]
Related link:
Income
Assistance Program - National Manual
NOTE : includes excellent information
on the history of social assistance to members of
Canada's First Nations along
with information on the federal-provincial-First Nations roles and responsibilities
in the area of income assistance.
Table of Contents:
* Introduction
* Definitions
* 1 - Backgrounder
* 2 - Program Components
* 3 - Funding
Arrangements
* 4 - Financial Administration
* 5 - Reporting and Compliance
* Annex A - Resource Information and Links
* Annex B - Resident On-reserve
Communities
* Annex C - Income Assistance on Site Compliance Review Process
Social
Programs
In addition to income assistance, INAC supports "province-like
social programs" in First Nation communities including education, early childhood
development, housing, family violence prevention and help for persons with disabilities.
Click the link above for general information or click any link below for more
specific info.
* Assisted
Living Program * Family
Violence Prevention Program * Justice
* Non-Insured
Health Benefits * Band
Moneys * Indian
Status * Wills
and Estates * National
Child Benefit Reinvestment Initiative * First
Nation Child and Family Services Program * Early
Childhood Development
Source:
Indian
and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC)
| Social/Income Assistance
for Immigrants and Visitors to Canada |
Different
rules apply depending on whether someone wishes to come to Canada as an immigrant
(i.e., permanently), a visitor, a worker (temporarily), a student or a refugee.
Select
a link below for more information on eligibility and benefit levels for each program.
Immigrate
If
you want to immigrate to Canada, there are a few different ways to apply. You
will need to decide which immigration program will work best for you and your
family.
Visit
Every
year, more than 5million people visit Canada. Depending on where you live, and
the reason for your visit, you will need to meet certain entry requirements. In
some cases, if you plan to stay in Canada for a certain period of time, you will
need a Temporary Resident Visa.
Work
temporarily
Every year, over 90,000 foreign workers enter Canada to
work temporarily in jobs that help Canadian employers address skill shortages,
or as live-in caregivers.
A work permit is needed for most temporary jobs in
Canada, though for some positions and business people it is not necessary.
Study
More
than 130,000 students come to study in Canada every year and even more come to
Canada to learn English or French.
Refugees
Refugees
and people needing protection are people in or outside Canada who fear returning
to their home country. Groups and individuals can sponsor refugees from abroad
who qualify to come to Canada.
Source:
Canada
International (Government of Canada)
| Welfare Statistics |
NOTE:
for links to welfare statistics for a specific province or territory,
go back
to the top of the page you're now reading and select a jurisidction in the
left-hand column.
---
Social
Assistance Statistical Report: 2005
August 2006
(Second edition)
Report prepared by:
Federal-Provincial-Territorial Directors
of Income Support
Social
Assistance in Canada [in 2005] : An Overview
NOTE: Chapter
Two of the report is a five-page descriptive overview of social assistance
in Canada in 2005. It provides information about the federal contributions to
provincial, territorial and municipal social assistance under the Canada Assistance
Plan (1996-1996), the Canada Health and Social transfer (1996-2004) and the Canada
Social Transfer (2004 to date).
Other chapters provide, for each province and
territory, some general information of eligibility (including asset and income
exemption levels) and benefits, as well as an impressive number of statistical
tables, graphs and charts providing numbers of cases and beneficiaries (time series
statistics going back as far as the mid-1990s, depending on the jurisdiction),
profile information (age/education/sex of household head, cases by reason for
assistance) and even (for most jurisdictions) the percentage of households reporting
income.
Complete
report
in one PDF file - (921K, 174 pages)
Link
to the first edition of this report:
Social
Assistance Statistical Report: 2004
Source:
Social
Policy
[ Human
Resources and Social Development Canada ]
------------------------------------------------------
Related
Links from the
National Council of Welfare:
Number of People on Welfare, March 1995 to March 2005 (PDF file - 133K, 1 page)
Profiles
of Welfare: Myths and Realities (Spring 1998)
- large statistical
collection covering twenty years of data, examining variables like family types,
reasons for assistance, age, education, duration of spells on assistance, housing
and more.
NOTE: number-crunchers who specialize in welfare statistics can compare
this report with the 2004 report above for some interesting observations --- but
be careful about data incompatibilities between the two reports...
------------------------------------------------------
Welfare expenditures
Government
transfer payments to persons
On this one table,
you'll find the latest five years' worth of information on national expenditures
(provincial stats available for a small fee) in the area of transfers to persons,
which includes (among other programs):
* Family and
youth allowances * Child tax benefit or credit * Pensions - First and Second World
Wars * War veterans' allowances * Grants to aboriginal persons and organizations
* Goods and services tax credit * Employment insurance benefits * Old Age Security
Fund payments * Provincial Social assistance, income maintenance * Social assistance,
other [bolding added] * Workers compensation benefits * Canada and Quebec
Pension Plans.
NOTE: In case you're interested in province-level stats, click
the "384-0009" link under 'Source' at the bottom of the table. There
you can obtain more specialized CANSIM tables, including provincial tables, for
a few dollars each. The "Find information related to this table" link
(which is also at the bottom of the StatCan table) contains methodological notes
and other related StatCan products, many of which are free of charge.
Source:
Statistics
Canada
Welfare leavers
British Columbia:
Income
Levels of BC Employment and Assistance (BCEA) Clients after They Leave Income
Assistance (PDF - 279K, 16 pages)
2009 (PDF file dated April 24/09,
2pm)
The analysis in this report uses tax data from Statistics Canada to examine
the income of clients that left assistance and never returned. It is a followup
to a previous report, Outcome of those Leaving Assistance, which found
that over 80 percent of employable clients who left assistance had employment
income.
Specific findings of the report:
· Median total family income
of clients, defined as aftertax aftertransfer income including employment income,
is higher after clients leave income assistance and increases over time.
·
Clients who left income assistance have income significantly higher, in some cases
two to three times higher, than they would have receiving income assistance for
the entire year.
· Most of the increase is attributable to increases
in employment income.
· More...
Source:
Ministry
of Housing and Social Development (HSD)
[ Ministry
reports ]
Related link from HSD:
Outcomes
of Those Leaving Assistance (PDF - 61K, 6 pages)
February 2007
"(...)
Since 2002, 88.2% of Expected to Work (ETW) clients who have left assistance and
have not returned as of 2005 have employment income, are attending education or
have other income in the year following their exit from IA."
Province
refused to release report on welfare leavers
By Andrew MacLeod
April 24, 2009
The British Columbia government has suppressed a report
on what happens to people who leave the province's welfare system, but now is
promising to release it today.
(...) The province has insisted that the rapidly
declining welfare caseload has been the result of more people finding employment.
Other research, including a landmark
study (PDF - 599K, 8 pages) by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
researchers, and past
Tyee coverage, suggests tightening eligibility rules in 2002 played a
large role in the decline. A recent report by provincial Ombudsman Kim Carter,
Last
Resort (PDF - 2.2MB, 132 pages) , noted, “The ministry lacks
evidence to support its conclusion that the reduction in the income assistance
caseload is a result of people leaving assistance for employment.”
NOTE:
The above article was posted in the morning on April and the Ministry posted its
report (below) at 2pm (the timestamp on the PDF file).
The Tyee will quite
likely have a followup article early in the coming week; check the Tyee home page
for updates.
Source:
The
Tyee
--------------------------
Social
Assistance Use: Trends in incidence, entry and exit rates
August
2004
by R. Sceviour and R. Finnie
"This paper explores the dynamics
of Social Assistance use over this period [1995-2000] to calculate annual incidence
and entry and exit rates at both the national and provincial level, broken down
by family type. These breakdowns, available for the first time ever, are revealing
as policy varied by province and family type and not all provinces shared equally
in the recession or the expansion that followed it. The paper does not attempt
to apportion the movements in SA participation rates between those related to
the economy and changes in the administration of welfare. The focus is on the
empirical record of SA entry, exit, and annual participation rates.
Source:
Feature
Articles [NOTE: check out dozens of links to past feature articles here!]
Canadian
Economic Observer
[ Statistics Canada
]
Followup article:
November
17, 2004
Social
Assistance by Province, 1993-2003
Feature
Article in the November 2004 issue of The Canadian Economic Observer
"Social
assistance rates fell in every province between 1993 and 2003, but nowhere was
the decline more dramatic than in Alberta and Ontario, according to a new report."
Earlier studies on welfare leavers:
Life
after welfare : 1994
to 1999
March 2003
"Family incomes rose for
the majority of people who stopped receiving welfare benefits during the 1990s.
However, for about one out of every three individuals, family income declined
significantly, according to a first-ever national study of the economic outcome
for people who left welfare rolls."
The link above takes you to a summary
of the report.
Complete report:
Life
After Welfare: The Economic Well Being
of Welfare Leavers in Canada during
the 1990s (PDF file - 332K, 32 pages)
Source:
The Daily
[ Statistics
Canada ]
Related Links:
After
Welfare - Contrasting Studies (British Columbia)
"Statistics
Canada has released a study on people who leave welfare that contrasts with the
story spun by BC's Minister of Human Resources, Murray Coell. "Life After
Welfare: The Economic Well Being of Welfare Leavers in Canada during the 1990s"
by Marc Frenette and Garnett Picot provides some fascinating contrasts with Coell's
characterization of the 90s and
with what are passing as welfare exit surveys
in his ministry."
Source : Strategic
Thoughts
Historical welfare program information and statistics
| Another
Look at Welfare Reform (Autumn 1997) - an in-depth analysis by the National Council of Welfare of changes in Canadian welfare programs in the 1990s. The report focuses on the provincial and territorial reforms that preceded the repeal of the Canada Assistance Plan and those that followed the implementation of the Canada Health and Social Transfer. Complete report online - large file (300K+) but well worth the wait for detailed information on welfare reforms in the 1990s in each Canadian jurisdiction, as well as a national overview of the broad issues of welfare reform and the setting for welfare reform in Canada. Source : National Council of Welfare |
NOTE: Social Assistance in Canada, 1994 is the final submission of the Canadian federal government in the context of the 1996 OECD study appearing immediately below. This report is a critical and comparative overview of how social assistance or welfare operated in the mid-1990s in 24 countries (including Canada, with a special focus on Ontario). The chapter on Canada presents a factual snapshot of how welfare was working in Canada just before the 50-50 federal cost-sharing under the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) was replaced by a block fund, the Canada Health and Social Transfer, in April of 1996. The OECD study consisted of a two-stream approach: for each country involved in the study, an "expert informant" (academic) and a "national government official" received a questionnaire on social assistance programs. The questionnaires were different from one another - federal government officials were asked to provide factual responses to over 70 questions, while the academics' questionnaire focused more on an in-depth critique of those same programs. Social Work Professor Patricia Evans was the Canadian expert informant, and I completed the submission, with input from a number of government colleagues, on behalf of the Canadian government. Recommended
reading! ---
|
Social Security Statistics, Canada and Provinces
1978-79 to 2002-03
NOTE: March 1, 2010
The website of Human Resources and Skills
Development Canada has updated its URLs to conform with the Government of
Canada Common Look and Feel Standards for the Internet (CLF 2.0). The links
to this report are broken because of this update. To find this report, go to
the HRSDC Social Policy Publications page:
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/publications_resources/statistics/index.shtml
... and scroll down to "Social Security Statistics, Canada and Provinces".
This is a goldmine of statistical information (beneficiary data and expenditure data) on current and defunct Canadian federal social programs, and even some on provincial/territorial programs.
This
report offers 25 years of longitudinal data on costs and numbers of beneficiaries
for most programs - over 100 tables - covering a large number of programs ---
here's a partial list:
- Child Tax Benefit, Family Allowances, the Child
Tax Credit, Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement/Spouse's Allowance ("The
Allowance"), Federal Training and Employment Programs, Federal Goods and
Services Tax Credit, the Canada/Quebec Pension Plans, War Veterans' and Civilian
War Allowances, Veterans' and Civilians' Disability Pensions, Unemployment/Employment
Insurance, the Canada Assistance Plan, Workers' Compensation, Youth Allowances,
Social Assistance and Social Services for Registered Indians --- and more...
Source:
Social
Policy
[ Human
Resources and Social Development Canada ]
Preface (short blurb only)
List
of Tables
[Read the Introductory notes at the top of the page and in
Appendix
A of this report for all methodological notes.]
"...Tables in
this report have been organized into two parts. Part I presents three Overview
Tables which illustrate the trends in social security expenditures by all levels
of government for Canada. Part II comprises Component Tables which provide data
on beneficiaries and expenditures for individual programs."
A
number of tables were removed from this edition of the Social Security Statistics
report, including some tables with info on Blind Persons'
Allowances, Disabled Persons' Allowances and Unemployed Assistance.
Check
older editions of this report for those data.
Many of the tables are historical and likely of little interest except to historians and CAP-o-philes --- they offer historical caseload and expenditure statistics on each of the CAP cost-sharing components (General Assistance - Homes for Special Care for Children and Adults - Child Welfare - Health Care - Other Welfare Services and Work Activity).
Scroll down the list of tables to find a particular program, then click on its name to access the HTML version of the table (the HTML page includes links to the PDF and Excel versions of the table).
You'll find
many key stats tables and some interesting analyses here - only a few of which
appear below
- includes links to over two dozen tables (Tables 352-911)
with info on federal contributions under the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP)
and the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) to the cost of provincial
and territorial welfare programs.
NOTE: for more info about CAP, the CHST
and the Canada Social Transfer (CST, which replaced the CHST in April 2004), see
the Canada Assistance Plan / Canada Health and Social
Transfer / Canada Social Transfer Resources page of this site.
A few sample tables:
Table
360 - Total Federal-Provincial Cost-Shared Program Expenditures, 1978-78 to 1999-2000
NOTE:
Table 360 traces the evolution/devolution of transfers under the Canada Assistance
Plan (in dollars) from 1976 to 1999. No new claims were paid out under CAP after
the Canada Health and Social Transfer came into effect in April 1996; amounts
shown as CAP expenditures for the fiscal years after 1995-96 are final settlements
with each jurisdiction for all outstanding commitments by the federal government.
Table
361: Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) - Number of Beneficiaries of General Assistance
(including dependants), as of March 31, 1979 to 1996
- This is a key
table for research on welfare programs - welfare dependency statistics by jurisdiction
over the years. These are the final, definitive numbers.
Table
362 : Total Federal-Provincial Cost-Shared Expenditures for General Assistance,
by Province/Territory, 1978-79 to 1995-96
- this table should be of
special interest for welfare historians and number-crunchers - it shows exactly
when Canadian government spending on welfare (by the federal and provincial/territorial
governments) started looking a little fuzzier. When the feds imposed the cap on
CAP (max. 5% annual increase in total CAP payments) in Ontario, Alberta and BC
in the early 1990s, those three provinces stopped reporting how much of their
CAP dollars were going to welfare (vs. other CAP components covered under the
same federal contribution). Table 362 shows that as of 1991-92, the federal contribution
to those three provinces for General Assistance appears as "n/a" - so
it's been impossible to produce a national figure since then. Unless, of course,
one wanders over into the minefield of provincial government welfare statistics,
where welfare programs (and related expenditures) have undergone a major transformation.
If you *do* want to check out welfare stats for each Canadian jurisdiction, your
best starting point is the Key Welfare Links Page of this website - http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm
- which includes links to welfare stats in each province and territory where they're
available.
Table
434: Total Federal Payments under CAP, 1978-79 to 1999-2000
[The note
under table 360 also applies to this table. ]
Table
438
Provincial
and Municipal Social Assistance Program Expenditures, 1980-81 to 2002-03
-----------------
See also:
Historical
Statistics of Canada (2nd edition, 1983)
Jointly produced by the
Social Science Federation of Canada and Statistics Canada
Go to the home page
and browse the table of contents of this excellent historical resource. Tables
are arranged in sections with an introduction explaining the content of each section,
the principal sources of data for each table, and general explanatory notes regarding
the statistics. This online statistical collection complements and expands on
Human Resources Development Canada's Social Security Statistics, Canada and
Provinces report.
Source:
Statistics
Canada
Historical Statistics of Canada contains
links to over 1,000 statistical tables (downloadable in Excel format) on the social,
economic and institutional conditions of Canada from the start of the Confederation
in 1867 to the mid-1970s. It's worth downloading the free Excel
97/2000 Spreadsheet File Viewer from Microsoft if you don't have Excel software
on your machine.
For a complete list of topics covered, see the Alphabetical
Index - everything's there from Accidents and Fatalities to
Zinc Production.
Here's a sample section:
Section
C: Social Security - by T. Russell Robinson, Health and Welfare Canada
Contains seven pages of historical information on the evolution of Canadian social
programs, plus links to over 180 tables organized under the following headings:
Federal Income Security Programs - Federal and Provincial Income Insurance Programs
- Cost-shared Federal-Provincial Income Security Programs - Federal and Provincial
Social Service Programs - Provincial-Municipal Income Security Programs - Government
Expenditures on Social Security by Broad Program Areas. Unfortunately, the section
on the Canada Assistance Plan provides stats only from 1970 to 1975, but you'll
find other historical gems here, like federal transfers to the provinces and territories,
1947 to 1975, Unemployment insurance account, 1942 to 1976, Old Age Pensions recipients
for Canada and by province, March 1928 to 1951, and much more...
Great collection of historical Canadian social program stats!
-----------------
From the Canadian Council on Social Development:
Free Statistics - poverty lines, poverty statistics, welfare incomes, etc.
The Social Indicators Launchpad - 60+ links to information about social indicators in Canada and other countries
September 2008
update:
April
2008 update: From March 1993
to March 2003, the number of welfare beneficiaries (including children) across
Canada decreased from 2,9 million to 1,7 million. In
terms of welfare program costs, the most successful reforms have taken place in
Alberta, Ontario and BC, where dependency in 2003 was about half of what it was
in 1994. It depends on whether you're asking the Finance Department and Fraser Institute types, who interpret caseload reductions and program costs as significant measures of success, or the social advocacy groups, who focus more on the human condition, income and wealth inequality and social justice... Related
Links: National Ontario Alberta British Columbia |
- See the Canadian Social Research Links Social Statistics page for related links.
----------------------------------------------
Government expenditures on major social programs
Government
transfer payments to persons
On this one table,
you'll find the latest five years' worth of information on national expenditures
(provincial stats available for a small fee) in the area of transfers to persons,
which includes (among other programs):
* Family and
youth allowances * Child tax benefit or credit * Pensions - First and Second World
Wars * War veterans' allowances * Grants to aboriginal persons and organizations
* Goods and services tax credit * Employment insurance benefits * Old Age Security
Fund payments * Provincial Social assistance, income maintenance * Social assistance,
other * Workers compensation benefits * Canada and Quebec Pension Plans.
NOTE:
In case you're interested in province-level stats, click the "384-0009"
link under 'Source' at the bottom of the table. There you can obtain more specialized
CANSIM tables, including provincial tables, for a few dollars each. The "Find
information related to this table" link (which is also at the bottom of the
StatCan table) contains methodological notes and other related StatCan products,
many of which are free of charge.
Source:
Statistics
Canada
| Legislation |
Legislation woes?
It's very frustrating
trying to keep up with legislative links in each jurisdiction - they keep changing
the legislation, and they keep changing the links to that legislation.
If you can't find statutes and regulations for a specific Canadian jurisdiction, try these links:
Canadian
Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
- incl.
over 100 links to federal, provincial and territorial courts (incl. supreme courts),
as well as statutes and regulations for most jurisdictions.
Canadian
Consolidated Statutes and Regulations - from the federal Department
of Justice
See the Canadian Social Research Links Legislation Links page for links to other related sites.
| Other Welfare Resources |
You'll find a lot more welfare-related information on other Canadian Social Research Links pages. The most detailed information is in the provincial/territorial section (left column) of this site's Home Page - hundreds of government and NGO links, including reports and studies on many aspects of welfare in Canada. NGO links are either at the bottom of the government links for each jurisdiction or on a separate page (depending on the number of links for each jurisdiction).
For information on conditions of eligibility (including the financial nitty-gritty), administration (fraud controls, application review process) and benefit calculations, I'd recommend Provincial/Territorial Welfare Policy Manuals. Not all jurisdictions are online yet, and the amount and quality of content vary. If provincial government people are reading this, I'd like to recommend Manitoba as an excellent model for your manual.
Related pages
on this site:
Anti-Poverty
Strategies and Campaigns
Welfare Reforms in Canada*
Canada Assistance Plan / Canada Health and Social Transfer /
Canada Social Transfer Resources*
*include some content based on my
experience as well as links to relevant sites and reports.
The "themes" section of this site (right column on the Home Page) - also includes more links to welfare information. The content of those pages is more chaotic than the government section, but I guarantee you'll find welfare links on every one of those pages.
---
From
the
Canadian Council on Social Development:
Poverty
Reduction Policies and Programs
Social Development
Report Series, 2009
Series Editor: Katherine Scott
May 2009
Fourteen
authors discuss the ideas, interests and institutions that have shaped the evolution
of poverty reduction policies and programs in Canada and the issues for each jurisdiction
moving forward.
Recommended reading - includes detailed historical and contextual information on welfare and poverty reduction in each province and territory, along with an overview of the federal role in and contributions toward poverty reduction in Canada. For links to all reports, click the link above or go to the Anti-Poverty Strategies and Campaigns page of this website, where you'll find links to all 14 reports in this series + 900 more links to online content related to poverty reduction in Canada.
Source:
Canadian
Council on Social Development
Related links:
-
Go to the Anti-poverty Strategies and Campaigns page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm
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