Canada has several different social assistance programs

The value varies in every province and territory because each jurisdiction has distinct social assistance programs, and each has its own refundable tax credit and benefit programs. The child in the single parent family is two years old and the children in the couple household are ten and It is based on the same methodology as that for the provincial figures, but the provinces and territories are not directly comparable due to significant differences in the cost of living and the nature of income security programs there.

Welfare incomes in Yukon and the Northwest Territories were generally higher than in the provinces, reflecting the higher cost of living in the territories. In Sum. Across Canada, social assistance plays an important, but insufficient, role in poverty alleviation. Higher social assistance benefit levels would likely result in tangible outcomes, including less food insecurity, improved health outcomes and less homelessness. Part 2 of the present blog series will focus on the Alberta context.

Any errors lie with the author. Martin Papillon briefly discusses this in Chapter 18 of this book. Figure 2. For more on this, see this book by Dennis Guest. This blog post has been republished with permission from the Calgary Homeless Foundation website.

His area of research is social policy, with a focus on poverty, housing, homelessness and social assistance. Nick has a PhD in public policy from Carleton University. Contact him at nick calgaryhomeless. Skip to main content. Homelessness What is homelessness? Refugees are immigrants who have been forced to leave their country due to war or persecution. The Immigration Loans Program provides financial loans to refugees selected for resettlement.

The federal government offers special benefits to current and former members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. These programs include income support, compensation for injury or illness, prisoner-of-war benefits, death benefits and emergency funds. See Department of Veterans Affairs. Government of Canada Income Assistance. Indigenous Services Canada Social programs. Health Canada. Search The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Remember me. I forgot my password. Why sign up? Create Account. Suggest an Edit. Enter your suggested edit s to this article in the form field below. Accessed 13 January Social Programs in Canada. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada.

Article published October 01, ; Last Edited August 07, The Canadian Encyclopedia. Thank you for your submission Our team will be reviewing your submission and get back to you with any further questions. Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia. Article by Katrine Raymond. The following provides a historical overview of four periods of welfare state development in Canada.

Instrumental through these periods is the role of grassroots advocacy—based efforts to address issues of social inequality and exclusion in Canadian society. The residual period of Canadian social policy and welfare begins prior to European contact to the period from New France until shortly after confederation in Prior to European colonization of what is known today as Canada, Aboriginal people engaged in practices of reciprocity to meet the needs of the aging, the sick, and the vulnerable.

Tribal, clan-based, and family-kinship relationships were the dominant forms of social organization and were relied upon to meet the social welfare needs of individuals. However, following French settlement, practices of social organization from French society and other European cultural groups were introduced to the new colonial territories that would have a lasting impact on methods of social welfare intervention. During the residual era of social welfare in Canada, emphasis was placed on the role of immediate family members in taking care of the needs of individuals whose labor market attachment was interrupted.

This included the needs of the unemployed, the elderly, and the sick. Only after these resources were exhausted would individuals or their families turn to extended family members, local community members, or religious organizations for assistance Graham et al. The Elizabethan Poor Law traditions of England were particularly influential in the development of Canadian social welfare policy beginning with the cessation of New France to the British in the mids.

Prior to the English poor laws in England, three dominant institutional forms of social welfare provision emerged. These included the merchant guilds, private foundations, and the Roman Catholic Church. The merchant guilds were composed of merchant and artisan classes and created mutual aid societies to meet the needs of its members. Private foundations were developed by wealthy benefactors and were predominantly focused on building hospitals and almshouses.

Finally, the Church provided assistance to individuals in local communities through various monastic orders Graham et al. However, in , when the Elizabethan Poor Laws were passed, authority was given to the local parish governments throughout England to address the plight of the poor and to provide punishment to those individuals who refused to participate in general labor.

This earlier transition from local community responses to address issues of poverty and vulnerability to a nationally focused system of social welfare with local control is the foundation for social welfare in Canada Graham et al. One other aspect of the Elizabethan Poor Laws that had a significant impact on the development of social welfare in Canada during the residual period and beyond was the delineation between the deserving and undeserving poor.

Individuals requiring social support were labeled as impotent, able-bodied, or unregenerate idlers. The first were assigned to the almshouses, the second to the workhouses, and the latter to prisons Graham et al.

These distinctions have defined the eligibility criteria for provincially based social assistance programs, employment insurance, and disability benefits.

In England, these eligibility criteria became more clearly defined and resulted in the Poor Law Reform of With this reform, more stringent eligibility criteria were introduced to reduce the rising number of individuals receiving relief.

Indoor relief referred to those able-bodied men who were considered employable. Individuals receiving indoor relief were required to work in workhouses to receive support. However, individuals receiving outdoor relief were the elderly, the sick, or the orphaned, all of whom were generally perceived as unable to work Graham et al. Remnants of this divisive system of social welfare are apparent throughout the history of Canadian social policy and social welfare.

The system of social welfare outlined by the Elizabethan Poor Laws was applied haphazardly throughout Canada prior to confederation in Because of the large geographic terrain, the low population density in many areas of the country, and the unique cultural traditions of the increasingly diverse population base, it was difficult to institute a nationally orientated program of social welfare.

However, Quebec relied heavily on the Roman Catholic Church to oversee the needs of the poor in local communities. And in Ontario, local community-based efforts by concerned citizens and municipal governments were the dominant actors engaged in addressing the social conditions of vulnerable citizens Boychuk, ; Graham, ; Graham et al.

Even with these distinctions, what is apparent from this residual period of social welfare provision in Canada are the direct influences from the emerging European system of social welfare. The tenants of the Elizabethan Poor Laws would have a long-lasting impact on the development of social welfare in Canada, with particular emphasis placed on labor market attachment and a distinct division of what would be understood as the deserving and undeserving poor in Canadian popular culture.

The emerging institutional period of social policy and social welfare in Canada began postconfederation around to World War II around In the colonies of British North America converged to form Canada. In the years leading up to confederation, Canada began to develop into an industrialized nation, transforming from a small, resource-based economy. With increased industrialization came increased urbanization and population growth. As a result, increased pressures were placed on the government to adapt its provisions of social welfare.

Of particular importance during this era was the institutionalization of a vibrant voluntary sector. Charity-based organizations began to proliferate. These included city missions, orphanages, refuges for the elderly, and philanthropic foundations.

The Haven, a local Toronto-based charity, was established in and provided services to individuals experiencing mental illness.

The first Boys Club was established in New Brunswick in and aimed to provide recreational activities to young boys. The present John Howard Society of Canada began in as a small group of reformers who sought to provide spiritual guidance to incarcerated people. In , the group became known as the Prisoners Aid Association of Toronto. The Salvation Army began to undertake its work in in Canada by providing meals to hungry people.

There were many more organizations than are listed here. During this era, social welfare became more institutionalized within Canada. Individuals and organizations were actively pursuing the betterment of the social conditions in which people lived.

Of importance were issues related to poverty, working conditions, and religious and moral order. The development of these organizations was simultaneously happening with larger social movements among concerned citizens. Previously mentioned was the labor movement, which sought to address the negative working conditions and insufficient rates of pay for Canadian workers. For instance, the settlement house movement—which was unique to North America—began in the late s and continued through to the early s.

The focus of the settlement movement was on community development and providing programs to recent immigrants. Similarly, the Social Reform Movement began in the mids and sought to address issues of urban poverty. Characteristics of this emerging institutional period had long-lasting implications for the future development of social welfare and social policy in Canada.

This tradition of local community-based activism and organizations was instrumental in the independent-living movement or the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric facilities in the s. Also in the s, institutional frameworks of social welfare provision were developed for women experiencing domestic violence and individuals needing addictions treatment and intervention also known as the Recovery House Movement , all of which were initially the result of active citizen engagement to address emerging or long-lasting challenges in the social strata of Canadian society.

However, until the s the local municipalities were primarily responsible for providing for the social welfare needs of the residents. The staggeringly high level of unemployment that resulted from the Great Depression made it impossible for local community governments to provide sufficient relief to residents, and as a result, the provincial governments had to take on more responsibility. Furthermore, another significant advancement during this era was the emergence of the profession of social work.

As a result, a professional ethos began to be applied to the social conditions of industrialization. Also, following World War I, veterans who were returning from war were provided with retirement annuity insurance assistance in ; later, in , they were granted settlement assistance, and then in allowances were granted to the widows and orphans of veterans who did not have sufficient financial means to take care of themselves.

This program was similarly followed in other provinces shortly thereafter. Following this, in the federal government created a cost-sharing program with the provinces through the Old Age Pensions Act.

The program was also selective. And in Unemployment Insurance was introduced after a several-year delay, caused by the reluctance of the federal government to amend the Canadian constitution giving them jurisdiction in this area of social welfare Graham et al.

The institutional period of Canadian social policy and social welfare begins during World War II through the mids. A general time frame is through This particular era has also been described as the traditional welfare state era. This period reinforced societal constructions of race, sexual orientation, and gender and has been critiqued for its patriarchal emphasis on income-security programs attached to an ethos of the breadwinner male Ursel, The report, much like the Beveridge Report in Britain, acted as a blueprint for the establishment of a universal system of social welfare in Canada.

Contrary to previous eras of social welfare development, characteristic of the Marsh Report was its positive perspective on the role of modern industrialized societies in addressing the social welfare needs of its citizenry Graham et al.

During this era, a sense of entitlement to welfare state benefits prevailed over the stigmatizing notions of means-tested programs that were commonplace previously Graham, Following the introduction of Unemployment Insurance in , in the Family Allowance program was established. This universal program provided income supplements to all mothers in the country who had children under the age of 16 years. In , the previously established pension program under the Old Age Pensions Act became a universal program known as Old Age Security.

As of , all seniors over the age of 70 would receive a pension no matter what their level of income Graham et al. This selective program was amended in with the creation of a universal, provincially administered hospital insurance program and was later replaced by universal, province-wide medical insurance in Health care was also being considered at the federal government level. In the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Act was passed, a cost-sharing initiative between the federal government and the provinces in the provision of basic in-patient hospital services.

Then, following the lead of the province of Saskatchewan, the federal government created a national system of health care in with the passing of the Medical Care Act. Every province had adopted the new health-care framework by The benefit is tied to workplace earnings and is portable if individuals leave their province and take up work or residence elsewhere.

Also in the Guaranteed Income Supplement was created as a supplementary program to the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security for those individuals below a certain income threshold. This was established to provide income to the spouse of an Old Age Pensioner or to a widow or widower who is under the qualifying age to receive Old Age Security benefits. These programs cover individuals who do not qualify for other income-security programs.

They generally include families with dependent children, disabled individuals with long-term need, and individuals or families with short-term need.