Social Assistance

Welfare in Canada: Social Assistance

Introduction to Social Assistance

Canada's primary welfare system, called Social Assistance (SA), encompasses a number of programs. The federal government set the structure of the SA system with the passage of the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) in 1966. Parts of SA resemble the former AFDC program in the United States, but SA is much more comprehensive and covers more types of households. Between the early 1980s and the early 1990s, recipients of SA doubled from about 1.5 million people to about 3 million. The legislation for SA also laid out arrangements for the division of welfare administration between the federal and regional governments. Canada's provincial and territorial governments determined SA needs and managed distributions, while funding and broad policymaking were split between the federal and regional levels.

As part of its reforms in 1996 and 1997, the Canadian government is changing how it administers SA. In the newer system, called Canada Health and Social Transfer, the federal government gives block grants to provinces and territories.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Information about Social Assistance in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Social Assistance

Law is our Passion

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This entry was last updated: August 24, 2014