The Social Assistance Summaries series tracks the number of recipients of social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory.
In this section you will find:
Quebec’s social assistance program (description)
Social assistance is the income program of last resort. It is intended for households who have exhausted all other means of financial support. Every province and territory has its own social assistance program(s), and no two are the same. For the total incomes available to those relying on social assistance, visit the Welfare in Canada report.
In Quebec, social assistance is known as Last Resort Financial Assistance, which includes the Aim for Employment Program (objectif emploi), the Social Assistance Program (aide sociale), the Social Solidarity Program (solidarité sociale), and the Basic Income Program (revenu de base).
Aim for Employment (objectif emploi)
The Aim for Employment Program was introduced in April 2018, and it aims to help recipients improve their employability. It is a 12-month program that is mandatory for new social assistance recipients (with some exceptions). In addition to the basic benefit, recipients receive a participation allowance for carrying out the activities in their labour market entry plan.
Social Assistance Program (aide sociale)
The Social Assistance Program provides basic benefits to adults only. Between September 1997 and 2005, children’s basic benefits were delivered through the Quebec Family Allowance, but since 2005 children’s basic benefits have been available through the Child Assistance Measure.
Social Solidarity Program (solidarité sociale)
The Social Solidarity Program is for those with severely limited capacity for employment. To obtain a social solidarity allowance, a medical report must be produced confirming that the applicant’s physical or psychological condition is significantly impaired and will be so permanently or for an indeterminate time. Such conditions, in combination with their socio-occupational profile (little schooling, no work experience), qualify the applicant as having a severely limited capacity for employment. In the case of a family composed of two adults, only one adult must prove their severely limited capacity for employment in order for the family to be eligible for the program.
Basic Income Program (revenu de base)
The Basic Income Program was introduced in January 2023 and is intended for individuals with a persistent severely limited capacity for employment. Access to this program is automatic for individuals who are receiving Social Solidarity and who have had severely limited capacity for employment for at least 66 of the previous 72 months. Basic Income provides a higher benefit amount than Social Solidarity, as well as a greater asset limit and a higher employment income exemption.
In Quebec, for a person to be eligible for Social Solidarity or Basic Income, the term “disability” is not used. Instead, they need to have a “severe limited capacity to employment,” which is defined as serious health problems that limit an adult’s opportunities to work. These health problems may relate to an adult’s physical or mental condition and must be noted by a doctor in a medical report.
How many people claim social assistance?
Before analyzing the data, it’s important to note the following: For the entire dataset, the 2022-23 data was converted from a point-in-time snapshot (March 2023) to a fiscal year average (April 1 to March 31). The only exception to this conversion is the Basic Income Program, where the data reflects an average over the first three months of 2023.
Starting with the 2023-24 data, it reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries for the full fiscal year (April 1 to March 31), with no exceptions. In 2023-24, there were 257,835 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and about 334,676 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in Quebec’s social assistance programs.
Among cases, 2 per cent (5,260) received Aim for Employment, 57 per cent (146,439) received the Social Assistance Program, 10 per cent (24,939) received Social Solidarity, and just under 33 per cent (84,100) received Basic Income.
Among beneficiaries, slightly over 2 per cent (7,440) received Aim for Employment, 63 per cent (211,383) received the Social Assistance Program, slightly over 8 per cent (28,178) received Social Solidarity, and just over 26 per cent (87,675) received Basic Income.
Between 2022-23 and 2023-24, the total number of social assistance cases increased by 12,917, or slightly more than 5 per cent, and the total number of social assistance beneficiaries increased by 14,438, or 4.5 per cent. Among the programs, Aim for Employment and the Social Assistance Program caseloads saw notable increases, while the caseloads of Social Solidarity saw a substantial decrease. Comparisons between the two years for the Basic Income program are limited as 2022-23 numbers are the average of the first three months of 2023, while for 2023-24 the numbers are averaged over the full fiscal year.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in Quebec, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet here.
Aim for Employment Program (objectif emploi)
The Aim for Employment Program was introduced in April 2018. Most individuals and families seeking income assistance in Quebec receive support through this program for between 12 and 24 months. Those still in need of income support at the end of this period may then transition to the Social Assistance Program or Social Solidarity Program.
The number of Aim for Employment Program cases and beneficiaries increased in its first two years, reaching a peak of about 6,200 cases and 9,400 beneficiaries in 2019-20. After two years of decreases, cases and beneficiaries increased in 2022-23, and followed the trend in 2023-24, when cases increased by 17 per cent to 5,260, and beneficiaries increased by 13 per cent to 7,440.
Figure 1QC: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of the Aim for Employment Program in Quebec, 2018-19 to 2023-24
Social Assistance Program (aide sociale)
After a gradual decline in the number of the Social Assistance Program cases and beneficiaries since the mid-1990s, both saw notable increases in 2023-24. The number of cases increased by 13 per cent to 146,439, and the number of beneficiaries increased by 10 per cent to 211,383.
Figure 2QC: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of the Social Assistance Program in Quebec, 1997-98 to 2023-2024
Social Solidarity Program (solidarité sociale)
The cases and beneficiaries of Social Solidarity increased gradually from 1997-98 to 2003-04, after which they remained stable until 2019-20 at between 124,000 and 130,000 cases and between 141,000 and 151,000 beneficiaries. Starting in 2019-20, cases and beneficiaries gradually decreased. In 2022-23, Social Solidarity cases and beneficiaries dropped significantly as beneficiaries transitioned to the newly introduced Basic Income Program.
In 2023-24, the trend continued as the number of cases and beneficiaries declined for both by about 72 per cent to 24,939 cases and to 28,178 beneficiaries.
Figure 3QC: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Social Solidarity in Quebec, 1997-98 to 2023-24
Basic Income Program (revenu de base)
Currently, comparing the 2022-23 and 2023-24 figures for the Basic Income program is limited because the 2022-23 data is based on an average of just the first three months of 2023, while the 2023-24 data reflects an average for the full fiscal year. In the future, as data continues to be reported in this full-year format, comparisons will become more feasible.
In 2023-24, Basic Income had 84,100 cases and 87,626 beneficiaries.
Figure 4QC: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Basic Income in Quebec, 2022-23 to 2023-24
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2023-24, around 4.8 per cent of people in Quebec under 65 received the Aim for Employment Program, the Social Assistance Program, the Social Solidarity Program, or the Basic Income Program, which is roughly one in 20.
The proportion of people under 65 receiving the Aim for Employment Program has remained around 0.1 per cent since its introduction in 2018-19.
After consistent decreases since 1997-98 reaching a low of 2.4 per cent in 2021-22, the proportion of people under 65 receiving the Social Assistance Program increased to 3.0 per cent in 2023-24.
The proportion of people under 65 receiving the Social Solidarity Program has remained relatively stable, with a slow decline starting in 2008-09. In 2022-23, the proportion dropped to 1.4 per cent, and in 2023-24, it dropped further to 0.4 per cent.
The proportion of people under 65 receiving the Basic Income Program was around 1.3 per cent in 2022-23 and 1.2 per cent in 2023-24.
Note: The total population under 65 is estimated on July 1 of the fiscal year (e.g., July 1, 2023, for 2023-24), whereas social assistance beneficiary data is a fiscal year average (April 1 to March 31) from 1997-1998 to 2023-24. Except for the Basic Income program, where the data for 2022-23 reflects an average over the first three months of 2023.
Figure 5QC – Yearly beneficiaries of social assistance as a proportion of the under 65 population of Quebec, 1997 to 2023
Who is receiving social assistance (disaggregated data)?
This section examines disaggregated data on cases and beneficiaries by household type, and cases receiving employment income.
Household type
In 2023-24, unattached singles comprised the majority of social assistance cases among households for each program, representing about 81 per cent for Aim for Employment, over 75 per cent for the Social Assistance Program, just over 80 per cent for Social Solidarity, and around 90 per cent for Basic Income.
Unattached singles also comprised the majority of beneficiaries among households for each program in 2023-24, representing more than 57 per cent Aim for Employment households, just over 52 per cent of the Social Assistance Program households, around 81 per cent for Social Solidarity household, and close to 90 per cent of Basic Income households.
Single parents were the second largest household type among cases and beneficiaries of the Social Assistance Program, Social Solidarity, Aim for Employment, and Basic Income.
Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of Aim for Employment by household in Quebec, 2020-21 to 2023-24
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 7QC: Cases and beneficiaries of the Social Assistance Program by household in Quebec, 2020-21 to 2023-24
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 8QC: Cases and beneficiaries of Social Solidarity by household in Quebec, 2020-21 to 2023-24
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 9QC: Cases and beneficiaries of Basic Income by household in Quebec, 2022-23 to 2023-24
Cases
Beneficiaries
Employment income
In Quebec, employment income is defined as any remuneration paid for the performance of work. Benefits, indemnities, or pensions granted to compensate the loss of such income because of, among other things, a disability or retirement do not constitute work income.
In 2023-24, about 5 per cent of Aim for Employment cases, 3 per cent of the Social Assistance Program cases, and almost 4 per cent of Social Solidarity cases had employment income. Cases receiving Aim for Employment were the most likely to have employment income. Since March 2021, numbers for Aim for Employment and Social Solidarity have increased, while those for the Social Assistance Program have fallen.
Data on the percentage of Basic Income cases with employment income was not made available.
Figure 10QC: Percentage of Aim for Employment, the Social Assistance Program, and Social Solidarity cases with employment income in Quebec, 2020-21 to 2023-24
Additional disaggregated data on gender and age is available for download below.
It’s important to note that while the gender distribution of Aim for Employment, the Social Assistance Program, Social Solidarity, and Basic Income Program is typically balanced between males and females, the gender of single households reveals a more pronounced gender pattern. Typically, unattached singles are predominantly male, while single parents are primarily female.
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in Quebec is available for download, including:
- Total cases and beneficiaries;
- Percentage of beneficiaries relative to the total under-65 population;
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries by sex;
- Single households by sex;
- Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- For total data, household type data, and total sex data (except for single households by sex, adults by age category, and employment income):
- 2021-22 and prior, reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31)
- For single households by sex, adults by age category, and employment income, data reflects the number of cases and beneficiaries in March of 2021 and 2022. From 2022-23 onward, data is from fiscal year average.
- For the entire dataset, the 2022-23 data was converted from a point-in-time snapshot (March 2023) to a fiscal year average (April 1 to March 31). The exception to this conversion is the Basic Income Program, where the data was averaged over the first three months of 2023.
- Starting from 2023-24 onward, the data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries for the entire fiscal year (April 1 to March 31), with no exceptions.
- The Aim for Employment Program was introduced in April 2018.
- The Basic Income Program was introduced in January 2023.
- The sum of the average caseloads and beneficiaries within each program will not equal the total average across all social assistance programs if a program only operated for part of the year. For example, the Basic Income Program was implemented in January 2023, part way through the 2022-23 fiscal year. Averages over the entire fiscal year will be lower than the sum of the averages for each individual program, as the latter adjusts for how many months each program operated.
- The Basic Income Program operates on a per-beneficiary basis. As a result, the Quebec government reconstructed the data to create a count of cases. Caution is needed when comparing the number of cases between the Basic Income Program and other programs. Additionally, because the data is aggregated differently, the sum of the averages within each program may not always equal the total average across all social assistance programs.
- Data for single households by sex was not available for single parent households. Data for beneficiaries by sex is included for this household instead.
- For household type, a fifth household category, “partner of a student,” is included in the “couples without children” category.
- The sex of some child beneficiaries is unknown.
- The numbers do not include First Nations living on reserves.
- Click here for more information about how the data is gathered.
Resources
- Download the all-Canada report as a PDF
- Download the data for Quebec
- Download the data for all of Canada
- Further breakdowns of social assistance data in Quebec can be found on the province’s website