Welfare in Canada, 2022 is now available

Welfare in Canada, 2022, written by Jennefer Laidley and Mohy Tabbara, provides the welfare incomes of four example households receiving social assistance in a calendar year for each province and territory.  

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What’s in the report 

Each edition of Welfare in Canada has an all-Canada overview section, as well as separate sections for each province and territory. Included are: 

• The components of welfare incomes and their amounts;  
• How adequate welfare incomes are relative to measures of poverty;  
• How benefit amounts and adequacy have changed over time; 
• Asset and earned income levels as they relate to eligibility for social assistance; 
• Indexation of social assistance benefits, other benefits, and tax credits in each jurisdiction; and 
• A breakdown of cost-of-living and shelter benefits for social assistance programs. 

Welfare incomes are calculated for four types of households:

1. Single person who is considered employable;
2. Single person with a disability;
3. Single parent with one child; and
4. Couple with two children.

They include income from all government benefit sources. 

Key takeaways 

• Overall, 48 of 49 households (not including the four in Nunavut) were living on welfare incomes below the Official Poverty Line.  
  • As yet, no Official Poverty Line exists for Nunavut.  
  • The only household to have an income above the Official Poverty Line was the couple with two children in Quebec.   
• As the Consumer Price Index hit 6.8 per cent in 2022, only 15 of the 53 total households in Canada saw above-inflation increases in their incomes, or rose enough to keep up with or surpass the higher cost of living.  
• The majority of households (29 of 53) saw below-inflation increases to their incomes, and so their incomes did not keep up with the rising cost of living. 
• Nine households saw a decline in their total income between 2021 and 2022.  
• In response to the high cost of living, jurisdictions responded in different ways.  
  • The federal government, eight provinces, and one territory made one-time cost-of-living payments. Alberta, Ontario, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut did not. 
  • Some jurisdictions increased their base social assistance benefits by a set amount.  
  • Ontario and Alberta announced they would start indexing all or part of their social assistance benefits to inflation starting in 2023. Quebec, New Brunswick, and the Yukon already index social assistance benefits, while Manitoba indexes only the portion related to shelter. None of the other jurisdictions have yet indexed their benefits to inflation.  

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