• Components of welfare incomes
• Changes to welfare incomes
• Adequacy of welfare incomes

Last updated: November 2022

This resource is not intended to help individuals identify what government transfers they could be entitled to. Individuals living in the Northwest Territories seeking financial assistance should visit this page.

In the Northwest Territories, households that qualify for basic social assistance payments also qualify for:

• Recurring additional social assistance payments from the territory;
• Federal and territorial child benefits (for households with children); and
• Federal and territorial tax credits or benefits.

Together, these components combine to form a household’s total welfare income. Households may receive less if they have income from other sources, or more if they have special health- or disability-related needs. In 2021, one example household — the single parent with one child — was also eligible for payments related to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

The table below shows the value of the welfare income components of the four example household types in the Northwest Territories in 2021. All four households are assumed to be living in Yellowknife. The child in the single parent household is two years old and the children in the couple household are ten and 15. COVID-19 pandemic-related payments are included where applicable in the table below.

Components of welfare incomes, 2021

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Total annual welfare incomes in 2021 ranged from $26,891 for the unattached single considered employable to $50,105 for the couple with two children. The income of the unattached single with a disability was $32,353 and that of the single parent with one child was $38,573.

Basic social assistance: The food allowance remained unchanged in 2021 and monthly amounts were $343 for households with one adult and $480 for households with two adults. The clothing allowance, which provides $79 per year for a one-adult household or $110 for the couple household, also remained unchanged.

In the Northwest Territories, the amounts of benefits paid for the costs of shelter, fuel, and utilities are based on the actual costs of each recipient household. The shelter amount included in our calculations is a maximum based on average market rents as calculated annually by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The fuel and utilities components are an average of the amount paid to recipients in each of the household types in 2021, and are provided by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. These amounts increased in 2021 for all households other than the unattached single with a disability.

All four households continued to receive the Furnishing Allowance in 2021 due to a 2020 policy decision to enroll all clients in the “Wellness: Self-Care” Productive Choice activity option in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The unattached singles received $175, the single parent with one child received $323, and the couple with two children received $567.

Additional social assistance: Only the unattached single with a disability received additional social assistance benefits, in the form of both the Disability Allowance of $405 per month and the Incidental Allowance for Persons with Disabilities of $39 per month. These amounts remained unchanged in 2021.

Federal child benefits: Both households with children received the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which increased with inflation in July 2021 from $563.75 to $569.42 per month for a child under six years of age and from $475.66 to $480.41 per month for a child aged six to 17. The couple with two children received $930.72 per month from January to June and $927.38 per month from July to December, which is a reduced amount because their prior year incomes were above the level of eligibility for the maximum amounts. The single parent of one child aged two received the additional COVID-19 pandemic-related CCB Young Child Supplement, which was given to CCB-eligible families with children under the age of six, of $300 per child in January, April, July, and October.

Territorial child benefits: Both households with children received the Northwest Territories Child Benefit. The single parent with one child received the maximum amount of $67.91 per month (the amount provided for one child under the age of six). The couple with two children received a reduced amount, due to income in prior years, of $90.89 per month from January to June, and $88.03 per month from July to December. The maximum amounts for this benefit remained unchanged in 2021.

Federal tax credits / benefits: All four households received the GST/HST credit, which increased in July 2021 with inflation. The unattached single considered employable and the unattached single with a disability received $297.50 in basic GST/HST credit, while the single parent with one child received $595 and the couple with two children received $907. Three households also received the GST/HST credit supplement. The unattached single considered employable, the unattached single with a disability, and the single parent with one child each received the maximum amount of $156.

Territorial tax credits / benefits: All four households received the Northwest Territories Cost of Living Offset, which helps to offset the cost of the NWT carbon tax. Households received two quarterly payments for the 2020/21 year in the amounts of $78 per adult and $90 per child under 18, and two quarterly payments for the 2021/22 year in the amounts of $104 per adult and $120 per child.

COVID-19 pandemic-related payments

Pandemic-related payments available to the example Northwest Territories households came from both territorial and federal programs. Continuing enrollment in 2021 in the “Wellness: Self-Care” Productive Choice provided pandemic-based funds from the territory to all example households. In addition, the single parent of one child aged two received the federal Canada Child Benefit Young Child Supplement of $300 per child, paid in January, April, July, and October. These amounts are included in, and are not in addition to, the benefits described in the Components section above.

COVID-19 pandemic-related payments, 2021

Changes to welfare incomes

The graphs below show how the total welfare incomes for each of the four example household types in the Northwest Territories have changed over time. Note that the values are in 2021 constant dollars, not in nominal dollars. Using constant dollars takes into account the effect of inflation, as measured by the national Consumer Price Index, given that inflation reduces real dollar values over time.

A nearly identical pattern is evident in the welfare incomes of the unattached single considered employable and the unattached single with a disability over the time series. After a substantial decline in 1997, both saw a gradual increase until 2008, a slight decrease until 2013, and significant fluctuations thereafter.

The fluctuations between 2013 and 2019 resulted from changes in the way utility and shelter costs were calculated for the purposes of this report rather than changes to benefit program policy. Increases since 2019 were due to three main changes: a significant increase in utilities costs in the Northwest Territories and, therefore, to average amounts paid for those costs; a 2019 increase in maximum shelter amounts; and the implementation of the NWT Cost of Living Offset.

The increases in 2020, which marked the high point across the time series, were due to COVID-19 pandemic-related payments from both territorial and federal sources. The decline in 2021 was due primarily to the loss of most of those payments, and, in the case of the unattached single with a disability, a decline in average monthly utilities amounts.

In 2021, the welfare income of the unattached single considered employable was $26,891. The welfare income of the unattached single with a disability was $32,353.

After a decline in welfare incomes through the early 1990s, households with children saw relative stability, with some fluctuations, until 2013/2014. A generally increasing trend followed thereafter until 2021. The major drop in 2007 was primarily the result of a significant decline in the level of basic social assistance benefits in that year.

Changes in federal child benefits were the major contributor to recent increases, as were the addition of COVID-19 pandemic-related payments in 2020 from both provincial and federal sources. 2020 saw the highest values in welfare incomes across the time series for both households. The declines in 2021 resulted primarily from the loss of COVID-19 pandemic-related supports, as well as the impact of inflation on unchanged social assistance benefit amounts.

Note that while the welfare income of the single parent with one child was nominally higher in 2021 than in 2020, the effect of inflation negated this increase.

In 2021, the single parent with one child had a welfare income of $38,573. The couple with two children had a welfare income of $50,105.

Adequacy of welfare incomes

With the adoption of the Market Basket Measure as Canada’s Official Poverty Line in 2018, Statistics Canada has been working to establish an MBM threshold that would be applicable to the particular circumstances of life in the North. The finalized thresholds for the Northern Market Basket Measure, or MBM-N, have just been released, which for the first time allows for poverty to be more accurately assessed in the Northwest Territories and Yukon. Note that Statistics Canada is in the process of creating a separate Market Basket Measure for Nunavut.

Starting in this report, we will use two measures of poverty to assess the adequacy of total welfare incomes in the Northwest Territories:

• The Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM-N), Canada’s Official Poverty Line for the Northwest Territories and Yukon, identifies households whose disposable income is less than the cost of a “basket” of goods and services that represent a basic standard of living in those territories.
• Deep Income Poverty (MBM-N-DIP) identifies households whose disposable income is less than 75 per cent of the MBM-N.

MBM-N thresholds vary by territory and community size and so those for Yellowknife are used in the analysis below. As well, the MBM-N thresholds for 2021 are estimates based on increasing the finalized 2020 thresholds to account for inflation.

Note also that while we use the Low Income Measure and the Low Income Cut Off for adequacy comparisons in the provinces, they do not appropriately reflect life in the North and thus, as in past reports, we will not use those measures to provide adequacy comparisons for the territories.

As well, note that none of the poverty or low-income measures currently in use in Canada account for the higher cost of living faced by persons with disabilities and thus these additional costs are not reflected in our analysis.

More information about the thresholds is available in the methodology section.

A table containing comparisons of the welfare incomes of the four example household types in the Northwest Territories with the two poverty thresholds is available for download.

Poverty threshold comparisons

The figures below compare welfare incomes for the four example household types to the MBM-N and MBM-N-DIP thresholds for Yellowknife.

The welfare incomes of all but one of the four example household types in the Northwest Territories were below Canada’s Official Poverty Line in 2021, meaning that three of the four households were living in poverty. However, none of the four households was living in deep poverty in 2021, as defined by the MBM-N-DIP.

The welfare income of the unattached single considered employable was $3,549 above the deep income poverty threshold but $4,232 below the poverty line. This means their income was 115 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP but only 86 per cent of the MBM-N.

The unattached single with a disability had an income that was highest relative to the poverty thresholds among the four households. Their welfare income was $9,011 above the deep income poverty threshold and $1,231 above the poverty line. In other words, their income was 139 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP and 104 per cent of the MBM-N.

While the unattached single with a disability was living out of poverty in 2021 according to these thresholds, it is important to note that the poverty experienced by persons with disabilities is under-represented because neither the MBM-N nor the MBM-N-DIP account for the additional costs associated with disability.

The welfare income of the single parent with one child was $5,562 above the deep income poverty threshold but $5,441 below the poverty line. This means their income was 117 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP but 88 per cent of the MBM-N.

The couple with two children had the lowest income relative to the poverty thresholds. Their welfare income was $3,421 above the deep income poverty threshold but $12,140 below the poverty line. In other words, their income was 107 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP but only 80 per cent of the MBM-N.