• 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 Nunavut seeking financial assistance should visit this page.

In Nunavut, households that qualify for basic social assistance payments also qualify for other financial supports including:

• Recurring additional social assistance payments from the territory;
• Federal and territorial child benefits (for households with children); and
• Federal 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 Nunavut in 2021. All four households are assumed to be living in Iqaluit. 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

Total annual welfare incomes in 2021 ranged from $9,526 for the unattached single considered employable to $30,560 for the couple with two children. The income of the unattached single with a disability was $12,577 and that of the single parent with one child was $20,516.

Basic social assistance: Monthly Basic Allowance amounts remained unchanged in 2021. Basic social assistance benefits also included a Utilities Benefit amount (based on electrical costs in Nunavut Public Housing) and a Shelter Benefit amount (based on public housing rental amounts), neither of which changed in 2021.

As 95 per cent of households receiving social assistance in Iqaluit live in public housing, the example households are assumed to be living in public housing rather than private market housing. This means that the basic social assistance amounts in the table reflect the amounts that households received after most of their housing costs have been paid. (In Nunavut, social assistance recipients in public housing do not pay fuel, water, sewage, garbage, and/or municipal needs, and their electricity costs are heavily subsidized.)

Additional social assistance: In addition to basic assistance, the unattached single with a disability also received $3,000 ($250 per month) through the Incidental Allowance, which 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. In addition, the single parent of one child aged two received the COVID-19 pandemic-related CCB Young Child Supplement, 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 also received the Nunavut Child Benefit. The single parent with one child and the couple with two children received the maximum amount of $27.50 per month ($330 per year) per child. These amounts 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. Two households also received the GST/HST credit supplement. The unattached single with a disability received $51.80 and the single parent with one child received the maximum amount of $156.

Territorial tax credits / benefits: No territorial tax credits or benefits were available to the example households in 2021.

COVID-19 pandemic-related payments

The only pandemic-related payment available to the example Nunavut households in 2021 was received by the single parent of one child aged two, which came from the federal Canada Child Benefit Young Child Supplement of $300 per child, paid in January, April, July, and October. This amount is included in, and is 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 Nunavut 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.

Total welfare incomes of both the unattached single considered employable and the unattached single with a disability dropped considerably in 2012 due to a change in the methodology used in this report. That change saw shelter amounts calculated based on public housing rents rather than private market rents (see “Components of welfare incomes” section). Between 2012 and 2017, welfare incomes remained relatively stable, with an increasing trend thereafter until 2020 due to the introduction of the Basic Allowance, which combined and increased the previous Food and Clothing Allowances. A slight increase occurred in 2020 due to federal COVID-19 pandemic payments was followed by a decline that was largely due to the loss of those payments, as well as to the impact of inflation on unchanged social assistance benefit amounts.

In 2021, the unattached single considered employable had a welfare income of $9,526, and the unattached single with a disability received $12,577.

Welfare incomes for households with children followed a pattern that is similar to that of unattached single households. The sharp decrease in 2012 was due to a change in report methodology that based shelter amounts on public housing rents instead of private market rents (see “Components of welfare incomes” section). Increases between 2015 and 2019 resulted from changes to federal child benefits and the 2018 introduction of the Basic Allowance, which combined and increased the Food and Clothing Allowances.

The slight increase in 2020 was due to federal COVID-19 pandemic payments, and the 2021 decline was largely due to the loss of those payments, as well as to the effect of inflation on unchanged social assistance benefit amounts.

Note that while the welfare income of the single parent with one child increased in nominal value between 2020 and 2021, the effect of inflation negated this increase.

In 2021, the welfare income of the single parent with one child was $20,516, while that of the couple with two children was $30,560.

Adequacy of welfare incomes

The adequacy of a household’s total welfare income can be assessed by comparing it to established thresholds of poverty and/or low income. For the provinces, these thresholds are the Market Basket Measure (MBM), which is Canada’s Official Poverty Line; the Deep Income Poverty (DIP) threshold; the Low Income Measure (LIM); and the Low income Cut-Off (LICO).

For the three territories, however, these measures are not applicable as they do not appropriately reflect life in the North, and thus our reports have historically not included total welfare income adequacy comparisons.

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. A measure called the MBM-N was finalized in November 2022 by Statistics Canada for use in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, while work on a similar measure for use in Nunavut is underway.

Adequacy comparisons for Nunavut will be included in future Welfare in Canada reports once the finalized MBM for Nunavut is available.