Departmental Results Report for fiscal year 2021 to 2022

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Departmental Results Report for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 [PDF - 7,72 KB]

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From the Ministers

We are pleased to present the 2021 to 2022 Departmental Results Report for Employment and Social Development Canada. This report outlines the results achieved throughout the year to improve the economic and social security of Canadians.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has taken swift action to support Canadians and the economy. As a result, Canada is experiencing a strong job recovery, with the lowest unemployment rates on record in almost 4 decades.

However, despite a strong recovery plan, Canadians continue to feel the economic shocks caused by COVID-19. Inflation is rising, and food and energy prices are hitting record highs. Therefore, the department is adjusting its priorities to continue to support all Canadians, no matter where they are in their lives.

Children are the heart of our country's future. July 2021 marked the fifth anniversary of the Canada Child Benefit. That month saw the first signatures of the historic agreements with each province and territory to implement a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. This system will support an average of $10-a-day regulated childcare across Canada by March 2026.

In 2021, more than 140,000 Canada Summer Jobs were made available to youth to help improve access to work experience. Throughout the summer, young people could find new job opportunities in their communities on jobbank.gc.ca/youth and the Job Bank mobile app. They were able to apply for summer jobs in a variety of fields. These included the community and recreation sector, the food industry, marketing, the tourism industry and more.

Many Canadians, including young workers, are employed in minimum-wage jobs, trying to support themselves and their families. Every dollar makes a difference, whether it be at the grocery store, in their housing payments or simply making ends meet. To help them out, the federal minimum wage was raised to $15.55 per hour in April 2022.

Having access to paid sick leave also makes a difference. No one should have to choose between staying home when they are sick or being able to afford rent and groceries. The pandemic highlighted that many Canadians have little or no access to such leave. That is why we tabled Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code. It provides 10 days of paid sick leave to federally regulated private sector workers. This will improve the working conditions for nearly 1 million workers.

Canadian workers can face periods of unemployment or critical life events. During those times, they need a modern Employment Insurance (EI) program that is resilient, accessible, adequate and financially sustainable. To inform future, longer-term reforms to the EI program, we allocated $5 million to consult Canadians over 2 years on an EI program that better meets the current and future needs of workers and employers. We sought direct input from employee and employer associations, unions, academics and other experts from coast to coast to ensure it reflects the new realities of today's labour market and workforce. The first phase of consultations began last year, and the second phase recently concluded in July 2022. The Government is working to develop its long-term plan for the future of EI.

Ensuring the health and safety of temporary foreign workers is a key priority for the Government of Canada. We continued to improve the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and we strengthened its requirements and regulations to improve the protection of workers, while making it easier for employers to hire temporary foreign workers to help fill growing vacancies.

We are also moving forward with our efforts to advance disability inclusion and improve the financial security of working-age Canadians with disabilities. Work and external engagement continued throughout the year on the Disability Inclusion Action Plan. That plan includes the Canada Disability Benefit, and a robust employment strategy for Canadians with disabilities. It also includes a better process to determine eligibility for federal disability programs and benefits. As well, to further our mission for an accessible Canada, 2 successful recruitment campaigns were launched in May 2021 for the positions of Canada's first Chief Accessibility Officer and first Accessibility Commissioner. This was followed by the implementation in December 2021 of the first set of regulations under the Accessible Canada Act.

After a lifetime of hard work, all Canadians should have access to secure retirement benefits. Therefore, the Old Age Security pension was permanently increased by 10% for seniors aged 75 and over starting in July 2022. Seniors who received pandemic benefits saw these benefit increase their income, which impacted their Guaranteed Income Supplement an Allowance benefits. To alleviate their financial hardship because of this situation, the government provided them with a one-time payment. These payments totalled $7421.4 million between March and April 2022.

Now, among many pandemic-related challenges, Service Canada has seen a significant surge in demand for passports. As a result, the department has increased its workforce, simplified processes, expanded access to passport services across the country and implemented an enhanced triage system to provide a client-specific approach that prioritizes service to those with urgent travel needs. Thanks to these measures, the majority of Canadians with immediate travel needs have continued to receive their passports in time to travel.

Working toward an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we look back with pride on the progress made over the past year and look forward to the year ahead. We also continue our work to advance the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals in Canada and abroad. These efforts will contribute to building stronger, safer, and more inclusive communities that leave no one behind.

  • Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough
  • Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Karina Gould
  • Minister of Labour, Seamus O'Regan Jr.
  • Minister of Seniors, Kamal Khera

Results at a glance

Operating context

Economic and social impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to shape the department's operations and its strategies in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. Employment surpassed its pre pandemic level and the unemployment rate reached a record low at the end of the fiscal year. However, the different waves of COVID-19 observed during the fiscal year impacted labour market outcomes including employment and hours worked. The end of the fiscal year saw a tightening of the labour market where employers struggled to find workers to fill certain jobs.

The fiscal year 2021 to 2022 began with the reintroduction of public health restrictions in many provinces. This led to further employment declines, reduced hours and increased unemployment. All this occured while the Canadian labour market had not fully recovered yet from the first waves of the pandemic. Even so, the decline in employment was short-lived. By June 2021, the labour market recovery had resumed. Employment reached its pre-pandemic level in September 2021 and surpassed it in November 2021. This recovery was temporarily halted at the start of 2022 as public health restrictions were tightened again in many jurisdictions. Nevertheless, employment bounced back quickly as jurisdictions eased their public health restrictions.

At the end of fiscal year 2021 to 2022, total employment was higher (+441,600 or +2.3%) than its pre-pandemic level (19.1 million in February 2020). In fact, the unemployment rate hit a record low of 5.3% in March 2022. On the other hand, employment for a few close-contact industries such as accommodation and food services, and other personal services remained well below their pre-pandemic levels.

The Canadian economy also showed strong recovery as real Gross Domestic Product returned to its pre-pandemic level in the fourth quarter of 2021. Moreover, it continued to increase in the first quarter of 2022.

In addition, through fiscal year 2021 to 2022, there was a shift in the labour market. In spring 2021, unemployment was still relatively high and vacant jobs were plentiful. By the end of the fiscal year, employers struggled to find workers to fill certain jobs. Part of labour shortage challenges were tied to structural changes. These include technological advances requiring additional or new skills, retirements of experienced workers due to population aging, and shifting occupational preferences. These changes pre-dated the pandemic but some were accelerated by it. In addition, some other shorter-term pandemic-related factors limited the number of available workers. These include worker absences (due to illness, childcare responsibilities or fear of contracting COVID-19) and a temporary decrease in new immigrants coming to Canada.These factors caused cyclical labour shortages in some occupations.

Public health restrictions impacted more heavily underrepresented groups as they were more likely to work in industries targeted by these measures. By the end of the fiscal year, unemployment rates of nearly all underrepresented groups fell below those from pre-pandemic. Nonetheless, some groups still experienced poorer employment outcomes (e.g., lower employment rates) than the Canadian average. These included:

  • Youth
  • Women
  • Indigenous people
  • Persons with disabilities
  • Visible minority groups
  • Recent immigrants

The department continued to help these groups and others affected by the pandemic improve their labour market outcomes.

The department continued to deliver government programs and services, including COVID-19 related measures, to Canadians in need. It fully re-opened Service Canada Centres across the country. Efforts were concentrated on finding ways to serve our clients safely, while also ensuring the safety of our employees. While delivering key benefits to Canadians throughout the pandemic, the department implemented initiatives focused on marginalized and underrepresented populations. Doing so, the department increased its understanding of how Canadians access benefits. This knowledge will serve to continue transforming how our programs reach Canadians and how our systems could better serve clients in the future. To this end, the department further strengthened its online service delivery vehicles. These include eServiceCanada, the Outreach Support Centre and eSIN. The department also advanced its benefit modernization program to make its system more robust and responsive to client expectations.

To be efficient and effective, all these measures needed to rely on a strong data foundation. Access to properly contextualized data at the right time is important to meeting the needs of our clients. The implementation of a renewed Data Strategy helps to ensure that we have the right data and processes in place to support research and analysis required for better decision making. This allows the department to better understand the people it serves, and the impact of the programs and services delivered.

During 2021 to 2022, the department also continued to lead the Government of Canada's implementation of the United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in close collaboration with all other federal departments and agencies. It contributed to advancing several of the 2030 Agenda's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 4 (Quality education), SDG 5 (Gender equality), SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities).

Response to COVID-19

On April 23, 2021, the department completed the third round of one-time, tax-free payments to eligible Canadians with disabilities to alleviate pandemic-related supplementary expenses. Approximately 59,000 eligible Canadians with disabilities benefited from this third round with disbursements totaling about $27.8 million. Payments were issued to 100% of the eligible Disability Tax Credit (DTC) certificate holders. They were also made to recipients of the Canada Pension Plan Disability (CPPD) benefit and Québec Pension Plan Disability (QPPD) benefits. As well, they were made to those eligible for one of the veterans disability support programs.

Reaching Home distributed to communities $299.4 million in incremental funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022. It also provided flexibility in how funding could be used to meet community needs. This included preventing COVID-19 transmission in shelters and other forms of accommodation by:

  • Reducing overcrowding (for example, by enabling physical distancing)
  • Establishing isolation spaces
  • Securing housing and other forms of accommodation
  • Focusing on homelessness prevention initiatives (such as short-term financial assistance to cover rent arrears, landlord-tenant mediation, etc.)

As part of Reaching Home's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, communities were supported to create and place individuals into temporary accommodations. Preliminary results from the first 2 years of the program (2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021) show that there were over 118,990 instances of placements into temporary accommodations. Results for 2021 to 2022 are expected to be available in 2023.

Working with federally regulated workers, the department built on its successes and lessons learned from the previous year. It maintained some of its initial adjustments, including conducting investigations, inspections and mediations remotely. It also further refined tools and the resumption of officers physically attending employer worksites under Part III of the Canada Labour Code (the code), where possible. In addition, the department ensured availability at all times to respond to fatalities, major accidents or refusals to work, as required by the code.

The department established a COVID-19 Response Coordination Team (CRCT) to support business resumption activities during the pandemic. By March 31, 2022, the CRCT had responded to 1,264 employers and employees enquiries. Among those, 98% were responded to within a day. Officials also proactively reached out to almost 340 employers. This work was supported by subject matter experts in the spheres of mental health and industrial hygiene.

The department has taken concrete steps to maintain interim process improvements put in place in response to the pandemic. These improvements facilitated providing payments to millions of Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) recipients. These improvements include, when possible, eliminating the need for a wet signature and removing the request for supporting documents in certain circumstances. These important steps support continued efforts to modernize program delivery.

Due to Service Canada Centres closing, the department launched a Social Insurance Number (SIN) online application, which has been successful. The department therefore decided to maintain that new application. Clients will continue to have the choice of how they apply for or make changes to their Social Insurance Number record. They can now do it online, by mail or in person at a Service Canada Centre. The department also launched a new optimized version of the SIN website. This version is more accessible and interactive to guide users on how to apply for a SIN.

The pandemic required many innovations in how the department is operating. ESDC's Innovation Lab supported the department's pandemic recovery work through 2 key projects. It supported early policy development work on an income support for self-employed workers using human-centered approaches. In addition, it explored and mapped access to adult learning and training. The Innovation Lab also continued to develop best practices for virtual engagement.

Working with several federal organizations and central agencies, the department ensured Canadians continued to have access to up-to-date COVID-19 information on the Canada.ca/coronavirus website. It automated the updating of COVID cases, vaccination rates, and flights with confirmed COVID cases on Canada.ca. This ensured the public had fast access to reliable and accurate information.

The department played a leading role in offering digital solutions to partner departments. That enabled the development and implementation of a whole-of-government COVID-19 web content approach. This supported public education, the safety of Canadians and the delivery of financial supports. Contributions included hosting COVID-19 content on Canada.ca with 100% availability to Canadians, implementing the email notification service, and coordinating the proof of vaccination page. It also included implementing interactive components such as a virtual assistant to help visitors quickly find the information they seek.

The Government of Canada's coronavirus telephone information line continued to be delivered throughout the year with extended hours of operations, 7 days a week.

The department helped ensure GC content remained a trusted source of information for Canadians using social media. It encouraged and enabled departments to verify official social media accounts. This reassured the public that the information broadcasted through those channels originated from an authentic source.

Adjustments to existing programs

Job Bank connects Canadians with job opportunities. It also provides information to help job seekers and employers make informed decisions related to career, education, training or human resources. To better help job seekers and businesses in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, Job Bank continued to promote government services and initiatives. During the last year, 85,000 sessions led to visits to the COVID-19 resource page. About 41% of the pages viewed during these visits were for job search. 4 major changes were achieved during the past year:

  1. Revised list of in-demand jobs and economic sectors
  2. New section to help job seekers with their job search efforts
  3. Direct link to the Government of Canada's customizable Labour Market Information news service
  4. Revamped and expanded list of federal and provincial/territorial resources for career changers and job seekers

Adjustments to service delivery

The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB), and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) were extended several times to continue support to workers whose employment remained affected by COVID-19 public health measures. In the fall of 2021, the Government announced a more targeted approach to pandemic income supports. The CRB ended on October 23, 2021. The CRCB and the CRSB were available until May 7, 2022. In addition, the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB) was available for designated lockdown regions between October 24, 2021 and May 7, 2022. This benefit provided income support for workers who faced direct work interruptions due to designated public health lockdowns.

Budget 2020 and COVID-19 emergency response measures enabled Call Centres to increase the number of agents from 1,100 to 3,000. This increase was maintained throughout fiscal year 2021 to 2022. These efforts contributed to a reduction in average Call Centre wait times from over an hour in 2020 to 2021 to twenty minutes in 2021 to 2022.

The department ensured that call centre agents have the skills they need, including crisis intervention training, to support Canadians in difficult times. It also explored new features to enhance the client experience. This included planning for the implementation of call recording which will be launched in 2022 to 2023.

To ensure Canadians continue to have access to the services they need, health and safety measures have been implemented to allow Service Canada Centres and Service Canada Centres – Passport Services to safely reopen. As of March 31, 2022, 316 out of 317 Service Canada Centres, and all 23 Service Canada Centres -Passport Service sites and 15 Service delivery Partner sites have reopened with enhanced health and safety measures in place.

In addition, the department continued to manage the COVID-19 response by periodically reassessing and implementing updated health and safety measures at in-person service sites as public health guidance evolved.

Service excellence highlights

The department continued its efforts to improve services to Canadians. Service excellence highlights have been organized into 3 main themes:

  • Technology and systems modernization
  • Improving the client service experience and outcomes
  • Ensuring no one is left behind

Technology and systems modernization

The department continued to modernize some of its call centres by migrating more services to its modernized infrastructure. Those services included the Regional Enquiries Units, which are dedicated telephone services for parliamentarians and their authorized staff members. The migration also included the Social Insurance Number and the Registration and Authentication call centres. This has resulted in an increased capacity to handle calls in the interactive voice response system. It also improved call routing and provided a new ability to queue calls.

The department reviewed its way of delivering service to the deaf and hard of hearing through the Teletypewriter (TTY) service. It plans to implement a modernized solution in 2022 to 2023 for the Employment Insurance (EI), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS) and Employer Contact Centre call centres. As well, it completed all the required planning activities to launch call recording capabilities across all business lines in 2022 to 2023. This will allow the implementation of speech analytics, which will optimize the client experience.

The department also explored the feasibility of implementing a few other features. One of them is Post-Call Survey, a feedback mechanism for callers within an Interactive Voice Response. Another feature is the Virtual Hold, enabling an automatic call-back once an officer is available. This eliminates the need for clients to wait in queue should they choose this option. Plans are in place to design both features in 2022 to 2023. These will be available for the EI, CPP, OAS, Employer Contact Centre, SIN, as well as the Registration and Authentication call centres.

The department has begun to lay the foundation of the Common Benefits Delivery (CBD) platform. This platform will provide a modern, resilient, secure, and reliable services and benefits delivery system. During 2021 to 2022, the department worked on the planning (including procurement) phase for the OAS Transformation. Migrating the OAS solution onto the CBD platform began May 16, 2022 further to awarding the build and implement contract to Deloitte Inc. The OAS Transformation will be delivered in 3 phases and as per the contract completed in September 2025.

The CBD platform is part of the Benefits Delivery Modernization Programme. The programme aims to deliver a modern client experience for the OAS, EI, and CPP programs by 2030. It takes a client-centered approach towards solving existing problems and designing technology solutions. This means the programme requires a strong understanding of Canadians' needs and expectations. To address this, the department launched Service Canada Labs. This is a public-facing research and testing website. People who are browsing it can view and interact with prototypes of products and services in development and share feedback. This allows product teams to iterate and improve upon the products and services.

The department also automated repetitive and manual tasks in EI processing, EI Call Centres, CPP and OAS operations. This allowed officers to concentrate on tasks that require human intelligence and decision-making. With the assistance of automated processes, officers can provide more timely support and personalized services to Canadians.

Recent notable accomplishments include:

  • In 2021 to 2022, over 767,000 Pensions transactions have been automated, for a total cost avoidance of over $10.6 million
  • In the same period, over 80,000 EI processing transactions were automated, representing an estimated cost avoidance of over $715,000
  • For Call Centres, from April 1, 2021 to March 6, 2022, there were over 325,000 successful transactions using attended automations
  • The department has also built capacity to ensure the maintenance and development of new automations. This will eliminate the reliance on external service providers and improve consistency with design and development across processes

The department continues to simplify the application process for its grants and contributions programs. For example, in 2021 to 2022, 89% of 57,085 total applications were submitted using fillable PDF forms submitted electronically. In addition, the department developed a streamlined application process through its Grants & Contributions Online System. This will allow organizations that do not have an account for the system to sign up and submit an initial application. They will then have the opportunity to complete the full registration process later. This option is aimed at simplifying the process to make it easier for a first-time user to apply online.

ESDC continued to expand on its digital identity projects. This includes the Death Registration and Notification Blueprint. In this regard, the department signed agreements with more provinces for the next phase of the implementation of Electronic Death Registration. Under these agreements, provinces will send authoritative death information to the federal government within 15 calendar days of a death occurring. This will result in more timely and accurate death notifications to departmental programs. In turn, it will help reduce overpayment of benefits and opportunities for fraud, and improve service delivery.

The department continued to engage in bilateral discussions with provincial and territorial partners. These discussions aim to promote new collaboration opportunities to expand digital identity projects. Through these discussions, the department successfully negotiated a Trusted Digital Identity (TDI) agreement with Alberta. This agreement will transition the 2-year pilot into a long-term agreement. The department also supported the ongoing operations of the TDI agreement with British Columbia. These projects allow residents from Alberta and British Columbia to continue to access their My Service Canada Account (MSCA) using their provincial TDI for streamlined and secured access.

The department implemented mandatory Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as a security measure. This improved the integrity of its registration and authentication processes and access to Government of Canada benefits.

It also implemented a simplified solution to validate clients' digital identity. This solution applies to the My Service Canada Account and to returning clients of the Canada Student Financial Assistance (CSFA) Program who forgot the answers to their security questions.

The introduction of the eSIN, in 2020, represented a major shift in how Canadians can apply for this key service. Following the creation of this service, the total number of eSIN applications processed from April 6, 2020 to March 31, 2022 was 1,571,213. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department processed 870,194 applications submitted through eSIN. In comparison, this is the second largest delivery channel after the in-person channel (972,465 applications processed). The SIN@Birth channel comes next with 354,413 applications processed, followed by the mail channel with 9,876 applications processed. Adding an on-line option to receive a Social Insurance Number gives clients more ways to interact with ESDC.

To support the replacement of the ageing Social Insurance Register, the department completed a data model and business requirements. These will meet service demands associated with the delivery of Social Insurance Numbers and help to keep Canadian's personal information secure.

Improving the client service experience and outcomes

Service Canada is striving for excellence in client service experience. Enhancing our understanding of what our clients need and value is therefore critical.

Through the fourth annual client experience survey, the department engaged clients in order to understand their experiences. The survey covers their experience from when they became aware of a benefit, to the moment they received an initial decision. Using a questionnaire, focus groups and interviews, the department learned about the client experience across major programs (EI, CPP, CPP-D, OAS/GIS, SIN).

Overall, 86% of clients from these programs indicated that they were satisfied with their service experience. These were clients who received a decision at the height of the pandemic, between January and March 2021. This was a significant increase from the previous year and was on par with results from the baseline year. Insights from the client experience survey are used to support and recommend actions the department can take to improve the client experience.

The department completed and made available the entire suite of Canada Pension Plan benefit applications and provisions through the My Service Canada Account. The department also enhanced and improved its document uploading functionality in support of future expanded availability for Canadians.

The department implemented a new service standard as to the time to notify applicants of the funding decision. This will increase transparency and improve the service delivery experience we provide our stakeholder organizations. The department will leverage results in this area to improve performance and enhance service delivery in collaboration with various stakeholders.

Efforts are underway to improve internal business processes, reduce and streamline the approval steps at all levels, simplify and standardize the application process, and promote online applications. As well, the intake calendar has been updated and published on Employment and Social Development Canada's funding site.

The department also reviewed other approaches to publishing intakes in advance. Such approaches include Notify, a departmental email subscription service. The department plans to launch the service in fiscal year 2022 to 2023. It will provide Canadians with a quick and easy registration process to receive pro-active information about new grants and contributions programs. This information will include the timing of call for proposals and continuous intakes available to the public.

The department finalized the first year of a 5-year program to study the experiences of grants and contributions applicants. Using a survey, focus groups, and interviews, the department engaged applicants from 9 different programs to better understand and assess their experiences.

It then established a baseline of key client experience dimensions. This included a baseline of 70% of applicants being satisfied with the experience of applying for a grants and contributions program.

The department expanded the document uploading capacity in Appliweb and in My Service Canada Account. In addition to medical documentation, clients can now upload:

  • Additional types of medical documentation to support Family Caregiver and Compassionate care claims
  • Documents related to proof of employment
  • Proof of authorization to work in Canada

The document upload feature introduces an important self-service option for clients. It lessens the burden by preventing postal delays and the need to visit a Service Canada Centre. It also has a positive impact on the processing of EI claims by reducing manual intervention from officers. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, clients have uploaded a total of 717,816 documents to support their EI claims.

The department leveraged 80 service delivery partnerships with 41 unique partners to help improve services delivered to the public. Amongst these partnerships, 45 partnership agreements were established in 2021 to 2022. For more information on these partnerships, consult the Service Delivery Partnership Disclosure List.

To improve service delivery to the deaf community, the department, continued to support the Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) initiative. This initiative remained very popular among the deaf community. It finally allows them to access services similar to the hearing abled community.

In summer 2021, the department launched new Service Referral pilots in 4 regions across the country. Community partners link clients with Service Canada and assist them with applying for benefits. The pilots have had positive results reaching persons who would not normally interact with the government. By June 2022, Service Referral pilots have grown to include 96 community partners. The pilots are now being extended to additional communities.

The department supported the Social Security Tribunal in expanding the Navigator initiative to both the General and Appeals divisions, for both Employment Insurance and Income Security appeals. Navigators facilitate client interactions with the tribunal. Moreover, 2 evaluations concluded this service promotes greater client access for disadvantaged communities.

The department also supported the tribunal actions in improving other aspects of its operations. This included evaluating the readability of its letters and forms, in co-operation with the National Self-Represented Litigants Project. It also included redesigning and launching a new and more user-friendly website to help people find the information they need faster.

Other improvements delivered by the Social Security Tribunal were:

  • Increasing the number of published decisions to improve transparency and fairness
  • Shortening service standards to render decisions more quickly
  • Introducing the use of alternative dispute resolution at the Tribunal's Appeals division

Ensuring no one is left behind

The department recognizes that government services and benefits must be available to everyone. Therefore, ESDC continued the work to improve access for marginalized and underrepresented populations.

The department implemented its multi-year workplan to modernize accessibility to its programs and services. The department also launched an intranet site dedicated to accessibility to support its grants and contributions personnel. To date, the department has tested and redesigned over 400 grants and contributions forms, applications, guidance and training materials to ensure they are fully accessible. Online application tools have also been updated to be fully accessible. Staff guidance is in place to meet the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act when developing new tools for internal and external communication documents.

Service Canada Regional Service Delivery

Atlantic

The GCcollab Atlantic Labour Market Information site's membership increased by 33% to 170 by the end of fiscal year 2021 to 2022. Participants include external stakeholders such as federal and provincial government employees, educational institutions, independent researchers, economic development agencies, and career practitioners. This platform provides external clients access to a suite of information on existing and future employment opportunities. It also informs on the skills required for jobs, navigating career pathways, and identifying future demand and supply of workers. The information also supports stakeholders in government in the design and delivery of relevant labour market programs, policies, and supports. During this period, the Atlantic region updated 108 analytical reports on the website. Those reports spanned 9 different publication series on various socio-economic and labour market topics.

To improve services for clients, the region trained pension officers to enable them to assist in call centre and processing work. Training on various work items increased regional capacity and enabled the group to meet demands. More specifically, ten cross-trained pensions officers adjusted to meet the needs of the workload during the busy T4 season and Guaranteed Income Supplement renewal period. This group answered 3,556 calls and put in 973.5 hours on the phones during peak periods. When call volume was low, this group processed a total of 10,581 work items for Old Age Security (OAS).

Québec

Québec Region implemented a pilot project to offer virtual services to Indigenous communities with 14 communities in Nunavik. Some provincial services also joined the pilot. Regional officers provided virtual service to Indigenous communities in the language used in those communities. During 2021 to 2022, the region contacted all 56 Indigenous communities in the province of Québec. Such an approach allowed communities to express their needs to departmental representatives and receive information on departmental programs and services.

The region set up meetings with more than 20 partner organizations. Improving on needs determination by obtaining information directly from communities had a positive impact on access to services. In addition, the region maintained continuous dialogue with its partners. This allowed better coordination of programs designed for designated communities, rural and remote communities, homeless Indigenous people, as well youth and persons with disabilities.

As well, 2 sectors combined their efforts to improve the validation of clients' identity at the first point of contact. Call centres officers collaborated with integrity investigators and processing officers. Such efforts allowed the department to validate the identity of thousands of citizens, and thereby get their claims processed.

Ontario

Through Service Canada Live, the Ontario region offered virtual presentations in partnership with other federal departments and levels of government. These were addressed to community partners, employers, workers, and client groups such as newcomers, youth, seniors, people with disabilities, and racialized Canadians. The region delivered a total of 166 Service Canada Live sessions to 1,324 participants.

The region also used the Joint Rapid Response Live service to offer information and assistance to employers. It recorded 157 interactions with employers, often leading to information sessions with employees facing imminent lay off. The majority of these employer interactions occurred in the manufacturing, retail trade, and arts, entertainment and recreation sectors.

The region's work on the Major Employer and Union Service Strategy framework has aided national headquarters in developing the national Third Party Service. This service will be launched in 2022 to 2023 and will enhance service to large employers, unions, and associations. The service will provide information to employers, that can then share it with their employees who:

  • Are experiencing financial hardship
  • Have experienced challenges in accessing their benefits
  • Have exhausted all other options, related to the Employment Insurance (EI) Program

This can mitigate individual requests and reduce the spike in calls to the Contact Centre.

Western

The Western Canada and Territories region implemented a pilot project allowing applicants in the 3 northern territories to verbally apply to the New Horizons for Seniors Program. The region contacted 84 seniors organizations in rural, remote and Indigenous communities across the North to promote this initiative. The department shared information in English, French and Inuktitut. Ultimately, 44 seniors organizations in the North received funding, including 3 organizations that submitted oral applications.

The region contacted 508 Indigenous communities and 497 community organizations to provide information on Service Canada programs. It also promoted to them the national Outreach Support Centre (OSC) phone line. In 2021 to 2022, the region answered 15,481 calls to this phone line. During wildfires and floods, the OSC extended its hours on evenings and weekends to support evacuees.

The region started the Service Referral pilot in Manitoba. This initiative provides a full assessment of benefits, services, and programs available to clients facing systemic barriers. The region held 2 clinics in partnership with Canada Revenue Agency. In total, 128 clients were able to access services through a community partner.

For more information on Employment and Social Development's plans, priorities and results achieved, see the "Results: what we achieved" section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Social Development

Description: Increase inclusion and opportunities for participation of Canadians in their communities.

Results

Increase access to early learning and child care

In 2021 to 2022, the department reached Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) agreements with every province and territory on behalf of Canada. This historic achievement was the culmination of years of work to establish a Canada-wide ELCC system, backed by a landmark investment of $27 billion over five years. When combined with other initiatives – including Indigenous ELCC (further detail below) – this will represent a nearly $30 billion investment in the future of children in this country over five years. By the end of the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year, Canada-wide ELCC agreements had already led to reductions in average fees for regulated child care in Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories, while Quebec and Yukon had already achieved a $10-a-day, or lower, child care system.

To ensure a seamless transition between the existing federal ELCC investments and a Canada-wide ELCC system, the department signed Extension and Workforce agreements with all provinces and territories (with the exception of Quebec, which was still in progress at fiscal year's end). These extensions enabled provinces and territories to continue their ongoing efforts to grow a skilled, professional workforce of early childhood educators. This is done through various means including better wages and greater opportunities for professional development. Provinces and territories have committed to use funding to help attract and retain early childhood educators. They may do so, for example, through grants and bursaries for students studying early childhood education.

ln addition, the ELCC Innovation Program funded 16 innovative projects for a total of $27.6M over 36 months. These projects support parents, families, and communities in their efforts to ensure the best possible future for children and families. ELCC Data and Research funding has supported work with Statistics Canada, including 7 data development projects. These include the 2022 Survey of Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements and 14 research and analysis projects. Project results help to close data gaps and inform policy development. They are disseminated via the ELCC Information Hub to ensure accessibility to all Canadians. As well, the program awarded nearly $2.5 million to 19 projects across 8 provinces and 2 territories. These projects support training and capacity building for early childhood educators in Official Languages Minority Communities.

The Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, announced in the Fall Economic Statement 2020, was publicly launched on August 4, 2021. It aims to enhance capacity within government, and seeks to engage with stakeholders to support child care policy analysis. A new organizational structure has been established and is well positioned to support the Minister of Families and Social Development in delivering on her mandate letter commitments.

The department engaged with its Indigenous partners through over 50 national and regional partnership tables and through bilateral arrangements with First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments. These governance structures aim to advance the vision and priorities of the co-developed Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework. They contribute to strengthening Indigenous governance and technical capacity in the ELCC sector. In addition, they support broader Government of Canada commitments on reconciliation and nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous peoples.

Below are select examples of IELCC priorities:

  • In Manitoba, the First Nation Education Resource Centre developed a multi-year strategy to guide investment decisions. They also proposed a new approach for First Nations governance of ELCC in the province. An Advisory Council, representative of Elders, regions, and language groups in Manitoba, provides ongoing advice on the approach
  • In Atlantic Canada, dedicated Mi'kmaw Language support is now available for Nova Scotia First Nations. As well, in Prince Edward Island, Abegweit First Nation began construction of a new child care centre
  • Federal funding supported 73 Inuit communities in increasing accessibility and expanding services. That includes by providing Indigenous language, cultural teachings and home kits for children. In Nunavut, funding has supported Indigenous language resources, Inuit cultural programs, wage subsidies, and improvements to existing child care facilities
  • Métis Nation governments advanced key ELCC priorities relating to affordability, access and culturally-appropriate programming. This includes child care subsidies in Alberta, language immersion programs for kindergarten students in Saskatchewan and the establishment of new Métis Child Care sites in Manitoba

The department distributed $120 million in emergency funding to First Nation, Métis and Inuit communities and to Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities sites. This funding supported the safe reopening of Indigenous ELCC programs and services and adherence to COVID-19 public health measures.

Efforts continued toward the development and finalization of longer-term funding allocation approaches with First Nation, Métis and Inuit governments. This will enable the establishment of multi-year early learning and child care funding agreements and plans to support program and service delivery.

Remove and prevent barriers faced by persons with disabilities

The Accessible Canada Regulations, which set out requirements for planning, reporting and administrative monetary penalties, came into force on December 13, 2021. The department published regulatory guidance on preparing accessibility plans. It will also release additional guidance documents over the course of the next 6 months. This will help regulated entities to meet or exceed the requirements set out in the regulations. Besides regulatory development, the department continued to identify relevant accessibility considerations when reviewing Government of Canada policy, program and service proposals. This review process can lead to the identification, removal and prevention of barriers to accessibility.

The department supported Indigenous organizations to engage their communities on potential ways in which the Accessible Canada Act could apply to First Nations band councils. Recommendations included in the reports will inform the development of culturally appropriate options for advancing accessibility on reserve.

It also published a report with recommendations on how to improve the accessibility of electronic payment terminals.

The department developed the Federal Data and Measurement Strategy for Accessibility 2022 to 2027 in collaboration with a wide range of federal partners. These include, among others, regulators under the Accessible Canada Act and Statistics Canada. The department also invited feedback from the disability community and a network of academics interested in accessibility/disability data. The Strategy was published during National AccessAbility Week on June 1, 2022.

Selection processes to fill the positions of Chief Accessibility Officer and Accessibility Commissioner were launched on May 27, 2021. Stephanie Cadieux was appointed as the Chief Accessibility Officer on May 2, 2022. Michael Gottheil was appointed as the Accessibility Commissioner on May 9, 2022.

National AccessAbility Week (NAAW) 2021 celebrations included webinars and virtual events held by national grant recipients. The Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Disability Inclusion hosted a virtual town hall with youth leaders with disabilities. These youth leaders shared their insights on the role of accessibility in an inclusive pandemic recovery.

The department also worked with an external committee to design a new accessible national congress on disability inclusion. The congress would include representation from the disability community and would serve as an annual event to kick-start NAAW starting in 2022.

The department continued to support 14 accessibility-focused organizations. These organizations raise awareness of the act, and the importance of advancing accessibility and inclusion in all communities. Work on a national culture change strategy on accessibility is ongoing.

Additional funding from Budget 2021 allowed the Enabling Accessibility Fund (EAF) program to support a total of 931 small projects from the 2020 call for proposals. The department also launched 3 EAF calls for proposals in 2021 to 2022, focused on the following themes:

  • Youth innovation
  • Early learning and child care (ELCC) small projects
  • Mid-sized projects (funding for successful recipients starts in 2022 to 2023)

Through the 2021 EAF Youth Innovation Component call for proposals, the program funded all eligible applications received. That totaled 133 projects and 85 successful youth accessibility leaders.

The department funded 225 projects through the first year of the EAF ELCC funding allocation to improve accessibility and safety in ELCC centres. Additional ELCC projects will be funded in fiscal year 2022 to 2023. The department has contacted sucessful applicants for the mid-sized projects call for proposals and agreements are currently being negotiated. Funding for these projects will start in fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

The department developed Canada's first-ever Disability Inclusion Action Plan, using many sources to inform its development. These included:

  • Roundtables with persons with disabilities and disability stakeholders
  • An online survey open to all, to which over 8,600 Canadians and organizations responded
  • Community-led engagement activities

The Action Plan will be released in the latter half of 2022.

A cornerstone of the Disability Inclusion Action Plan, the government reintroduced legislation to establish the Canada Disability Benefit through Bill C-22 in June 2022. The purpose of the proposed benefit is to reduce poverty and support the financial security of working-age persons with disabilities. In the spirit of "Nothing Without Us," the Government is engaging with Canadians with disabilities and other stakeholders to inform the design of the benefit. Engagement activities began in the summer of 2021 with Ministerial roundtables and an on-line public survey. Furthermore, consultations with members of the disability community and other stakeholders, including National Indigenous Organizations, will continue in 2022. Engagement is also taking place with the provinces and territories, who play a key role in providing supports and services for persons with disabilities.

Homelessness is prevented and reduced

Reaching Home continued to support communities to reduce and prevent homelessness in Canada. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the program provided $484 million, in total, to:

  • 64 communities (urban centres)
  • Various rural and remote areas across Canada
  • The 3 territorial capitals: Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Whitehorse
  • 30 Indigenous communities (mostly urban areas)

Reaching Home continued to work closely with organizations to reduce Indigenous homelessness at the community level. It provided them with funding to ensure that the unique needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation were met.

Preliminary results from the first 2 years of Reaching Home (2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021) show that the program has supported over 27,000 people to be placed into more stable housing. In addition, 67,450 people benefitted from a core homelessness prevention service, and over 7,000 people benefitted from an emergency housing funding service.

Reaching Home provided $9.3 million to 81 communities through the Community Capacity and Innovation stream. This included funding to support the national delivery of training and technical Coordinated Access assistance for communities. It also included funding them directly to design and implement local coordinated systems that streamline access to services for people with housing challenges, and foster innovation in the homelessness sector.

The Homelessness Policy Directorate supported nationally-coordinated Point-in-Time counts in 33 communities in 2021 to 2022. The counts help communities to understand the impact of the pandemic on people affected by homelessness. They alsocontribute to the national understanding of how homelessness is changing over time. Communities use the results of these counts to update and adjust plans to prevent and reduce homelessness.

Out of 64 Designated Communities, 44 had a March 2022 Coordinated Access Implementation deadline. Of these, 43 had implemented to varying degrees the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) or a comparable data management system, while one was not yet in the process of implementing HIFIS.

There are 13 Designated Communities with a March 2023 deadline. Of these, all have deployed or are in the process of implementing HIFIS. There are 7 Designated Communities that have not started implementing HIFIS (including 6 in Quebec).

In fall 2021, the Homelessness Policy Directorate and the Reaching Home program were transferred from Employment and Social Development Canada to Infrastructure Canada.

ESDC and Statistics Canada (STC) made significant progress towards developing an Official Poverty Line that reflects life in the North. This work will include a provisional methodology for a Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM) adapted to realities in Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It will also include provisional poverty rates for these territories. As well, co-development of indicators of poverty and wellbeing is ongoing between the department, the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Enhanced capacity to address social issues

As announced in Budget 2021, the Investment Readiness Program (IRP) was renewed for an additional 2 years. This will allow for continued support to social purpose organizations. The department is currently running a competitive process to select professional investment managers for the Social Finance Fund (SFF). This process should conclude in Fall 2022, with first investments following shortly after in Spring 2023. In addition, work is underway to establish the Social Innovation Advisory Council (SIAC).

Through the Disability component of the Social Development Partnership Program, the department funded 79 projects. Through the Children and Families component of that program, it provided up to $39 million in funding for projects that benefit vulnerable communities. Funding was granted under 2 themes: Social inclusion of vulnerable children and youth, and Financial empowerment of low-income people. Financial empowerment projects began in March 2022 and Social Inclusion projects will start in Summer 2022. These projects will run for up to 5 years.

Through Budget 2021, the government provided an additional $100 million to the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative. These funds were made available to address over-subscription to both the "Capital Assistance" and "Capacity Building" funding streams of the initiative. As a result, the department re-invested in the June 2020 "Capital Assistance" call for proposals. This provided an additional $76 million, over 2 years, to 1,341 Black-led organizations to improve their workplaces and community spaces.To date, the department funded more than 1,370 projects in total under this stream for a total investment of almost $82 million.

Under the "Capacity Building" stream, the department provided an additional $11 million to the Black-led National Funders Network. This group of 4 Black-led intermediary organizations support the capacity building of smaller Black-led community-based organizations. With these supplementary funds, the network launched a 2nd call for proposals and provided funding to 305 grassroots organizations. To date, the Black-led National Funders Network has awarded over $25.7 million to 705 Black-led and Black-serving grassroots organizations across Canada.

Support to establish a new National Institute for People of African Descent is currently underway. The mandate of the institute would be to inform and influence policy development from a Black-centric perspective through a variety of mechanisms. These mechanisms include applied research, knowledge development, information sharing, and stakeholder engagement.

In addition, activities took place to support sustainable engagement and knowledge-building aimed at identifying and addressing emerging gaps and priorities. Specifically, the department held the Knowledge Sharing Series events to promote awareness and understanding of the unique challenges faced by Black Canadian communities. More than 1,000 participants attended these events.

To support the development of the Black-led Philanthropic Endowment Fund, the department held a series of ministerial roundtables. These allowed the department to gather feedback on the design of the Fund from over 140 stakeholders from Black communities across Canada.

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022 was the last year of 3-year operating funding agreements with 28 national disability organizations. These organizations have been improving their capacity to support increasing the social inclusion of persons with disabilities. The department extended funding agreements by 1 year to the end of 2022 to 2023 due to delays in a new call for proposals. As a result, these organizations received a total of $5.8 million. The new call, launched at the end of 2021 to 2022, will lead to new 3-year agreements which will begin in fiscal year 2023 to 2024.

In April 2021, the program put new 3-year operating funding agreements in place with 13 regional organizations of Inclusion Canada. This represents a total investment of $1.58 million. These organizations support the social inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities at the provincial and territorial level.

The department also supported the inclusion of persons with disabilities through projects that:

  • Consult with people and organizations representing a range of disability issues, to include their perspectives in the design and development of the Disability Inclusion Action Plan. In particular, the community engagement focuses on hard-to-reach and marginalized populations
  • Support the development of tools, resources and partnerships to advance work in priority areas of the Accessible Canada Act. These projects also promote continued engagement of the disability community in the implementation of the act and its regulations
  • Promote accessibility and inclusion in communities and workplaces across Canada during National AccessAbility Week
  • Engage the disability community on how the Government of Canada implements the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  • Engage National Indigenous Organizations on barriers faced by Indigenous persons with disabilities
  • Support the development of alternate format materials for persons who are unable to read print documents
  • Increase the capacity of 8 disability organizations to advance the social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities
  • Provide leadership opportunities for youth with disabilities. These youth leaders can help disability organizations increase their capacity and increase the number of youth working in the organization
  • Test new ways to improve the financial situation of persons with disabilities who are of working age

In collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, the department supported the successful election of Canada's first-ever member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in June 2022.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program funds projects that support the social inclusion of seniors via 2 funding streams: Community-based and Pan-Canadian. The Community-based stream funds projects that help organizations address the local needs of seniors and enable seniors to make valuable contributions to their communities. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the Community-based stream funded 3,003 projects in communities across Canada. The Pan-Canadian stream funds complex, multi-year projects that support seniors-serving organizations to work together to build community capacity and provide services to seniors. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the Pan-Canadian stream funded 22 of these projects. It also funded a project to support the development of a national knowledge hub for seniors and seniors-serving organizations.

Through the Strategic Engagement and Research Program (SERP), the department funded 7 new international research projects including: the future of social protection; child well-being; childhood poverty; perceptions of social and economic risks; quality future jobs; and, preventive mediation.

The department contributed to the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). This is an international assessment of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading and science. It provides information on a range of factors that contribute to the success of students, schools, and education systems.

The program also covered assessed contributions paid to international organizations of which Canada is a member. These include the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's, Local Employment and Economic Development, Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies, and PISA; the International Social Security Association; and, the Inter-American Conference on Social Security.

These projects and assessed contributions paid under the SERP consisted of a total investment of $3,117,598 in fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

The department released the Federal Implementation Plan for the 2030 Agenda in July 2021. It developed this plan in collaboration with more than 20 departments and agencies, along with central agencies and Statistics Canada. The plan describes how federal departments and agencies will contribute to the implementation of Moving Forward Together: Canada's 2030 Agenda National Strategy.

The department engaged with partners to build awareness of and promote the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This included supporting Together ǀ Ensemble, Canada's annual national conference on the SDGs and actively participating in the Conference. The department also participated in the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

In addition, the department launched the SDG Action Networking Series of monthly webinars. These events brought together stakeholders from academia, federal and provincial/territorial governments and civil society organizations to share their experiences in advancing the SDGs in Canada and abroad.

Through the SDG Funding Program, the department funded 5 projects, in addition to 12 ongoing projects. Funded projects supported innovative approaches to advance Canada's implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. This included identifying knowledge and data gaps, reporting on results in advancing the SDGs through Voluntary Local Reviews, sharing best practices and increasing awareness of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. They also created opportunities for partnerships, collaboration and capacity building. The department ensured that Canada's implementation of the 2030 Agenda reflects Indigenous perspectives and contributes to reconciliation through ongoing engagement protocol agreements with the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council.

Services to Canadians

Recent research on removing barriers to access grants and contributions programs has:

  • Indicated the distribution of applicants per region and the funding per type of organization. This allowed for the identification of targets to support capacity building for organizations serving vulnerable populations
  • Informed discussions on funding models and changes to the funding allocation formula for the New Horizon for Seniors Program
  • Deepened ESDC's understanding of unfunded organizations with whom the department has limited interactions. For example, it allowed the department to identify service gaps and barriers such as characteristics of applicants, eligibility requirements, and ineffective communication. It also helped to understand dissatisfaction with the reason for rejection
  • Identified areas for the improvement in the application process, especially by developing client "profiles" to inform program delivery

Research continues to explore why some sub-populations of youth face barriers to accessing youth employment programs, and will test approaches to improve outreach to youth. It will also test methods for increasing participation in existing funding programs that support youth. Results will become available in the fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Gender-based analysis plus

The Enabling Accessibility Fund (EAF) benefits persons with disabilities of all genders, regions, and intersecting identities. As per statistics gathered, the program distributed benefits rather equally to persons with disabilities across all sub-groups, for example age, gender. Most recently, the department expanded final reports required from funding recipients to gather more specific statistics under the following categories:

  • Indigenous groups, to include First Nations, Inuit and Métis
  • Visible minorities, to include South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean, Japanese, other and multiple
  • Vulnerable populations, to include women, LGBTQ2+ and veterans

Intersectionality has been included as a guiding principle in the new Federal Data and Measurement Strategy for Accessibility. This recognizes that experiences of disability intersect with other categories of identity such as race, class and gender. Intersectional approaches to data collection and measurement will better inform efforts to measure progress in implementing the Accessible Canada Act. This will contribute to advancing accessibility more broadly.

The new 2-step process for the issuance of Accessible Canada grants and contributions emphasized consideration of intersectional factors. It took into consideration race, gender, age and other variables of identity in the evaluation of proposals.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the sustainable development goals

The department contributed to SDG 4 (Quality education) by investing through Budget 2021 over $27 billion over five years, to build a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) system. This system is being built in partnership with provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners. The Government of Canada's goal is that all families in Canada have access to affordable, high-quality, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care.

High-quality early learning and child care provides rich early learning experiences and environments. It also views children as competent learners who are full of potential, ensuring children across Canada are provided the best possible start in life.

The department contributed to SDG 1 (No poverty) through Opportunity for All, Canada's first poverty reduction strategy. Programs are brought together under the strategy, such as the Canada Child Benefit, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the Canada Workers Benefit, helped to steadily reduce both the child poverty rate and the overall poverty rate in Canada since 2015. The department also provided several other measures to reduce poverty, for example bymaking the Employment Insurance more accessible and simple for Canadians through temporary measures in response to the pandemic.

The department contributed to SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) by implementing the Accessible Canada Regulations. The regulations require that more than 5,000 federally regulated entities develop plans to identify, remove and prevent barriers to accessibility across their respective operations. Entities must publish an updated version of their accessibility plan every 3 years. They must also report on progress against their plan in each of the intervening years. As well, they must establish a mechanism by which persons with disabilities can provide feedback about accessibility barriers that continue to exist.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program contributes to SDG 3 (Good health and well-being). The program's main objective is to increase the social participation and inclusion of seniors in their communities. Increased social inclusion is directly linked to improved mental health. As well, the department is currently implementing the Age Well at Home initiative. This will help seniors-serving organizations provide support to seniors so they can stay in their own homes and communities as long as possible.

The Enabling Accessibility Fund contributes to SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth). It improves accessibility in workplaces and community spaces. Doing so, it supports the labour market integration and community involvement of persons with disabilities.

Experimentation

Enabling Accessibility Fund funding recipients are now required to provide a before and after picture of their project when submitting their final reports. The intake system used does not permit an applicant to proceed without the submission of at least 2 pictures. The department is exploring how to use the metadata from these images for integrity purposes.

The department continues to expand its use of the flat rate costing model. This model allows to calculate eligible project costs of commonly funded Enabling Accessibility Fund projects. Flat rate reduces the administrative burden on clients by requiring less information to apply for funding. It also facilitated the department's assessment of projects. Project officers had less information to review and could make consistent decisions for eligible project activities and project funding amounts.

The department launched a new innovative model for the second cycle of Accessible Canada funding (2022 to 2024). This new approach focuses on projects that show scalability and sustainability after federal funding ends. Scalability refers to the possibility of reaching more persons, communities and sectors. Sustainability refers to the ability to continue over time to effect long-term and system-wide change. Progress to the second phase of funding is based on demonstrated results in the first phase.

The department also conceived a brand new national congress on disability inclusion. The congress is aimed at bringing stakeholders and partners together to share information and best practices. It also fosters new partnerships as well as grassroots action to advance accessibility and inclusion. The congress would be an anchor event held annually during the week before National AccessAbility Week.

Results achieved

This section indicates, for the Social Development core responsibility, the departmental results, the performance indicators, the targets and their achievement dates, as well as the actual results for the 3 most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result: access to early learning and child care is increased

  • Performance indicator: number of children in regulated child care spaces and/or early learning programs and number of children receiving subsidies or other financial supports
  • Target: 40,000 (See note 1 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: not available (See note 2 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: not available
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: not available

Departmental result: barriers to accessibility for people with disabilities are removed

  • Performance indicator: number of community spaces and workplaces that are more accessible due to Enabling Accessibility Fund funding
  • Target: at least 400
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 376
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 386
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 1,290 ( See note 3 below)

Departmental result: homelessness is prevented and reduced

  • Performance indicator: reduction in the estimated number of shelter users who are chronically homeless
  • Target: at least a 31% reduction from 2016
  • Date to achieve target: March 2024
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 11.4% increase (2019)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: result to be achieved in the future (See note 4 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: result to be achieved in the future

Departmental result: not for profit organizations, communities and other groups have an enhanced capacity to address a range of social issues such as the social inclusion of persons with disabilities, the engagement of seniors and support for children and families

  • Performance indicator: newly developed partnerships as a percentage of all partnerships developed by recipient organizations to address a range of social issues such as the social inclusion of persons with disabilities, children and families and other vulnerable populations (See note 5 below)
  • Target: to be determined
  • Date to achieve target: March 2023
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: result to be achieved in the future
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: result to be achieved in the future
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: result to be achieved in the future

Departmental result: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs (See note 6 below)

  • Performance indicator: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Social Development programs
  • Target: 3 out of 3
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 1 out of 1
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 1 out of 1
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 2 out of 3 (See note 7 below)
Notes
  1. New bilateral agreements with provinces and territories to support the implementation of a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system will support the creation of up to 250,000 new spaces, in addition to the achieved target of 40,000 spaces
  2. Results for fiscal years 2019 to 2020, 2020 to 2021, and 2021 to 2022 are not available yet. Compilation of results across the country are based on annual reports provided by provinces and territories in the Fall of the following fiscal year. Due to the pandemic, delays have been encountered in the preparation of these reports. By march 2019, 40,116 more affordable child care spaces were created
  3. Under the EAF program, ESDC funded 1,290 projects, more than 3 times the number of projects it supported in 2020 to 2021. The program funded more projects than projected due to the $100 million in additional funding received through Budget 2021
  4. This indicator is based on the calendar year. There is a 2- to 3-year lag in the availability of data. Data for 2020 are anticipated to be available in 2022 to 2023. Data for 2021 are anticipated to be available in 2023 to 2024
  5. This is a new indicator. Baseline will be developed with 2 years of trend data from April 2020 to March 2022. Therefore, no target nor results were available at the time of publishing
  6. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca
  7. Official result for 1 of the 3 standards (Notification of Funding service) was not available at the time of publishing. The department was completing data collection activities and reviewing the methodology for this new indicator

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Table 1: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Social Development

The following table shows, for the Social Development core responsibility, budgetary spending for fiscal year 2021 to 2022, as well as actual spending for that year.

Table 1: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Social Development
Spending category 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 Planned spending (see note 1 below) 2021 to 2022 Total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 Actual spending (authorities used) 2021 to 2022 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
Gross Spending 573,455,174 573,455,174 5,205,900,019 4,463,385,712 3,889,930,538
Less: spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0 0
Less: revenues netted against expenditures 0 0 0 0 0
Net Spending 573,455,174 573,455,174 5,205,900,019 4,463,385,712 3,889,930,538

Explanation of variance: The variance between planned and actual spending for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is mainly due to additional funding received through Fall Economic Statement 2020 and Budget 2021. This includes funding for provinces and territories to support attraction and retention of early childhood educators. It also includes funding to build a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system with provinces and territories. The variance is due to receiving in-year funding that was not included in planned spending, which led to actual spending being higher than initially planned.

Notes
  1. "Planned spending" may differ from Main Estimates because it as they includes the amounts to be spent for the Specified Purpose Accounts (such as Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan accounts). These amounts include benefits paid to clients and amounts associated with the payment of these benefits.
  2. "Net Spending" excludes amounts spent under Specified Purpose Accounts.

Refer to the department's Financial Framework section for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following indicates, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021 to 2022.

  • 2021 to 2022 planned full-time equivalents: 566
  • 2021 to 2022 actual full-time equivalents: 622
  • 2021 to 2022 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents): 56
  • Explanation of variances: no significant variance.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Pensions and Benefits

Description: assist Canadians in maintaining income for retirement, and provide financial benefits to survivors, people with disabilities and their families.

Results

The following are the main results achieved by the department in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 under this core responsibility. Results are presented under the relevant departmental result.

Seniors have income support for retirement

Old Age Security (OAS) benefits continued to ensure a minimum income to seniors and contributed to their income replacement in retirement. In fiscal year 2020 to 2021, the OAS program provided $58.6 billion in OAS benefits to 6.8 million beneficiaries. This included:

  • $44.4 billion in OAS pension benefits paid to 6.7 million recipients
  • $13.7 billion in Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefits paid to 2.2 million low income seniors
  • $572 million in Allowance benefits paid to 80,200 near seniors

Many GIS and Allowance recipients experienced financial difficulty because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While seniors who lost employment income due to the pandemic were eligible to receive the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and/or the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), these special benefits subsequently resulted in a reduction in GIS or Allowance benefits for many recipients in July 2021. To alleviate this financial hardship, the government provided them a one-time grant payment. This payment aimed to compensate these seniors for the benefits they had lost over the course of the July 2021 to June 2022 payment period. Over 1,200 grant payments were manually issued in March 2022 to seniors in dire financial need. As well, an additional 212,000 payments were issued automatically in April 2022. In total, about $721.4 million was issued to over 213,000 individuals between March and April 2022.

In order to ensure this issue does not reoccur, the Old Age Security Act was amended. Most federal pandemic benefits will be excluded from the calculation of GIS/Allowance benefits, effective in July 2022. This will prevent GIS and Allowance recipients who received pandemic benefits in 2021 or later from experiencing a loss or reduction in their future GIS/Allowance benefits.

The government amended the Old Age Security Act to introduce a 10% increase to the OAS pension for seniors aged 75 and over. This measure from Budget 2021 was implemented in 2 stages:

  • A taxable grant of $500, paid in August 2021, representing approximately 3.4 million one-time payments valued at $1.7 billion to older seniors. This helped meet the immediate needs of OAS pensioners who were 75 or over as of June 30, 2022
  • A permanent 10% increase to the monthly OAS pension for seniors aged 75 and over, introduced in July 2022.

ESDC worked with its federal and provincial partners on the 2019 to 2021 Triennial Review of the CPP. Given the significant impact of the pandemic on the economy, the Triennial Review concluded with no changes being made to the Plan. The commitment to increase the survivor's pension will, therefore, be continued in the discussions for the 2021 to 2023 Triennial Review.

People with disabilities and their families have financial support

The department implemented changes to the Canada Disability Savings Program (CDSP) announced in Budget 2019 but delayed due to the pandemic. Individuals who are no longer eligible for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) can now keep their Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) open. This means they do not have to repay the government for Canada Disability Savings Grants or Bonds that were put into the RDSP. This change is intended to improve the long-term financial stability of persons with disabilities, in particular those with episodic disabilities. This allowed an average of 877 RDSP holders each year to maintain their RDSP account, including $4.5 million in grants and bonds.

The department is also working to raise awareness of the program. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the program delivered 35 information sessions hosted by stakeholder organizations across the country. It also sent information letters to all eligible individuals who had not opened a RDSP to reach more eligible Canadians. The program engaged Statistics Canada to conduct a survey to help understand how to improve program take-up. The main findings were released in The Daily on April 1, 2022 and additional analysis is being undertaken.

Services to Canadians

The department continued to support OAS and GIS automatic enrolment and uptake. This ensures that seniors and vulnerable populations receive the benefits to which they are entitled. To increase uptake of the GIS, the department continued to send letters to seniors who had never applied for the benefit. In addition, an insert was included with their 2022 tax slips to remind all GIS recipients of the importance of filing their taxes on time.

The program proactively called approximately 100,000 seniors in June 2021. Officers would advise them that they may be eligible, and to file an electronic income tax return or to provide their income information directly to Service Canada. This way, those seniors could avoid an interruption in their benefits. Finally, as part of the ongoing GIS take-up mailings, in March 2022, 59,417 persons were invited to apply for GIS.

The department continued to proactively enroll seniors aged 70 years and older to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Retirement Pension. This ensured that entitled contributors who have not applied for the pension receive their benefits without interruption. This involved reviewing 10,084 accounts of contributors 70 years and older to determine their eligibility to the CPP retirement pension.

The department enhanced electronic services that make it easier for Canadians to meet program requirements. Clients now have the ability to apply, view and modify applications online through My Service Canada Account for various CPP and OAS benefits. Applicants can also upload supporting documentation online.

The department supported the continuous improvement of CPP Disability service delivery and client experience. This included the development of a new learning framework to help medical adjudicators strengthen their decision-making competencies. It also included analyzing existing processes to help streamline the adjudication process and producing proactive and refreshed communications. These renewed communications will help client understand program requirements and available supports.

Gender-based analysis plus

The department incorporated Gender-based analysis plus to the policy development of 2 initiatives linked to the OAS program.

The analysis showed that OAS pensioners aged 75 and over differed from those aged 65 to 74, particularly with respect to income. Among OAS pensioners aged 75 and over, 59% have incomes below $30,000, and 85% have incomes below $50,000. Additionally, about 38% are low-income pensioners who receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). The financial situation of older seniors is also influenced by their marital status, and data indicated that 44% of seniors aged 75 and over are single.

To improve support of OAS pensioners aged 75 and over, the government increased their OAS pension by 10%. This 10% increase to the monthly OAS pension for pensioners aged 75 and over will be permanent. It will benefit an estimated 3.4 million OAS pensioners in fiscal year 2023 to 2024, the first full year of implementation. Slightly more women (56%) than men (44%) will benefit directly from this measure in fiscal year 2023 to 2024.

The second initiative was the one-time payment for GIS and Allowances recipients who received pandemic benefits in 2020. Many of these recipients faced a loss or reduction in their benefits in July 2021 because the pandemic benefits had increased their income for 2020. To support those affected, the department issued them a one-time payment in August 2021.

Among the projected beneficiaries of this one-time payment, 62% of the single GIS and Allowance recipients had incomes below $35,000 (including OAS benefits). As well, about 70% of the GIS and Allowance recipients in couples who received it had incomes below $60,000 (including OAS benefits). About 54% of recipients were men and 46% were women.

The department also incorporated GBA plus for the purposes of the CPP triennial review and when assessing any changes to the plan. This allows the department to consider the impacts of any modifications of CPP measures on women, vulnerable groups and people of intersecting identities.

Such analysis indicated that women are expected to benefit significantly more than men from the commitment to boost the CPP Survivor's pension. As women live longer and are generally younger than their partners, they are more likely to survive their spouse. Therefore, they are more likely to benefit from the CPP Survivor's pension. In June 2021, they represented 79.7% of Survivor's pension beneficiaries and 77.7% of the combined retirement and Survivor's pension beneficiaries.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

The OAS pension will permanently increase by 10% for pensioners aged 75 and over, starting in July 2022. This measure will contribute to advancing SDG 1 (No poverty) and SDG 5 (Gender equality). The increase will give seniors additional financial security, particularly at a time when they face greater financial vulnerability. This vulnerability flows from increased care expenses, the risk of outliving their savings, and the risk of widowhood. As well, the permanent increase to the OAS pension will help slightly more women than men since 56% of the beneficiaries will be women.

The department further contributed to SDG 1 (No poverty) through a one-time payment compensating low-income seniors who accessed pandemic benefits in 2020. Recipients of this one-time payment were GIS and Allowances recipients who received pandemic benefits in 2020, which raised their income for that year, often leading to a reduction in their benefits for the following year. Among this group, 62% of the single GIS and Allowance recipients had incomes below $35,000, while 70% of the GIS and Allowance recipients in couples had incomes below $60,000 (income includes OAS benefits).

The Canada Disability Savings Program (CDSP) supports the long-term financial security of persons with disabilities. This support improves the well-being of persons with disabilities and assists in their full participation in their communities. The program therefore contributes to SDG 1 (No poverty) and SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities).

Experimentation

The department completed the first step of designing the return to the labour market pilot under the CPP Disability benefit. This included research, analysis and consultations. The department identified best practices as options for the pilot to help beneficiaries return to work. This suite of options provides the basis for the design that will be further developed in fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Results achieved

This section indicates, for the Pensions and Benefits core responsibility, the departmental results, the performance indicators, the targets and their achievement dates, as well as the actual results for the 3 most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result: seniors have income support for retirement

  • Performance indicator 1 of 4: percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security Pension in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors (See note 1 below)
  • Target: at least 97%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 97.2% (2017)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 97.1% (2018)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 96.8% (2019)
  • Performance indicator 2 of 4: percentage of seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors (See note 2 below)
  • Target: at least 90%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 91.1% (2017)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 91.2% (2018)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 92.2% (2019)
  • Performance indicator 3 of 4: percentage of Canada Pension Plan contributors aged 70+ receiving retirement benefits (See note 2 below)
  • Target: at least 99%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 99% (2017)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 99% (2018)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 99% (2019)
  • Performance indicator 4 of 4: percentage of seniors living in poverty (See note 3 below)
  • Target: at most 6.1%
  • Date to achieve target: December 2030
  • 2010 to 2020 actual results: 5.6% (2018) (See note 4 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 5.4% (2019)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 3.1% (2020)

Departmental result: people with disabilities and their families have financial support

  • Performance indicator 1 of 3: percentage of Canada Pension Plan contributors who have contributory eligibility for Canada Pension Plan Disability benefits and therefore have access to financial support in the event of a severe and prolonged disability
  • Target: at least 66%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 65% (2018)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 65% (2019)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: Unavailable at the time of publishing
  • Performance indicator 2 of 3: percentage of Canadians eligible for the Disability Tax Credit who have a Registered Disability Savings Plan to encourage private savings
  • Target: at least 36%
  • Date to achieve target: December 2021
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 35% (2019)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 35.1% (2020)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: not available (See note 5 below)
  • Performance indicator 3 of 3: percentage of Registered Disability Savings Plan beneficiaries that have received a grant and/or a bond to assist them and their families to save for their long-term financial security
  • Target: at least 84%
  • Date to achieve target: December 2021
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 84% (2019)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 80% (2020)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 78% (2021)

Departmental result: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs (See note 6 below)

  • Performance indicator 1 of 4: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Pensions and Benefits programs
  • Target: 10
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 5 out of 10
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 5 out of 10
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 5 out of 10
  • Performance indicator 2 of 4: percentage of Canada Pension Plan Retirement Benefits paid within the first month of entitlement
  • Target: at least 90%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 97%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 98%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 95.9%
  • Performance indicator 3 of 4: percentage of decisions on applications for a Canada Pension Plan disability benefit made within 120 calendar days
  • Target: at least 80%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 54%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 61%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 87.2%
  • Performance indicator 4 of 4: percentage of Old Age Security basic benefits paid within the first month of entitlement
  • Target: at least 90%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 91%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 91%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 89.5%
Notes
  1. The actual result can be impacted by the fact that seniors can delay the receipt of their Old Age Security pension up to age 70, in exchange for a higher pension. Of note, there is a 3-year time lag in the availability of data.
  2. There is a 3-year time lag in the availability of data.
  3. This indicator is based on Canada's Official Poverty Line. Data is collected by Statistics Canada through the annual Canadian Income Survey.
  4. Values for previous years were updated to reflect Statistics Canada's rebasing of the Market Basket Measure to 2018. Consequently, the result of 3.5% indicated for 2018 in the 2021 to 2022 Departmental Plan has been changed to 5.6% for that same year in the 2020 to 2021 Departmental Results report (produced afterward).
  5. There is a one-year lag in the availability of data. Data for 2021 will be available by the end of 2022 and will be published in the next report.
  6. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca.

Table 2: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Pensions and Benefits

The following table shows, for the Pension and Benefits core responsibility, budgetary spending for 2021 to 2022, as well as actual spending for that year.

Table 2: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Pensions and Benefits
Spending category 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 Planned spending (see note 1 below) 2021 to 2022 Total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 Actual spending (authorities used) 2021 to 2022 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
Gross Spending 63,705,997,499 117,935,559,921 116,955,875,812 116,883,878,441 (1,051,681,480)
Less: spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 54,229,562,422 53,052,273,993 53,052,273,993 (1,177,288,429)
Less: revenues netted against expenditures 338,566,133 338,566,133 368,748,017 337,528,982 (1,037,151)
Net Spending (see note 2 below) 63,367,431,366 63,367,431,366 63,534,853,802 63,494,075,466 126,644,100

Explanation of variances: no significant variance.

Notes:
  1. "Planned spending" may differ from Main Estimates because it as they includes the amounts to be spent for the Specified Purpose Accounts (such as Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan accounts). These amounts include benefits paid to clients and amounts associated with the payment of these benefits.
  2. "Net Spending" excludes amounts spent under Specified Purpose Accounts.

Refer to the department's Financial Framework section for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following indicates, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021 to 2022.

  • 2021 to 2022 planned full-time equivalents: 6,221
  • 2021 to 2022 actual full-time equivalents: 6,829
  • 2020 to 2021 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents: 608
  • Explanation of variances: the increase in full-time equivalents mainly reflects additional staff hired to deliver the Old Age Security and advance the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Learning, Skills Development and Employment

Description: help Canadians access post-secondary education, obtain the skills and training needed to participate in a changing labour market, and provide supports to those who are temporarily unemployed.

Results

More students from low- and middle-income families have supports to participate in post-secondary education

The department worked with community partners and stakeholders across Canada to raise awareness and increase uptake of the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). The bond is money that the government adds to a Registered Education Savings Plan for children from low-income families. The department held 6 webinars during Education Savings Week. It also collaborated with community-based organizations to send approximately 94,000 letters to CLB-eligible families that these organizations serve.

The department shared results of Phase I of the CLB Grants and Contributions Pilot Project with the CLB Champions' network. This will help member organizations to improve their practices and support more families in accessing the CLB. Lessons learned also informed the second phase of the pilot, through which 11 projects were launched. These projects will test ways to help families with low income access the CLB.

In 2022, 148,000 18-year-old Canadians will become eligible to access the CLB themselves by opening a Registered Education Savings Plan in their own name. In preparation, the department established the information technology (IT) systems, new website content, promotional materials, and post-secondary education partnerships to ensure access. Approximately 500 young adults received over $500,000 in Canada Learning Bonds between January and March 2022.

The department also sent more than 62,000 letters to families with CLB-eligible 17-year–old children. These letters explained how their child can apply for the CLB themselves at age 18.

The department supported over 32,000 students through projects led by organizations including Pathways, Indspire and others funded through the Supports for Student Learning Program. The department funded new projects aimed at bridging gaps in educational attainment, addressing systemic inequities, and reaching students with the greatest needs.

This included funding of $11.8 million to Indspire to provide scholarships and bursaries for close to 6,600 Indigenous students through Building Brighter Futures. It also helped increase access to the Rivers to Success virtual mentoring program.

This also included funding of $9.5 million to Pathways to Education Canada. These funds supported over 6,200 students in completing high school, transitioning to and persisting in post-secondary education, training and employment.

The full implementation of the Outbound Student Mobility Pilot had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of March 2022, travel under this program resumed, providing Canadian post-secondary students, with opportunities to study and work abroad.

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the Canada Service Corps promoted and facilitated the creation of 1,802 micro-grant contributions and 8,576 service placement opportunities. These placements are designed to engage youth in civic participation and help them gain skills for the future.

Student borrowers have support to help them repay their federal student debt

The department progressed on its multi-year plan to improve financial literacy tools on the National Student Loans Service Centre's website. The department completed consultations with provincial and territorial partners, and other stakeholders on the costs and benefits of mandatory training on financial literacy. These consultations support the departmental assessment of mandatory training as having the potential to increase the financial literacy of students. However, further work is required to better understand the effectiveness of such training and analyze possible implementation options.

The department and its partners will study the feasibility of a potential mandatory financial literacy training for post-secondary students. This study will inform next steps.

As of April 2021, the Government of Canada temporarily eliminated interest on the repayment of Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans. This measure will be in effect until March 31, 2023.

Canadians have access to lifelong learning and adult upskilling and the tools they need to succeed in a rapidly changing labour market

Through Budget 2021, the Government of Canada invested $298 million over 3 years in the Skills for Success (SFS) program. This new program replaced the Literacy and Essential Skills Program. This new funding will help approximately 90,000 Canadians improve their foundational and transferable skills. These Canadians will be able to better prepare for, get and keep a job, as well as adapt and succeed at work.

Approximately 45% of Canadians lack the literacy, numeracy and digital skills that are increasingly necessary to succeed in a knowledge-economy. The SFS program funds projects to help Canadians develop these skills. Priority funding is also reserved for projects addressing the needs of under-represented groups. These include: Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, official language minority communities, and racialized Canadians. Funding supports projects that:

  • Deliver foundational and transferable skills training to Canadians
  • Develop foundational and transferable skills assessment and training tools
  • Test, replicate and scale foundational and transferable skills training approaches

Some of these resources will be made available online to all Canadians at no cost.

The government announced the Women's Employment Readiness (WER) Pilot Program in the Fall Economic Statement 2020. The pilot received funding of $50M over 2 years. This pilot funds organizations to provide and test pre-employment and skill development supports for women who face multiple barriers. Funded organizations will provide and test foundational and transferable skills training to women along with a range of wrap-around supports, such as transportation, childcare, living allowances, etc. The pilot also tests models to improve workplace inclusivity for women. The 4 groups of women the pilot targets are:

  • Racialized women and/or Indigenous women
  • Women with disabilities
  • Women from the LGBTQ2 community
  • Women with prolonged workforce detachment

A call for proposals was held in June 2021 and received over 200 applications. In total, 26 organizations were approved for funding in December 2021 and projects started as early as March 2022. Collectively, the projects are anticipated to serve up to 5,000 women. Approximately three-quarters of the projects include employers and will also be testing models to improve workplace inclusivity.

Results will be used to inform systemic changes to skills and employment programming to ultimately improve employment outcomes for women. The pilot includes a robust intersectional performance measurement framework that will be used for the evaluation and results. Additionally, a public "What We Heard" report will be made available after the pilot ends to share lessons learned and key findings.

Following the release of its report Canada – A Learning Nation (2020), the Future Skills Council launched a 6-episode podcast series. The cCouncil hosted 5 digital dialogues and the 2021 Future Skills Forum. Roughly 200 stakeholders from across sectors nationwide participated.

The Future Skills Centre engaged in over 720 knowledge dissemination activities, produced 87 research reports and maintained engagement and outreach with over 20,000 stakeholders. The website received an average of over 10,000 unique visitors per month. So far, the Future Skills Centre has invested in 177 innovative and research projects spanning every province and territory. Over 10,000 Canadians have received hands-on skills training to prepare them for new jobs, involving 1,000 employers in more than 20 sectors.

The Government of Canada provides funding to provinces and territories to help individuals and employers obtain skills training and employment supports. This funding, of approximately $3 billion each year, is provided through the Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) and the Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs). Over 1 million clients benefit from programming and supports under these agreements.

Note: LMDA results will be available in Chapter III of the 2021 to 2022 Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report. Tabling of the report in Parliament is scheduled for April 2023. WDA results will be complete in the third quarter of 2022 to 2023, once data from all provinces and territories is received and validated. They will be reported on in the DRR 2022 to 2023 during the 4th quarter of 2023. A.

Canadians are supported in accessing apprenticeship training and the trades

The Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness Program (STAR) encourages Canadians to explore and prepare for careers in the skilled trades. It provides $10 million annually to this end and supports groups that face barriers (e.g., women, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers to Canada, persons with disabilities and youth). In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department funded 8 new projects in addition to the 7 projects already active. Results indicate that the number of individuals that received skills training and supports required to pursue a career in the skilled trades was 3,549 in the fiscal year 2021 to 2022. In addition, as actual results for fiscal 2020 to 2021 were not available in the last Departmental Results Report due to data collection delays related to COVID-19, actual results for the number of individuals receiving skills training and supports for that fiscal year was 3,695.

The department also invested $6 million to create a national campaign to promote the skilled trades as a first-choice career for youth. The campaign also aims to change the perception around careers in the trades. As part of this campaign, the department launched the Canada.ca/skilled-trades website. It includes resources and tools to help Canadians learn about the skilled trades. During the 3-month campaign, the web page received close to half a million visits. The campaign also generated approximately 200 million impressions, along with almost 50 million video views and over 850,000 clicks on different platforms.

The Apprenticeship Grants Program supports entry/progression and completion/certification within an apprenticeship program in a designated Red Seal trade. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the program supported the following number of apprentices through its 3 available grants:

  • The Apprenticeship Incentive Grant supported 34,068 apprentices
  • The Apprenticeship Completion Grant supported 21,868 apprentices
  • The Apprenticeship Incentive Grant for Women supported 2,923 women

Note: The department was unable to meet the targets set out in the Departmental Plan as a result of temporary closures of many businesses and apprenticeship training facilities caused by the pandemic.

The Red Seal Program is a partnership to develop national standards and examinations for each of the designated Red Seal trades. Partners are the federal government, the provinces and territories (who are responsible for apprenticeship training and trade certification in their jurisdictions), and industry. The Red Seal product development methods are continuously reviewed and modified to ensure efficiency and integrity. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the program:

  • Published 8 standards for the trades
  • Completed 1 examinations for 1 trade;
  • Held 6 workshops to develop standards and 11 workshops to develop examinations

Note: The number of completed examinations for trades was significantly lower than the targets set out in the Departmental Plan for 3 main reasons: the impact of COVID-19 restrictions for in-person development workshops; enhanced security requirements for online development workshops; and difficulties finding industry experts to take part in examination development due to a very in-demand trades workforce

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, all workshops were either virtual, in-person, or a mix of both (hybrid). The format of each workshop depended on public health restrictions and capacity. There were a total of 6 virtual national workshops for standards development, and 1 virtual and 10 hybrid workshops for examination development. In addition, there were numerous smaller workshops held either in-person in a province or virtual (10 in-person; 8 virtual).

The Union Training and Innovation Program supports union-based apprenticeship training and innovation. It also enhances partnerships in the Red Seal trades through an annual investment of $25 million. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department funded31 new Investments in Training Equipment projects. These projects provide new training equipment and materials leading to higher quality training and a more skilled and productive trades workforce. In total, the department supported 191 equipment cost-sharing projects and 32 innovation projects in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. Results indicate that the number of individuals supported in union-based apprenticeship training, innovation and partnerships in Red Seal trades was 28,810 for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022. In addition, as actual results for fiscal 2020 to 2021 were not available in the last Departmental Results Report due to data collection delays related to COVID-19, actual results for the number of individuals supported for that fiscal year was 28,324.

The department launched the Apprenticeship Service, announced in Budget 2021, on August 3, 2021. The Apprenticeship Service will help first-year apprentices in eligible Red Seal trades connect with employment opportunities at small and medium-sized enterprises. This will allow them to gain the hands-on experience that is required to succeed in the skilled trades.

The department funded over 110 Indigenous service delivery organizations through the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program. These organizations provided skills and employment training to First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban/non-affiliated Indigenous Peoples. This training will help them to improve their skills and meet their long-term career goals. There was an additional one-year funding of $144.2 million included which was provided in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to support pandemic recovery. This funding supported the following goals:

  • Increase training and supports for clients facing the most barriers, including Indigenous youth and Indigenous persons with disabilities
  • Invest in the capacity of Indigenous service delivery organizations
  • Enhance labour market data through the First Nations Labour Market Information and Skills Inventory Pilot

Funding was provided through an Indigenous service delivery network on a distinctions-basis. This re-enforced the department's efforts to advance reconciliation and support the autonomy of Indigenous organizations to design and deliver training. Using this approach develops training that can better meet the specific needs of their communities and clients.

Training and other supports were provided to 47,848 Indigenous clients, including 42,482 new clients. This resulted in 16,466 Indigenous people finding employment and 5,604 returning to school for further skills development. Funds, including additional Fall Economic Statement funding, also supported training to 23,803 new Indigenous Youth and 4,462 Persons and Disabilities, helping to support the employment of 7,315 Indigenous Youth and 1,344 Persons with Disabilities and 4,450 Indigenous Youth and 739 Indigenous Persons with Disabilities return to school.

Through the Engagement Protocol Agreements, the department provides funding to 8 national Indigenous organizations, which have a mandate from Indigenous governments, communities and organizations to act as interlocutors with the federal government and to support collaborative engagement, research and policy development with First Nations, Inuit and Métis leadership and communities. This multi-year funding continues to contribute to the department's ability to maintain an ongoing dialogue with Indigenous partners. It has also enabled Indigenous organizations to have more direct input on issues that directly impact First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and to help guide the design and development of departmental policies and programs to better suit the needs of Indigenous peoples. For example, the agreements provided funding that enabled partners to respond to and inform numerous joint Government of Canada and partner priorities, including establishing an early dialogue on accessibility and disability inclusion.

Some $9 million of the 2020 Fall Economic Statement funds for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 were allocated to the First Nations Labour Market Information and Skills Inventory Survey Pilot. The pilot is designed to test approaches to improve labour market information in First Nations communities. The pilot addresses a long standing gap as the Labour Force Survey is not conducted on reserves and the Census is undertaken every 5 years. The funding supported the participation of 26 new communities in the pilot, including communities with members residing off-reserve for the first time. The funding also supported studies to assess the feasibility of implementing the survey in other Indigenous communities. The number of Indigenous people surveyed increased in 2021 to 2022 from 36,340 to 165,100, an increase of approximately 354%. The information collected will help First Nations communities with community planning, programming and job matching and help the department better understand the labour market situation in First Nations communities.

The Skills and Partnership Fund supports partnerships between Indigenous organizations and employers. The objective of these partnerships is to provide skills training linked to economic opportunities at the local, regional and national level to Indigenous peoples. A call for proposals was launched in 2021 to 2022 to support a new funding cycle to start in 2022 to 2023. This was informed by extensive engagement completed in 2021 to 2022 and targets 5 priority sectors:

  • Green Economy
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Infrastructure
  • Blue Economy
  • The Indigenous Public Sector

Projects from the previous funding cycle provided skills training to over 16,888 Indigenous people. They helped 6,826 clients to find employment and 1,275 clients to return to school for further training. The original target was to support 8,000 jobs by the end of the projects, but results were impacted by the pandemic.

Employment opportunities for youth are increased

The government committed to scale up the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) to provide more paid work experience for young Canadians. As a result of new investments, targets for the program were increased. They were set to over 42,000 youth supported through the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program and 120,000 youth helped through Canada Summer Jobs. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, YESS served over 160,000 youth.

YESS also tailored its supports for youth and expanded eligible activities to help youth facing barriers to obtain employment or skills training. These tailored supports include access to mentorship, mental health services and child care support. Youth facing barriers to employment include:

  • Indigenous youth
  • Black and racialized youth
  • Youth living with a disability
  • Youth living in rural/remote areas
  • Youth living in an official language minority community

The Canada Summer Job (CSJ) program surpassed its fiscal year 2021 to 2022 target of providing 120,000 youth placements. It served 124,747.

Through Budget 2021, the government invested an additional $239.8M in the Student Work Placement (SWP) program. This funding responded to the economic impacts created by the pandemic and the resulting pressures on students and employers. It extended the COVID-19 program flexibilities and temporary measures introduced in 2020 into the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year. It also supported an additional 20,000 opportunities.

As a result, ESDC supported the creation of 50,054 work-integrated learning opportunities, in total, for post-secondary students across Canada. In 2021 to 2022, the program created 35,120 Work-Integrated Learning opportunties. It also created 14,934 Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative opportunties.

Canadians participate in an inclusive and efficient labour market

The Foreign Credential Recognition Program supports the labour market participation of skilled newcomers by funding projects that reduce barriers to employment. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the program funded 17 new multi-year projects for a total value of $33,604,480. Of the total value, $5,112,394 was distributed in 2021 to 2022. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities was reorganized under 3 streams. These include, a participant-focused stream, an employer stream focused on workplace inclusion and accessibility, and a career advancement stream for persons with disabilities who are already employed.

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the program supported 4,375 persons with disabilities, of which 2,050 became employed or self-employed and 299 returned to school, following program participation. In addition, the program supported 1,263 employers.

Note: Quebec results are not included as they will be available at the end of November 2022.

The actual results for the number of persons with disabilities and employers supported was lower than forecasted. This is due to the impact of COVID-19 on projects, lower than expected operational capacity of delivery organizations, and changes in the way employer-focused activities were reported.

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department has worked closely with its territorial and provincial partners to increase supports and protections for migrant workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. This included the pre-publication of proposed new regulations in the Canada Gazette, Part 1, in the summer of 2021. These proposed regulations sought to improve protections for temporary foreign workers and enhance the Government's ability to prevent bad actors from participating in the program.

The department has been working towards addressing the most immediate of concerns regarding the development of minimum requirements for employer-provided accommodations which were raised by stakeholders, and captured in the December 1, 2021 "What We Heard Report". The development and implementation of these program changes are being done in collaboration with provinces and territories, via a Federal, Provincial and Territorial Working Group that was established in March of 2022.

The program also took steps to address the power imbalance between workers and employers and helping workers better understand and exercise their rights:

  • The department implementend enhancements to its tip line, with live agents offering services in multiple languages. These agents help workers better communicate situations of mistreatment or abuse, and provide additional education for workers on their rights. All allegations are reviewed and appropriate action are taken
  • Through Budget 2021, the government committed $49.5 million over 3 years to implement a new Migrant Worker Support Program. This program will further increase the protection of temporary foreign workers and ensure they continue to safely enter Canada. The government also invested $54.9 million over 3 years to increase inspections of employers and to help ensure temporary foreign workers have safe working conditions and are being paid appropriately. As a result, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program initiated 2,190 inspections and completed 3,065 inspections. The outcomes of these inspections included 51% of employers found compliant (1,560), 38% of employers brought into compliance (1,157), and 11% of employers found non-compliant (348). Employers found to be initially non-compliant, are provided with the opportunity to address the inspection findings. Employers who remain non-compliant and do not meet the terms and conditions of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program can face a range of consequences including: receiving a warning letter, monetary penalties up to $100,000 per violation (to a maximum of $1 million per year), temporary or permanent bans from the program, and/or having their names and information about the violations published on the Government of Canada's website

The department also implemented a number of measures to improve program flexibilities and reduce administrative burdens for employers which help ensure that businesses including Canada's food producers have reliable, efficient access to foreign workers where Canadians are not available. This includes:

  • Temporarily suspended recruitment requirements for the Primary Agriculture Stream
  • Reduced need for employers to submit minor administrative changes to Service Canada
  • Expedited change requests (i.e. name change) for reasons related to COVID-19 or for eligible temporary foreign workers already in Canada
  • Prioritized applications for those occupations considered essential during the pandemic, such as those in agriculture and health care
  • Effective October 24, 2021, COVID-19 interim Refusal to Process policy was adjusted. All regions in Canada were considered to have unemployment rates of at least 6%. This allowed for the processing of Labour Market Impact Assessment applications for occupations in accommodations, food services, and the retail trade sectors with an unemployment rate below 6%

In August 2021, the Government of Quebec and the federal government announced a pilot project offering additional flexibility for Quebec employers in sectors facing extreme skill and labour shortages. This includes, amongst other benefits, a streamlined process for hiring foreign workers for specific, sought-after positions, and the raising of the limit of workers that can be hired for low-wage positions in certain sectors.

The department invested $36 million to create employment and career-building opportunities for persons with disabilities through the Sectoral Initiatives Program (SIP). This funding supported the launch of 10 projects. These projects will help remove barriers, improve employer resources and provide training tools to Canadians with disabilities. The program also launched an additional 22 projects (valued at $64 million) to help Canada's tourism and hospitality sector. These projects will contribute to attract and retain skilled workers, build capacity through training and resources, and remove barriers for equity-deserving groups.

In Budget 2021, the government announced an investment of $960 million over 3 years, beginning in 2021 to 2022 for the new Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program (SWSP). This new program builds on the success of the former SIP, which is folded within the new program. It will support key sectors of the economy implement industry-led solutions to address current and emerging workforce needs. The program will help thousands of employers and connect Canadians with training to access good jobs in key sectors where employers are looking for skilled workers. It will also support equity-deserving groups by promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce and providing wrap-around supports as needed to those facing barriers to participation. The SWSP completed its first intake process in March 2022, through a solicited and an open calls for proposals, with a focus on 3 key priorities:

  • Building talent for the clean economy
  • Supporting demand-driven solutions for sectors hardest hit by the pandemic and those key to recovery
  • Investing in the health care sector

Through the Fall Economic Statement 2020, the government had announced $38.5 million over 2 years to train up to 4,000 personal support worker interns. In August 2021, the department extended the Long-Term and Home Care pilot project to March 31, 2024. This extension was due to the addition of the career advancement pathway for full Personal Support Worker certification. The project is on track to train up to 2,600 participants as Supportive Care Assistants through the micro-credential program. It should also help up to 1,300 participants upgrade to full Personal Support Worker certification through the Personal Care Provider program.

Note: Following consultations with the sector, the department amended the initial target to train up to 4,000 Personal Support Workers through the micro credential program. Revised target is to train up to 2,600 Supportive Care Assistants with supports for 1,300 micro-credential graduates to enroll in a full Personal Support Worker certification program.

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the Labour Mobility Working Group focused on improving communications and transparency of labour mobility opportunities and requirements. It developed a new tool for certifed workers on the labour mobility process. It also updated the workersmobility.ca website to better communicate information on labour mobility processes and requirements to workers, employers and regulators.

Since April 2021, job seekers and employers can view and share resumes via Job Bank. Over the last fiscal year, 10,230 job seekers directly shared 10,453 resumes with potential employers using Job Bank's tools.

Canadians receive financial support during times of need and during employment transitions such as job loss, illness, or maternity/parental leave

Temporary measures implemented in fall 2020 to simplify Employment Insurance (EI) and make it more accessible ended on September 25, 2021. Results associated with these measures will be made available as part of the 2021 to 2022 EI Monitoring and Assessment Report, which is expected tobe released in spring 2023.

In Budget 2021, the government announced additional temporary measures aiming to maintain easier and more flexible access to EI as the economy continued to recover. They include:

  • A common national entrance requirement of 420-hours to improve access to EI regular and special benefits for workers
  • Measures to simplify EI program rules and make it easier to navigate and administer
  • Enhancements to employer eligibility, duration of benefits, and streamlined application in the EI Work-Sharing program

These measures came into effect on September 26, 2021 and are in effect until September 24, 2022. In Budget 2021, the government also announced consultations over a 2 year period to inform long-term reforms to the EI program. The first phase of these consultations ran from August 2021 to February 2022. It included 21 stakeholder roundtables focused on improving access to EI, including for self-employed and gig workers. An online questionnaire on how to improve the EI program ran from August 6, 2021 until November 19, 2021. It received more than 1,900 responses. In addition, the department received over 70 written submissions from groups and individuals representing employers, workers and unions. A second phase of consultations was launched in April 2022 and ended in July. It focused on the adequacy of EI benefits and EI financing. It also took a deeper dive into some of the areas discussed in first phase.

Services to Canadians

The department implemented various measures to improve services to Canadians, including:

  • Simplifying the application process by requesting minimal information from applicants, standardizing application documents, and simplifying the online application processes
  • Improving internal business processes by increasing hiring to process applications, and standardizing training and guidance. The department also increased flexibility to use the national workforce more efficiently

The department developed an outreach plan to increase uptake and applications for temporary foreign workers submitted by employers via the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) Online portal. This will encourage employers and third parties to submit and manage their Labour Market Impact Assessments within the portal and will support the Temporary Foreign Workers Program modernization agenda. The program conducted a review of the Government of Canada and Treasury Board's current directive, policy and vision on using technology to improve services to Canadians. This will ensure that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program's transition to online applications aligns with existing guidelines. The program is connected with key stakeholders to identify best practices and approaches to increase online submissions. These stakeholders include Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency and other program teams within Employment and Social Development Canada.

Gender-based analysis plus

Through the Improving Gender and Diversity Outcomes in Skills Programs initiative, the department increased its access to more disaggregated demographic data. It launched new projects aiming to:

  • Standardize the demographic information collected from skills programs participants
  • Link skills program administrative data sets with other data sets from programs within the Department and data sets from other government departments
  • Develop an advanced data analytics platform

To improve its understanding of barriers faced by different target populations, the department commissioned several qualitative research projects in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. These allowed the department to fill data gaps on the skills needs and employment barriers faced by equity-deserving groups. These groups include: youth, racialized individuals, persons with disabilities, newcomers, Indigenous Peoples, and LGBTQ2+ people.

Improved access to both quantitative and qualitative data is allowing skills programs to undertake a robust and thorough Gender-based analysis (GBA Plus). This serves to make skills programs and policies more responsive, inclusive and accessible to Canadians who are underrepresented in the labour market.

In total, 4 skills programs were adjusted in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, boding better outcomes for equity-deserving groups:

  • The Women Employment Readiness (WER) Pilot funds organizations to provide and test pre-employment and skills development supports. These are geared toward 4 groups of multi-barriered women (i.e.: racialized and/or Indigenous, women with disabilities, women from the LGBTQ2+ community, and women with a prolonged detachment from the labour force)
  • The Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program will fund projects delivered by third-party organizations. These projects will support a range of industry-driven workforce development activities in key sectors. These activities include but are not limited to initiatives addressing barriers and promoting the participation of equity-deserving groups
  • The Foreign Credential Recognition Program implemented a new data collection method to track the number of newcomer women, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities who receive employment supports
  • The Student Work Placement Program developed an 'Outcome Campus Connect portal'. This portal enables the program's funding recipients to report data on program participation of under-represented groups

The Canada Education Savings Program analyzes disaggregated data and intersectional factors to inform policy and program initiatives. For example, projects funded for Phase II of the CLB Grants and Contributions Pilot Project focus on populations facing barriers as identified through Gender-based Analysis Plus. These populations include Indigenous families, single-parent families, and families with very low incomes. They also include newcomers, children in care, youth transitioning to post-secondary education, and individuals living in rural and remote areas of Canada. The Canada Education Savings Program started presenting results by sex in its 2020 Annual Statistical Review. It is gradually shifting from collection of sex data to collection of gender data.

The Canada Service Corps (CSC) began collecting disaggregated data from recipient organizations in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 to better understand GBA plus impacts. Recognizing a need to expand the CSC program and strengthen diversity, the program also implemented the new Micro-Grants Diversity Stream. This stream aims to provide youth with access to organizations and mentors who have similar lived experiences and match them, as required, with organizations led by members of Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ2+ or persons with disabilities.

The Supports for Student Learning Program collect data from some youth-serving organizations to assess the GBA plus impacts of its funding. Based on the latest data available, Pathways to Education Canada has gender-balanced participation. Approximately 46% of participants identified as female and 46% identified as male. For Indigenous identity, on average, about 9% of Pathways students self-identified as Indigenous. Of those 558 students who self-identified as belonging to 1 or more Indigenous groups, 87% identified as First Nations, 1% identified as Inuit, and 4% identified as Métis. Another 12% self-identified as Indigenous, Aboriginal and/or Native without further specification. For Indspire, the percentage of recipients by Indigenous identity included approximately 68% Status First Nation, 26% Métis, 3% Inuit, and 2% Non-Status First Nation.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Student Work Placement Program, including the Innovative Work Integrated Learning Initiative, contributed to sustainable development goal (SDG) 8 (Decent work and economic growth). The program created over 39,000 work-integrated learning opportunities for students enrolled in any post-secondary education program. In doing this, the program is better preparing post-secondary students to enter competitive job markets. It also helps employers build a talent pipeline for their current and future hiring needs.

The Opportunities Fund for Person with Disabilities also contributed to SDG 8. Results indicate that in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, 3,987 persons with disabilities were served.

Note: Results for Québec are not included as they will be available at the end of November 2022.

The Future Skills Program contributes to SDG 1 (No poverty) by supporting community organizations working to achieve positive solutions to persistent social problems. During fiscal year 2021 to 2022, its Centre approved funding for 42 projects ($71M) and produced 87 new research projects. The program also contributes to SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth). To date, more than 10,000 Canadians have received skills training through innovation pilots with more than 1,000 employers. Specifically, 84% of funding goes to projects that served underrepresented groups. These include women (37% of projects), youth (37%), Indigenous (36%), rural (27%) and newcomers (27%).

The Skills for Success (SFS) Program contributed to SDG 4 (Quality education). It supported the development and delivery of training resources for adult Canadians to improve their foundational and transferable skills. These skills include literacy, numeracy, digital and adaptability skills. The program also contributed to SDG 8 through targeted investments in the design and delivery of training and training resources.

The Women's Employment Readiness Pilot Program also contributes to SDG 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and 10 (Reduced inequalities). The pilot funds organizations to provide and test foundational and transferable skills training coupled with wrap-around supports (childcare, counselling, living allowances, etc.). The pilot also funds organizations to work with employers to test ways to improve workplace inclusivity for women.

Results of the pilot will be used to inform systemic change to skills and employment programming to ultimately improve the employment outcomes of women. The program targets 4 groups of women who face multiple barriers:

  • Racialized and/or Indigenous
  • Women with disabilities
  • Women from the LGBTQ2 community
  • Women with a prolonged detachment from the labour force

The Supports for Student Learning Program (SSLP) contributes, directly and/or indirectly, to several sustainable development goals. These include SDGs 4 (Quality education), 5 (Gender equality), 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and 10 (Reduce inequalities). It funds projects delivered by youth-serving organizations to bridge gaps in educational attainment, build competencies, and create academic opportunities for Canadian learners. In particular, it supports students who may face greater barriers and are at higher risk of educational disengagement. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, more than 32,000 students from marginalized groups and/or in vulnerable situations received supports through the program.

Experimentation

In 2021 to 2022, the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy launched a qualitative research project on hard-to-reach youth in Canada. These are youth who are the furthest away from the employment service providers' network. The research project investigated the experiences of vulnerable youth groups in the labour market. It offered new insights on how ESDC programs can increase the participation rates of hard-to-reach youth across its youth programming.

The department made enhancements to the content and style of letters sent to the parents of Canada Learning Bond (CLB)-eligible children. These improvements were based on research, lessons learned, and ongoing messaging testing. Between January and March 2022, the department sent almost 520,000 letters to CLB-eligible families through its quarterly mailing program.

The Canada Service Corps launched 2 pilot projects to facilitate youth participation in service:

  • Civic Participation Pilot – a Youth Leadership Initiative: an 8-week online learning experience to provide youth with civic engagement and leadership skills. Of the 183 selected participants, 85% self-identified as Indigenous or underserved youth
  • Micro-grant Pilot: in February 2022, a call for proposals was created for 2 new micro-grant streams: accelerator micro-grants, and diversity micro-grants. The accelerator micro-grant will test the delivery of micro-grants to Canada Service Corps alumni. The diversity micro-grants will test a new approach to enhancing diversity and inclusion

The department developed a tool and process to compare before and after pictures of construction projects funded through the Enabling Accessibility Fund. This will improve the program's ability to report on results to Canadians. The project is now in the testing phase. The department will launch it soon for use with a planned implementation timeline of September 2022.

Results achieved

The following indicates, for the Learning, Skills Development and Employment core responsibility, the departmental results, the performance indicators, the targets and their achievement dates for fiscal year 2021 to 2022, as well as the actual results for the 3 most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result: Canadians access education, training, and life-long learning supports to gain the skills and work experience they need

  • Performance indicator 1 of 6: number of Canadians receiving training and/or employment supports through federally administered programs (See note 1 below)
  • Target: federally delivered programs, at least 155,970 (See note 2 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: federally delivered programs: 157,591
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: federally delivered programs: 151,130
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: federally delivered programs: 252,360 (See note 3 below)
  • Performance indicator 2 of 6: number of Canadians receiving provincially or territorially delivered skills training and/or employment services supported by Government of Canada funding transfers
  • Target: to be determined. Provincially and territorially delivered programs set their own annual targets
  • Date to achieve target: March 2023
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: provincially and territorially delivered programs: 824,976 (2018 to 2019) (See note 4 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: provincially and territorially delivered programs: 804,070 (2019 to 2020) (See note 4 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: provincially and territorially delivered programs: 607,149 (2020 to 2021) (See note 5 below)
  • Performance indicator 3 of 6: employment or returns to school following training/supports through federally administered programs
  • Target: federally delivered programs, at least 92,350 (See note 2 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: federally delivered programs: 106,980
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: federally delivered programs: 95,617
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: federally delivered programs: 163,174 (See note 6 below)
  • Performance indicator 4 of 6: employment or returns to school following provincially or territorially delivered skills training and/or employment services supported by Government of Canada funding transfers
  • Target: to be determined, provincially and territorially delivered programs set their own annual targets
  • Date to achieve target: March 2023
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: provincially and territorially delivered programs: 266,893 (2018 to 2019) (See note 7 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: provincially and territorially delivered programs: 267,490 (2019 to 2020) (See note 8 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: provincially and territorially delivered programs: 278,995 (2020 to 2021) (See note 5 below)
  • Performance indicator 5 of 6: percentage of Canadian young adults that are enrolled in university or college
  • Target: at least 45 % (2021)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 43.9% (2019)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 44.6% (2020)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 45.2% (2021)
  • Performance indicator 6 of 6: percentage change in Canadians aged 25 to 64 enrolled in university or college
  • Target: at least a 3% increase (2021)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 5% increase (2019)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 1% decrease (2020)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 5.7% increase (2021)

Departmental result: Students, including those from low- and middle-income families, use federally funded supports to help them participate in post-secondary education (PSE).

  • Performance indicator 1 of 2: percentage of low- and middle-income Canadian young adults participating in post-secondary education
  • Target: at least 50.5% (2018) (See note 9 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 52% (2016) (See note 10 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 50.1% (2017) (See note 10 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 50.1% (2018)
  • Performance indicator 2 of 2: annual percentage of beneficiaries under the age of 18 who receive an education savings incentive available only to those from low- or middle- income families
  • Target: at least 46.5%
  • Date to achieve target: December 2021
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 46.3%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 46.5%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 46.2%

Departmental result: Canadians participate in an inclusive and efficient labour market

  • Performance indicator 1 of 4: difference in the employment rate between women and men (See note 11 below)
  • Target: at most 5.6% (See note 12 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2023
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 5.9%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 6.4%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 6.0% (See note 13 below)
  • Performance indicator 2 of 4: Difference in the employment rate between Indigenous People (First Nations status and non-status, Inuit and Métis) and non-Indigenous People (See note 11 below)
  • Target: at most 15.6% (See note 14 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2023
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 15.6% (Census 2016)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 15.6% (Census 2016)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 15.6% (Census 2016)
  • Performance indicator 3 of 4: Difference in the employment rate between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities (See note 11 below)
  • Target: at most 25.2% (See note 15 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2025
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 20.8% (2017 Canadian Survey of Disability)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 20.8% (2017 Canadian Survey of Disability)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 20.8% (2017 Canadian Survey of Disability)
  • Performance indicator 4 of 4: Difference in the employment rate gap between visible minority group members and the non-visible minority population (See note 11 below)
  • Target: at most 6.1% (See note 16 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2023
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: not available (See note 17 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 2.3%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 0.3%

Departmental result: Canadians receive financial support during employment transitions such as job loss, illness, or maternity/ parental leave

  • Performance indicator 1 of 2: percentage of workers losing their job in the previous year that were eligible for Employment Insurance
  • Target: at least 85.7%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 87.4% (2018) (See note 18 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 82.4% (2019) (See note 18 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 90.7% (2020 to 2021) (See notes 19 and 20 below)
  • Performance indicator 2 of 2: percentage of Employment Insurance claimants finding employment before the end of their benefit entitlement
  • Target: at least 66.7%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2023
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 67.0% (2018 to 2019) (See note 21 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 66.9% (2019 to 2020) (See note 21 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: Result to be achieved in the future; 63.0% (for claims completed in 2020 to 2021 that were established before March 15, 2020) (See note 22 below)

Departmental result: Student borrowers are able to repay their federal student debt

  • Performance indicator: The percentage of loans in repayment that are paid each year
  • Target: at least 12% (See note 23 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 10.7%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 11.9%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 15.8%

Departmental result: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs

  • Performance indicator 1 of 5: Number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Learning, Skills Development and Employment programs (See note 24 below)
  • Target: 25 out of 25 (See note 25 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 13 out of 23 (See note 26 below)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 17 out of 23 (See note 26 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 19 out of 25 (See note 26 below)
  • Performance indicator 2 of 5: percentage of Employment Insurance benefit payments or non-benefit notifications issued within 28 days of filing
  • Target: at least 80%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 80%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 88.8%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 85.4%
  • Performance indicator 3 of 5: percentage of Employment Insurance requests for reconsideration reviewed within 30 days of filing
  • Target: at least 80%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 76%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 88.7%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 83.7%
  • Performance indicator 4 of 5: Percentage of registrations to My Service Canada Account through Trusted Digital Identities in participating provinces/territories
  • Target: at least 5%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 1.1%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 5.5%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 6.3%
  • Performance indicator 5 of 5: percentage of Social Insurance Numbers applied for through the Newborn Registration Service issued within 10 business days
  • Target: at least 95%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 100%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 99%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 100%
Notes
  1. This indicator now includes the Adult Learning Literacy and Essential Skills Program (ALLESP) and National Essential Skills Initiative (NESI). As such, ALLESP and NESI may not be captured in previous years' results.
  2. The target included Goal Getters but as of Budget 2021 funding allocated to the Goal Getters initiative as part of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy was reallocated to the Supports for Student Learning Program. Therefore, results from 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 included Goal Getters, but results from 2021 to 2022 do not include Goal Getters. The Skills for Success Program (formerly named the Literacy and Essential Skills Program) was launched in May 2021 but there was a delay in disbursing the new funding allocated in Budget 2021. Regarding the target, due to an error in coding, LES was incorrectly added to the overall target. The intended target and result is captured by the Adult Learning Literacy and Essential Skills Program and National Essential Skills Initiative.
  3. The result includes the actual number of participants for the following federally delivered programs: Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities (OF-PwD) 4,375; Student Work Placement Program (SWP) (the SWP tracks the number of opportunities only, not the number of individual Canadian participants. It is possible that throughout the year, an individual may participate in more than 1 opportunity) 50,054 ; Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) total 142,531 which includes Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program (YESSP) 17,784 and Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) 124,747 only as following the announcement made in Budget 2021, funding allocated to the Goal Getters initiative as part of the YESS was reallocated to the Supports for Student Learning Program (SSLP) and any results would be reported by SSLP as appropriate); Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program (ISET) 42,482; Adult Learning Literacy and Essential Skills Program (ALLESP) and National Essential Skills Initiative (NESI), which fall under the Skills for Success Program – formerly the Literacy and Essential Skills Program: 10.643. While Skills and Partnership Fund (SPF) was not included in the target, its results are 2,074.
  4. Numbers have been revised to reflect results for both Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) and Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs). As there is a 1-year lag in data availability, the results shown reflect the previous years' result.
  5. The results are for both Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) and Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs). As there is a 1-year lag in data availability, the results shown reflect the previous years' result.
  6. The result includes the number of participants returning to work or to school under the following federally delivered programs: OF-PwD 2,349; YESS total 83,781 (which includes YESSP 10,039, and CSJ 73,742 only as following the announcement made in Budget 2021, funding allocated to the Goal Getters initiative as part of the YESS was reallocated to the Supports for Student Learning Program (SSLP) and any results would be reported by SSLP as appropriate); Adult Learning Literacy and Essential Skills Program (ALLESP) and National Essential Skills Initiative (NESI), which fall under the Skills for Success Program (formerly the Literacy and Essential Skills Program): 3,486; ISET 22,070; SPF 1,434; and Student Work Placement (SWP) 50,054 opportunities.
  7. Numbers have been revised to include only the sum of clients employed for both Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) and Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs). The sum of clients returning to school was not calculated for either LMDAs or WDAs in 2018 to 2019. As there is a 1-year lag in data availability, the results shown reflect the previous years' result.
  8. Numbers have been revised to include the sum of clients employed for both Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) and Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs) and the sum of clients returning to school for only the Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs). The sum of clients returning to school was not calculated for LMDAs in 2019 to 2020. As there is a 1-year lag in data availability, the results shown reflect the previous years' result.
  9. Effective January 1, 2017 and going forward, the education and textbook credits were eliminated from personal income tax; however, the tuition credit remains. Targets for 2021 to 2022 will use data from 2018 for the calculation of results for this indicator. Individuals with no tuition credits but with education and textbook credits will not be considered "students" moving forward to ensure consistency over time. For this reason, the target is lower than in previous years.
  10. Data for this indicator comes from annual personal income tax data. There is a 3-year lag in data availability. As such, the actual result for fiscal year 2019 to 2020 uses 2016 data.
  11. There are many factors that can affect employment rates in any specific group, and/or affect groups differently, and ESDC programming cannot be considered solely responsible for changes to the employment rate gaps.
  12. Labour Force Survey. Age group: 15-64 year old.
  13. Employment rates of men minus employment rates of women; 12-month average of monthly values (April to March)
  14. As calculated using the 2016 Census. Age group 15-64 year old.
  15. As calculated using the 2017 Canadian Survey of Disability. Age group: 25 to 64 year old
  16. Labour Force Survey. Age group: 15-69 year old.
  17. Labour force characteristics for visible minority group are reported starting July 2020 and is unadjusted for seasonality.
  18. This indicator relies on data from the annual EI Coverage Survey and is based on calendar years, not fiscal. As such, there is a 1 year lag in data availability, the results shown reflects the previous years' result.
  19. There is a 1 year lag in data availability for this indicator; therefore, the results shown reflects the previous years' result. The actual result for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 will be available in April 2023 and reported in the 2022 to 2023 Departmental Results Report. Furthermore, because of changes to the EI program introduced in response to COVID-19, no new claims for EI regular benefits were established during the first half of fiscal year 2020 to 2021. The result shown reflects claims established from September 27, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
  20. Because of changes to the EI program introduced in response to COVID-19, the 2020 EI Coverage Survey (EICS) did not collect any information on EI regular benefits. The result shown was calculated using a different methodology (new data sources are Records of Employment data and EI Administrative data) and is therefore not comparable to the previous years' results that used the EICS. Using the same methodology as 2020 to 2021, the result for 2019 to 2020 was 73.6%.
  21. Revised data as per the 2020 to 2021 EI Monitoring and Assessment Report.
  22. 2020 to 2021 results are preliminary and will be revised with the final result in the 2021 to 2022 EI Monitoring and Assessment Report and the 2022 to 2023 Departmental Results Report.
  23. This indicator was introduced for fiscal year 2021 to 2022. It captures results reported on an academic year basis, from August 1st to July 31st. The target is calculated as the average of the last 3 years +/- 2 percentage points. The target of at least 12% only applies to the academic year 2021 to 2022.
  24. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca.
  25. The number of service standards was raised to 25 as of fiscal year 2021 to 2022. For fiscal year 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, there were 23 service standards.
  26. ESDC/Service Canada must make strategic choices in the services it delivers to use its resources to provide the best services possible, and meet its services standards, with particular priority given to starting payment of benefits to clients as quickly as possible.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Table 3: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Learning, Skills Development and Employment

The following table shows, for the Learning, Skills Development and Employment core responsibility, budgetary spending for fiscal year 2021 to 2022, as well as actual spending for that year.

Table 3: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Learning, Skills Development and Employment
Spending category 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 Planned spending (see note 1 below) 2021 to 2022 Total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 Actual spending (authorities used) 2021 to 2022 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
Gross Spending 18,789,110,217 48,891,943,794 68,226,017,039 67,279,306,958 18,387,363,164
Less: spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 30,102,833,577 38,977,308,336 38,977,308,336 8,874,474,759
Less: revenues netted against expenditures 1,043,350,492 1,043,350,492 1,499,714,780 1,361,557,013 318,206,521
Net Spending (see note 2 below) 17,745,759,725 17,745,759,725 27,748,993,923 26,940,441,609 9,194,681,884

Explanation of variances: The variance between planned and actual spending for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is mainly due to increases in spending for the Canada Recovery Benefit, the temporary doubling of Canada Student Grants during the pandemic and an increase in Employment Insurance (EI) benefits paid. This is offset by a decrease in the spending of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.

Notes
  1. "Planned spending" may differ from Main Estimates because it as they includes the amounts to be spent for the Specified Purpose Accounts (such as Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan accounts). These amounts include benefits paid to clients and amounts associated with the payment of these benefits.
  2. "Net Spending" excludes amounts spent under Specified Purpose Accounts.

Refer to the department's Financial Framework section for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following indicates, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

  • 2021 to 2022 planned full-time equivalents: 12,193
  • 2021 to 2022 actual full-time equivalents: 15,930
  • 2021 to 2022 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents: 3,737

Explanation of variances: the increase in full-time equivalents mainly reflects additional staff hired to process Employment Insurance claims as well as to improve call centre accessibility.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Working Conditions and Workplace Relations

Description: promotes safe, healthy, fair and inclusive work conditions and cooperative workplace relations.

Results

Workplaces are safe and healthy

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the Labour Program engaged stakeholders on making mental health a specific element of occupational health. The consultations also included developing tools and resources to support employers and employees. These consultations were done through virtual Ministerial roundtables and an online forum. A What We Heard report is forthcoming.

Officials worked on policy options to meet the Minister of Labour's mandate commitment to secure passage of various amendments to the Canada Labour Code. Those amendments aim to include mental health as a specific element of occupational health and safety. They also aim to require federally regulated employers to take preventative steps to address workplace stress and injury. Finally, they aim to provide 10 days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated workers.

An Advisory Committee, with representatives from federally regulated employers, unions, and others, provided recommendations to the Minister on developing a "right to disconnect". Based on their report, Labour Program officials are currently developing policy options. This will address another mandate commitment of the Minister of Labour. This commitment is to develop protections for federally regulated workers to give them the "right to disconnect".

The new Part IV (Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) regime) of the Canada Labour Code came into force on January 1, 2021. The phased implementation continued, starting with education and awareness, determination letters, assurances of voluntary compliance, payment orders and compliance orders.

Early Resolution Officers (EROs) in the Covid-19 Response Coordination Team (CRCT), the front-line service and the Harassment and Violence Prevention Hub supported employers and employees. They informed employers and employees on their rights and obligations under the Code. They explained the complaint filing process to employees who believed the employer had not respected their obligations under the legislation. They received and processed complaints which were escalated to Labour Affairs Officers for investigation. EROs in the CRCT responded to 962 calls, and completed 174 proactive outreach assignments.

The department also continued to increase education and counselling of employers. To this end, it deployed officers to workplaces to inform employers of their obligations and rights. Officers also provide them with an overview of regulations. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, officers completed a total of 2,768 cases, including 382 educational engagements with workplaces, 1,646 inspections and 117 follow-ups.

Work conditions are fair and inclusive

In July 2021, Labour Program officials completed public and stakeholder consultations on developing greater labour protections for gig workers. They are now developing policy options to meet another of the Minister of Labour's mandate commitments. This commitment is to entitle workers employed by digital platforms to job protections under the Canada Labour Code.

The Labour Program continued to develop regulations in support of the new hours of work provisions in the Canada Labour Code. This is a 2-phase process. Phase I of the Exemptions from and Modifications to Hours of Work Provisions Regulations affects the road transportation, marine and grain sectors. They came into force on February 1, 2022. Phase II of the regulations affects the rail, air, banking, broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. They are targeted for final publication in the Canada Gazette in the fall of 2022.

The Labour Program also worked on developing regulations in support of:

  • The increase in minimum age for hazardous work
  • The implementation of the reimbursement of work-related expenses

The Pay Equity Act and Pay Equity Regulations came into force on August 31, 2021. The new proactive pay equity regime greatly changes how the right to equal pay for work of equal value is protected. Approximately 1.32 million workers in federally regulated workplaces will benefit from this new regime. The new pay gap reporting requirements came into force on January 1, 2021. Since then, the Labour Program continued the following planned implementation activities:

  • The launch of an updated online reporting system
  • The issuance of new guidance materials
  • Hosting technical and general webinars to promote education and awareness among stakeholders
  • Internal training of compliance officers

The Labour Program completed its update of the Wage Earner Protection Program Regulations. The final regulations came into force on November 20, 2021. The updated regulations will:

  • Provide faster Wage Earner Protection Program payments to workers who lose their jobs during prolonged business restructurings
  • Expand the program to include Canadians employed by foreign companies operating in Canada and who enter a bankruptcy or receivership process overseas
  • Update the way that trustees' fees and expenses are paid to make sure that workers can access the program even if there are few assets remaining in an insolvent estate

An independent and arms length Task Force was launched in July 2021 to review the Employment Equity Act. The Task Force is comprised of 12 members. Membership includes individuals with backgrounds in academia, advocacy and research, public service, and organized labour and employer associations. Consultations with community organizations, individuals, experts, unions and employers started in February 2022 and are expected to end in fiscal year 2022 to 2023. The Task Force is expected to submit its final report to the Minister of Labour in the fall of 2022. A renewed Employent Equity Act will contribute to creating a more vibrant and diverse workforce, and building a better future for all Canadians. It will also ensure that Canada's economic recovery is equitable, inclusive and fair.

The Labour Program continued to develop options for the re-design of the Federal Contractors Program. This work is partly linked to the Minister of Labour's mandate commitment to ensure contractors are paying their employees the federal minimum wage. This re-design will take into consideration the recommendations of the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force on changes to the employment equity framework.

The Labour Program included 2 regulatory initiatives as pilot projects to test the new Online Regulatory Consultation System. This fulfills Canada's commitment to transparency under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). This commitment requires Canada to make publicly available any written comments it receives with respect to draft regulations.

The department developed 6 new capacity-building projects in partner countries to further their compliance with internationally recognized labour standards. As well, it continued to engage with a number of countries either through the negotiation or implementation of labour provisions of free trade agreements.

The department also completed the technical review processes to determine if there are any barriers to the ratification of International Labour Organization Convention 190.

The department funded 6 projects under the Workplace Opportunities: Removing Barriers to Equity program. These projects focus on providing supports to Indigenous peoples and members of visible minorities.

Labour relations are cooperative

Through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), the department supports unions and employers under federal jurisdiction during collective bargaining. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department made 166 conciliation appointments to support the parties in their negotiations.

The FMCS also offers the parties day-to-day support during the life of the agreement. This helps foster collaborative labour relations as well as prevent, and better manage, workplace conflict. This support includes training workshops, facilitated joint initiatives, and grievance mediation. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, using virtual platforms, the department delivered a total of 147 interventions.

Services to Canadians

In November 2021, occupational health and safety (OHS) case management was added to the Integrated Labour System (ILS). ILS allows the Labour Program to capture information related to workplace incidents and violations. It will also help the Labour Program identify gaps, trends and adjust its planning for proactive work.

The Labour Program temporarily removed the development of employee and employer portals for ILS from the scope of the ILS project.

Gender-based analysis plus

The department will examine the results of the pay transparency measures from a GBA plus lens. Once available, it will publish the data online. Data will be presented according to the 4 designated groups under the Employment Equity Act. Those designated groups are women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. This initiative will encourage federally regulated private-sector employers to show leadership in reducing the gaps identified in their workplaces. This initiative will also raise awareness about this issue for the benefit of all Canadians.

The Pay Equity Act came into force on August 31, 2021. This act complements the pay transparency measures as both initiatives target the reduction of wage gaps. A GBA plus analysis was carried out in the development of the Pay Equity Act and supporting regulations. The Pay Equity Act introduces a new proactive pay equity regime for federally regulated workplaces. This regime aims to close the portion of the gender wage gap that is due to systemic gender-based discrimination. This new regime primarily benefits women working in federally regulated workplaces, particularly racialized women, women with disabilities, and women with lower levels of education. These women tend to face larger wage gaps and be concentrated in occupations predominantly occupied by women. Proactive pay equity will also benefit those men, LGBTQ2+ and gender-non-binary employees working in occupations predominantly occupied by women. That is because they would receive the same pay equity adjustments as women employed in these occupations.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Fund (WHVPF) contributes to Canada's efforts to meet sustainable development goal (SDG) 5 (Gender equality).

The WHVPF has supported harassment and violence prevention projects across Canada. This made federally regulated workplaces safer and more welcoming to new and diverse employees. For example, the WHVPF:

  • Continued to invest $3.5 million annually in projects that will create safer, healthier and more supportive work environments for all federally regulated employees
  • Invested in projects that provided culturally sensitive workplace harassment and violence prevention tools and resources to First Nations communities and individuals
  • Supported projects that provided tools, training and resources to respond effectively to harassment and violence associated with domestic violence and sexual violence

The Pay Equity Act contributes to SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth). In force since August 31, 2021, the act applies to federally regulated employers with 10 or more employees. It requires them to take proactive steps to ensure they are providing equal pay for work of equal value.

Experimentation

The Labour Program developed a data analytics-based tool that uses machine learning to triage labour standards complaints. Officials will be testing it into fiscal year 2022 to 2023. Lessons learned from the experiment will influence the development of future versions of the triaging tool. They will also feed into the design of any other future data analytics-based tools in the Labour Program.

The Labour Program designed a letter with compliance tips to be sent to employers (proactive communication), using the behavioural insights methodology. The mailing of the letters is scheduled for fiscal year 2022 to 2023. Results about the effectiveness of such an initiative on employers' compliance will be available in fiscal year 2023 to 2024.

The Labour Program successfully translated the regulations used to determine overtime for motor vehicle operators into machine-readable code. Such code allows road industry stakeholders to update their payroll systems quickly and efficiently. This proof of concept helped officials develop skills for similar conversions in the future and identify inconsistencies with existing rules. If regulations are modified, Labour Program officials will work with stakeholders to determine if coding should be updated. Coded overtime rules may provide better clarity to road transportation stakeholders and help ensure that drivers receive accurate overtime pay.

Results achieved

The following indicates, for the Working Conditions and Workplace Relations core responsibility, the departmental results, the performance indicators, the targets and their achievement dates for fiscal year 2021 to 2022, and the actual results for the 3 most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result: workplaces are safe and healthy

  • Performance indicator: number of health and safety violations identified under the Canada Labour Code (Part II) per 1,000 federally regulated employees
  • Target: at most 9 (See note 1 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 12.6
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 2.0
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 5.0 (See note 2 below)

Departmental result: work conditions are fair and inclusive

  • Performance indicator 1 of 2: percentage of Legislated Employment Equity Program employers whose representation equals or surpasses Canadian labour market availability for 2+ designated groups or who demonstrated progress towards representation since the previous reporting period
  • Target: at least 65% (See note 3 below)
  • Date to achieve target: September 2021
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 73%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 74%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 74%
  • Performance indicator 2 of 2: 3-year average number of founded violations identified under Part III of the Canada Labour Code per 1,000 federally regulated employees
  • Target: at most 3 (See note 4 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 2.9 (2017 to 2020)
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 2.6 (2018 to 2021)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 2.7 (2019 to 2022)

Departmental result: labour relations are cooperative

  • Performance indicator: percentage of labour disputes settled under the Canada Labour Code (Part 1) without work stoppages, where parties were assisted by Labour Program officers
  • Target: at least 95%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 93%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 96%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 99%

Departmental result: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs (See note 5 below)

  • Performance indicator 1 of 5: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Working Conditions and Workplace Relations programs
  • Target: 4 out of 4
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 4 out of 4
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 3 out of 4
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 3 out of 4
  • Performance indicator 2 of 5: percentage of occupational health and safety cases each fiscal year that are finalized within 120 days (excluding prosecutions, appeals, and technical surveys)
  • Target: at least 80%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 83%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 73%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 82.9%
  • Performance indicator 3 of 5: percentage of unjust dismissal complaints that are finalized within 180 days
  • Target: at least 75%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 80%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 69%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 72% (See note 6 below)
  • Performance indicator 4 of 5: percentage of conciliators assigned under the Canada Labour Code within 15 calendar days of receiving requests that are compliant with Canada Industrial Relations Regulations
  • Target: at least 100%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 100%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 100%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 100%
  • Performance indicator 5 of 5: percentage of initial Wage Earner Protection Program payments and non-payment notifications issued within 35 calendar days
  • Target: at least 80%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 98%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 89%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 97.8%
Notes
  1. As a result of changes to legislation, particularly changes to Compliance & Enforcement, the number of violations identified is likely to fluctuate and may increase over the short term as the program improves its service delivery and is able to reach a larger number of employers.
  2. Violations are typically identified during the course of proactive inspections in workplaces, which have greatly reduced in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 due to the pandemic.
  3. The Labour Program contributes to this target by supporting the efforts of federally regulated private-sector employers in achieving progress towards creating equitable workplaces.
  4. As a result of changes to legislation to improve Compliance & Enforcement, the results for this indicator will remain unpredictable as the program improves its service delivery and is able to reach a larger number of employers.
  5. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca.
  6. Approximately half of all Labour Affairs Officers in the field are new employees who have less than 2 years experience. Unjust dismissal complaints require experienced officers to conduct alternate dispute resolution services. As officers gain experience, the result will improve and the targets will be met.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Table 4: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Working Conditions and Workplace Relations

The following table shows, for the Working Conditions and Workplace Relations core responsibility, budgetary spending for fiscal year 2021 to 2022, as well as actual spending for that year.

Table 4: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Working Conditions and Workplace Relations
Spending category 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 Planned spending (see note 1 below) 2021 to 2022 Total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 Actual spending (authorities used) 2021 to 2022 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
Gross Spending 182,334,289 182,334,289 163,054,440 158,283,303 (24,050,986)
Less: pending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0 0
Less: revenues netted against expenditures 900,000 900,000 900,000 900,000 0
Net Spending (see note 2 below) 181,434,289 181,434,289 162,154,440 157,383,303 (24,050,986)

Explanation of variances: The variance between actual and planned spending in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is mainly attributable to Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP). The reduced corporate bankruptcies resulting from government financial supports in place for businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and higher-than-expected recoveries of subrogated debt.

Notes
  1. "Planned spending" may differ from Main Estimates because it as they includes the amounts to be spent for the Specified Purpose Accounts (such as Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan accounts). These amounts include benefits paid to clients and amounts associated with the payment of these benefits.
  2. ** "Net Spending" excludes amounts spent under Specified Purpose Accounts.

Refer to the department's Financial Framework section for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following indicates, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021 to 2022.

  • 2021 to 2022 planned full-time equivalents: 801
  • 2021 to 2022 actual full-time equivalents: 853
  • 2021 to 2022 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents: 52
  • Explanation of variances: no significant variance

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Information Delivery and Services for other government departments

Description: provides information to the public on the programs of the Government of Canada and the department, and provides services on behalf of other government departments

Results

Improve access to service and provide Canadians with quality information

Engagement is crucial for the Outreach program. It ensures the needs of a community or specific client segment are assessed. Outreach activities are then tailored to these specific needs to address barriers and to maximize access by all clients.

Given this importance, the department engaged with 698 northern, remote and on-reserve Indigenous communities. Among those, 579 received virtual services. The department also conducted 492 activities with urban and off-reserve Indigenous populations (including community partners that work with them).

The department maintained ongoing communications with community partners, including Scheduled Outreach sites host partners. It also kept the network updated on changes to services. In addition, it offered virtual information sessions to clients, employers and partners on programs, services and benefits available.

The toll-free Outreach Support Centre proved to be very valuable. It allowed the department to provide services to communities with limited or no access to the internet. It also helped the department to reach clients facing other barriers to accessing services. The Outreach Support Centre received more than 27,000 calls in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. As a result, the department provided 31,833 service offerings to individuals unable to access eServiceCanada and/or requiring additional support to accessing services.

The department also leveraged its Outreach program by being present, in the field, using a multi-channel approach (by telephone, through virtual information sessions and clinics and in-person). The program was involved in emerging priorities such as the Guaranteed Income Supplement call campaigns to seniors. It also rapidly responded to emergency situations of wildfires and flooding. As well, it offered support to Afghan and Ukrainians newcomers. The multi-channel approach allowed the expanded Outreach client base to access programs, services and benefits more easily The department will continue to work with community partners to identify individuals and Indigenous communities facing barriers to accessing Service Canada. It will also continue to raise awareness of the Outreach Support Centre. This work will ensure all Canadians are aware and able to obtain service.

Obtain a passport within Canada in a timely manner

The COVID-19 pandemic created a set of interconnected issues that affected timely delivery of passport service to Canadians. This included:

  • a sudden increase in the volume of applications across the country due to pent up travel demand with the easing of travel restrictions;
  • a loss of efficiency due to a shift to mail applications and public health capacity restrictions;
  • a large proportion of complex applications including first-time adult and children's applications.

These combined factors contributed to a backlog of passport applications which began at the end of fiscal year 2021 to 2022. The department began taking appropriate measures to expedite intake and processing of applications to help Canadians get their passports in a timely way. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department issued just under 1.3 million passports, which is a significant increase from the previous fiscal year (363,000 passports issued).

On a different note, the Passport Program Modernization Initiative (PPMI) continued to test the intake tool and new processing system in 3 pilot sites. More pilot sites will be included in the near future.

Services to Canadians

The department continued to improve its Internet presence. For example, it tested the user experience to improve the web content related to Social Insurance Number (SIN) and Employment Insurance (EI) reporting. The online SIN content was optimized to improve user's ability to complete their task. As a result, 89% of users were able to complete their task, compared to 52% last year. The department also redesigned the EI reporting content. This significantly helped clients quickly find what they are looking for. Therefore, they spent more time on pages and were able to complete a report more easily.

Additionally, the department continued the development of new chatbot services for programs such as Canada Pension Plan Disability benefits, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security.

The department used personalization functions to display customized web content to ensure information reached intended target audiences. For example, a geolocation alert was placed on the COVID-19 landing page. This allowed links to change depending on which province or territory visitors were coming from. As a result, visitors were provided with relevant vaccination information for their region. Personalization was also used to communicate to affected Canadians about how they could reach Service Canada quickly during a crisis, such as wildfires and floods.

ESDC is responsible for Canada.ca, the main Government of Canada web presence, which is part of the Federal Emergency Response Plan. ESDC supported 83 institutions publishing to Canada.ca, 24/7. It also ensured that Canada.ca, a critical tool, was 100% available, secure and reliable to the public during a time of crisis. ESDC collaborated with line departments, such as Health Canada, and central agencies to ensure COVID related information was accurate, available and updated in a timely manner. Canada.ca was visited 1.26 billion times by the public in 2021 to 2022 and its pages received 6.05 billion views from the public.

ESDC also supported 77 organizations across the Government of Canada in maintaining 3,600 official Government of Canada social media accounts. This was done through a common social media account management system.

The government of Canada Telephone General Enquiries Services experienced an unprecedented high call volume in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. Specifically:

  • 1 800 O-Canada handled a sustained, high call volume of 2.1 million calls (an increase of 2.3% when compared to the previous year). There was an annual average of 36 seconds of wait time before speaking with an agent. This is a marked improvement when compared to 7.5 minutes of average wait time in fiscal year 2020 to 2021
  • The customized information services (CIS) received an historical high level of call volume. In total, it received 2.2 million calls across 52 information services delivered on behalf of GC programs and services. Agents answered 2.0 million calls in total; calls that were received but unanswered by the agent were caused by the caller abandoning their call

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department responded to 9.6 million requests for various programs made through different service delivery channels. These channels include in-person services, eServiceCanada, eSIN, Outreach Support Centre, and Passport.

Nearly 2.4 million clients used eServiceCanada to submit a request for service in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. They could access its personalized services and virtual support through an updated Service Canada homepage on Canada.ca.

The department continued to use client experience feedback gathered through its annual Service Canada Client Experience Survey Project. Officials extracted survey results from racialized clients for the first time. Survey results were completed with qualitative research and channel exit questionnaires for 1 800 O Canada, eService Canada and eCOLS. This feedback informed the department as to how changes to service delivery affected the client experience. It provided a clearer picture of the impacts changes had on different clienteles, especially in the pandemic context. It also highlighted the barriers clients may have experienced in accessing the services and how it influenced service channel usage.

Throughout fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department established and developed several partnerships with other government departments. Through its service delivery partnership with the Canada Revenue Agency, the department delivered financial assistance to Canadians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This support was provided through the 3 Canada Recovery Benefits and the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit.

The department also provided information to Canadians via digital, phone and in-person channels to support implementation of the Proof of Vaccine Credential. The department partnered with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Public Health Agency of Canada as well as provincial and territorial governments on this initiative.

The department continued to partner with IRCC to deliver in-Canada collection of biometrics in Service Canada Centres across the country. It supported the collection of 123,773 biometrics applications. It also completed the post-pandemic reactivation of the in-Canada biometrics collection network for permanent residents across Canada. To protect the health and safety of employees and clients it was decided to remove the photo requirement for permanent residents. Partners also worked on stabilizing service delivery and increasing access to biometric services. They took these steps in preparation for the increase in volumes once the exemption for temporary residents is lifted.

Gender-based analysis plus

The department analyzes results of its annual Service Canada Client Experience Survey project by gender and other client group variables including disability, newcomers, non-English or French speakers, clients living in rural areas, clients living in remote areas, youth, seniors and Indigenous persons. This analysis helps identify groups who have difficulty accessing service and identify their needs. These results are used to improve access to services to apply for federal programs. Additionally, for the first time, the results for racialized clients were made available through the 2021 to 2022 Client experience Survey.

The Passport Program also benefits from efforts underway across the Client Service Network (CSN) to ensure gender-equitable and fair access to all Canadians through various access strategies, which take into account how marginalized and underserved clients access and obtain service through Service Canada delivery channels.

The responsibility to collect GBA plus data and report on impacts for the Passport Program rests with IRCC. Service Canada points of service and employees, collects data for IRCC's program based on, but not limited to, gender, date of birth (age) and place of birth to inform better policy outcomes for vulnerable groups. Service Canada benefits from IRCC's policies to improve access to passport services throughout its CSN. The 2 partners regularly collaborate on issues related to program and service accessibility.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

Through its Government of Canada digital Internet presence, the department contributed to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), by providing Canadians safe and convenient access to Service Canada without the need to travel, by launching the eServiceCanada callback service on Canada.ca.

Additionally, it provided information to Canadians about programs and services through Service Canada online information, ensuring it was up to date, accessible, reliable and continuously improved for client experience. Examples include:

  • Publishing the wait-times in real time for the 1 800 O-Canada service on Canada.ca
  • Displaying customized web content to ensure information reached intended target audiences
  • Publishing the number of COVID-19 cases per province, and updated in real time
  • Ensuring critical program, service, benefit and health information as a service was available 100% of the time

Experimentation

The Innovation Lab collaborated with the Principal Publisher's Office to conduct experiments to improve Canadians' online experiences with our services. The department used the GC Invitation manager tool to test and improve the participation and the completion rate of the Task Success Survey (TSS). The TSS is a pop-up survey that appears to randomly selected Government of Canada website visitors. The TSS collects feedback about their experience during their website visit. As a result of trials with the GC Invitation manager toolthe participation rate increased by almost 30%, and the completion rate increased by over 60%, more than doubling the previous response rate.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for the Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments core responsibility, the departmental results, the performance indicators, the targets and their achievement dates, as well as the actual results for the 3 most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result: clients receive high quality, timely and accurate government information and services that meet their needs

  • Performance indicator 1 of 3: 1 800 O-Canada information completeness, relevancy and accuracy assessment
  • Target: at least 85%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 91%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 89%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 85%
  • Performance indicator 2 of 3: percentage of clients served in person who received assistance within 25 minutes
  • Target: at least 80%
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 84%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 95%
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 95%
  • Performance indicator 3 of 3: number of program services that meet their service standard targets
  • Target: 5
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 4 out of 5
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 1 out of 5
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 3 out of 5 (See note 1 below)

Departmental result: Canadians can obtain a passport within Canada in a timely manner

  • Performance indicator: percentage of travel documents and other passport services processed within standards
  • Target: at least 90% (See note 2 below)
  • Date to achieve target: March 2022
  • 2019 to 2020 actual results: 100%
  • 2020 to 2021 actual results: 80% (See note 3 below)
  • 2021 to 2022 actual results: 77% (See note 4 below)
Notes:
  1. 3 of the 5 service standards considered are related to Passport service delivery. However, due to the pandemic and the relaxing of travel restrictions, Passport services were significantly reduced during fiscal year 2020 to 2021, although they experienced a surge during the later part of the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year. Consequently, these targets for 2 of the 3 passport service standards were not met.
  2. This target is part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the department and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
  3. Due to the pandemic, passport services were significantly reduced during fiscal year 2020 to 2021. Consequently, these services were only provided to those who required it.
  4. Due to the health and safety measures that were in place because of the pandemic, Service Canada operated at a reduced capacity in all offices and processing centres. During the latter part of the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year, with the relaxing of travel restrictions, Passport Services experienced a surge of activity, which gradually decreased the service standard, month over month. The sudden increase in the volume of passport applications, combined with the health and safety measures in place, contributed to a backlog of applications that affected the timely delivery of passport services to Canadians.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Table 5: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments

The following table shows, for Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments, budgetary spending for 2021 to 2022, as well as actual spending for that year.

Table 5: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for the core responsibility of Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments
Spending category 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 Planned spending (see note 1 below) 2021 to 2022 Total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 Actual spending (authorities used) 2021 to 2022 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
Gross Spending 247,731,770 247,731,770 284,950,141 283,787,168 36,055,398
Less: spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0 0
Less: revenues netted against expenditures 0 0 0 0 0
Net Spending (see note 2 below) 247,731,770 247,731,770 284,950,141 283,787,168 36,055,398

Explanation of variances: The variance between actual and planned spending in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is mainly due to new or amended Service Delivery Partnerships with other departments related to Covid-19 pandemic that were not part of the Planned Spending and to the increased usage of Canada.ca by the public and by Government of Canada departments which was the driver for the increased costs and associated spending for critical Principal Publisher services to ensure the availability of Canada.ca and related essential services.

Notes
  1. "Planned spending" may differ from Main Estimates because it as they includes the amounts to be spent for the Specified Purpose Accounts (such as Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan accounts). These amounts include benefits paid to clients and amounts associated with the payment of these benefits.
  2. "Net Spending" excludes amounts spent under Specified Purpose Accounts.

Refer to the department's Financial Framework section for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following indicates, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021 to 2022.

  • 2021 to 2022 planned full-time equivalents: 2,411
  • 2021 to 2022 actual full-time equivalents: 2,236
  • 2021 to 2022 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents: (175)
  • Explanation of variances: no significant variance.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Internal Services

Description: Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refer to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the internal services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

  • Acquisition Management Services
  • Communication Services
  • Financial Management Services
  • Human Resources Management Services
  • Information Management Services
  • Information Technology Services
  • Legal Services
  • Material Management Services
  • Management and Oversight Services
  • Real Property Management Services

Results

Financial Management Services

The department has successfully put in place the new system and modernized processes for accounts receivable in April 2021. This has improved the integrity and quality of data in order to provide the best service possible to Canadians. The department will continue to improve financial management services by making changes and updates to the system as required.

Human Resources Management Services

In fiscal year 2021 and 2022, the department worked to ensure a healthy, productive, and inclusive work environment by:

  • Working with partners having expertise in occupational health and safety to develop a plan for employees to return to the office. These partners included Public Health and Safety committees and Treasury Board Secretariat's Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer
  • Giving managers tools and support services on the mandatory vaccination strategy
  • Developing resources on public health and office safety. That included tools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and videos to help employees setup their workspace
  • Testing ways to manage a flexible work model, with employees working on-site and others working off-site or mixing both
  • Converting learning tools to virtual delivery formats

The department also moved forward on the Workplace Mental Health Action Plan for 2021 to 2022 by:

  • Working with Health Canada to update Employee Assistance Services and add practitioners
  • Starting the ESDC Resilience Gym, an online tool with information on mental health
  • Holding well-being check-in sessions and an executive workplace mental health leadership program
Top 100 Employer Award

ESDC was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers for 2021, a Top Employer for Young People and a Family-Friendly Employer. ESDC has won 3 years in a row. From 2016 to 2021, ESDC was also named a Best Diversity Employer and a Top Employer in the National Capital Region.

The department continued to work on its Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan by:

  • Offering a new course for employees called the "Richness of Diversity and Inclusion"
  • Holding Diversity Perspectives meetings with the employee diversity networks and the Deputy Ministers
  • Starting an online safe space for employees to share real-life experiences
  • Running a Self-ID survey for equity-seeking groups and LGBTQ2+ employees
  • Creating the "Guide to Support Transgender and Gender Diverse Employees who are Transitioning"
  • Offering information sessions about unconscious bias, Black experiences, and inclusive practices
  • Launching an Inclusion and Organizational Culture Survey to hear from employees
  • Initiating and offering mentoring and coaching opportunities to help Black employees advance in their careers
  • Hosting staffing events to attract applicants from different communities for ESDC jobs, including Black candidates, racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities
  • Staffing Indigenous people into positions in information technology (IT) through the IT Apprenticeship Program for Indigenous Peoples
  • Piloting full-time language learning for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis employees to achieve a B level in French

The department's Indigenous Employees' Circle gave feedback on the training through the Indigenous Reconciliation Working Group and the National Indigenous Awareness Working Group.

The department boosted workplace accessibility by:

  • Consulting with the Employees with Disabilities Network, managers, and others to understand the barriers to accessibility at ESDC. The feedback was added to ESDC's first accessibility plan
  • Holding online events for National AccessAbility Week to share information about accessibility in the workplace, like the Accessible Canada Act
  • Implementing technical improvements to the department's Learning Management System. Those improvements increase accessibility to the system and ensure its compliance with standards on accessibility
  • Making most learning activities and events accessible using technologies like transcripts, sign language, and translation
  • Consulting on a planned Duty to Accommodate (DTA) Centre of Expertise so the department can properly meet the needs of people with disabilitie;
  • Adding a new web-based system for tracking DTA requests

The department updated tools, technology, and procedures by:

  • Running employee surveys and studying the results to understand the needs of employees
  • Offering a new National Learning Roadmap for Managers to meet changing workplace needs, like diversity and inclusion
  • Ensuring its transition to a flexible work environment was driven by business requirements, substantive employee engagement and the need to attract and retain talent
  • Launching the MyESDC App, a single-window, and off-network communications channel to help departmental employees stay connected and informed. The app gives employees access to COVID-19 tools, information for new employees, and mental health and wellness support. It is now used by over 25,000 employees
  • Updating the technology in the Learning Centres across Canada for training and events
  • Working to reduce pay issues and sharing information on pay resources
Information Technology and Information Management Services

The department continued to implement a modern and secure information technology (IT) infrastructure. This enables effective, efficient and timely availability of information and provisioning of programs for Canadians. ESDC ensured business applications were well supported and maintained for service delivery. Notably, the department provided 24/7 IM/IT support for the following programs:

  • Employment Insurance (EI)
  • Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
  • Old Age Security (OAS)
  • Grants and Contributions
  • Job Bank
  • Canada Summer Jobs
  • Social Insurance Registry

The department also delivered on a number of IT projects, such as:

  • Expansion of EI Document upload capabilities
  • Numerous enhancements and functionality upgrades to the JobBank, National Occupational Classification (NOC), EI Part II, and Temporary Foreign Worker systems
  • Numerous enhancements and functionality upgrades in support of the Grants and Contributions portfolio of programs. This portfolio includes the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program, Canada Summer Jobs and New Horizons for Seniors Program
  • New e-services to Canadians for pensions benefits under the CPP-Service improvement strategy, thereby concluding project commitments
  • Enhancements to the security posture of EI tools to help reduce fraud attempts
  • Successful deployment of the National Identity Service (NIDS), Regional Enquiries Unit (REU), Canada Government Annuities (CGA), and Civil Service Insurance (CSI) call centres onto the Hosted Contact Centre Service (HCCS). This resulted in fewer contact centre service interruptions, allowed employees to work remotely, and improved service delivery to clients through access to new functionalities

The department launched a National Service Desk (NSD) Virtual Support Assistant ("Mia") pilot. It is a smart conversational artificial intelligence bot, offering a 24/7 support channel for employees seeking IM/IT support. Mia provides employees with key information on how to troubleshoot common technical issues.

The Benefits Delivery Modernization Programme established a modern and secure Public Cloud IT infrastructure to support the modernization of EI, CPP and OAS.

Department's efforts to stabilize IT systems focused on the OAS system and pensions benefit continuity. It consisted of upgrading hardware, software and applications that were showing signs of deterioration. Through the Technical Debt Remediation Initiative, the department replaced and modernized aging network infrastructure, increasing capacities, and implementing new monitoring technology. This has improved network performance and increased overall network stability for onsite and remote employees. In addition, the department established Disaster Recovery Solutions. This ensured all IT Disaster Recovery Plans could be enabled in the event of a catastrophic failure.

Two of the initial regional communications hubs in Toronto and Montreal have been implemented. A third hub, in Vancouver, is in its final stages of completion. The regional communications hubs serve to decentralize the departmental network. This reduces latency and improves performance for cloud applications, Microsoft 365 / TEAMS and internet access. The department also advanced ESDC's transformation of the workplace by equipping employees with modern software and implementing continued improvements to services.

The department made progress on the Government of Canada Secret Infrastructure (GCSI) project to support the secure processing of sensitive information. The department is also working to refresh the IT/Cyber Security Policy and increase cyber security capacity in response to cyber threats. In addition, a project was struck to define the current and future states of a Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC). ESDC will continue to mature this function within the department over the coming 5 years.

The department developed a Departmental Policy on Information and Data Management aligned with the new Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) Policy on Service and Digital. ESDC is among the first departments to combine IM and Data under 1 policy instrument in the Government of Canada.

The department conducted over 650 accessibility audits, measuring compliance with accessibility standards for documents and applications on all platforms. In the same vein, the departmental IT Accessibility Office (ITAO):

  • Developed an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Accessibility Strategy
  • Responded to 950 service requests related to employees with disabilities through the ITAO Accessibility Centre of Excellence (ACE)
  • Developed an accessible procurement toolkit
  • Supported specialized equipment for employees with disabilities
  • Continued certifications through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals
  • Launched an accessibility coaching service to developers and managers

The department advanced the Workload Migration and Cloud Enablement projects, moving 7 applications from legacy data centres to the eCloud. In addition to lowering technical debt, this supported the development and enablement of the Cloud technology in the department.

The department developed capabilities to support hybrid technologies, leveraging both cloud and legacy systems in support of its programs and services. This is in alignment with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Cloud Adoption Policy and the Government of Canada's overall modernization plan. The department also created a draft Cloud Strategy that aligns with TBS's new Government of Canada (GC) Cloud Adoption Strategy.

The Benefits Delivery Modernization Programme established and implemented the foundational Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and supporting services on the Cloud. It also installed the new modern benefits solution, known as CURAM, a system allowing the delivery of multiple benefits.

Looking forward, the department studied how augmented reality (AR) can be part of an immersive workspace strategy to increase virtual collaboration, engagement, and connection. The department demonstrated how AR technology can be leveraged as a modern service delivery channel for Service Canada. It built a prototype which allowed users to access a virtual kiosk and agent, from a mobile device, to get information and submit requests.

As well, the department continued to explore new ways of using machine learning, including the potential use of optical character recognition. Artificial Intelligence training and tools for departmental employees are currently under development with the goal of improving awareness of ethical use of artificial intelligence.

Management and Oversight Services
Security

The department completed an update of its Strategic Emergency Management Plan and Standard Operating Procedures. This enabled the response teams to work together, share information and make more informed decisions. Ultimately, this will improve the department's overall capacity to both respond to, and prepare for, emergencies.

The department completed a business impact analysis of all of its external and internal services. The aim was to identify critical business functions and services, as well as to identify possible internal and external impacts of a disruption. The results supported the update of departmental business continuity plans including the identification of strong mitigation and recovery strategies.

The department completed extensive work to enhance security screening procedures. It also identified positions, in support of Passport operations and the SIN program, which require an enhanced security clearance. It also reached an agreement with the RCMP to improve capacity to process Law Enforcement Record Checks in support of granting security clearances.

The department improved its security culture and updated its guidelines for remote work and the hybrid workplace context.

Over 3,000 ESDC employees received security awareness training during fiscal year 2021 to 2022. These types of activities have been identified and prioritized in the action plan of the 2021 to 2024 Departmental Security Plan (DSP). This plan allows for the alignment of security initiatives with departmental priorities. This further strengthens the department's security culture and posture in an evolving threat landscape.

The 2020 Fall Economic Statement granted Employment and Social Development Canada $114.3 million to enhance its integrity measures. This will allow the department to continue to detect, investigate and address high-risk cases of error, misrepresentation/abuse and fraud in the Employment Insurance Emergency Response Benefit (EI-ERB). Following the confirmation of funding, the department developed a comprehensive 4-year plan (fiscal year 2021 to 2022 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025) to support EI-ERB post-payment verification activities.

The department will provide interim reports to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts. These will present the preliminary findings of its post payment verification work for the EI-ERB, including amounts recovered. The department will provide the committee with its first interim report by May 31, 2023.

Data

In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department built on the creation of an official data source and reporting platform for departmental COVID-19 program response. It used lessons learned to inform updates to its Data Strategy, strengthening the Department in the following areas, driving towards better service and outcomes for all Canadians:

  • Foundational Data Infrastructure – designing and implement the enterprise data infrastructure that will enable secure and timely access to data
  • Data Governance and Trust – developing and implementing the required enterprise policies, accountabilities, guidelines and standards on data
  • Data Culture and Literacy – developing and implementing initiatives to build data capabilities across the department
  • Data Innovation – providing strategic advice, developing and implementing advanced data analytical methods to enhance operational efficiencies and decision-making

The department also continued to strengthen timely access and the responsible use of data across the department. It did so through the launch of a Data Literacy Program, Data Stewardship Network and Data Foundations Programme.

The department continued to capture lessons learned from machine learning and artificial intelligence projects in support of the Artificial Intelligence Strategy. These efforts advanced work to drive towards better services and outcomes for all Canadians.

Experimentation

The department worked to modernize and simplify human resources by:

  • Piloting a video recruitment software, which allows candidates to pre-record interviews. This increases efficiencies in virtual hiring and in the level of effort needed to conduct staffing processes
  • Working with the Public Service Commission to study ways to apply artificial intelligence to staffing actions
  • Studying the impacts of diversity and inclusion training to develop other types of training

Through its Evaluation Directorate, the department continued to apply innovative practices, including the use of machine learning algorithms, to better estimate the impact of programs on specific sub-groups. Work in this area informed program and policy development decisions and is helping the department learn how participants with various demographic backgrounds benefit differently from labour market programs. This supports gender-based analysis plus within the department, by showing what works best for each population.

Table 6: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for Internal Services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2021 to 2022, as well as spending for that year.

Table 6: Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for Internal Services
Spending category 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 Planned spending (see note 1 below) 2021 to 2022 Total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 Actual spending (authorities used) 2021 to 2022 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
Gross Spending 994,208,569 994,208,569 1,322,394,796 1,310,935,981 316,727,412
Less: spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0 0
Less: revenues netted against expenditures 670,300,003 670,300,003 866,526,451 865,144,925 194,844,922
Net Spending (see note 2 below) 323,908,566 323,908,566 455,868,345 445,791,056 121,882,490

Explanation of variances: The variance between actual and planned spending in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is mainly attributable to Innovation, Information and Technology, Human Resource Management Services, Real property and other internal services to support the new initiatives within ESDC, advance departmental priorities and support program operations.

Notes
  1. "Planned spending" may differ from Main Estimates because it as they includes the amounts to be spent for the Specified Purpose Accounts (such as Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan accounts). These amounts include benefits paid to clients and amounts associated with the payment of these benefits.
  2. "Net Spending" excludes amounts spent under Specified Purpose Accounts.

Refer to the department's Financial Framework section for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following inmidcates, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to carry out its internal services for 2021 to 2022.

  • 2021 to 2022 planned full-time equivalents: 4,879
  • 2021 to 2022 actual full-time equivalents: 5,943
  • 2021 to 2022 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full-time equivalents: 1,064

Explanation of variances: This increase in full-time equivalents mainly reflects additional staff hired in Human Resource Management Services and Innovation, Information and Technology to support the new initiatives within ESDC, advance departmental priorities and support program operations.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Overall risks and mitigation strategies

Risk management is the practice of considering threats and opportunities when making decisions about how to deliver benefits and services to Canadians. The section below describes key achievements in addressing the risk priorities set out in the Departmental Plan.

Information technology modernization

The department continued on its multi-year journey to update its information technology hardware and the applications used for delivering programs and services. Critical software updates are now delivered faster without impacting system availability for employees and clients. Network hardware upgrades are underway. These upgrades are required to handle the changes coming with the modernization of the applications that deliver Employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security.

Cyber security

Cyber security continued to be a concern with increases in ransomware and data theft attacks in both the public and private sector. The department improved its threat monitoring capacity to help keep its systems and Canadians' information safe. New tools were put in place to handle phishing attempts to get sensitive information from employees. Multi-factor authentication is now used for some applications. The Benefits Delivery Modernization (BDM) Programme is committed to security by design for all applications under development.

Health and safety

The department remained committed to supporting employees and clients throughout the year. It reviewed and updated safety protocols at all work locations, including Service Canada Centres. This ensured protocols were aligned with public health guidance and the department's operational needs. The Future of Work Secretariat coordinated changes to employees' working environment including the safe return to the workplace. The department continued to promote mental health resources to help with employees' resilience by equipping managers and employees to proactively recognize problems and to take appropriate action.

Employee compensation

Correcting payroll issues in the Phoenix pay system needs a high level of manual processing. The department hired additional personnel to manage the caseload and reduce the number of unresolved cases. Procedures for data entry were clarified to help avoid problems. To further prevent and manage employee pay issues, the department created new tools and developed communication strategies. This included creating streamlined processes and implementing technological improvements.

Fraud

Fraud is always a risk for government benefit programs. Fraud prevention starts with the ability to fully verify the identity of applicants. The department put an enhanced identity management standard in place to help authenticate clients thus helping to prevent fraud. It also reviewed its fraud monitoring processes to target resources towards higher risk programs and services.

Information management and privacy

Managing information is a balancing act between protecting personal information and using it appropriately to deliver benefits and services. The department continued to implement its Information Strategy by updating policy and guidance and providing training to all employees. New tools were put in place to better safeguard protected information in the current work environment.

Emergency preparedness and business continuity

The department plays a key role in responding to regional and national emergencies by providing coordination and support services. Departmental work completed remotely means that services are less vulnerable to local disruptions. Recoverability of critical services was advanced with the provisioning of Disaster Recovery solutions and Disaster Recovery testing. However, this increases the reliance on network services. Additionally, the Benefits Delivery Modernization Programme takes business continuity into account during its design to help ensure uninterrupted service to Canadians.

Spending and human resources

This section presents an overview of the department's financial and human resource expenditures for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 compared with previous years.

Spending

Actual expenditures

For fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department's expenditures on programs and services total $193 billion. Of that amount, $178.3 billion will directly benefit Canadians through statutory transfer payment programs. These include Employment Insurance (EI), the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), the Canada Student Loans Program and the Canada Apprentice Loans, the Canada Education Savings Program, the Canada Disability Savings Program, the Canada Recovery Benefits and other smaller transfer payments. Voted grants and contributions expenditures total $4.8 billion and gross operating expenditures total $5.0 billion.

Figure 1: actual expenditures for fiscal year 2021 to 2022

Text description of Figure 1:
Figure 1: actual expenditures for fiscal year 2021 to 2022
Employment and Social Development Canada 2021 to 2022 consolidated actual spending by category 2021 to 2022 actual spending (in millions of dollars) 2021 to 2022 actual spending in percentage
Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement/Allowance 60,755.1 31.5%
Canada Pension Plan 53,052.3 27.5%
Employment Insurance 38,963.6 20.2%
Canada Recovery Benefit/Sickness Benefit/Caregiving Benefit 17,176.3 8.9%
Canada Student Loans / Other Statutory Payments 10,594.2 5.5%
Gross Operating Expenditures 5,044.4 2.6%
Voted Grants & Contributions 4,793.6 2.5%
Other - Workers' Compensation and EI/CPP charges and recoveries 2,628.6 1.3%
Consolidated Total 193,008.1 100.0%

Figure 2: Actual Spending Summary (dollars)

Text description of figure 2:
Employment and Social Development Canada gross expenditures
Budgetary

Net operating costs: $2,479.3 million

Note: this amount includes:

  • $1,232.6 million in net voted operating expenditures
  • $364.4 million in contributions to employee benefit plans
  • $225.9 million for delivery service to the public on behalf of partners under the Department of Employment and Social Development Act
  • $358.5 million in operating expenditures related to recovery benefits
  • $168.8 million in debt write-offs
  • $90.9 million in statutory administrative fees related to Canada Student Loans and Apprentice Loans
  • $34.1 million in net expenditures for Federal Workers' Compensation
  • $4.1 million for other items

To this net operating cost must be added a total of $2,565.1 million from recoveries, which is comprised of the following amounts:

  • $490.8 million for the Canada Pension Plan
  • $2,073.4 for the Employment Insurance Operating Account
  • $0.9 million for the Government Employee Compensation Act

Total for gross operating costs: $5,044.4 million

To this is added $4,793.6 million for voted grants and contributions.

Total gross expenditures: $9,838.0 million

Other – EI and CPP charges and recoveries: $2,628.6 million

Employment and Social Development Canada statutory transfer payments
Grants and Contributions

This category includes an amount of $60,755.1 million, which includes the following:

  • Old Age Security: $46,221.4 million
  • Guaranteed Income Supplement: $14,004.8 million
  • Allowance: $528.9 million

This category also includes an amount of $17,176.3 million, which includes the following:

  • Canada Recovery Benefit: $13,016.9 million
  • Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit: $2,288.1 million
  • Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit: $960.9 million
  • Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit: $910.4 million
Other statutory payments

The total for this category is $10,594.2 million, which is comprised of the following:

  • Benefit enhancement measures for the Employment Insurance Operating Account: a negative amount of $94.7 million
  • Canada Student Loans Program and Canada Apprentice Loans: $4,288.9 million
  • Early Learning and Child Care: $2,648.1 million
  • Additional support for Canadian seniors: $1,679.4 million
  • Canada Education Savings Grant: $1,089.5 million
  • Canada Disability Savings Program: $654.6 million
  • Canada Learning Bond: $142.3 million
  • Quebec Parental Insurance Plan: $130.3 million
  • Persons with disabilities – One-time Benefit Support: $26.7 million
  • Other specified purpose accounts: $13.7 million. This amount includes payments related to the Government Annuities Account and the Civil Service Insurance Fund
  • Wage Earner protection Program: $11,7 million
  • Universal Child Care Benefit: $3.7 million

Sub-total for the categories of grants and contributions and other statutory payments: $88,525.6 million

To this amount must be added the following:

  • Canada Pension Plan Benefits: $53,052.3
  • Employment Insurance Benefits: $38,963.6 million, which includes
    • Part I benefits: $36,451.3 million
    • Part II benefits: $2,512.3 million

Total – Statutory transfer payments: $180,541.5 million

Table 7: actual spending summary

Table 7: actual spending summary
Core responsibilities and Internal Services 2021 to 2022 actual gross spending Minus: 2021 to 2022 actual gross spending in specified purpose accounts Minus: 2021 to 2022 actual revenues netted against expenditures 2021 to 2022 actual net spending
Core responsibility 1: Social Development 4,463,385,712 0 0 4,463,385,712
Core responsibility 2: Pensions and Benefits 116,883,878,441 53,052,273,993 337,528,982 63,494,075,466
Core responsibility 3: Learning, Skills Development and Employment 67,279,306,958 38,977,308,336 1,361,557,013 26,940,441,609
Core responsibility 4: Working Conditions and Workplace Relations 158,283,303 0 900,000 157,383,303
Core responsibility 5: Information Delivery and Services for Other Departments 283,787,168 0 0 283,787,168
Sub-total 189,068,641,582 92,029,582,329 1,699,985,995 95,339,073,258
Internal Services 1,310,935,981 0 865,144,925 445,791,056
Other costs (see note 1) 2,628,540,530 2,628,540,530 0 0
Total 193,008,118,093 94,658,122,859 2,565,130,920 95,784,864,314
Notes:
  1. Other costs include administrative costs of other government departments charged to the Employment Insurance Operating Account and the Canada Pension Plan. They also include Employment Insurance doubtful accounts and recoveries from other government departments.

Refer to the Department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross planned spending.

ESDC's Financial Framework

The department has a complex financial structure, with various funding mechanisms used to deliver its mandate. The department is financed by 4 main sources of funds:

  1. Appropriated funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)
  2. The Employment Insurance Operating Account
  3. The Canada Pension Plan
  4. Other government departments and Crown corporations

Some expenditures are excluded from the department's Main and Supplementary Estimates and from net actual and planned spending because they are not voted by Parliament. These are:

  1. actual expenditures related to the Employment Insurance Operating Account and the Canada Pension Plan
  2. planned expenditures that are recovered from other government departments and Crown corporations for the delivery of programs and services on their behalf.

EI and CPP benefits and related administrative costs are charged against revenues set aside in separate specified purpose accounts as revenues netted against expenditures under the department.

Departmental costs related to the delivery of programs and services on behalf of other government departments are also reported as revenues netted against the department's expenditures. These costs are mainly for passport services and the administration of the Government Employee Compensation Act.

These items are included in the department's gross actual and planned spending. This provides readers with the full cost to government of the department's programs and services. It also presents a complete picture of the resources the department manages to deliver its mandate. However, these expenditures are ultimately recorded under separate legal entities.

The government amended the Department of Employment and Social Development Act in June 2018. The goal was to broaden the department's mandate to include the ability to deliver services to the public on behalf of partners, such as other government organizations. As a result, departmental costs related to the delivery of programs and services on behalf of other government departments are now reported under a statutory authority. An example of this would be passport services, reported as revenues netted against the department's expenditures.

The sources of funds, including specified purpose accounts, for each of the department's core responsibilities are as follows:

Core responsibility 1: Social Development
  • Consolidated Revenue Fund
Core responsibility 2: Pensions and Benefits
  • Consolidated Revenue Fund
  • Canada Pension Plan (in gross actual spending only for Canada Pension Plan benefits and related administrative costs)
Core responsibility 3: Learning, Skills Development and Employment
  • Consolidated Revenue Fund
  • Employment Insurance Operating Account (in gross actual spending only for Employment Insurance benefits and related administrative costs)
Core responsibility 4: Working Conditions and Workplace Relations
  • Consolidated Revenue Fund
  • crown corporations and other departments (in gross actual spending only for the administration of the Government Employee Compensation Act)
Core responsibility 5: Information Delivery and Services for Other Departments
  • Consolidated Revenue Fund
Internal Services
  • Consolidated Revenue Fund
  • Canada Pension Plan (in gross actual spending only for Canada Pension Plan administrative costs)
  • Employment Insurance Operating Account (in gross actual spending only for Employment Insurance administrative costs)
Financial Highlights

The department is responsible for the direct delivery of programs such as the Old Age Security (OAS), the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Employment Insurance (EI) and other statutory transfer payments. These programs can be affected by variances in the average number of beneficiaries and variances in the average benefit rates. This is the case for the Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement (OAS/GIS) and for the CPP. For EI, spending can be influenced by many factors such as the number of eligible individuals establishing claims for EI benefits. This number varies with the economy, the benefit rates and the implementation of any new initiatives.

Although the EI, CPP, OAS and other statutory transfer payments spending increased in the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 compared to the fiscal year 2020 to 2021, this is offset by a significant decrease attributable to the conclusion of COVID-19 temporary support measures such as Canada Emergency Recovery Benefit, Canada Emergency Student Benefit and others funded through the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act repealed on December 31.

As a result, the overall actual gross expenditures of $193.0 billion in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is $59.3 billion lower than fiscal year 2020 to 2021. This is mainly the result of a decrease in statutory payments related to COVID-19 measures. The most significant measure being the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which decrease spending by $67.9 billion, as well as the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) decrease of $2.9 billion and Workforce Development Agreement decrease of $1.5 billion spending.

Offsetting this, statutory payment increases include Employment Insurance (EI) Benefit which increased by $5.3 billion in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 compared to 2020 to 2021. This is largely explained by temporary measures (common entrance requirements and simplification measures) that were put in place in September 2021 to facilitate access to benefits. These measures will be in place until September 2022.

In addition, OAS/GIS and CPP statutory payments followed their usual trend in the fiscal year 2021 to 2022. There were increases to OAS/GIS payments ($2.2 billion) and to CPP benefits ($1.7 billion) resulting from the aging population and the changes in average monthly benefits.

Other measures totalling $4.4 billion were funded for 1 year only through the Budget Implementation Act (BIA) 2021 which resulted in:

  • An increase of $2.6 billion in statutory funding to ensure that new Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) investments were provided as soon as Canada-wide bilateral agreements were reached with the provinces and territories in the year ending March 31, 2022
  • An increase of $1.7 billion for a one-time taxable payment of $500 provided to seniors who were 75 years old or older to help them meet their immediate needs until a permanent 10 percent increase to the monthly Old Age Security pension was implemented in July 2022

The table below illustrates the department's spending trend from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2022 to 2023. In the fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the department spent a net amount of $95.8 billion in achieving its expected results. Planned spending presented from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2023 to 2024 corresponds to planned spending presented in the fiscal year 2022 to 2023 Departmental Plan.

Table 8: Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars) (Gross)

Table 8: Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars) (Gross)
Core responsibilities and internal services 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 planned spending 2022 to 2023 planned spending (See note 1) 2023 to 2024 planned spending (See note 1) 2021 to 2022 total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 actual spending (authorities used) 2020 to 2021 actual spending (authorities used) 2019 to 2020 actual spending (authorities used)
Core responsibility 1: Social Development 573,455,174 573,455,174 6,135,980,842 6,795,025,704 5,205,900,019 4,463,385,712 2,572,173,843 921,816,281
Core responsibility 2: Pensions and benefits 63,705,997,499 117,935,559,921 127,717,000,958 134,875,520,341 116,955,875,812 116,883,878,441 113,654,967,403 106,337,930,426
Core responsibility 3: Learning, skills development and employment 18,789,110,217 48,891,943,794 36,122,188,683 32,402,125,041 68,226,017,039 67,279,306,958 132,401,445,738 33,778,359,238
Core responsibility 4: Working conditions and workplace relations 182,334,289 182,334,289 179,997,873 181,007,987 163,054,440 158,283,303 175,405,872 169,857,914
Core responsibility 5: Information delivery and services for other departments 247,731,770 247,731,770 273,433,804 245,182,314 284,950,141 283,787,168 238,479,502 228,440,412
Sub-total 83,498,628,949 167,831,024,948 170,428,602,160 174,498,861,387 190,835,797,451 189,068,641,582 249,042,472,358 141,436,404,271
Internal services 994,208,569 994,208,569 977,939,242 941,621,502 1,322,394,796 1,310,935,981 1,098,016,943 1,019,312,762
Other costs See note 2 0 1,958,381,868 2,531,864,597 2,743,608,530 2,628,540,530 2,628,540,530 2,164,304,558 1,953,487,716
Vote netted revenues (2,053,116,628) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sub-total (2,053,116,628) 1,958,381,868 2,531,864,597 2,743,608,530 2,628,540,530 2,628,540,530 2,164,304,558 1,953,487,716
Total 82,439,720,890 170,783,615,385 173,938,405,999 178,184,091,419 194,786,732,777 193,008,118,093 252,304,793,859 144,409,204,749
Notes:
  1. Planned spending for 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 is presented as per ESDC'S 2022 to 2023 Departmental Plan
  2. Other costs include administrative costs of other government departments charged to the Employment Insurance operating Account and the Canada Pension Plan, it also includes Employment Insurance doubtful accounts

Refer to the Department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending.

The overall increase of $48.6 billion from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual gross spending are mainly due to the result of an increase in statutory payments related to the COVID-19 measures and to EI benefits increases attributable to the high unemployment rate in 2020 and the temporary measures put in place in September 2021 to facilitate access to benefits until September 2022. It also includes increases to the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security benefits caused by the aging population and changes in the average monthly benefits

Under Core Responsibility 1 Social Development, the increase of $3.5 billion from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual spending is mainly due to the an increase to Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) authorities to ensure investments were provided as soon as Canada-wide bilateral agreements were reached with the provinces and territories in the year ending March 31, 2022.

Under Core Responsibility 2 Pension and Benefits, the overall gross increase of $10.5 billion from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual spending can mainly be explained by increases in the number of beneficiaries and the average monthly benefits payments to Old Age Security ($3.5 billion), the Guaranteed Income Supplement ($1.0 billion), the Canada Pension Plan ($4.1 billion), and the Additional Support for Canadian Seniors (1.7 billion) for a new one-time grant payment for an amount of $500 provided to OAS pensioners who will be 75 or over as of June 30, 2022.

Under Core Responsibility 3 Learning, Skills Development and Employment, the increase of $33.5 billion from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual spending is mainly due to an increase in statutory payments related to the COVID-19 measures, in particular the Canada Recovery Benefit ($16.3 billion) and Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit ($910 million). There was also an increase in EI benefit payments (18.9 billion). The decrease of $65.1 billion from fiscal year 2020 to 2021 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual spending is mainly attributable to the conclusion of COVID-19 measures following the repeal of the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act on December 31, 2021 such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefits (CERB) program, Canada Emergency Student Benefits (CESB) and Workforce Development Agreements statutory funding, as well as EI Emergency Response Benefits under the Benefit enhancement measures for the Employment Insurance Operating Account. This is offset by the addition of new voted COVID-19 measures in the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 such as the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefits and Quebec Parental Insurance Plans.

The spending of the Canada Recovery Benefit (including Canada Recovery Caregiver Benefit and Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit) in the fiscal year from 2021 to 2022 ($16.3 billion) is comparable to the spending of the fiscal year 2020 to 2021 ($16.8 billion).

Under Core Responsibility 4 Working Conditions and Workplace Relations, there was a decrease of $11.6 million at gross from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual spending. This is mainly attributable to a decrease in Wage Earner Protection Program ($42.4 million) largely attributable to reduced corporate bankruptcies resulting from government financial supports in place for businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is offset by increases in operating costs ($24.1 million) and Labour Funding program ($6.4 million).

Under Core Responsibility 5 Information Delivery and Services for Other Departments, there was an increase of $55.3 million at gross from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual spending. This is mostly at to higher usage, volumes and level of effort and to new or amended agreements with other departments related to COVID-19 pandemic.

Under Internal Services, the increase of $291.6 million from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual spending under Internal Services can mainly be explained by increases to spending in Innovation, Information and Technology to support programmes operations and additional resource to support programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under Other Costs, there is a variance of $675.1 million in actual spending from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022. The variance is impacted by increased charges from other government entities to the CPP Account, notably the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Table 9: Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars) (Net)
Core responsibilities and internal services 2021 to 2022 Main Estimates 2021 to 2022 planned spending 2022 to 2023 planned spending (See note 1) 2023 to 2024 planned spending (See note 1) 2021 to 2022 total authorities available for use 2021 to 2022 actual spending (authorities used) 2020 to 2021 actual spending (authorities used) 2019 to 2020 actual spending (authorities used)
Core responsibility 1: Social Development 573,455,174 573,455,174 6,135,980,842 6,795,025,704 5,205,900,019 4,463,385,712 2,572,173,843 921,816,281
Core responsibility 2: Pensions and benefits 63,367,431,366 63,367,431,366 70,135,843,373 74,072,084,250 63,534,853,802 63,494,075,466 62,012,618,473 57,084,637,513
Core responsibility 3: Learning, skills development and employment 17,745,759,725 17,745,759,725 10,352,133,362 7,814,815,908 27,748,993,923 26,940,441,609 97,302,612,153 11,048,356,538
Core responsibility 4: Working conditions and workplace relations 181,434,289 181,434,289 179,097,873 180,107,987 162,154,440 157,383,303 174,698,277 169,172,902
Core responsibility 5: Information delivery and services for other departments 247,731,770 247,731,770 273,433,804 245,182,314 284,950,141 283,787,168 238,479,502 228,440,412
Sub-total 82,115,812,324 82,115,812,324 87,076,489,254 89,107,216,163 96,936,852,325 95,339,073,258 162,300,582,248 69,452,423,646
Internal services 323,908,566 323,908,566 327,885,311 311,382,912 455,868,345 445,791,056 336,724,368 376,339,480
Total 82,439,720,890 82,439,720,890 87,404,374,565 89,418,599,075 97,392,720,670 95,784,864,314 162,637,306,616 69,828,763,126
Notes:
  1. Planned spending for 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 is presented as per ESDC's 2022 to 2023 Departmental Plan

Refer to the Department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross actual and planned spending

Departmental Spending Trend: Total Net Consolidated Expenditures (dollars)

The figure below illustrates ESDC's spending trend from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025. In the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year, the department spent a net amount of $95.8 billion in achieving its expected results. Planned spending presented from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025 corresponds to planned spending presented in the fiscal year 2022 to 2023 Departmental Plan.

Figure 3: Departmental Spending Trend: Total Net Consolidated Expenditures

Text description of figure 3:
Actual spending
  • 2019 to 2020
    • Statutory: $65,760590,856
    • Voted (see note): $4,068,172,270
    • Total: $69,828,763,126
  • 2020 to 2021
    • Statutory : $158,494,988,839
    • Voted: $4,142,317,777
    • Total: $162,637,306,616
  • 2021 to 2022
    • Statutory: $89,589,886,338
    • Voted: $6,194,977,976
    • Total: $95,784,864,314
Planned spending
  • 2022 to 2023
    • Statutory: $76,007,030,436
    • Voted: $11,397,344,129
    • Total: $87,404,374,565
  • 2023 to 2024
    • Statutory: $79,000,527,432
    • Voted: $10,418,071,643
    • Total: $89,418,599,075
  • 2024 to 2025
    • Statutory: $82,709,270,823
    • Voted: $10,151,292,966
    • Total: $92,860,563,789

Note: Voted expenditures include debt write-offs in 2019 to 2020, 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.

Human resources

Actual human resources

Table 10: Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services (in full-time equivalents (FTEs))
Core responsibilities and internal services 2019 to 2020 actual 2020 to 2021 actual 2021 to 2022 planned 2021 to 2022 actual 2022 to 2023 planned (see note) 2023 to 2024 planned (see note)
Core responsibility 1: Social Development 457 538 566 622 593 508
Core responsibility 2: Pensions and benefits 5,665 6,159 6,221 6,829 6,511 5,275
Core responsibility 3: Learning, skills development and employment 10,954 13,895 12,193 15,930 11,607 10,843
Core responsibility 4: Working conditions and workplace relations 690 763 801 853 804 802
Core responsibility 5: Information delivery and services for other departments 2,086 1,708 2,411 2,236 2,301 2,246
Sub-total 19,852 23,063 22,192 26,470 21,816 19,674
Internal services 4,855 5,233 4,879 5,943 4,945 4,787
Total 24,707 28,296 27,071 32,413 26,761 24,461

Note: Planned full-time equivalents for 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 are presented as per the 2022 to 2023 Departmental Plan.

The overall increase of 7,706 in actual full-time equivalents from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is mainly explained by the following items:

  • Under Pensions and Benefits, the overall increase of 1,164 FTEs from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual FTEs is mainly due to the spending of additional funds and FTEs to address CPP and OAS workload. As for the variance between the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 planned and actual FTEs, the increase is mainly due to additional funding for investments in processing-related activities to ensure that seniors have timely access to OAS benefits, which was approved during the fiscal year and therefore had not been factored in the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 planned FTEs
  • Under Learning, Skills Development and Employment, the overall increase in actual FTEs of 4,976 from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is mainly due to Employment Insurance (EI) measures to address increased EI workload and other EI-related needs. As for the variance between fiscal year 2021 to 2022 planned and actual FTEs, it is due to additional funding approved during the fiscal year, and therefore was not factored in the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 planned FTEs, and covers activities such as additional staff hired to process Employment Insurance claims as well as to improve call centre accessibility
  • Under Internal Services, there is an increase of 1,088 FTEs from fiscal year 2019 to 2020 to fiscal year 2021 to 2022 actual FTEs. This increase is mainly attributable to the increased management and oversight services in support of ESDC's mandate and also for Human Resource Management Services and Innovation, Information and Technology to support all the new initiatives within ESDC and advance departmental priorities and support program operations

Expenditures by vote

For information on Employment and Social Development Canada's organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of Employment and Social Development Canada's spending with the Government of Canada's spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

The financial highlights are intended to serve as a general overview of Employment and Social Development Canada's (ESDC's) financial position and operations.

The following condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Government's accounting policies, which are based on Canadian public sector accounting standards and are therefore different from reporting on the use of authorities, reflected in the rest of this report. Reconciliation between authorities used and the net cost of operations is set out in Note 3 of the department's consolidated financial statements.

These consolidated financial statements include the transactions of the Employment Insurance Operating Account, a sub-entity under the control of ESDC. The accounts of this sub-entity have been consolidated with those of ESDC and all inter-organizational balances and transactions have been eliminated. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is excluded from ESDC's reporting entity because it is managed by both the Government of Canada and the provinces. Changes to the CPP require the agreement of at least two-thirds of the provinces, representing at least two-thirds of the population of all the provinces.

Financial statements

ESDC's consolidated financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022, are available on the departmental website.

Financial statements highlights
Table 11: Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022 (dollars)
Financial information 2021 to 2022 planned results (see note 1) 2021 to 2022 actual results 2020 to 2021 actual results Difference (2021 to 2022 actual results minus 2021 to 2022 planned results) Difference (2021 to 2022 actual results minus 2020 to 2021 actual results)
Total expenses (see note 2) 92,857,176,050 115,840,434,199 136,496,803,146 196,322,952,490 20,656,368,947
Total revenues 23,932,414,426 24,539,292,805 24,830,795,908 23,372,690,160 291,503,103
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers 68,924,761,624 91,301,141,394 111,666,007,238 172,950,262,330 20,364,865,844
Notes:
  1. The unaudited departmental future-oriented statement of operations can be found on ESDC's website
  2. Transferred operations are included in the total expenses as it relates to the transferred responsibilities of the Homelessness Policy Directorate to Infrastructure Canada, which became effective on October 26, 2021

Figure 4: Expenses for continuing operations by core responsibility

Text description of figure 4:
  • Learning, Skills Development and Employment: $66,413.9 million (48.8%)
  • Pensions and Benefits: $63,911.8 million (46.9%)
  • Social Development: $4,160.2 million (3.1%)
  • Internal Services: $1,277.4 million (0.9%)
  • Other: $427.2 million (0.3%)
Actual over Planned

The fiscal year 2021 to 2022 expenses were $20,656.4 million higher than planned. The variance is mainly attributable to:

  • $16,396.4 million in Learning, Skills Development and Employment mainly due to COVID-19 support measures
  • $3,802.2 million in Social Development mainly due to the signing of Early Learning and Child Care bilateral agreements with provinces and territories
Actual Year over Year

Total expenses for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 year amounted to $136,496.8 million, a decrease of $59,826.2 million over the previous year's total expenses of $196,323.0 million. The decrease in expenses is mainly explained by:

  • A decrease of $63,423.1 million in Learning, Skills Development and Employment expenses mainly due to the ending or reduced demand for COVID-19 support measures
  • An increase of $1,674.3 million in Pension and Benefits expenses mainly due to an increase in the eligible population for OAS and GIS caused by the growing aging population and the increase in the maximum monthly benefit payable
  • An increase of $2,174.8 million in Social Development expenses mainly due to the Early Learning and Child Care Program. In 2021 to 2022, a Canada-wide system was initiated to provide provinces and territories with significant funding to reduce the cost of regulated childcare spaces

Figure 5: Revenues by Type

Text description of figure 5:
  • Employment Insurance: $24,333.7 million (98%)
  • Other revenues: $497.1 million (2%)
Actual over Planned

The fiscal year 2021 to 2022 revenues were $291.5 million higher than planned. The variance is mainly attributable to total Employment Insurance insurable earnings being higher than planned due to higher than expected growth in employment and wages.

Actual Year over Year

Total revenues for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 year amounted to $24,830.8 million, an increase of $1,458.1 million over the previous year's total revenues of $23,372.7 million. The majority of this increase can be explained by an increase in Employment Insurance premiums mainly due to increased paid employment, annual increases in maximum insurance earnings and an increase in average wages.

Table 12: Condensed consolidated statement of financial position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2022 (dollars)
Financial information Fiscal year 2021 to 2022 Fiscal year 2020 to 2021 Difference
(fiscal year 2021 to 2022 minus fiscal year 2020 to 2021)
Total net financial assets 31,345,377,042 31,771,814,726 (426,437,684)
Total net liabilities 5,024,727,370 7,963,172,974 (2,938,445,604)
Department net financial asset 26,320,649,672 23,808,641,752 2,512,007,920
Total non-financial assets 494,231,666 401,958,044 92,273,622
Department net financial position 26,814,881,338 24,210,599,796 2,604,281,542

Figure 6: Assets by Type

Text description of figure 6:
  • Loans receivable: $19,053.2 million (59.8%)
  • Accounts receivable and advances: $12,025.3 million (37.8%)
  • Other assets: $494.2 million (1.6%)
  • Due from Consolidated Revenue Fund: $266.9 million (0.8%)

Total assets (including financial and non-financials assets) amounted to $31,839.6 million as at March 31, 2022, a decrease of $334.2 million over the previous year's total assets of $32,173.8 million. The decrease in assets is mainly attributable to:

  • A decrease of $2,898.0 million in the amount due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) mainly due to the decrease in COVID-19 support measures payable to individuals. The amount due from the CRF represents the timing difference between when expenses are charged against Parliamentary authorities and when the payments are made
  • An increase of $2,353.8 million in accounts receivable and advances mainly due to an increase in COVID-19 support measures overpayments to be recovered

Figure 7: Liabilities by Type

Text description of figure 7:
  • Accounts payable and accrued liabilities: $4,596.9 million (91.5%)
  • Vacation pay and compensatory leave: $166.6 million (3.3%)
  • Due to Canada Pension Plan: $101.3 million (2.0%)
  • Government Annuities Account: $81.5 million (1.6%)
  • Employee future benefits: $76.5 million (1.5%)
  • Designated amount trust fund: $1.9 million (0.1%)

Total liabilities amounted to $5,024.7 million as at March 31, 2022, a decrease of $2,938.5 million over the previous year's total liabilities of $7,963.2 million. The decrease is mainly attributable to a decrease in accounts payable and accrued liabilities, mainly due to the ending or reduced demand for COVID-19 support measures.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate ministers:

  • The Honourable Carla Qualtrough
  • The Honourable Karina Gould
  • The Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr.
  • The Honourable Kamal Khera

Institutional head:

Jean-François Tremblay, Deputy Minister, Employment and Social Development

Ministerial portfolio:

  • Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion
  • Minister of Families, Children and Social Development
  • Minister of Labour
  • Minister of Seniors

Enabling instrument:

Department of Employment and Social Development Act (S.C. 2005, c. 34); additional information on acts and regulations can be found on the Employment and Social Development Canada website.

Year of incorporation / commencement:

2005

Other: For more information on the department's role, please visit the Employment and Social Development Canada website.

Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

"Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do" is available on the Employment and Social Development Canada's website.

For more information on the department's organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Ministers' mandate letters.

Reporting framework

Employment and Social Development Canada's Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2021 to 2022 are shown below.

Core responsibility 1: Social Development

Description: increase inclusion and opportunities for participation of Canadians in their communities.

Departmental Result 1: homelessness is prevented and reduced.

Indicator: reduction in the estimated number of shelter users who are chronically homeless.

Departmental Result 2: not-for-profit organizations, communities, and other groups have an enhanced capacity to address a range of social issues such as the social inclusion of people with disabilities, the engagement of seniors and support for children and families.

Indicator: newly developed partnerships as a percentage of all partnerships developed by recipient organizations to address a range of social issues such as the social inclusion of people with disabilities, children and families and other vulnerable populations.

Departmental Result 3: barriers to accessibility for people with disabilities are removed.

Indicator: number of community spaces and workplaces that are more accessible due to Enabling Accessibility Fund funding.

Departmental Result 4: access to early learning and child care is increased.

Indicator 1: number of children in regulated child care spaces and/or early learning programs and number of children receiving subsidies or other financial supports.

Departmental Result 5: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs.

Indicator: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Social Development programs.

Program inventory
  • Reaching Home
  • Social Development Partnerships Program
  • New Horizons for Seniors Program
  • Enabling Accessibility Fund
  • Early Learning and Child Care
  • Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Transformation Initiative
  • Canadian Benefit for Parents of Young Victims of Crime
  • Accessible Canada Initiative
  • Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program
  • Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy
  • Strategic Engagement and Research Program

Core responsibility 2 : Pensions and Benefits

Description: assist Canadians in maintaining income for retirement, and provide financial benefits to survivors, people with disabilities and their families.

Departmental Result 1: seniors have income support for retirement.

Indicator 1: percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security pension in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors.

Indicator 2: percentage of seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors.

Indicator 3: percentage of Canada Pension Plan contributors aged 70+ receiving retirement benefits.

Indicator 4: percentage of seniors living in poverty.

Departmental Result 2: people with disabilities and their families have financial support.

Indicator 1: percentage of Canada Pension Plan contributors who have contributory eligibility for Canada Pension Plan disability benefits and therefore have access to financial support in the event of a severe and prolonged disability.

Indicator 2: percentage of Canadians eligible for the Disability Tax Credit who have a Registered Disability Savings Plan to encourage private savings.

Indicator 3: percentage of Registered Disability Savings Plan beneficiaries that have received a grant and/or a bond to assist them and their families to save for their long-term financial security.

Departmental Result 3: clients receive high-quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs.

Indicator 1: percentage of Canada Pension Plan retirement benefits paid within the first month of entitlement.

Indicator 2: percentage of decisions on applications for a Canada Pension Plan disability benefit issued within 120 calendar days.

Indicator 3: percentage of Old Age Security basic benefits paid within the first month of entitlement.

Indicator 4: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Pension and Benefits programs.

Program inventory
  • Old Age Security
  • Canada Pension Plan
  • Canada Disability Savings Program

Core responsibility 3: Learning, Skills Development and Employment

Description: help Canadians access post-secondary education, obtain the skills and training needed to participate in a changing labour market and provide supports to those who are temporarily unemployed.

Departmental Result 1: Canadians access education, training and lifelong learning supports to gain the skills and work experience they need.

Indicator 1: number of Canadians receiving training and/or employment supports through federally administered programs.

Indicator 2: number of Canadians receiving provincially and territorially delivered skills training and/or employment services supported by Government of Canada funding transfers.

Indicator 3: employment or returns to school following training/supports through federally administered programs.

Indicator 4: employment or returns to school following provincially and territorially delivered skills training and/or employment services supported by Government of Canada funding transfers.

Indicator 5: percentage of Canadians young adults that are enrolled in university or college.

Indicator 6: percentage change in Canadians aged 25 to 64 enrolled in university or college.

Departmental Result 2: Canadians participate in an inclusive and efficient labour market.

Indicator 1: difference in the employment rate between women and men.

Indicator 2: difference in the employment rate of Indigenous peoples (First Nations status and non-status, Inuit and Métis) and non-Indigenous peoples.

Indicator 3: difference in the employment rate between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities.

Indicator 4: difference in the employment rate gap between visible minority group members and the non-visible minority population.

Departmental result 3: Canadians receive financial support during employment transitions such as job loss, illness, or maternity/parental leave.

Indicator 1: percentage of workers losing their job in the previous year that were eligible for Employment Insurance.

Indicator 2: percentage of Employment Insurance claimants finding employment before the end of their benefit entitlement.

Departmental Result 4: students, including those from low- and middle-income families, use federally funded supports to help them participate in post-secondary education (PSE).

Indicator 1: percentage of low- and middle-income Canadian young adults participating in post-secondary education.

Indicator 2: annual percentage of beneficiaries under the age of 18 who receive an education savings incentive available only to those from low- or middle-income families.

Departmental Result 5: student borrowers are able to repay their federal student debt. Indicator: percentage of loans in repayment that are paid each year.

Departmental Result 6: clients receive high-quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs

Indicator 1: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Learning, Skills Development and Employment programs.

Indicator 2: percentage of Employment Insurance benefit payments or non-benefit notifications issued within 28 days of filing.

Indicator 3: percentage of Employment Insurance requests for reconsideration reviewed within 30 days of filing.

Indicator 4: percentage of Social Insurance Numbers applied for through the Newborn Registration Service issued within 10 business days.

Indicator 5: percentage of registrations to My Service Canada Account through Trusted Digital Identities in participating provinces/territories.

Program inventory
  • Employment Insurance
  • Labour Market Development Agreements
  • Workforce Development Agreements
  • Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities
  • Job Bank
  • Youth Employment and Skills Strategy
  • Skills and Partnership Fund
  • Skills for Success (formerly Literacy and Essential Skills)
  • Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program
  • Student Work Placement Program
  • Union Training and Innovation Program
  • Sectoral Workforce Solutions (formerly Sectoral Initiatives Program)
  • Foreign Credential Recognition Program
  • Temporary Foreign Workers Program
  • Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities
  • Canada Student Loans Program and Canada Apprentice Loans
  • Canada Education Savings Program
  • Apprenticeship Grants
  • Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship (Red Seal) Program
  • Canada Service Corps
  • Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness Program
  • Future Skills
  • Support for Student Learning
  • Canada Emergency Response Benefit
  • Canada Recovery Benefits

Core responsibility 4: Working Conditions and Workplace Relations

Description: promotes safe, healthy, fair and inclusive work conditions and cooperative workplace relations.

Departmental Result 1: workplaces are safe and healthy.

Indicator: number of health and safety violations identified under the Canada Labour Code (Part II) per 1,000 federally regulated employees.

Departmental Result 2: work conditions are fair and inclusive.

Indicator 1: percentage of Legislated Employment Equity Program employers whose representation equals or surpasses Canadian labour market availability for 2+ designated groups or who demonstrated progress towards representation since the previous reporting period.

Indicator 2: 3-year average number of founded violations identified under Part III of the Canada Labour Code per 1,000 federally regulated employees.

Departmental Result 3: labour relations are cooperative.

Indicator: percentage of labour disputes settled under the Canada Labour Code (Part I) without work stoppages, where parties were assisted by Labour Program officers.

Departmental Result 4: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs

Indicator 1: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Working Conditions and Workplace Relations programs.

Indicator 2: percentage of occupational health and safety cases each fiscal year that are finalized within 120 days (excluding prosecutions, appeals, and technical surveys).

Indicator 3: percentage of unjust dismissal complaints that are finalized within 180 days.

Indicator 4: percentage of conciliators assigned under the Canada Labour Code within 15 calendar days of receiving requests that are compliant with Canada Industrial Relations Regulations.

Indicator 5: percentage of initial Wage Earner Protection Program payments and non-payment notifications issued within 35 calendar days.

Program inventory
  • Labour Relations
  • Federal Workers' Compensation
  • Occupational Health and Safety
  • Workplace Equity
  • Labour Standards
  • Wage Earner Protection Program
  • International Labour Affairs

Core responsibility 5: Information Delivery and Services for other departments

Description: provide information to the public on the programs of the Government of Canada and the department, and provide services on behalf of other government departments.

Departmental Result 1: clients receive high quality, timely and accurate government information and services that meet their needs

Indicator 1: 1 800 O-Canada information completeness, relevancy and accuracy assessment.

Indicator 2: percentage of clients served in person who received assistance within 25 minutes.

Indicator 3: number of program services that meet their service standard targets.

Departmental Result 2: Canadians can obtain a passport within Canada in a timely manner.

Indicator: percentage of travel documents and other passport services processed within standards.

Program inventory
  • Government of Canada Telephone General Enquiries Services
  • Government of Canada Internet Presence
  • In-Person Points of Service
  • Passport
  • Service Delivery Partnerships

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada's Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on Employment and Social Development Canada's website:

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA plus of tax expenditures.

Organizational contact information

Portage IV
140 Promenade du Portage
Gatineau QC K1A 0J9

Telephone: 1-800-622-6232

Toll-free: 1-800-622-6232

Email: NC-SPR-PSR-CPMD-DPMG-GD@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

Website: www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development.html

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.
core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in 1 or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.
Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3 year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.
departmental priority (priorité)
A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.
departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments' immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.
departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that connects the department's core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.
departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.
Departmental Results Repor (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on a department's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.
experimentation (expérimentation)
The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.
full time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person's collective agreement.
gender-based analysis plus (GBA PLUS) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])
An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.
government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2020 to 2021 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the 2019 Speech from the Throne, namely: Fighting climate change; Strengthening the Middle Class; Walking the road of reconciliation; Keeping Canadians safe and healthy; and Positioning Canada for success in an uncertain world.
horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative where 2 or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.
non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.
performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.
performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.
performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.
plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.
planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.
program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all the department's programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department's core responsibilities and results.
result (résultat)
A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.
statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.
target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.
voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

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