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Departmental plan for fiscal year 2022 to 2023

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

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Departmental plan for fiscal year 2022 to 2023 [PDF - 3.1 MB]

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From the Ministers

We are pleased to present Employment and Social Development Canada’s Departmental Plan. This report lays out the department’s priorities for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year. It outlines how we will continue to support Canadians during the pandemic crisis and how we will contribute to a green and inclusive recovery through service transformation, jobs and training, affordable early learning and child care, as well as direct income supports.

Our first priority is to help Canadians get through the pandemic. While we remain cautiously optimistic about the future, challenges still remain across the country. People are still getting sick and needing to take time away from their jobs. People still need to care for others who have COVID-19 or whose schools, daycares or day centres are closed. That is why we will continue to provide income relief through the new Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit, as well as the ongoing Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit. As we move forward, the situation will be closely monitored and supports will be adjusted as needed.

As the pandemic has made clear, child care is a critical piece of social infrastructure. School and child care centre closures have been difficult for parents. Without access to child care, parents—usually mothers—cannot fully participate in our economy. The Government of Canada is committed to building a Canada-wide, community-based child care system to ensure that all families have access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care, no matter where they live. We are working with provinces, territories and Indigenous partners to create a system that is more affordable and takes into account the specific needs of children with disabilities and the unique needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Indigenous early learning and child care investments are guided by the co-developed Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework, which adopts a distinctions-based approach to strengthening high-quality, culturally appropriate child care for Indigenous children guided by Indigenous priorities.

Building a more accessible Canada remains a top priority for the Government of Canada. At the centre of this work will be re-introducing legislation to create the Canada Disability Benefit, which would significantly reduce poverty in Canada and help ensure that working-age Canadians with disabilities live in dignity. Alongside this work, ESDC will continue to develop and implement the Disability Inclusion Action Plan and work toward the Accessible Canada Act goal of a barrier-free Canada by 2040.

Another important measure to support Canadian workers is to provide 10 days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated private sector employees. The Government took action by introducing Bill C-3, an Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code, which received Royal Assent on December 17, 2021. We will now begin working with employers to implement Bill C-3 and encouraging provinces and territories to further expand access to paid sick leave across the country.

We will continue to ensure that all workers have the security and stability they deserve. We will look to make longer-term changes to our Employment Insurance system so that it is meeting the needs of workers today, and into the future. By modernizing the Employment Insurance system into the 21st century, we will be more responsive to the needs of both workers and employers. Going forward, we can ensure that all our services and benefits reach Canadians regardless of where they live.

Ongoing labour shortages continue to emphasize the need to build a strong, skilled workforce. It will take time for unemployed workers to transition to job opportunities in new sectors and for global supply chains to expand capacity and address current shortages. That is why we are implementing new initiatives to help Canadians gain the skills they need. For example, the new Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program will connect Canadians with the training they need to get good jobs in sectors where employers are looking for skilled workers.

Temporary Foreign Workers continue to play a critical role in Canada’s food security, and they have the same right to work in health, safety, and dignity as Canadian workers. This is why the Department, in consultation with provinces and territories will lead on the development of proposed program changes focused on addressing the most pressing, and non-negotiable, health and safety concerns related to temporary foreign worker accommodations.

As we transition to a greener economy, the nature of labour will change. We have a chance to promote opportunities for youth in these jobs, including in the skilled trades. We also have a chance now to truly support people who usually encounter barriers when trying to enter the labour force, including women, Indigenous peoples, Black Canadians, LGBTQ2+ people and persons with disabilities. Events over the last year have shone a light on the complex and unique lived realities of marginalized populations. Through programs such as the Black Canadian Communities Initiative, we will continue to support the work of community organizations that lift up, advocate for, and empower people.

As we undergo these profound changes, we must consider the mental health of Canadian workers. This means that the advancement of the right to disconnect becomes even more important, especially since many more people will be working from home.

The social and economic impacts of the pandemic have disproportionally affected some Canadians. We are planning new measures to help Canadians weather these challenging times, including permanently eliminating federal interest on Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans to give students a head start once they finish their studies. We are also developing the Disability Inclusion Action Plan, which will include a new Canada Disability Benefit, improved processes for eligibility for federal disability programs and benefits, and a robust employment strategy for Canadians with disabilities.

To support seniors, we will move to increase both Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement, as well as establish an expert panel to provide recommendations for establishing an Aging at Home Benefit, so that people can live in their communities for as long as possible. Finally, we will develop and implement modern, resilient, secure and reliable services and benefit delivery systems for Canadians and ensure that those services and benefits reach all Canadians regardless of where they live.

Our strong and effective actions to protect Canadians from the impacts of the pandemic have positioned us well for the road to recovery. As ministers, we will align our efforts with the dedicated employees at Employment and Social Development Canada, seeking their advice and support. With less than ten years to achieve Canada’s targets for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development, we will take significant action to advance progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in order to create a greener, more sustainable, inclusive future for our country.

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

Plans at a glance

The impacts of the Omicron variant demonstrated that there is still unpredictability in how the pandemic may continue to impact Canadians.

In 2022 to 2023, Employment and Social Development Canada will continue its efforts towards building a stronger and more inclusive Canada. We will continue to focus on programs and planned activities that work to improve the standard of living and the quality of life for all Canadians. This involves ensuring everyone, including underrepresented groups, can participate in the labour force. It will also include supports to protect the well-being of Canadians impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The department will work with provinces and territories to reduce the average fee for regulated early learning and child care by 50% by the end of 2022. This will make early learning and child care more affordable for families.

It will also increase the Old Age Security pension for seniors aged 75 and older. This 10% increase, which will come into effect in July 2022, will help address the higher financial pressures that older seniors face.

The department will extend the adult learner top-up until July 2023. Eligible low- and middle-income adult learners who are receiving the Canada Student Grant will receive an additional $1,600 each school year until 2023.

The department will also continue to support eligible workers who lose income because of the COVID-19 pandemic through its Employment Insurance program. Temporary measures that make Employment Insurance more accessible and simple will be in place until September 25, 2022. The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit will also continue to be available to Canadians who are unable to work for reasons related to COVID-19.

In addition, the department will work with employers to implement 10 days of paid sick leave, per calendar year, for federally regulated employees. The department will also work with the provinces and territories to develop a plan to further expand paid sick leave across the country.

Operating context

The economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to influence the department’s operations into fiscal year 2022 to 2023. While the Canadian economy was recovering prior to the Omicron variant, a flurry of lockdowns introduced in late December 2021 and in January 2022 negatively impacted the economy, in particular those working in close contact-industries. As the public health measures are progressively lifted, the Canadian economy is expected to resume its recovery. However, the strength of the recovery will depend on the trajectory of current or new variants and the need to continue or reintroduce public health measures. Canadians will need continued support to meet challenges that can arise from restrictions on businesses, as well as work, school and child care closures.

With the exception of a decline in the second quarter of 2021, Canada’s real Gross Domestic Product has been growing since the third quarter of 2020, and has almost reached pre-pandemic levels. Total employment recovered its pre-pandemic level by fall 2021, and increased steadily until December 2021. The Omicron variant brought employment back to September 2021 levels and increased steadily until December 2021. As the Omicron variant showed, the recovery it is not yet complete and could be impacted further by future pandemic waves. For instance, the unemployment rate is still higher in January 2022 than it was in February 2020 when the pandemic started. Many more people are working fewer hours than they did before the pandemic. In addition, employment in some hard-hit sectors such as accommodation and food, and other personal services, is still below pre-pandemic levels.

Economic impacts of the pandemic have been unevenly distributed. This was the case during the initial phase of the pandemic and the subsequent waves. Those most affected are members of groups that have long experienced labour market challenges. While some of these groups recovered their pre-pandemic employment by the end of 2021, they are likely to be again affected by localized lockdowns. They may also experience persistent adverse economic impacts from the pandemic. They include:

The department’s programs will continue to support these groups, as well as others who are affected by the pandemic. This will help to improve labour market outcomes as Canada works towards a full and inclusive recovery.

As significant as the short-and medium-term impacts of the pandemic have been, its longer-term impacts on the labour market may also be important. Trends that were reshaping the labour market before the pandemic may have been made more pronounced by it. For instance, before the pandemic some employers had a hard time finding workers to fill certain jobs. As the economy was reopening, a surge in demand for labour led to record-high job vacancies by the third quarter of 2021.

As vaccination rates increase and the economy recovers, more job seekers will reintegrate into the labour force, reducing some of the labour pressures. However, more permanent pressures are expected to continue in fiscal year 2022 to 2023. In fact, labour shortages in certain occupations and industries are expected to continue well into the future, driven largely by population aging, which has been impacting the labour force for years and will remain a factor for years to come.

The long-established trend towards a higher level and greater range of skills being required in the labour market will likely continue. There is also the need for new skillsets to tackle challenges such as transitioning to an economy with net-zero carbon emissions in order to fight climate change. In addition, the pandemic has changed the way many Canadians work. Widespread telework and remote work is expected to remain. This will force organizations to rethink work and working spaces. Demand for certain jobs is expected to increase while demand for others may never return to pre-pandemic levels. This changing nature of work is expected to increase the skills, notably digital skills, needed by some workers to be successful in the labour market. It will also increase the need for retraining.

The pandemic and the economic recovery touch all aspects of the department’s mandate. In order to develop the best labour market policies, it is even more important than ever that the department have access to high quality data in a timely manner. The department will ensure that the right processes are in place to support the development of data, research and analysis needed to respond to social and labour market needs. This will help the department make sure policies and programs are even more responsive to the needs of Canadians.

The department has played a critical role in ensuring services were provided to Canadians during the height of the pandemic. While maintaining uninterrupted services to Canadians will remain a priority in 2022 to 2023, the department will also focus on modernizing service delivery through strategic initiatives, such as Benefits Delivery Modernization. This will help better support recovery efforts and improve outcomes for Canadians as the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic accelerated the shift to digital services. It increased client’s expectations with respect to the speed and quality of online delivery. The majority of new online clients will likely continue to access services using this method. At the same time, the department recognizes that the shift to digital services may be challenging for those who traditionally rely on in-person services. As such, the department will focus its efforts on 3 areas:

The department also recognizes that maintaining trust in government institutions is paramount for effective digitization of services. Ensuring security of Canadians’ personal information and integrity of our programs will remain a top priority.

Service excellence highlights

1. Modernizing IT and addressing technical debt

Canadians expect government services to reflect the quality, convenience, and responsiveness that today’s digital technology offers. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift towards online services. This demonstrated the importance of technology and how it can be harnessed to better serve clients and their evolving needs. The department will continue to modernize and invest in its Information Technology (IT) systems to address issues related to technical debt accumulated over the years.

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will take a number of steps to advance IT modernization:

2. Improving the client service experience and outcomes, supported by increasingly seamless digital services.

Enhancing the quality of service provided to Canadians will continue to be a priority. How clients experience receiving government services impacts the effectiveness of programs and ultimately affects outcomes for those clients. Timeliness, convenience, and service accuracy matter when addressing the needs of Canadians. The department will continue to work to better understand what those needs are so that it can improve its services. It will consider clients’ expectations for seamless and secure online services. Examples of the planned service enhancements include:

3. Reaching all Canadians

Government services must be readily available and easy for all eligible Canadians to access. The department is committed to lifting at risk-Canadians out of poverty by facilitating access to the full suite of financial benefits they need to increase their quality of life. Over the next year, the department will focus on the service needs of marginalized and underserved clients, including children, low-income seniors, families and Indigenous communities. These clients traditionally face challenges in accessing services and need government support the most. The department will work to eliminate barriers, improve access and increase benefit uptake among Canadians by:

Service Canada regional service delivery

Service Canada regions support key government commitments and respond to the unique service delivery needs of citizens in the areas they serve. Regional offices partner with provinces, territories, municipalities and communities to better understand the needs of clients in their regions. These partnerships also allow Service Canada regional offices to reach more clients and improve the services offered. In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, Service Canada regions will continue to deliver services that reflect the changing needs of clients.

This year, Service Canada will pursue the following initiatives in each region.

Western Canada and Territories

Ontario Region

Quebec Region

Atlantic Region

Figure 1: Service Canada in-person service network, as of November 30, 2021
Figure 1: description follows
Text description of Figure 1:

Information in graphic is valid as of November 30, 2021.

Service Canada Centres

  • Western Canada and Territories: 98
  • Ontario: 87
  • Québec: 75
  • Atlantic: 57
  • total: 317

Scheduled Outreach Sites

  • Western Canada and Territories: 127
  • Ontario: 75
  • Québec: 18
  • Atlantic: 27
  • total: 247

Service Canada Centres - Passport Service Sites

  • Western Canada and Territories: 6
  • Ontario: 13
  • Québec: 5
  • Atlantic: 0
  • total: 24

Service Delivery Partner Sites (total 15)

  • Western Canada and Territories: 15
  • Ontario: 0
  • Québec: 0
  • Atlantic: 0
  • total: 15

For more information on Employment and Social Development Canada’s plans, see the “Core responsibilities: planned results and resources” of this plan.

Core responsibilities: planned results and resources

This section contains information on the department’s planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.

Social development

Description

Increase inclusion and opportunities for participation of Canadians in their communities

Planning highlights

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will undertake the following activities to advance this core responsibility.

Continue to work with provinces and territories toward a Canada-wide early learning and childcare system

The department will continue to work with provinces and territories to increase access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care. This includes building 250,000 new high-quality child care spaces and hiring 40,000 more early childhood educators by the end of fiscal year 2025 to 2026. Another goal is to bring fees for regulated child care down to $10 per day on average by 2025 to 2026. By the end of 2022, the program aims to reduce the average fees for regulated early learning and child care by 50%. The department is also committed to developing federal early learning and child care legislation to enshrine the principles of a Canada-wide child care system into law.

In addition, the department will support innovation projects in child care services and programs. These projects will explore and develop new practices to help improve life outcomes of children. The department will also support data and research, and will continue to work with Statistics Canada to improve the quality and availability of early learning and child care data.

The department will continue to collaborate with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation governments and organizations to address the priorities set by Indigenous communities for the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care program. For example, some communities have chosen to deliver increased training to accredit child care workers. Other communities have piloted immersion programs in Indigenous languages for children. These initiatives will ensure that more Indigenous families have access to high-quality culturally-relevant early learning programming. The program will also support safe and healthy facilities by providing funding for repairs and renovations. This work will advance the goals of the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework, co-developed with Indigenous peoples.

Barriers to accessibility for persons with disabilities are removed

The department will lead the development of a Disability Inclusion Action Plan. The plan is intended to be a whole-of-government approach to removing barriers faced by persons with disabilities and increasing accessibility. The plan will be based on 4 foundational pillars:

  1. financial security, including the development of a new Canada disability benefit
  2. employment, including a robust employment strategy for persons with disabilities
  3. accessible and inclusive communities, which is intended to foster a greater sense of inclusion for persons with disabilities in their communities through removal of barriers, whether physical, attitudinal or other
  4. a modern approach to disability, including a better process to determine eligibility for federal programs and benefits for persons with disabilities

The department will continue to engage Canadians in the development and implementation of the Disability Inclusion Action Plan. It will seek the views and perspectives of persons with disabilities, disability stakeholders, Indigenous communities, academics and other experts, as well as other interested people. The department will also continue to collaborate with the provinces and territories on this plan because of the important role they play in supporting Canadians with disabilities.

The Enabling Accessibility Fund will allocate an additional $50 million to support projects that increase accessibility in community spaces and workplaces. This includes projects that are being put in place by not-for-profit organizations, women’s shelters, small municipalities, Indigenous organizations, territorial governments, and businesses of all sizes. An additional $12.5 million will be provided to support small projects that improve the physical accessibility of child care centers. Projects that improve the accessibility of shelters for those experiencing violence and gender-based violence may be prioritized.

In December 2021, The Accessible Canada Regulations established the foundational requirements for federally regulated entities to fulfill their planning and reporting obligations under the Accessible Canada Act. Guidance, including sources, tips and best practices, was also published. These will help entities fulfill the regulatory requirements and go farther in eliminating barriers to accessibility. The department will continue to work towards improving accessibility for all Canadians by leading the implementation of the Accessible Canada Act.

The department will implement a data and measurement strategy to inform research, policy, programs and other actions on accessibility issues. This strategy was developed in consultation with federal partners, the disability community, academia, and provincial and territorial partners. In addition, public opinion research will be conducted to help identify existing barriers for persons with disabilities, track attitudes towards persons with disabilities and perceptions related to accessibility barriers. This data will support the ongoing measurement of progress in implementing the Act. It will also help inform additional efforts to advance accessibility more broadly across Canada.

The department will take a renewed approach to Accessible Canada grants and contributions funding. Under the new approach, funded projects will be those that:

All funding comes from the Disability component of the Social Development and Partnerships Program.

Finally, the department will develop a strategy to change attitudes and perceptions towards accessibility and the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in society. The strategy will drive greater inclusion by promoting accessibility by design. This means considering what is required to make society more inclusive from the start rather than waiting to remove accessibility barriers in policies, programs and practices once they are already in place.

Poverty is reduced

The department will work to reduce poverty by continuing to implement Opportunity for All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy, including:

Enhanced capacity to address social issues

The department will continue to support social purpose organizations, including charities, not-for-profit organizations, co-operatives and for-profit social enterprises to enhance their capacity to address social issues.

Through the Community Services Recovery Fund, the department will invest up to $400 million to help Canadian charities and non-profits adapt and modernize their programs and operations. This will help to strengthen Canada’s charitable and non-profit sector and better position it to support economic recovery in communities across the country. Projects may include adapting service delivery, buying equipment or creating new ways of working.

The department will also implement the new Age Well at Home Initiative, announced in Budget 2021. Community-based organizations will receive supports to help low-income, and otherwise vulnerable seniors, age in place. Support will also be provided to regional and national projects that expand existing services that have demonstrated results in helping seniors stay in their homes.

The Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative (SBCCI) will continue to play a key role in the department’s efforts to increase social inclusion, reduce systemic barriers, and strengthen social cohesion within Canadian society. Specifically, SBCCI will continue to advance social inclusion measures for Black and racialized populations. Key planned activities include establishing the National Institute for People of African Descent (NIPAD). The department expects to finalize assessments from the NIPAD call-for-proposals to select an organization that will establish the institute. In early 2022, the department will provide recommendations to the Minister and then sign an agreement with the successful organization.

The department will launch the Black-Led Philanthropic Endowment Fund, a new initiative dedicated to supporting Black-led charities and non-profit organizations. Led by Black Canadians for Black Canadians, the Fund will create a sustainable source of funding to improve social and economic outcomes in Black communities.

The department will continue to implement a national Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy by:

The Social Development Partnership Program – Disability component will continue to improve the inclusion of persons with disabilities through financial support to 28 national disability organizations and to 13 regional organizations of Inclusion Canada. This program will also continue to fund projects that:

The department will support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will help to build an environment where all Canadians and partners can contribute to advancing the SDGs. This includes leading the development of Canada’s first annual progress report on advancing the SDGs. The report will include contributions from all levels of government, networks of businesses, and civil society organizations.

The SDG Funding Program will support projects led by other levels of government, academia, the private sector and not for profit organizations. This will include research projects and the identification of innovative practices to advance the SDGs.

The department will also continue to provide funding to 3 National Indigenous Organizations and Indigenous communities to advance the SDGs. This will ensure that the diverse knowledge and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples are reflected in Canada’s implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the annual progress report on advancing the SDGs.

Through the Strategic Engagement and Research Program, the department continues to fund research projects and research-related events with domestic and international partners. The program advances the overall knowledge base and dialogue on skills, employment, labour and social issues. This benefits Canadians by ensuring that domestic employment and social development programs and policies are informed by the latest research.

Services to Canadians

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will continue improving services to Canadians under this core responsibility.

As part of the Supporting Black Canadian Communities initiative, the department will implement a government-wide navigation and coordination system to facilitate Black-led community organizations’ access to funding resources.

Gender-based analysis plus

The department will continue the development of a Black-centric lens. This tool will be part of the Gender-based analysis plus process to give targeted attention to Black communities. This new tool will inform the design or modification of the department's programs, policies and services.

As part of the Disability Inclusion Action Plan, the department will also develop a disability lens including tools and training that considers impacts on persons with disabilities. This will help ensure that disability inclusion is considered in the design and delivery of government programs, policies and services. The goal is to foster a culture of inclusion. This work is part of the department’s commitment under the Nothing without us: An accessibility strategy for the Public Service of Canada.

Engagement activities for the Canada Disability Benefit and the Disability Inclusion Action Plan will include a broad range of participants who represent the diversity of persons with disabilities. This will ensure the department gathers a wide range of perspectives from people who have lived experience with disabilities. It will provide a cross-disability perspective and views from people with intersecting identities, including organizations that represent these populations. This information will help to inform the design and implementation of the proposed benefit and plan. For example, engagement with persons with various types of disabilities, Indigenous peoples, Black Canadians and members of the LGBTQ2+ community will provide the department with important information to understand the impacts of the design and implementation of the proposed benefit.

The Enabling Accessibility Fund will ensure that geographical distribution, racialized communities, and Indigenous organizations are considered in future Calls for Proposals. To do so, the department will periodically review the number of approved projects within these 3 categories when screening and assessing applications to ensure an equitable distribution of funding.

Gender-based analysis plus will continue to inform the development of additional regulations under the Accessible Canada Act, as well as the implementation of the accessibility data and measurement strategy. It will also play an important role in the development of the strategy to change attitudes and perceptions towards accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities. The department recognizes that persons with disabilities are diverse, and that women, Indigenous peoples, visible minorities and/or LGBTQ2 persons with disabilities may have different experiences owing to different aspects of their identity.

Gender-based analysis plus will also continue to play a role in advancing work under the Accessible Canada Initiative. For example, the department will promote project proposals that are inclusive and intersectional.

The Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program supports organizations that contribute to Canada’s progress on the 2030 Agenda and to the concept of leaving no one behind. For example, it supports projects that improve outcomes for excluded women’s groups and students living with disabilities.

The Early Learning and Child Care program will provide more women with the opportunity to enter and remain in the labour force, pursue training or education, transition from part time to full time work or take on additional skill building programs. Racialized women, single mothers, and mothers of pre-school aged children are disproportionately impacted by a lack of access to early learning and child care. These women will benefit most from this program. Increased labour force participation by women with young children will contribute to advancing gender equality and economic growth.

United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will contribute to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy. The renewed Investment Readiness Program and Social Finance Fund will contribute to:

The department will also advance the SDGs through the implementation of the Accessible Canada Act (the Act):

In addition, through the Early Learning and Child Care program the department will contribute to advancing the following SDG:

Experimentation

The department is undertaking work, through the Disability Component of the Social Development Partnerships Program, to learn more about the needs of Black and other racialized Canadians with disabilities. This knowledge will inform how to advance the social inclusion of diverse persons with disabilities.

Budget 2021 provided $4.05 million over 3 years to build a special tool to develop and analyse the proposed new Canada Disability Benefit. As such, the department is working with Statistics Canada to develop a micro-simulation model. This will help the department to analyse interactions of the benefit with other disability benefits. The intent is to ensure that the new benefit has the maximum positive impact possible on reducing poverty and improving the financial security of working aged Canadians with disabilities.

The department is piloting an approach to improve access to program outcome business intelligence data for grants and contributions programs. This work will lead to a better understanding of the impact of grants and contributions programs. It will also guide improvements to grants and contributions program design and delivery. The pilot will take place through 2022 to 2023. This work on program outcomes will be an important part of the performance measurement and management framework for grants and contributions in future years.

Planned results for social development

The following table shows, for Social Development, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022 to 2023, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result 1 of 5: 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.

Departmental result 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.

Target: 25% (see note 1 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023 (see note 1 below).

2018 to 2019 actual result: not available (see note 2 below).

2019 to 2020 actual result: not available (see note 3 below).

2020 to 2021 actual result: not available (see note 3 below).

Departmental result 2 of 5: barriers to accessibility for persons with disabilities are removed.

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

Target: 870 (see note 4 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 473.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 376.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 386.

Departmental result 3 of 5: access to early learning and child care is increased (see notes 5 and 6 below.

Departmental result 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: creation of 250,000 spaces (see note 7 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2026.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 40,116 (combined total for both indicators for both fiscal years – 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019) (see note 7 below).

2019 to 2020 actual result: not available.

2020 to 2021 actual result: not available.

Departmental result 4 of 5: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs (see note 8 below).

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 1 out of 1.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 100%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 1 out of 1.

Departmental result 5 of 5: homelessness is prevented and reduced (see note 9 below).

Departmental result indicator: reduction in the estimated number of shelter users who are chronically homeless.

Target: at least a 31% reduction from the 2016 baseline estimated at 26,900 shelter users.

Date to achieve target: March 2024.

2018 to 2019 actual result: results to be provided in March 2024.

2019 to 2020 actual result: results to be provided in March 2024.

2020 to 2021 actual result: results to be provided in March 2024.

Notes

  1. This is a new indicator for which a target has been set for the first time with limited information and baseline. It is based on one year of data that was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Baseline will be developed with 2 years of trend data from April 2020 to March 2022.
  2. This is a new indicator and as such historical results are not available.
  3. Results for fiscal years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 are not available yet. Compilation of results across the country for the Children and Families component 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.
  4. This target is significantly higher than previous targets given the additional funding allocation to the EAF in Budget 2021 ($129.2M over 2 fiscal years, starting in 2021 to 2022).
  5. In addition to space creation, affordability is a key goal of the Early Learning and Child Care program. The goal is to bring fees for regulated child care down to $10 per day on average by fiscal year 2025 to 2026.
  6. While the Government of Québec supports the general principles of the Early Learning and Child Care Framework, it does not adhere to the Framework as it intends to preserve its sole responsibility in this area on its territory. The Government of Canada has entered into an asymmetrical agreement with the province of Quebec that will allow for further improvements to their system.
  7. The target of 250,000 spaces is associated with the funding dedicated to all provinces and territories to support implementation of the Canada-wide early learning and child care system. This is in addition to the achieved target of 40,000 spaces associated with Budget 2017 funding reflected in fiscal year 2018 to 2019 results.
  8. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca.
  9. This departmental result is expected to move to Infrastructure Canada.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Employment and Social Development Canada program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for Social development

The following table shows, for Social development budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 1: Planned budgetary spending for Social development
Categories Main Estimates 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2023 to 2024 Planned spending 2024 to 2025
Planned Gross Spending 6,135,980,842 6,135,980,842 6,795,025,704 7,771,009,945
less: Planned Spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0
less: Planned Revenues netted against expenditures 0 0 0 0
Planned Net Spending 6,135,980,842 6,135,980,842 6,795,025,704 7,771,009,945

Note: the increase in planned spending is mainly explained by funding to extend existing Early Learning and Child Care bilateral agreements with provinces and territories and to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system in partnership with provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners.

Please refer to the department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including an explanation of gross planned spending.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022 to 2023 and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Planned human resources for Social development

Table 2: Planned human resources for Social development
2022 to 2023 planned full-time equivalents 2023 to 2024 planned full-time equivalents 2024 to 2025 planned full-time equivalents
593 508 488

Note: the reduction in full-time equivalents is a result of the sunsetting of temporary operating resources for Social Development Partnerships, New Horizons for Seniors, Enabling Accessibility Fund and Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy programs.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on 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.

Planning highlights

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will undertake the following activities to advance this core responsibility.

Seniors have income support for retirement

The department will ensure that seniors have income support in retirement through the Old Age Security (OAS) program. The department will continue to provide the basic OAS pension to most seniors. The basic OAS pension is paid to all persons aged 65 or over who meet the eligibility requirements. The program will also provide low-income OAS pensioners with the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), and Allowances for low-income Canadians aged 60 to 64 who are the spouses or common-law partners of GIS recipients, or who are widows or widowers.

In July 2022, the OAS pension for seniors aged 75 and older will increase by 10%. This increase will provide an additional $766 to full pensioners over the first year. This will help address the increased financial vulnerability that older seniors may face due to the risk of outliving their savings, reduced ability to supplement their income with paid work, and the risk of incurring significant expenses from the onset of illness or disability. Seniors will receive a letter prior to their first increased pension payment to notify them of the increase.

Persons with disabilities and their families have financial support

The department will ensure that those with disabilities and their families have financial support. The Canada Pension Plan – Disability program will improve how it responds to the needs of Canadians with severe and prolonged disabilities. It will:

Economic and Fiscal Update 2021

Proposed investments from the Economic and Fiscal Update, released in December 2021, that also fall under this Core Responsibility include:

  • up to $742.4 million for one-time payments to alleviate the financial hardship of Guaranteed Income Supplement and Allowance recipients who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or the Canada Recovery Benefit in 2020. The government will continue to investigate ways to limit potential benefit reductions for vulnerable seniors who received emergency and recovery benefits.

Services to Canadians

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will strive to ensure that clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs.

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) enhancement project will increase the benefits received by CPP beneficiaries. This will result in enhanced financial security for beneficiaries.

In 2020, investments were made for both the CPP and CPP-Disability programs, to hire additional Service Canada staff to improve program delivery. With this increased capacity, the department will improve service delivery for CPP and CPP-Disability in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 by:

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, Service Canada will expand the use of the Service Canada Labs, which solicit feedback from Canadians on the accessibility and user friendliness of services. When providing feedback, Canadians will be able to anonymously identify themselves as part of a vulnerable group(s). This feedback informs how service delivery improvements are designed and implemented.

Gender-based analysis plus

The department collaborated with Statistics Canada to carry out a survey. This survey investigated the reasons eligible individuals have not yet opened a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) and benefited from the Canada Disability Savings Grants and Bonds. Results from the survey are expected to be available in early 2022. The analysis of the results will help the Canada Disability Savings Program identify why eligible individuals do not have a RDSP. Intersectional factors will be looked at to identify potential barriers to opening a RDSP. This will inform program activities for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year to increase program uptake. Supporting the uptake among diverse and underserved populations will improve the financial security of persons with disabilities.

The 10% increase to the Old Age Security pension for pensioners aged 75 years and older will benefit the pensioners in that age group. In addition, proportionately it will benefit more women (56%) than men (44%) in the first full year of implementation which is 2023 to 2024.

United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will contribute to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by permanently increasing the Old Age Security pension for pensioners aged 75 and older by 10% starting in July 2022. This will contribute to advancing the following SDGs:

Improving the financial security of persons with disabilities through the Canada Disability Savings Program (CDSP) will contribute to advancing the following SDG:

Experimentation

Under the Canada Pension Plan – Disability, the department will continue the design of a pilot project to support beneficiaries in returning to work, if or when they are able. This work to design a pilot will continue into March 2023, following which the project will be launched.

Planned results for pensions and benefits

The following table shows, for Pensions and Benefits, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022 to 2023, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result 1 of 3: seniors have income support for retirement.

Departmental result indicator 1 of 5: percentage of seniors living in poverty.

Target: at most 6.1%.

Date to achieve target: December 2030.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 6.0% (2017).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 5.6% (2018).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 5.4% (2019).

Departmental result indicator 2 of 5: percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security Pension at age 65 and over in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors aged 65 and over (OAS pension take-up rate).

Target: at least 94% (see note 1 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 97% (2016).

2019 to 2020 actual result : 97.2% (2017).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 97.1% (2018).

Departmental result indicator 3 of 5: percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security pension at age 70 and over in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors aged 70 and over (OAS pension take-up rate 70+).

Target: at least 97%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 99% (2016).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 99% (2017).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 99% (2018).

Departmental result indicator 4 of 5: percentage of seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors.

Target: at least 90%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 91% (2016).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 91.1% (2017).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 91.2% (2018).

Departmental result indicator 5 of 5: percentage of Canada Pension Plan contributors aged 70+ receiving retirement benefits.

Target: at least 99%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 99% (2016).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 99% (2017).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 99% (2018).

Departmental result 2 of 3: persons with disabilities and their families have financial support.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 63% (2017).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 65% (2018).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 65% (2019).

Departmental result indicator 2 of 3: percentage of Canadians approved for the Disability Tax Credit who have a Registered Disability Savings Plan to encourage private savings (see note 2 below).

Target: at least 36%.

Date to achieve target: December 2022.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 34% (2018).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 35% (2019).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 35% (2020).

Departmental result indicator 3 of 3: percentage of Registered Disability Savings Plan beneficiaries that have been issued 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 2022.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 83% (2018).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 84% (2019).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 80% (2020).

Departmental result 3 of 3: clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs (see note 3 below).

Departmental result indicator 1 of 4: number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Pensions and Benefits programs.

Target: 10 out of 10.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 5 out of 10.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 5 out of 10.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 5 out of 10.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 96%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 97%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 98%.

Departmental result indicator 3 of 4: percentage of decisions on applications for a Canada Pension Plan disability benefit within 120 calendar days.

Target: at least 80%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 63%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 54%.

2020 to 2021 actual result : 61%.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 92%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 91%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 91%.

Notes

  1. The target for the Old Age Security (OAS) pension take-up recognizes that not all persons aged 65 years and older apply for OAS benefits when they first become eligible. In 2018, more seniors took advantage of the pension deferral provision, which explains the decrease in the take-up rate from the previous year. Since 2013, seniors can choose to defer the receipt of their OAS pension up to age 70, in exchange for a higher benefit amount. This is why a new indicator has been added to measure take-up of the OAS pension among eligible seniors aged 70 and over.
  2. This target for this indicator is specific to Canadian residents who have a disability and who are aged 0 to 49 years.
  3. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Employment and Social Development Canada program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for Pensions and Benefits

The following table shows, for Pensions and Benefits budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 3: Planned budgetary spending for Pensions and Benefits
Categories Main Estimates 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2023 to 2024 Planned spending 2024 to 2025
Planned Gross Spending 70,472,443,965 127,717,000,958 134,875,520,341 142,711,723,249
less: Planned Spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 57,244,556,993 60,508,046,966 64,048,858,837
less: Planned Revenues netted against expenditures 336,600,592 336,600,592 295,389,125 280,233,657
Planned Net Spending 70,135,843,373 70,135,843,373 74,072,084,250 78,382,630,755

Notes: please refer to the department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including an explanation of gross planned spending.

The increase in planned spending is mainly explained by an increase in the number of Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement and Canada Pension Plan beneficiaries due to an aging population and increases in benefits due to indexation. Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for Pensions and Benefits

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022 to 2023 and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 4: Planned human resources for Pensions and Benefits
2022 to 2023 planned full-time equivalents 2023 to 2024 planned full-time equivalents 2024 to 2025 planned full-time equivalents
6,511 5,275 4,868

Note: the decrease in full-time equivalents between fiscal year 2022 to 2023 and fiscal year 2024 to 2025 is mainly due to a reduction in temporary resources provided to address Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan workload capacity.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on 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.

Planning highlights

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will undertake the following activities to advance this core responsibility.

Students, including those from low- and middle-income families, are provided with federally funded supports to help them participate in post-secondary education (PSE).

The department will increase awareness and take-up of the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). It will develop resources tailored to specific audiences, support stakeholder outreach events and send letters to eligible Canadians. This will include letters to CLB eligible Canadians turning 18 years of age informing them that they can now claim the CLB on their own when they enrol in post-secondary education. These initiatives will help low-income families, youth and Indigenous peoples access this education savings incentive.

The department will fund projects that test ways to help people access the CLB and increase take-up through Phase II of the CLB Grants and Contributions Pilot. Projects include helping individuals and families meet the CLB requirements, like applying for a Social Insurance Number, filing taxes and opening a Registered Education Savings Plan. These projects will help the department and community organizations learn what works, and what does not work, to raise awareness and improve access to the CLB for eligible Canadians.

The Supports for Student Learning Program helps Canadian learners who are facing barriers to education. Budget 2021 announced $118.4 million over 2 years to expand federal investments in after-school programming. This will allow the program to reach up to 15,000 students per year by the end of the pilot in March 2023. In addition, it is expected that Canadian post-secondary students will have opportunities to study abroad as part of the Outbound Student Mobility Pilot in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, as travel starts to resume.

Student borrowers are able to repay their federal student debt.

The department will continue to reduce the financial pressure experienced by students. It is extending the elimination of interest on repayment of Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loa ns. As announced in budget 2021, this temporary measure will be extended until March 31st, 2023. This will results in savings for approximately 1.5 million Canadians repaying student loans in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the majority of whom are women.

The department will enhance the Repayment Assistance Program. This will include increasing the income level that allows a borrower to make no payments on their student loan. It will also include reducing monthly payments. In the past, payments could not exceed 20% of a borrower’s monthly family income. This will be reduced to 10% of a borrower’s family income.

In addition, the department will temporarily extend the doubling of Canada Student Grants until July 2023. The maximum amount available for full-time students will be $6,000, increasing to $10,000 for students with disabilities. This measure is expected to support 581,000 students in fiscal year 2022 to 2023. Further, the department will permanently allow students to use their current year’s income, rather than the previous year’s income, to determine eligibility for the grants. This flexibility is expected to support 15,000 students per year. These are students who either would not have met previous eligibility requirements or would have received a lower amount of support.

The department is also extending the adult learner top-up until July 2023. This measure provides adult learners who are receiving the Canada Student Grant with an additional $1,600 each school year. This top-up is available to eligible low- and middle-income Canadians. Approximately 67,500 students will benefit from this measure annually until 2023.

The department will change the definition of disability in the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program. This will allow students whose disabilities are persistent or prolonged, but not necessarily permanent, to benefit from additional supports. In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the measure is expected to support 39,000 additional students who did not meet the previous definition of disability.

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

The Canada Service Corps promotes civic engagement among young people, in particular for Indigenous and underserved youth. It provides them with meaningful volunteer service opportunities that help them gain essential life skills and experience. These opportunities may take the form of either volunteer service placements or micro-grants for youth-led projects. The Canada Service Corps will deliver 23,650 service opportunities for youth in fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

The Future Skills Centre is an independent innovation and applied research centre and is the program component of Future Skills. Their goal is to ensure that skills and training policies and programs are evidence-based and responsive to emerging changes in the economy. In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the Centre will officially launch the next phase of its project scaling strategy. This strategy builds on promising practices and focuses on systematic, cross-sector solutions for skills innovation. It will also continue to explore and deepen regional partnerships by furthering its relationships with the provinces and territories. The Centre has over 160 projects and has published over 70 reports.

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will provide over $3.4 billion in funding for skills training and employment supports for individuals and employers under the Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) and the Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs) with provinces and territories. This funding will help build a skilled labour force by allowing individuals and employers across Canada to access more than one million employment and training supports. Under the LMDAs, eligible unemployed individuals can gain skills and work experience by participating in training programs and services such as employment counselling and job search assistance. Under the WDAs, eligible individuals and employers can benefit from programs and services providing skills training, on-the-job training, group interventions, financial assistance and benefits, employment counselling, labour market connections, employment opportunities or experiential learning, as well as employer-sponsored training. The WDAs include targeted funding for persons with disabilities and a priority for serving members of underrepresented groups.

The Skills for Success program (previously Literacy and Essential Skills) will fund projects to deliver foundational and transferable skills training to Canadians. It will also fund projects to develop new assessment tools and skills resources to help Canadians improve their foundational and transferable skills. Eligible project participants will also receive services and supports that help them complete their training. These can include support for childcare or accommodation costs. This program supports all Canadians and includes a focus on groups that are underrepresented in the labour market. This includes racialized Canadians and persons with disabilities. Assessment tools and training resources developed through the program will be posted online and will be available free of charge to all Canadians.

The Fall Economic Statement 2020 provided $50 million over 2021 to 20022 and 2022 to2023 for a new Women’s Employment Readiness Pilot program. The pilot will fund organizations to provide and test pre-employment and skills development supports. These supports will help women facing multiple barriers to improve their labour market outcomes. The 2-year pilot will focus on 4 target groups of women: racialized and/or Indigenous women, women with disabilities, women from the LGBTQ2+ community, and women who have been out of the labour market for a long time. The pilot will also test models to work with employers to improve workplace inclusivity for the target groups.

The Community Workforce Development Program will support communities to develop local plans that identify high economic growth areas. The program will also connect employers with training providers to upskill and reskill jobseekers to fill current and emerging jobs in demand. It will test place-based approaches to workforce planning and skill training with a focus on underrepresented groups including 75% of funding for women, youth, persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, newcomers to Canada, Black Canadians and other racialized individuals, older workers and individuals identifying as LGBTQ2+.

The new Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program will support economic recovery and emerging workforce challenges. Industry-led solutions will be developed to address skills and workforce challenges faced by key sectors of the economy. For example, the program will invest in training and re-skilling to address the skills and labour shortages affecting the health sector and to build talent for the clean economy. The program will help employers and connect Canadians with the training they need to access good jobs in sectors where employers are looking for skilled workers. This will include groups underrepresented in the labour market such as women, persons with disabilities, newcomers to Canada, individuals identifying as LGBTQ2+, Indigenous peoples, and racialized communities, including Black Canadians.

The Apprenticeship Service will provide incentives for small and medium-sized employers to hire apprentices in eligible Red Seal trades. An additional incentive is available to employers who hire apprentices from a group that is underrepresented in the workforce including: women, Indigenous peoples, newcomers to Canada, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ2+ communities and racialized communities, including Black Canadians. This will help fill a need for skilled trades people. It will also increase diversity of the trades workforce. In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, it is expected that the program will help employers to hire at least 15,000 new first-year apprentices in eligible Red Seal trades.

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, all partners contributing to the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy will collectively serve more than 24,300 youth, with Employment and Social Development Canada serving 12,000 of this total. This includes youth facing barriers. Participants will receive meaningful work experience to develop the skills needed for employment. They will also be provided with wrap around supports such as mentorship, access to mental health supports, equipment such as computers, childcare services, and transportation. These services will make it easier for participants to take part in work experiences. The program will help youth recover from the pandemic and contribute to Canada’s economic recovery.

An additional 100,000 jobs will also be created for youth through Canada Summer Jobs program.

The Student Work Placement program helps prepare students for the world of work by offering work-integrated learning opportunities to students in all fields of study. It will create up to 20,000 opportunities for post-secondary students. In addition, the Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative of the program will provide 20,000 opportunities for post-secondary students to access new and emerging types of opportunities. This includes hackathons and micro-internships.

Canadians participate in an inclusive and efficient labour market

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities will support up to 2,000 employers to integrate persons with disabilities into the workplace. It will also help up to 4,200 persons with disabilities prepare for, obtain and maintain employment.

The department will continue to develop and implement the Employment Strategy for Canadians with Disabilities. This Strategy is part of the Disability Inclusion Action Plan. The department will continue to engage with the disability community to support the ongoing development and implementation of the Strategy.

The department will introduce a renewed approach for the Skills and Partnership Fund. This approach was informed by extensive engagement with industry, academic institutions, and various levels of federal, provincial, and territorial governments and Indigenous partners. The fund is complementary to the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program. The fund provides key opportunities for Indigenous Skills and Employment Training clients to pursue job specific training and employment in growth sectors.

In addition, through the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program, the department will continue to provide funding to over 100 Indigenous service delivery organizations. These organizations will provide skills and employment training to First Nations, Inuit, Métis Nation peoples and urban and unaffiliated Indigenous people across Canada. Training provided is Indigenous distinctions-based and is intended to meet the specific needs of their community members, especially as Indigenous communities recover from the pandemic. Although the pandemic continues to impact program participation and may affect program results, the program aims to serve 54,000 Indigenous participants in fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Both programs contribute to the department’s efforts to advance reconciliation. They provide dedicated resources to reduce the skills and employment gaps between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians.

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program will continue to make efforts to help address the power imbalance between workers and employers. It will do this while also helping to ensure that employers have access to foreign workers. Furthermore, the department will support the implementation of regulatory amendments that aim to help increase the federal government’s ability to prevent employers with a history of non-compliance from participating in the program. The amendments will also strengthen the government’s ability to effectively conduct inspections and apply penalties for non-compliance, as well as directly improve the protection of vulnerable temporary foreign workers. It will advance the development of requirements for employer-provided accommodations alongside key stakeholders. This builds on the release of a “What We Heard” report from stakeholder consultations undertaken in fall 2020. The program’s operations will continue to target high-risk employers for compliance inspections. The department intends to rebuild the compliance regime, and the quality and timeliness of inspections of employers that are considered to be of high risk. Finally, the Migrant Worker Support Program will be established to help workers better understand and exercise their rights. This will be accomplished by supporting community-based organizations to provide programs and services that meet the need of migrant-workers. For example, on-arrival orientation services and assistance in emergency and at-risk situations.

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

The Employment Insurance program will continue to support eligible workers who lost income because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit will continue to be available to Canadians.

To ensure the Employment Insurance system remains responsive to the needs of Canadian workers as the economy continues to re-open, temporary measures are in place until September 25, 2022. These measures will make Employment Insurance more accessible and simple for claimants. Measures include a common requirement for claimants to have at least 420 hours of insurable employment to access benefits, and a minimum 14-week benefit duration for Employment Insurance regular benefits. There are also temporary measures to ensure that all insurable hours count towards eligibility for benefits and allow claimants to receive benefits sooner if they have received certain funds from their past employer such as severance. While these temporary measures are in place, the government will consult with Canadians on potential longer-term changes to the program.

To better support workers facing serious illness or injuries, the Employment Insurance (EI) Sickness Benefit will be extended from 15 to 26 weeks. This change is expected to come into effect in 2022 to 2023. It will provide additional weeks of support and more flexibility to an estimated 169,000 workers annually. These are workers with serious illnesses or injuries who require longer periods of treatment or recovery before being able to return to work.

To support Canadians, the government has committed to move forward with a stronger and more inclusive EI system that addresses gaps identified during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes a consultation plan to engage Canadians and key EI stakeholders on reforms to the EI program.

Economic and Fiscal Update 2021

Proposed investments from the Economic and Fiscal Update, released in December 2021, that also fall under this Core Responsibility include:

  • extending the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) until May 7, 2022, and increasing the maximum duration of these benefits by 2 weeks each. This would extend the CRCB from 42 weeks to 44 weeks and the CRSB from 4 weeks to 6 weeks
  • introducing the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit. This proposed benefit will provide income support at a rate of $300 per week to workers whose employment is interrupted as a result of a specific government-imposed public health lockdown and who are unable to work due to such restrictions. The benefit would be available until May 7, 2022, with retroactive application to October 24, 2021, should the situation warrant it

Services to Canadians

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will continue improving services to Canadians under this core responsibility.

The Canada Student Financial Assistance Program will continue to improve the online experience for student borrowers. Email will be added as an additional communication channel for students. The program will also explore other proactive and timely digital communications to provide students with a positive online experience. Enhancements to the National Student Loans Service Centre website will aim to ensure content meets accessibility standards.

Youth Employment Skills Strategy and Canada Summer Jobs program data collection will be strengthened. This includes improved analysis of the data received by partners who deliver the program. This analysis will be used to make program delivery improvements, and to streamline and automate program delivery, starting in 2022.

The Canada Summer Jobs program is working with Job Bank to make sure the program is responsive and to better service the need of employers and youth.

The department will continue to make the Labour Market Impact Assessment online portal easier for clients to use. Based on user feedback, the department will improve the portal’s performance. Through the Labour Market Impact Assessment Online Ambassadors Network, the department will continue to support new employers and third parties to use the online portal and increase its take-up.

Gender-based analysis plus

The Canada Education Savings Program will document key socio-economic profiles of eligible children who received and did not receive the Canada Education Saving Grant and Canada Learning Bond. This will provide a better understanding of how different populations benefit from the program. It will also provide information on those populations that would benefit from targeted outreach activities. This includes individuals living in low- and middle-income families.

The department is implementing a 4-year initiative to improve gender and diversity outcomes in skills programs. This will be done by measuring, monitoring and address gender gaps. The initiative will develop and promote tools and support departmental programs to better assist underrepresented groups, such as women, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, newcomers, and visible minorities find their place in the labour market. The initiative therefore promote improved access to services for underrepresented groups. Planned activities for fiscal year 2022 to 2023 include:

United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will contribute to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by implementing enhancements to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program. This will contribute to:

The department will support the following SDGs through the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program and the Skills and Partnership Fund:

The department will also support SDG 5 through the delivery of Employment Insurance maternity, parental and caregiving benefits:

The department will also support SDG 8 through the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program:

Experimentation

The department is testing processes and tools to improve labour market information in First Nations communities through in the First Nations Labour Market Information Survey and Skills Inventory Pilot. This community-driven project will help to address an ongoing gap in quality and timely labour market information in First Nations communities, particularly on-reserve. Examples of activities include: a collaborative approach with participating First Nations communities in the co-development of methodologies, questionnaires and survey tools, greater adaptability and flexibility of survey processes and tools, and the development of a central skills inventory database to support job and training matching. This project will help build local capacity and expertise for participating communities to collect and analyze their own data beyond the pilot, and inform community policy, planning and programming. National level data will be used to inform the department’s labour market programming for specific First Nations communities. The pilot is underway in 49 First Nations communities through their respective Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program service delivery organizations. The pilot is set to end in early 2023.

The Skills for Success program will fund projects that test innovative assessment tools and training approaches, as well as provide training to underrepresented groups such as Black Canadians and persons with disabilities. This will help Canadians improve their foundational and transferable skills. Projects that display promising results will be shared at the Program’s Annual Skills for Success Forum. This will allow other organizations, and provinces and territories to expand on, scale up, and replicate proven approaches.

The Community Workforce Development Program will test innovative community- driven approaches to help economic recovery. It will also improve resiliency through workforce planning and skills training that addresses regional and national priorities. The program will use a place-based experimental approach to help jobseekers and workers develop skills they need to move into jobs in high growth areas. The model will be tested in all provinces and territories to test the effectiveness of the program in different labour markets.

Planned results for learning, skills development and employment

The following table shows, for Learning, Skills Development and Employment, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022 to 23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result 1 of 6: Canadians access education, training, and life-long learning supports to gain the skills and work experience they need.

Departmental result indicator 1 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: not available (see note 1 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 171,335 (2017 to 2018).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 190,717 (2018 to 2019).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 194,120 (2019 to 2020).

Departmental result 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: not available (see note 1 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 695,911(2017 to 2018).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 670,431 (2018 to 2019).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 630,425 (2019 to 2020).

Departmental result indicator 3 of 6: employment or returns to school following training/supports through federally administered programs.

Target: 151,945 (see note 2 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 117,698.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 106,980.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 95,617.

Departmental result indicator 4 of 6: number of Canadians receiving training and/or employment supports through federally administered programs.

Target: 166,121 (see note 3 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 148,228.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 157,591.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 151,130.

Departmental result indicator 5 of 6: percentage change in Canadians aged 25 to 64 enrolled in university or college.

Target: at least a 3% increase (2022).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result : 3% increase (2018).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 5% increase (2019).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 1% decrease (2020).

Departmental result indicator 6 of 6: percentage of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 that are enrolled in university or college.

Target: at least 45.5% (2022).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 43.8% (2018).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 43.9% (2019).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 44.6% (2020).

Departmental result 2 of 6: Canadians participate in an inclusive and efficient labour market.

Departmental result indicator 1 of 4: difference in the employment rate between Indigenous peoples (First Nations status and non-status, Inuit and Métis) and non-Indigenous peoples.

Target: 15.6%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2019 to 2020 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2020 to 2021 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

Departmental result indicator 2 of 4: difference in the employment rate between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities.

Target: 25.2%.

Date to achieve target: March 2025.

2018 to 2019 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2019 to 2020 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2020 to 2021 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

Departmental result indicator 3 of 4: difference in the employment rate between women and men.

Target: 5.6%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2019 to 2020 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2020 to 2021 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

Departmental result indicator 4 of 4: difference in the employment rate gap between visible minority group members and the non-visible minority population.

Target: 6.1%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2019 to 2020 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

2020 to 2021 actual result: not available (see note 4 below).

Departmental result 3 of 6: Canadians receive financial support during employment transitions such as job loss, illness, or maternity/ parental leave.

Departmental result indicator: beneficiary to unemployed contributor ratio (B/UC ratio).

Target: 64.3%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 61.5% (2017 to 2018).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 64.4% (2018 to 2019).

2020 to 2021 actual result: will be available April 2022.

Departmental result 4 of 6: students, including those from low and middle-income families, are provided with federally funded supports to help them participate in post-secondary education (PSE).

Departmental result indicator 1 of 2: percentage of low- and middle-income Canadian young adults participating in post-secondary education.

Target: at least 50.5% (2018).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 52.1% (2015).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 52.0% (2016).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 50.1% (2017).

Departmental result indicator 2 of 2: percentage of children under 18 who were eligible for the Canada Learning Bond and/or the additional amount of the Canada Education Savings Grant and were provided with any of those benefits in the current year.

Target: at least 30%.

Date to achieve target: December 2022.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 26.3% (2016).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 28.5% (2017).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 31.2% (2018).

Departmental result 5 of 6: student borrowers are able to repay their federal student debt.

Departmental result indicator: the percentage of loans in repayment that are paid each year.

Target: at least 11% (see note 5 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 15.6%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 10.7%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 11.9%.

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

Departmental result indicator 1 of 5: Number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Learning, Skills Development and Employment programs.

Target: 25 out of 25.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 16.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 13 out of 23.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 17 out of 23.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 80.0%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 80.0%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 88.8%.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 71%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 76%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 88.7%.

Departmental result indicator 4 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 100%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 100%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 99%.

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

Target: 5%.

Date to achieve target: March 2024.

2018 to 2019 actual result: not applicable.

2019 to 2020 actual result: not applicablen

2020 to 2021 actual result: 5.7%.

Notes

  1. Provincially and territorially (P/T) delivered programs set their own annual targets.
  2. The target includes the expected number of participants for the following federally delivered programs: Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities (OF-PwD) 2,245; Student Work Placement Program (SWP) 40,000 (20,000 from SWP and 20,000 from Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative); Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) 107,200, (which includes Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program (YESSP) 7,200 and Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) 100,000); and Skills for Success (SFS) 2,500. The Skills and Partnership Fund (SPF), and Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program (ISET) are not included in the target, but results will be provided for the performance indicator’s actual result. The target for the Community Workforce Development Program (CWDP) will be available for the 2023 to 2024 Departmental Plan.
  3. The target includes the expected number of participants for the following federally delivered programs: Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities (OF-PwD) 4,121; Student Work Placement Program (SWP) 40,000 (20,000 from SWP and 20,000 from Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative); Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) 112,000, (which includes Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program (YESSP) 12,000 and Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) 100,000); and Skills for Success (SFS) 10,000 (this target includes the Women’s Employment Readiness Pilot program). The Skills and Partnership Fund (SPF), and Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program (ISET) are not included in the target, but results will be provided for the performance indicator’s actual results. The target for the Community Workforce Development Program (CWDP) will be available for the 2023 to 2024 Departmental Plan.
  4. This is a new indicator that was developed in fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
  5. A lower target was set as a result of the pandemic and a lower repayment percentage over the last 3 years’ results.
  6. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Employment and Social Development Canada program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for learning, skills development and employment

The following table shows, for Learning, Skills Development and Employment budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 5: Planned budgetary spending for learning, skills development and employment
Categories Main Estimates
2022 to 2023		 Planned spending
2022 to 2023		 Planned spending
2023 to 2024		 Planned spending
2024 to 2025
Planned Gross Spending 11,339,927,906 36,122,188,683 32,402,125,041 30,988,994,472
less: Planned Spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 24,782,260,777 23,646,754,177 24,118,176,577
less: Planned Revenues netted against expenditures 987,794,544 987,794,544 940,554,956 872,007,456
Planned Net Spending 10,352,133,362 10,352,133,362 7,814,815,908 5,998,810,439

Note: the decrease in planned spending is mainly related to the Budget 2021 measure that, with an extension, doubled grants under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program and Canada Apprentice Loans until July 2023. It is also attributable to the ending of the Canada Recovery Benefits in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 and to temporary resources for the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy as announced in Budget 2021.

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

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for learning, skills development and employment

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022 to 2023 and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 6: Planned human resources for learning, skills development and employment
2022 to 2023 planned full-time equivalents 2023 to 2024 planned full-time equivalents 2024 to 2025 planned full-time equivalents
11,607 10,843 9,900

Note: the decrease in full-time equivalents from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025 is mainly the result of sunsetting temporary resources provided for Employment Insurance Budget 2021 commitments, for Youth Employments and Skills Strategy Skills Strategy additional investments, for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Integrity measure and the Sectorial Workforce Solutions Program.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Working conditions and workplace relations

Description:

Promotes safe, healthy, fair and inclusive work conditions and cooperative workplace relations.

Planning highlights

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will undertake the following activities to advance this core responsibility.

Workplaces are safe and healthy

The department will continue to ensure that federally regulated workplaces are safe and healthy in fiscal year 2022 to 2023. This includes working with employers to support them in prioritizing employee vaccination.

In addition, the department will work to implement 10 days of paid sick leave, per calendar year, for federally regulated employees. The department will also work with the provinces and territories to develop a plan to legislate paid sick leave across the country.

The department will also require federally regulated employers to take preventative steps to address workplace stress, as well as psychological health and safety in the workplace. This includes issuing a policy that limits work-related communication outside of working hours.

Work conditions are fair and inclusive

The department will ensure work conditions are fair and inclusive, through a number of initiatives.

The department will continue to review the Employment Equity Act (EEA) in collaboration with federal organizations. The EEA aims to eliminate barriers to employment faced by the 4 designated equity groups: women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. The review is being undertaken by an external Task Force of Experts. The Task Force will deliver a Report in 2022 with recommendations to the Minister of Labour on how to modernize the EEA.

The department has increased its funding for the Workplace Opportunities: Removing Barriers to Equity grants and contributions program. This funding will be provided to projects that support employers in their efforts to improve the representation of the 4 designated groups. These groups are women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. Funded projects will aim to improve representation through the creation of partnerships, information sharing, and the development and implementation of industry-tailored strategies.

The department will look at the regulatory amendments needed to require federally regulated employers to provide menstrual products for their employees. This will help to reduce the psychological and physical health issues that are associated with lack of access to menstrual products. This will be done by consulting with federally regulated stakeholders and developing guidance, tools and resources to support implementation.

The department will also continue efforts to strengthen rights for workers employed by digital platforms. In addition, it will promote transparency and fairness in the digital platform economy. The department is working with other federal organizations to clarify employment classifications and extend labour standards to “gig” workers.

The department will review the bargaining process in federally regulated workplaces to ensure it is fair. It will explore the possibility of prohibiting federally regulated employers from using other workers, “replacement workers,” to perform the work of unionized employees, in the event that the unionized employees are locked out by the employer.

The department will work on implementing 8 unpaid weeks of bereavement leave for federally regulated employees who have lost a child or suffered a stillbirth. The department will also consider further changes to the Canada Labour Code to provide up to 5 days of paid leave for federally regulated employees who experience a miscarriage or stillbirth.

The department will also look at strengthening the provisions in the Canada Labour Code to better support women that need to be temporarily re-assigned to other duties during pregnancy and while breast-feeding.

The department will work with other federal departments to develop options to address labour exploitation in global supply chains. This will include supporting domestic and international efforts to increase supply chain transparency and responsible business conduct.

Labour relations are cooperative

The Labour Program will continue to support cooperative workplace relations by offering joint training workshops and mediating discussions between parties during the collective bargaining process. The department will appoint mediators and conciliators to provide training via workshops and facilitated discussions and to support negotiations. The department will continue to develop new training programs and virtual training opportunities for mediators and conciliators.

Services to Canadians

The Labour Program will ensure clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services. It will work with a consultant to conduct research to better understand its clients’ needs and identify opportunities to improve the digital delivery of its services. Results will inform efforts to renew the Labour Program’s web presence and to improve efficiency through digital innovation.

Gender-based analysis plus

The Labour Program will contribute to the Gender-Based Violence and Access to Justice pillars of the Gender Results Framework. It will do this by implementing Bill-C-65 (Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence) and the Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations. These initiatives support the objective of achieving harassment-free workplaces. The department will continue to work with Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Fund recipients to share information, tools and resources with workplaces. These items will help workplaces effectively respond to incidences of harassment and violence, including domestic violence that enters the workplace.

Under Part II (Occupational Health and Safety) of the Canada Labour Code, the Labour Program is proposing to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations to require federally regulated employers to provide menstrual products. This initiative is anticipated to positively impact 40% of employees who menstruate in federally regulated workplaces. This includes cisgender women, gender-diverse persons, and transgender men. This initiative will address lack of access to menstrual products in the workplace, helping to reduce potential psychological issues, such as anxiety, stress and embarrassment, and physical health issues. In addition, it will ensure that employees who menstruate do not need to miss work. The cost of menstrual products varies significantly across Canada, and the financial burden is borne by menstruating employees. This burden is significant for low-income and marginalized groups who menstruate, including Indigenous and LGBTQ2+ peoples. This initiative will also reduce barriers for employees in remote locations. These employees may experience higher costs of, and lack of accessibility to, menstrual products.

The Pay Gap Reporting initiative will promote awareness of pay gaps among federally regulated private sector employers. It will provide Canadians with user-friendly and comparable online information about pay gaps that affect the 4 designated groups covered under the Employment Equity Act: women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. The new measures require employers to include specific salary data in their annual employment equity reports starting June 1, 2022. The data will be used to compare gaps between the 4 designated groups in each workplace based on the following:

The proportion of employees who have received bonus pay and overtime pay will also be reported.

Once employer reports are validated, the information will be presented in a new online application in late fall 2022 or early 2023. The individual employer information will be available at the organizational level and by the employment equity occupational group. It is expected that publicly reporting this data will help shift business culture and expectations towards greater equality. Canada will be the first country to move forward with transparency measures aimed at addressing pay gaps for these 4 designated groups.

The department negotiates and implements Labour chapters in Canada’s free trade agreements. The chapters contain commitments for other countries entering into the agreement to eliminate discrimination in employment and occupation. The countries signing the agreements must adopt, maintain and implement laws and regulations that eliminate discrimination. For example, the agreements may require that workers do not face discrimination based on sex, including with regard to sexual harassment, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and caregiving responsibilities. Agreements may also require that workers are provided with job-protected leave for birth or adoption of a child and care of family members, and are protected against wage discrimination. The department works with free trade partners to implement and monitor compliance with these commitments.

United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will contribute to advancing Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduce Inequalities) through the following initiatives:

The department will support Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) by:

Experimentation

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department, through the Labour Program’s Innovation Unit, will conduct 2 experimental projects. These projects are aimed at making improvements to Labour Program services and programs.

Planned results for working conditions and workplace relations

The following table shows, for Working Conditions and Workplace Relations the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022 to 23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result 1 of 4: workplaces are safe and healthy.

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

Target: 9 or less (see note 1 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 11.1.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 12.6.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 2.0.

Departmental result 2 of 4: work Conditions are fair and inclusive.

Departmental result 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 2 below).

Date to achieve target: September 2022.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 68%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 73%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 74%.

Departmental result 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 1 below).

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 2.9 (2016 to 2019).

2019 to 2020 actual result: 2.9 (2017 to 2020).

2020 to 2021 actual result: 2.6 (2018 to 2021).

Departmental result 3 of 4: labour relations are cooperative.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 97%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 93%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 96%.

Departmental result 4 of 4: Clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs. (see note 3 below).

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 2 out of 4.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 4 out of 4.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 3 out of 4.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 79%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 83%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 73%.

Departmental result indicator 3 of 5: percentage of unjust dismissal complaints that are finalized within 180 days.

Target: at least 75%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 73%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 80%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 69%.

Departmental result 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: 100%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 100%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 100%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 100%.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 73%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 98%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 89%.

Notes

  1. As a result of changes to legislation, particularly due to Compliance & Enforcement, this indicator will fluctuate and most likely increase over the short term as the program improves its service delivery and is able to reach a larger number of employers.
  2. The Labour Program contributes to this target by supporting the efforts of federally regulated private-sector employers in achieving progress towards creating equitable workplaces.
  3. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Employment and Social Development Canada program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for working conditions and workplace relations

The following table shows, for Working Conditions and Workplace Relations budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 7: planned budgetary spending for working conditions and workplace relations
Categories Main Estimates 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2023 to 2024 Planned spending 2024 to 2025
Planned Gross Spending 179,997,873 179,997,873 181,007,987 181,073,371
less: Planned Spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0
less: Planned Revenues netted against expenditures 900,000 900,000 900,000 900,000
Planned Net Spending 179,097,873 179,097,873 180,107,987 180,173,371

Note: refer to the department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including an explanation of gross planned spending.

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for working conditions and workplace relations

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022 to 2023 and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 8: planned human resources for working conditions and workplace relations
2022 to 2023 planned full-time equivalents 2023 to 2024 planned full-time equivalents 2024 to 2025 planned full-time equivalents
804 802 802

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Information Delivery and Services for Other Government 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.

Planning highlights

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will undertake the following activities to advance this core responsibility.

Clients receive high quality, timely and accurate government information and services that meet their needs.

Citizen Service Network

The department will continue to provide high quality services and general program information to Canadians. This will be done in-person, at Service Canada Centres (SCCs) and SCC - Passport Service sites. Services will also continue to be offered through its eChannels: eServiceCanada and eSIN. Clients can use these options to apply for benefits and programs such as Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, Passports and Social Insurance Numbers.

As of October 31, 2021, there were 317 SCCs and 24 SCC – Passport Service sites. In total, 141 offices were designated bilingual. Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of SCCs, 315 out of 317 SCCs and all 24 SCC-Passport Service sites have reopened with enhanced health and safety measures in place.

eServiceCanada will continue to mirror the services typically available at SCC. Clients that are comfortable with the internet will be able to visit the Service Canada website to request a call back from a Service Canada employee within 2 business days. eServiceCanada is a convenient service that minimizes line-ups in offices and protects the health of Canadians by reducing in-person visits to SCCs.

The Outreach Support Centre (eCOLS) provides support to clients who would normally be served through in-person outreach. This toll-free phone service provides direct, personalized support to Indigenous communities and other clients facing barriers. It also supports those who may not have access to the technology required to access other service channels.

In addition, the department is continuing to assess the safest way to resume scheduled outreach service while aligning to federal public health guidance. Client service officers travel to locations, typically in rural, on-reserve or remote areas, that are otherwise underserved. The officers answer clients’ questions, guide them through online services and forms, and help them identify available services and benefits.

The 2019 amendments to the Official Languages Regulations had a number of implications for the department, including a requirement to have more bilingual offices compared to what is currently required under the existing regulations. A preliminary analysis pointed to Service Canada needing to have an additional 69 bilingual SCCs. The department will go from having 142 bilingual SCCs to an estimated 212 in 2024. The new Official Languages Regulations will become a requirement as of 2023 and Service Canada will be expected to be in full compliance by 2024.

Telephone General Enquiries Program The telephone general enquiries program, offered through 1 800 O-Canada and Customized Information Services, will continue to provide Canadians with accurate information and low wait times to speak with an agent. This includes helping Canadians access pandemic recovery supports. The program will strive to maintain its pre-pandemic service standard for wait times and quality, in spite of high demand for all of its services.

The department will continue to publish wait-times in real time for the 1 800 O-Canada service on Canada.ca. This provides callers with the information needed to decide when it is best for them to call.

Government of Canada internet presence The department will maintain online services and provide convenient, up to date and mobile-friendly access to Government information and services on Canada.ca. This will ensure that online services are accessible, reliable, and secure.

In addition, the department will undertake the following to complement the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme:

Obtain a passport within Canada in a timely manner

The department will continue to modernize the Passport Program in collaboration with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). As part of the Passport Modernization initiative, the department will:

Select Service Canada Centres will continue to support IRCC with the collection and transmission of biometrics from Temporary and Permanent Residents. Biometrics consists of a digital photo and fingerprint scan from foreign nationals who are renewing their visa, permit or immigration applications.

Service delivery partnerships

The department will continue to work with federal, provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous stakeholders through the Service Delivery Partnerships program. The department will establish new partnerships and maintain existing ones. This will result in benefits and services being delivered directly to more beneficiaries. It will work with:

Services to Canadians

The department will continue to use feedback gathered through its annual Client Experience Survey to inform client service improvements. In addition, targeted questionnaires will be used to learn more about clients’ experiences during the pandemic with new and adapted service channels. This will include questions about ease and effectiveness of service and preferred service improvements.

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 remote areas, youth, seniors and Indigenous identity. This analysis helps identify groups who have difficulty accessing service and identifying their needs. These results will continue to be used to improve access to benefits and services provided through federal programs.

United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by ensuring citizens can access quality, accurate information on programs and services through various services and communication channels. This will contribute to advancing the following SDGs:

Experimentation

In collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat, the department undertook an experiment to increase the number of surveys completed by visitors to the website. The goal was to increase responses to the survey without increasing the number of invitations to complete the survey. Behavioural insights were used to find the best messaging to increase survey response rates. This experiment nearly doubled the amount of responses. Departments, including Employment and Social Development Canada will use this information to improve their online presence in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, with the goal of making, it easier for clients to complete their tasks online.

Planned results for information delivery and services for other government departments

The table below presents, for the Core Responsibility Information Dissemination and Service Delivery for Other Government Departments, the expected results, results indicators, targets and target dates for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year as well as the actual results for the last 3 years for which actual results are available.

Departmental result 1 of 2: clients receive high quality, timely and accurate government information and services that meet their needs (see note 1 below)

Departmental result indicator 1 of 3: 1 800 O-Canada information completeness, relevancy and accuracy assessment.

Target: at least 85%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 93%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 91%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 89%.

Departmental result 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 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 85%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 84%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 95%.

Departmental result indicator 3 of 3: number of program services that meet their service standard targets.

Target: 5 out of 5.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 4 out of 5.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 4 out of 5.

2020 to 2021 actual result: 1 out of 5 (see note 2 below).

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

Departmental result indicator: percentage of travel documents and other passport services processed within standards.

Target: at least 90%.

Date to achieve target: March 2023.

2018 to 2019 actual result: 100%.

2019 to 2020 actual result: 100%.

2020 to 2021 actual result: not available.

Notes

  1. Service standards are published on www.canada.ca..
  2. 3 of the 5 service standards are related to Passport service delivery. Due to the pandemic, Passport services were significantly reduced during fiscal year 2020 to 2021. Consequently, these targets were not met.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Employment and Social Development Canada program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned budgetary spending for Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments

The following table shows, for Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 9: planned budgetary spending for Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments
Categories Main Estimates 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2023 to 2024 Planned spending 2024 to 2025
Planned Gross Spending 273,433,804 273,433,804 245,182,314 244,028,270
less: Planned Spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0
less: Planned Revenues netted against expenditures 0 0 0 0
Planned Net Spending 273,433,804 273,433,804 245,182,314 244,028,270

Note: the variance in planned spending is mainly caused by the agreement regarding the COVID-19 Quarantine Compliance Campaign ending in 2022 to 2023.

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

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planned human resources for Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022 to 2023 and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 10: planned human resources for Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments
2022 to 2023 planned full-time equivalents 2023 to 2024 planned full-time equivalents 2024 to 2025 planned full-time equivalents
2,301 2,246 2,245

Financial, human resources and performance information for Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Internal services: planned results

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

Planning highlights

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will continue to advance initiatives under the following categories of internal services.

Management and oversight services

Access to Information

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will continue to promote openness and transparency. This will be done by continuing to:

Privacy

The department will continue to protect the privacy rights of Canadians by integrating privacy into the department’s new activities and initiatives such as the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme. It will support the Data Strategy by ensuring that the use of personal information complies with federal privacy law and policies. Importantly, the department will continue to focus on preventing the unauthorized access to, or disclosure of, personal information.

Data strategy

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will promote evidence-based decision-making, and responsible and ethical management and use of data and analytics, by delivering a renewed Data Strategy. The strategy implementation will include:

In addition, key areas of development will include data governance and stewardship frameworks, and an enterprise-wide data stewardship network. This will help strengthen the processes and accountability around the management and use of data.

The department will continue to share data with the public through Open Government and Open Data initiatives. This includes public reporting on key benefits and programs that have supported Canadians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the department will continue to collaborate internally and with other government departments and agencies to publicly share more data to fill key data gaps. This will support and improve understanding of clients including vulnerable, marginalized, and racialized Canadians.

Security

In order to protect the department’s information, assets and employees from risks within the organisation, the department will focus on the following:

The department will also review and adjust the way in which the National Emergency Operations Centre responds to emergencies. This will be done by using a flexible hybrid approach. The approach will address how the department responds to emergencies in both the physical workplace and virtually, within remote workplace environments. The overall objective will be to review how the center operates, implement lessons learned, and improve how the department responds to future risks.

Finally, to improve the department’s services, the department will acquire an application that combines all departmental emergency management information and creates reports for monitoring purposes. This would allow for coordinated responses that minimize interruption to services and help the department recover faster.

Evaluation services

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will continue improving evaluation services by:

Human resources management services

The department will continue to pursue its commitment to foster a healthy, respectful and inclusive work environment in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 by:

Financial management services

The department is committed to strengthening project management and investment planning to ensure that resources are directed toward delivering results. As the department modernizes the delivery of its services, it will continue to refine and strengthen its approach to integrated business planning and risk management. In 2022 to 2023, the department will:

Information management services

The department will work to evolve modern, reliable and secure Information management (IM) foundations in support of services for Canadians. It will continue to focus on the enterprise-wide Information Management Strategy and Roadmap. This will include advancing the development and maturity of the department’s information repositories with modern and robust IM. The roadmap will be used to target improvements to specific business areas. New policy instruments, such as the Departmental Information and Data Management Policy, aligned to the government’s Policy on Service and Digital, will continue to improve the overall management of information and data.

To ensure the department is protected against financial fraud and outside identity theft, the department will continue to strengthen how it manages protected documents. This will include:

Protecting the department from financial fraud, and from the impact of outside identity theft, remain key activities in 2022 to 2023. This will include improved security training for employees related to risk, identity, access management and cyber security.

Information technology services

Through fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department will continue to enhance service sustainability by implementing a more agile and mature Information technology (IT) environment. These improvements will help modernize internal and public-facing services.

The department will continue to equip employees with modern tools and services by advancing collaboration and conferencing tools while modernizing support services.

In addition, the department will continue to deliver on priority IT renewal projects, including Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and Labour Systems. This will transform and improve services to Canadians, supporting a seamless client experience across modern electronic channels.

In line with the Government of Canada’s Cloud Adoption Strategy, the department will continue to look for opportunities to deliver projects that use advanced and innovative digital platforms and technology. This will help improve service performance, innovation, agility and security for Canadians. The department is working with Shared Services Canada to advance the Government of Canada’s goals regarding data centre consolidation. Through the workload migration project, it will be moving older applications that are currently in legacy data centres to either the cloud or to enterprise data centres.

In order to make information, communication and technology accessible, the department’s IT Accessibility Office will continue to raise awareness about accessibility with the department’s employees. This will promote a change in mindset and behaviours through coaching, guidance and providing tools and resources.

Real property management services

The department will continue to implement Employment and Social Development Canada workplace modernization to make workplaces more flexible and accessible. This will provide employees with an agile physical work environment to support their needs as they deliver services to Canadians. The department will also work on assessing the requirements of office space for the future, with the goal of reducing overall real property holdings and rent costs.

Planned budgetary spending for internal services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 11: planned budgetary spending for internal services
Categories Main Estimates 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2022 to 2023 Planned spending 2023 to 2024 Planned spending 2024 to 2025
Planned Gross Spending 977,939,242 977,939,242 941,621,502 905,159,451
less: Planned Spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 0 0 0
less: Planned Revenues netted against expenditures 650,053,931 650,053,931 630,238,590 621,248,442
Planned Net Spending 327,885,311 327,885,311 311,382,912 283,911,009

Note: the decrease in planned spending is predominately driven by sunsetting and declining funding associated with various initiatives mainly affecting Real Property services and Information Management services

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

Planned human resources for internal services

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to carry out its internal services for 2022 to 2023 and for each of the next 2 fiscal years.

Table 12: planned human resources for internal services
2022 to 2023 planned full-time equivalents 2023 to 2024 planned full-time equivalents 2024 to 2025 planned full-time equivalents
4,945 4,787 4,611

Overall risks and mitigation strategies

The department is large and very complex. It has over 30,000 employees managing more than 50 programs and services from over 600 locations across Canada. To accomplish this, the department is organized into 23 branches and regions, each with its own set of responsibilities.

To help ensure that Canadians receive high quality, timely, efficient and accessible delivery of government programs and services, the department must take key risks into consideration.

These key risks and their mitigation strategies are briefly described below.

Information technology (IT) systems. IT systems play a crucial role in supporting service delivery to Canadians and to employees. Past decisions to defer maintenance and updates have increased the risk of systems failure and reduce the department’s ability to innovate. Systems failure would negatively impact the department’s ability to continue to deliver programs and services to Canadians.

Deferred maintenance and upgrades mean that aging equipment and applications are not able to support planned future requirements. The difference between the technology we have now and what we require is called technical debt.

The department relies heavily on third parties, including Shared Services Canada, expert consultants, and commercial vendors, to maintain and operate its IT systems. The risks created by aging systems and the complexity of working with third parties are amplified by the speed and amount of change. The department must fix aging systems as it prepares to transition to more modern ones, all while delivering programs and services to Canadians without interruptions.

To mitigate the risk that technical debt will affect the delivery of services, the department put a technical debt remediation initiative in place, which is planned to continue until 2026. This initiative is working to update the hardware, software and replace the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) network used to deliver the department’s services and programs and to transition to an evergreen life cycle approach.

Cyber security. There is a risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information by individuals outside the department. The risk of unauthorized access can increase by using systems and tools that are not up-to-date or that are not fully mature.

Successful cyber attacks can:

As cyber-attacks become increasingly sophisticated, the department must remain extremely vigilant in managing this risk. The department will continue to implement new security tools. It will also continue to protect the department against cyber attacks through ongoing monitoring, mandatory employee training and awareness campaigns.

Future of work. The pandemic resulted in a monumental shift in where and how employees work. This includes how they interact with the public as well as with each other. To date, the majority of the department’s employees continue to work remotely while others, whose jobs can only be performed on-site, returned to the workplace in the early months of the pandemic. Employees who are working on-site continue to abide by and adjust to changing public health restrictions. This is to ensure their ongoing health and safety as well as that of the public they serve.

ESDC, like many organizations, is focused on the future of work post pandemic and the adoption of a flexible work model. This is to ensure it remains a high performing organization that is agile, inclusive and responsive to the needs of Canadians. It has created a dedicated secretariat to support the organization’s approach to the future of work. The first step toward the future includes facilitating the voluntary return to the office of employees once public health restrictions are eased. It also includes the piloting of hybrid work models to inform the way forward.

Managing change. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the department operated in crisis response mode. The department successfully implemented emergency response benefits for Canadians while maintaining other mandated programs and services. The move to working at home meant a rapid expansion of secure network access and the need to learn new applications and procedures.

These changes and others were rolled out on an urgent basis. The normal time for introducing change was shortened and many support staff were unavailable due to reassignment to other priority work. This resulted in confusion and change fatigue among employees.

At the same time, the department is working toward modernizing how it delivers its major benefits programs. Several repetitive tasks have been automated to increase the speed and accuracy of those tasks while freeing up employees for more complex work.

The department recognizes that change management is a necessary part of the transition to new ways of working, including changes resulting from program delivery modernization. There remains the risk that necessary training and tools will not be available in time to prepare our employees for change, resulting in lowered morale or productivity.

The department set up a change management office to help managers introduce changes to employees. Also, the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme is building change management into its work flow so that the changes that are coming will be as seamless as possible.

Employee wellness. Many employees managed a greatly increased workload to ensure that Canadians received benefits in a timely manner during the pandemic. The uncertainty surrounding the pandemic means that many employees and managers may be facing mental health challenges.

There is a risk that these and other stressors will lead to deteriorating mental and physical health among employees. This may result in challenges meeting operational demands.

Given the increased risks related to mental health, the department launched the ESDC Resilience Gym, a virtual space which includes tools and resources for employees on a variety of mental health topics that help build resilience. The department also continues to develop a variety of learning offerings to help employees maintain physical and emotional wellbeing, embrace change and adapt to new and evolving environments.

Managing data and information. To deliver its mandate, the department needs to collect, store, and protect considerable amounts of information about Canadians. The department needs to use this data to deliver programs and services, measure its performance, and identify trends and opportunities for improvement. This includes using data to better understand and serve our clients, including those who are more difficult to reach and are at greatest risk of being underserved. The risks below must be balanced in order to meet these objectives.

First, there is a risk that the data needed for policy analysis and to report back on the outcomes of programs and services may not be readily available. With the help of modern tools, large quantities of data can be analyzed to help answer questions about how well the department serves specific communities, if that data is available.

Much of the data is held by other levels of government and requires specific agreements in order to use it. Organizations need to work in partnership to explore available data to better serve clients with specific needs and who may be hard to reach.

The department developed a data strategy to identify data needs and availability, provide guidance and tools to help employees manage data and to deliver and improve services and programs.

There is also a risk that information may not be adequately saved, managed and protected. This could be due to:

Departmental employees play a key role in safeguarding information. To play their role effectively, employees need to have a clear understanding of their information management responsibilities and clear direction on processes and procedures.

To address this risk, the department will continue to implement the Information Strategy 2018-2023. The Strategy intends to change how employees think about information management and how they handle information. Concurrently, a new electronic documents records management system is being developed as part of the Strategy.

Planning and priority setting. The department’s priorities are influenced by 2 main factors: the need to deliver the programs and services assigned to it by legislation, and the need to make improvements to serve Canadians better.

The department must find the best way to allocate limited financial and human resources to accomplish desired outcomes. There is a constant need to assure that strategic outcomes and business objectives are defined to help managers assign the right resources to the right priorities.

In addition, there is tremendous competition across all sectors for qualified workers, but especially for leading edge expertise in fields like project management, data science or artificial intelligence. This creates the risk that some improvements will be delayed until the right people can be found.

Many items on the government’s agenda need to be delivered in partnership with other levels of government and Indigenous partners. The department needs to carefully plan how it will consult and negotiate the agreements with its partners to enable the expected results. There is a risk that agreements will not meet expectations or will be delayed.

To address risks related to planning and priority setting, the department is reviewing the way it is organized for decision-making. Renewing the Strategic planning approach will inform our priorities, our investment decisions, and upcoming program and policy updates. Finally, better use of available data will give managers better information so they can make better decisions.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next 3 fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2022 to 2023 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Table 13: planned spending for fiscal year 2022 to 2023, 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025, in dollars
Category Main Estimates for 2022 to 2023 Planned spending for 2022 to 2023 Planned spending for 2023 to 2024 Planned spending for 2024 to 2025
Planned Gross Spending 89,379,723,632 173,938,278,773 178,183,964,193 185,763,159,266
less: Planned Spending in Specified Purpose Accounts 0 84,558,555,141 86,898,282,447 91,128,205,922
less: Planned Revenues netted against expenditures 1,975,349,067 1,975,349,067 1,867,082,671 1,774,389,555
Planned Net Spending 87,404,374,565 87,404,374,565 89,418,599,075 92,860,563,789

Note: refer to ESDC’s Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including an explanation of gross planned spending.

Planned spending

For fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the department’s planned expenditures on programs and services total $174 billion. Of that amount, $157 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 and the Canada Recovery Benefits.

Figure 2: breakdown of expenditures for fiscal year 2022 to 2023 – consolidated total: $173,938.3M
Figure 2: description follows
Text description of Figure 2:

This pie chart shows a breakdown of planned spending for fiscal year 2022 to 2023 and the percentage that each spending category represents.

  • Consolidated total : $173,938.3 million
  • Old Age Security; Guaranteed Income Supplement; Allowances: $68,310.3 million (39.3%)
  • Canada Pension Plan: $57,244.6 million (32.9%)
  • Employment Insurance: $24,768.4 million (14.2%)
  • Voted Grants and Contributions: $10,319.3 million (5.9%)
  • Canada Student Loans; other statutory payments: $7,002.6 million (4.0%)
  • Gross Operating Expenditures: $3,761.4 million (2.2%)
  • Other: $2,531.7 million (1.5%)
Figure 3: Gross expenditures and statutory transfer payments for 2022 to 2023
Figure 3: description follows
Text description of figure 3:

This table shows gross expenditures planned for fiscal year 2022 to 2023 under budgetary items, as well as under statutory transfer payments, in millions of dollars.

Budgetary

Net operating costs: $1,786.0 [note: this amount includes $1,078.0 million in net voted operating expenditures, $289.9 million in contributions to employee benefit plans, $252.1 million for delivery service to the public on behalf of partners under the Department of Employment and Social Development Act, $88.0 million in statutory administrative fees related to Canada Student Loans and Apprentice Loans, $46.1 million in recovery benefits, $31.4 million in net expenditures for Federal Workers’ Compensation, and $0.4 million for other items.]

Add recoveries in relation to:

  • Canada Pension Plan: $464.1
  • Employment Insurance Operating Account: $1,510.4
  • Government Employee Compensation Act: $0.9
  • Total - recoveries: $1,975.4

Gross operating costs: $3,761.4

Voted Grants and Contributions: $10,319.3

Total gross expenditures: $14,080.7

Other – EI and CPP charges and recoveries: $2,531.7

Statutory Transfer Payments

Grants and Contributions:

  • Old Age Security: $52,225.9
  • Guaranteed Income Supplement: $15,432.9
  • Allowance: $651.5
  • Other statutory payments:
    • Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit: $303.0
    • Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit: $85.5
    • Canada Student Loans Program and Canada Apprentice Loans: $4,628.9
    • Canada Education Savings Grant: $1,050.0
    • Canada Disability Savings Program: $691.1
    • Canada Learning Bond: $181.0
    • Wage Earner protection Program: $49.3
    • Total – Other statutory payments: $6,988.8

Sub-total – Grants and Contributions: $75,299.1

Canada Pension Plan Benefits: $57,244.6

Employment Insurance Benefits:

  • Part I: $22,236.4
  • Part II: $2,532.0
  • Total – EI Benefits: $24,768.4

Other Specified Purpose Accounts: $13.8 [note: This amount includes payments related to the Government Annuities Account and the Civil Service Insurance Fund]

Total – Statutory transfer payments: $157,325.9

Departmental spending trend graph

Figure 4: departmental spending trend graph

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Figure 4: description follows
Text description of figure 4:

This bar chart illustrates the actual statutory and voted spending for fiscal years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, those forecasted for fiscal year 2021 to 2022, and those planned for fiscal years 2022 to 2023, 2023 to 2024, and 2024 to 2025.

Actual spending

  • 2019 to 2020
    • Statutory: $65,760,590,856
    • Voted: $4,068,172,270 [note: voted expenditures include debt write-offs in fiscal year 2019 to 2020]
    • Total: $69,828,763,126
  • 2020 to 2021
    • Statutory: $158,494,988,839
    • Voted: $4,142,317,777 [note: voted expenditures include debt write-offs in fiscal year 2020 to 2021]
    • Total: $162,637,306,616

Forecast

  • 2021 to 2022
    • Statutory: $93,487,622,283
    • Voted: $7,180,705,380 [note: voted expenditures include debt write-offs in fiscal year 2021 to 2022]
    • Total: $100,668,327,663

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

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of Employment and Social Development Canada’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2022 to 2023 and other relevant fiscal years. This first table shows the gross amounts, while the second table shows the net amounts.

Table 14: planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services — gross (dollars)
Core responsibilities
and
internal services		 Actual expenditures for 2019 to 2020 Actual expenditures for 2020 to 2021 Forecast for 2021 to 2022 Main estimates for 2022 to 2023 Planned spending for 2022 to 2023 Planned spending for 2023 to 2024 Planned spending for 2024 to 2025
Core responsibility 1:
Social development		 921,816,281 2,572,173,843 4,770,270,952 6,135,980,842 6,135,980,842 6,795,025,704 7,771,009,945
Core responsibility 2:
Pensions and benefits		 106,337,930,426 113,654,967,403 118,728,420,867 70,472,443,965 127,717,000,958 134,875,520,341 142,711,723,249
Core responsibility 3: Learning, skills development and employment 33,778,359,238 132,401,445,738 67,638,082,313 11,339,927,906 36,122,188,683 32,402,125,041 30,988,994,472
Core responsibility 4: Working conditions and workplace relations 169,857,914 175,405,872 187,881,700 179,997,873 179,997,873 181,007,987 181,073,371
Core responsibility 5: Information delivery and services for other departments 228,440,412 238,479,502 259,398,008 273,433,804 273,433,804 245,182,314 244,028,270
Subtotal 141,436,404,271 249,042,472,358 191,584,053,840 88,401,784,390 170,428,602,160 174,498,861,387 181,896,829,307
Internal Services 1,019,312,762 1,098,016,943 1,233,349,901 977,939,242 977,939,242 941,621,502 905,159,451
Other Costs* 1,953,487,716 2,164,304,558 2,360,658,509 0 2,531,737,371 2,743,481,304 2,961,170,508
Revenues netted against expenditures 0 0 0 (1,975,349,067) 0 0 0
Total Gross Planned Spending 144,409,204,749 252,304,793,859 195,178,062,250 87,404,374,565 173,938,278,773 178,183,964,193 185,763,159,266

Notes: refer to the department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross planned spending.

* Other costs include administrative costs of other government departments charged to the Employment Insurance Operation Account and the Canada Pension Plan. They also include Employment Insurance doubtful accounts and recoveries from other government departments.

Table 15: planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services — net (dollars)
Core Responsibilities
and
Internal Services		 Actual expenditures for 2019 to 2020 Actual expenditures for 2020 to 2021 Forecast for 2021 to 2022 Main estimates for 2022 to 2023 Planned spending for 2022 to 2023 Planned spending for 2023 to 2024 Planned spending for 2024 to 2025
Core Responsibility 1:
Social Development		 921,816,281 2,572,173,843 4,770,270,952 6,135,980,842 6,135,980,842 6,795,025,704 7,771,009,945
Core Responsibility 2:
Pensions and Benefits		 57,084,637,513 62,012,618,473 64,301,558,514 70,135,843,373 70,135,843,373 74,072,084,250 78,382,630,755
Core Responsibility 3: Learning, Skills Development and Employment 11,048,356,538 97,302,612,153 30,730,960,598 10,352,133,362 10,352,133,362 7,814,815,908 5,998,810,439
Core Responsibility 4: Working Conditions and Workplace Relations 169,172,902   174,698,277 186,981,700 179,097,873 179,097,873 180,107,987 180,173,371
Core Responsibility 5: Information Delivery and Services for Other Departments   228,440,412 238,479,502 259,398,008 273,433,804 273,433,804 245,182,314 244,028,270
Subtotal 69,452,423,646  162,300,582,248  100,249,169,772 87,076,489,254 87,076,489,254 89,107,216,163 92,576,652,780
Internal Services 376,339,480 336,724,368 419,157,891 327,885,311 327,885,311 311,382,912 283,911,009
Total Net Planned Spending 69,828,763,126 162,637,306,616 100,668,327,663 87,404,374,565 87,404,374,565 89,418,599,075 92,860,563,789

Note: refer to the Department's Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile

The following table reconciles gross planned spending with net planned spending for 2022 to 2023.

Table 16: 2022 to 2023 budgetary gross and net planned spending summary (dollars)
Core Responsibilities
and Internal Services		 Planned
gross
spending		 Less: Planned gross spending in specified purpose accounts Less: Planned revenues netted against expenditures Planned net spending
Core Responsibility 1:
Social Development		 6,135,980,842 0 0 6,135,980,842
Core Responsibility 2:
Pensions and Benefits		 127,717,000,958 57,244,556,993 336,600,592 70,135,843,373
Core Responsibility 3:
Learning, Skills Development and Employment		 36,122,188,683 24,782,260,777 987,794,544 10,352,133,362
Core Responsibility 4:
Working Conditions and Workplace Relations		 179,997,873 0 900,000 179,097,873
Core Responsibility 5: Information Delivery and Services for Other Departments 273,433,804 0 0 273,433,804
Subtotal 170,428,602,160 82,026,817,770 1,325,295,136 87,076,489,254
Internal Services 977,939,242 0 650,053,931 327,885,311
Other Costs* 2,531,737,371 2,531,737,371 0 0
Total 173,938,278,773 84,558,555,141 1,975,349,067 87,404,374,565

Notes: refer to the Financial Framework for a complete description of the departmental financial profile, including explanation of gross planned spending.

*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.

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 (EI) Operating Account
  3. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
  4. Crown corporations and other government departments for the administration of the Government Employee Compensation Act

Planned expenditures related to the EI Operating Account and the CPP, as well as planned expenditures that are recovered from Crown corporations and other government departments for the administration of the Government Employee Compensation Act, are excluded from ESDC’s Main and Supplementary Estimates and net planned spending because they are not voted by Parliament.

EI and CPP benefits and related administrative costs are charged against revenues earmarked in separate specified purpose accounts.

Administrative costs incurred by the department in the delivery of programs related to EI and CPP are charged to their respective specified purpose accounts and reported as revenues netted against expenditures under the department.

The Department of Employment and Social Development Act was amended in June 2018 to broaden the department’s mandate to include service delivery to the public with a view to improve services to Canadians. The department now has the legislative authority to deliver services to the public for partners on a cost-recovery basis as well as to deliver select services for the Government of Canada. As a result, departmental costs related to the delivery of programs and services on behalf of other government departments, such as passport services, which were reported in previous years as revenues netted against ESDC’s expenditures, will now be reported under a new statutory authority.

These items are included in the department’s gross planned spending to provide readers with the full cost to government of the department’s programs and services and present a complete picture of the resources managed by ESDC to deliver its mandate.

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

Core Responsibility 1: Social development

Core Responsibility 2: Pensions and benefits

Core Responsibility 3: Learning, skills development and employment

Core Responsibility 4: Working conditions and workplace relations

Core Responsibility 5: Information delivery and services for other departments

Internal Services

Financial highlights

The department expects an overall increase of $11.8 billion in gross spending from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025. This can be explained mainly by yearly increases to CPP benefits and OAS.

To summarize the overall funding increase over the planning years:

As offset to these increases are some decreases from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025 that contribute to the variance. This includes the following:

Planned human resources

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of Employment and Social Development Canada’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2022 to 2023 and the other relevant years.

Table 17: human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (full-time equivalents)

Core responsibilities and internal services		 Actual for
2019 to 2020		 Actual for 2020 to 2021 Forecast for
2021 to 2022		 Planned for
2022 to 2023		 Planned for 2023 to 2024 Planned for 2024 to 2025
Core Responsibility 1: Social Development 457 538 838 593 508 488
Core Responsibility 2: Pensions and Benefits 5,665 6,159 6,598 6,511 5,275 4,868
Core Responsibility 3: Learning, Skills Development and Employment 10,954 13,895 16,007 11,607 10,843 9,900
Core Responsibility 4: Working Conditions and Workplace Relations 690 763 826 804 802 802
Core Responsibility 5: Information Delivery and Services for Other Departments 2,086 1,708 2,440 2,301 2,246 2,245
Subtotal 19,852 23,063 26,709 21,816 19,674 18,303
Internal Services 4,855 5,233 5,399 4,945 4,787 4,611
Total 24,707 28,296 32,108 26,761 24,461 22,914

The overall decrease of 3,847 (FTEs) from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2024 to 2025 is mainly explained by the following:

Due to timing issues, not all of the department’s funding is reflected in the Departmental Plan. Funding is expected to be renewed through other financial allocations that would keep temporary resources in place.

Estimates by vote

Information on Employment and Social Development Canada’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2022 to 2023 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The consolidated future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides a general overview of Employment and Social Development’s (ESDC) operations. The forecast of financial information on expenses and revenues is prepared on an accrual accounting basis to strengthen accountability and to improve transparency and financial management.

Because the consolidated future-oriented condensed statement of operations is prepared on an accrual accounting basis, and the forecast and planned spending amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan are prepared on an expenditure basis, amounts may differ.

The consolidated future-oriented condensed statement of operations includes the transactions of the Employment Insurance Operating (EIO) Account, a consolidated specified purpose account which includes revenues credited and expenses charged under the Employment Insurance Act. The accounts of the EIO Account have been consolidated with those of ESDC and all inter-organizational balances and transactions have been eliminated. However, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is excluded from ESDC’s reporting entity because changes to CPP require the agreement of two thirds of participating provinces and it is therefore not controlled by the Government.

A more detailed future‑oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available on Employment and Social Development Canada’s website

Table 18: consolidated future‑oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2023 (dollars)
Financial information Forecast results for 2021 to 2022 Planned results for 2022 to 2023 Difference (planned results for 2022 to 2023 minus forecast results for 2021 to 2022)
Total expenses 139,958,227,245 115,280,331,625 (24,677,895,620)
Total revenues 24,504,080,781 25,482,053,520 977,972,739
Net cost of operations 115,454,146,464 89,798,278,105 (25,655,868,359)

The decrease of $25,655.9 million in the 2022 to 2023 planned results of the net cost of operations, when compared to the 2021 to 2022 forecast results, is primarily driven by:

Statutory annual reports

Employment Insurance Act, Part II

Activities conducted under Part II of the EI Act help individuals in Canada prepare for, find and maintain employment. Under the umbrella of Employment Benefits and Support Measures, these activities include programs and services delivered by provinces and territories under Labour Market Development Agreements, Pan-Canadian activities, and functions of the National Employment Service.

Employment Benefits are longer-term interventions focused on providing skills training or work experience required to regain employment. Under the Labour Market Development Agreements, provinces and territories can provide Employment Benefits similar to the following 5 benefit types outlined in the EI Act: Skills Development; Targeted Wage Subsidies; Self-Employment; Job Creation Partnerships; and Targeted Earnings Supplements.

Part II of the EI Act authorizes 3 support measures: Employment Assistance Services, Labour Market Partnerships, which include Employer-Sponsored Training, and Research and Innovation. Under the Labour Market Development Agreements, provinces and territories deliver these measures at regional and local levels, while the department retains responsibility for Pan-Canadian delivery of Labour Market Partnerships and Research and Innovation.

More detailed information on EI Part II is available on the department’s website and in Chapter 3 of the annual EI Monitoring and Assessment Report made available online to the general public.

Financial data

For fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the total EI Part II expenditure authority of $2.556 billion represents approximately 0.35% of total estimated insurable earnings of $725 billion in 2022 to 2023. This represents a lower level of expenditure than the 0.8% ceiling imposed under the EI Act, which is estimated at $5.797 for 2022 to 2023.

Table 19: 2022 to 2023 Employment Insurance Part II Expenditure Plan (Notional as of January 25, 2022 and pending concurrence by the Minister of Finance and formal Treasury Board approval.)
Province or territory Base funding Re-investment Sub-total Budget 2017 * Total plan
Newfoundland and Labrador 51,183,729 73,086,000 124,269,729 10,806,442 135,076,171
Nova Scotia 45,155,110 30,348,000 75,503,110 12,102,650 87,605,760
New Brunswick 44,390,739 42,116,000 86,506,739 12,168,538 98,675,277
Prince Edward Island 12,769,490 10,022,000 22,791,490 2,568,109 25,359,599
Quebec 298,685,866 248,071,000 546,756,866 99,886,644 646,643,510
Ontario 390,917,041 184,097,000 575,014,041 157,758,163 732,772,204
Manitoba 34,010,392 10,233,000 44,243,392 12,603,083 56,846,475
Saskatchewan 28,374,666 9,862,000 38,236,666 10,580,933 48,817,599
Alberta 116,163,836 35,921,000 152,084,836 56,071,302 208,156,138
Nunavut 1,704,340 954,000 2,658,340 290,276 2,948,616
Northwest Territories 1,231,617 1,552,000 2,783,617 382,123 3,165,740
British Columbia 123,479,299 151,732,000 275,211,299 49,418,557 324,629,856
Yukon 1,933,875 2,006,000 3,939,875 363,180 4,303,055
Total 1,150,000,000 800,000,000 1,950,000,000 425,000,000 2,375,000,000
Pan-Canadian Activities** 0 0 0 0 151,441,877
Funds available for Employment Benefits and Support Measures 1,271,031,877 800,000,000 2,071,031,877 455,410,000 2,526,441,877

* Budget 2017 announced an additional $1.8 billion investment in the Labour Market Development Agreements over 6 years (fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to fiscal year 2022 to 2023). In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, provinces and territories will receive an additional $425 million to help Canadians prepare for, find, advance in, and keep good jobs.

**The amount for Pan-Canadian activities includes the ongoing envelope of $150,867,575 minus the permanent conversion to operating of $24,317,698. The amount for Pan-Canadian activities also includes $30.41 million for the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training program and $5.518 million for which a temporary conversion of EI Part II Pan-Canadian program funds to operating funds is being sought to fund the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister(s):

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

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(s):

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

Information on Employment and Social Development Canada’s raison d’être, mandate and role is available on the Employment and Social Development Canada’s website.

Information on Employment and Social Development Canada’s mandate letter commitments is available in the Minister’s mandate letter.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on Employment and Social Development Canada’s website .

Reporting framework

Employment and Social Development Canada’s approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2022 to 2023 are as follows.

Core responsibility 1: Social development

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

Departmental result 1 of 5 : homelessness is prevented and reduced.

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

Departmental result 2 of 5 : 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 of 5 : 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 of 5 : access to early learning and child care is increased.

Indicator : 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 of 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 :

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 of 3 : seniors have income support for retirement.

Indicator 1 of 5 : percentage of seniors living in poverty.

Indicator 2 of 5 : percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security pension at age 65 and over in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors aged 65 and over (OAS pension take-up rate).

Indicator 3 of 5 : percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security pension at age 70 and over in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors aged 70 and over (OAS pension take-up rate 70+).

Indicator 4 of 5 : percentage of seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors.

Indicator 5 of 5 : percentage of Canada Pension Plan contributors aged 70+ receiving retirement benefits.

Departmental result 2 of 3 : persons with disabilities and their families have financial support.

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.

Indicator 2 of 3 : percentage of Canadians approved for the Disability Tax Credit who have a Registered Disability Savings Plan to encourage private savings.

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

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

Indicator 1 of 4 : number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Pension and Benefits programs.

Indicator 2 of 4 : percentage of Canada Pension Plan retirement benefits paid within the first month of entitlement.

Indicator 3 of 4 : percentage of decisions on applications for a Canada Pension Plan disability benefit issued within 120 calendar days.

Indicator 4 of 4 : percentage of Old Age Security basic benefits paid within the first month of entitlement.

Program inventory:

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 of 6 : Canadians access education, training and lifelong learning supports to gain the skills and work experience they need.

Indicator 1 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.

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.

Indicator 3 of 6 : employment or returns to school following training/supports through federally administered programs.

Indicator 4 of 6 : number of Canadians receiving training and/or employment supports through federally administered programs.

Indicator 5 of 6 : percentage change in Canadians aged 25 to 64 enrolled in university or college.

Indicator 6 of 6 : percentage of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 that are enrolled in university or college.

Departmental result 2 of 6 : Canadians participate in an inclusive and efficient labour market.

Indicator 1 of 4: difference in the employment rate between Indigenous people (First Nations status and non-status, Inuit and Métis) and non-Indigenous people.

Indicator 2 of 4 : difference in the employment rate between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities.

Indicator 3 of 4 : difference in the employment rate between women and men.

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

Departmental result 3 of 6 : Canadians receive financial support during employment transitions such as job loss, illness, or maternity/parental leave.

Indicator : beneficiary to unemployed contributor ratio (B/UC ratio).

Departmental result 4 of 6 : students, including those from low- and middle-income families, are provided with federally funded supports to help them participate in post-secondary education.

Indicator 1 of 2 : percentage of low- and middle-income Canadian young adults participating in post-secondary education.

Indicator 2 of 2 : percentage of children under 18 who were eligible for the Canada Learning Bond and/or the additional amount of the Canada Education Savings Grant and were provided with any of those benefits in the current year.

Departmental result 5 of 6 : student borrowers are able to repay their federal student debt.

Indicator : percentage of loans in repayment that are paid each year.

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

Indicator 1 of 5 : number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Learning, Skills Development and Employment programs.

Indicator 2 of 5 : percentage of Employment Insurance benefit payments or non-benefit notifications issued within 28 days of filing.

Indicator 3 of 5 : percentage of Employment Insurance requests for reconsideration reviewed within 30 days of filing.

Indicator 4 of 5 : percentage of Social Insurance Numbers applied for through the Newborn Registration Service issued within 10 business days.

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

Program inventory:

Core responsibility 4: Working conditions and workplace relations

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

Departmental result 1 of 4 : 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 of 4 : work conditions are fair and inclusive.

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.

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.

Departmental result 3 of 4 : 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 of 4 : clients receive high quality, timely and efficient services that meet their needs.

Indicator 1 of 5 : number of targets that are being met for the published service standards of Working Conditions and Workplace Relations programs.

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).

Indicator 3 of 5 : percentage of unjust dismissal complaints that are finalized within 180 days.

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.

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

Program inventory :

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 of 2 : clients receive high quality, timely and accurate government information and services that meet their needs.

Indicator 1 of 3 : 1 800 O-Canada information completeness, relevancy and accuracy assessment.

Indicator 2 of 3 : percentage of clients served in person who received assistance within 25 minutes.

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

Departmental result 2 of 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 :

Changes to the approved reporting framework since fiscal year 2021 to 2022

Core responsibility 1: Social Development

Change 1 of 3: departmental result reworded.

Departmental result for 2021 to 2022: 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.

Departmental result for 2022 to 2023: 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.

Change 2 of 3: indicator reworded.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: 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.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: 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.

Change 3 of 3: departmental results reworded.

Departmental result for 2022 to 2022: barriers to accessibility for people with disabilities are removed.

Departmental result for 2022 to 2023: barriers to accessibility for persons with disabilities are removed.

Core responsibility 2: Pensions and Benefits

Change 1 of 5: indicator reworded.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security pension in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security Pension at age 65 and over in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors aged 65 and over (OAS pension take-up rate).

Change 2 of 5: indicator added.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security pension at age 70 and over in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors aged 70 and over (OAS pension take-up rate 70+).

Change 3 of 5: departmental result reworded.

Departmental result for 2021 to 2022: people with disabilities and their families have financial support.

Departmental result for 2022 to 2023: persons with disabilities and their families have financial support.

Change 4 of 5: indicator reworded.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: percentage of Canadians eligible for the Disability Tax Credit who have a Registered Disability Savings Plan to encourage private savings.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: percentage of Canadians approved for the Disability Tax Credit who have a Registered Disability Savings Plan to encourage private savings.

Change 5 of 5: indicator reworded.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: 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.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: percentage of Registered Disability Savings Plan beneficiaries that have been issued a grant and/or a bond to assist them and their families to save for their long-term financial security.

Core responsibility 3: Learning, Skills Development and Employment

Change 1 of 11: indicator reworded.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: percentage of Canadian young adults that are enrolled in university of college.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: percentage of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 that are enrolled in university or college.

Change 2 of 11: indicator removed.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: percentage of workers losing their job in the previous year that were eligible for Employment Insurance.

Change 3 of 11: indicator replaced.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: percentage of Employment Insurance claimant’s funding employment before the end of their benefit entitlement.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: beneficiary to Unemployed Contributor ratio (B/UC ratio).

Change 4 of 11: departmental result reworded.

Departmental result for 2021 to 2022: students, including those from low- and middle-income families, use federally funded supports to help them participate in post-secondary education (PSE).

Departmental result for 2022 to 2023: students, including those from low- and middle-income families, are provided with federally funded supports to help them participate in post-secondary education (PSE).

Change 5 of 11: indicator replaced.

Indicator for 2021 to 2022: 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.

Indicator for 2022 to 2023: percentage of children under 18 who were eligible for the Canada Learning Bond and/or the additional amount of the Canada Education Savings Grant and were provided with any of those benefits in the current year.

Change 6 of 11: program name change.

Program name for 2021 to 2022: Canada Student Loans Program and Canada Apprentice Loans.

Program name for 2022 to 2023: Canada Student Financial Assistance Program and Canada Apprentice Loans.

Change 7 of 11: program name change.

Program name for 2021 to 2022: Support for Student Learning.

Program name for 2022 to 2023: Supports for Student Learning.

Change 8 of 11: new program.

New program for 2022 to 2023: Community Workforce Development Program.

Change 9 of 11: program name change.

Program name for 2021 to 2022: Sectoral Initiatives Program.

Program name for 2022 to 2023: Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program.

Change 10 of 11: program name change.

Program name for 2021 to 2022: Literacy and Essential Skills.

Program name for 2022 to 2023: Skills for Success.

Change 11 of 11: new program.

New program for 2022 to 2023: Apprenticeship Services.

Core responsibility 5: Information and Service Delivery for Other Departments

Change 1 of 1: program name change.

Program name for 2022 to 2023: In-Person Points of Service.

Program name for 2022 to 2023: Citizen Service Network.

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Employment and Social Development Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

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

Federal tax expenditures

Employment and Social Development Canada’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government­‑wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

Portage IV

140 Promenade du Portage

Gatineau QC K1A 0J9

Telephone : 1-800-622-6232

TTY : 1-800-622-6232

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

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

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 one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A document that sets out a department’s priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a 3‑year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A change that a department seeks to influence. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform decision-making and improve outcomes for Canadians. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from, innovation. Innovation is the trying of something new; experimentation involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, introducing a new mobile application to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new application and comparing it against an existing website or other tools to see which one reaches more people, 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. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

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 2022–23 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: protecting Canadians from COVID-19; helping Canadians through the pandemic; building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; the Canada we’re fighting for.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which 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.

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 up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the 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 a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

An inventory of a department’s programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department’s core responsibilities and achieve its planned results.

result (résultat)

An external 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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