Departmental Evaluation Plan, fiscal years 2025 to 2026 until 2029 to 2030
On this page
- List of acronyms
- Deputy head departmental evaluation plan confirmation note
- Executive summary
- Introduction
- Accomplishments in fiscal year 2024 to 2025
- Evaluation coverage in fiscal year 2024 to 2025
- Evaluation operating environment
- Evaluation resources
- Going forward
- Planned evaluation coverage from fiscal years 2025 to 2026 until 2029 to 2030
- Programs excluded from evaluation coverage from fiscal years 2025 to 2026 until 2029 to 2030
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List of acronyms
- CDOB
- Chief Data Officer Branch
- ESDC
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- FAA
- Financial Administration Act
- FTE
- Full-time equivalent
- GBA Plus
- Gender-Based Analysis Plus
- OECD
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- PMEC
- Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee
- TBS
- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Deputy Head Departmental Evaluation Plan confirmation note
I approve the Departmental Evaluation Plan of Employment and Social Development Canada for 2025 to 2030. I submit it to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) as required by the Policy on Results.
I confirm that this 5-year rolling Departmental Evaluation Plan:
- plans for evaluation of all ongoing programs of grants and contributions with 5-year average actual expenditures of $5 million or greater per year at least once every 5 years, in fulfillment of the requirements of subsection 42.1 of the Financial Administration Act (FAA)
- meets the requirements of the Mandatory Procedures for Evaluation
- supports the requirements of the expenditure management system including, as applicable, Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submissions, and resource alignment reviews
I will ensure that this Plan is updated annually. I will provide information about its implementation to the TBS, as required.
Paul Thompson
Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development
Executive summary
As per the TBS Policy on Results, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) must develop and publish an annual 5-year departmental evaluation plan. Informed by an annual consultative planning exercise and building on last year's accomplishments, this Plan targets the evaluation coverage of ESDC's program spending for fiscal years 2025 to 2026 until 2029 to 2030, with a focus on departmental needs, risks, and priorities.
In fiscal year 2024 to 2025, ESDC evaluations continued to play an important role in the results agenda by examining the relevance and performance of departmental programs, policies, and services. The Department also continued to develop innovative approaches, including those that support the Government of Canada's commitments to Gender-based Analysis (GBA) Plus, official languages, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, and the assessment of programs' effectiveness.
Key accomplishments in fiscal year 2024 to 2025
Several key achievements were realized over the course of the fiscal year 2024 to 2025:
- 5 evaluation reports and 30 technical reports were completed to support programs
- 3 Supplemental Studies were completed to inform the 2023 to 2024 Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report
- 10 program evaluations were formally initiated
- collaboration with the Head of Performance Measurement on the implementation of the ESDC Performance Measurement Improvement Plan
- reviewed and provided input on Treasury Board Submissions and Memoranda to Cabinet
Going forward
The Department tentatively plans to complete 11 evaluations in fiscal year 2025 to 2026. This Plan demonstrates that the Department will meet coverage requirements mandated by the TBS, the Policy on Results, and the FAA.
Introduction
Purpose of the Plan
This rolling 5-year Plan, required under the TBS Policy on Results, describes all planned evaluations to be undertaken by ESDC from April 2025 to March 2030. In addition to addressing the requirements of the Policy on Results, the Plan is designed to assist the Deputy Head by ensuring the availability of factual, neutral, and timely information on the ongoing relevance and performance of the Department's programs and services. The information obtained through evaluations supports evidence-based decision-making and helps inform Canadians of departmental results. The Plan also helps ensure transparency in the decision-making process for the evaluation function, highlighting priorities and coverage decisions.
The Plan is informed by an annual planning exercise that identifies the timing of individual evaluations based on the requirements of the Policy on Results, departmental needs, risks, and priorities. The development and implementation of the Departmental Evaluation Plan include:
- reviewing various sources of information to identify all mandatory evaluations and assess coverage of the programs
- consulting with program officials, key internal committees, and TBS
- assessing risk when determining the timing and order of future evaluations, prioritizing mandatory evaluations and evaluations that are most likely to inform major policy and program decisions
- validating prioritization and securing final approval from the Deputy Head
- allowing flexibilities for a changing departmental environment
Departmental context
The mandate of ESDC is to build a stronger and more inclusive Canada, to support Canadians in helping them live productive and rewarding lives and improving Canadians' quality of life. To that end, the Department delivers a range of over 50 programs and services that support Canadians throughout their lives and across the country. Programs include transfer payments to provinces and territories and to third-party organizations via grants and contributions, transfer payments to individuals via statutory programs, and the administration and enforcement of workplace legislation as well as service delivery.
The Department's portfolio includes: (1) ESDC, (2) the Labour Program, and (3) Service Canada.
- ESDC delivers a range of programs and services that assist Canadians throughout their life. For instance, it provides seniors with basic income security, supports unemployed workers while helping them return to employment, assists parents who are raising young children, helps students to finance their post-secondary education, and helps youth overcome barriers to employment. The Department also assists persons with disabilities and their families
- the Labour Program's mandate is to promote safe, healthy, cooperative, and productive workplaces that benefit all Canadians, because everyone is entitled to fair treatment on the job. Through legislation, programs and services, the Labour Program fosters good working conditions, constructive labour-management relations, and workplaces free from discrimination
- Service Canada serves as the point of access for some of the Government's largest and most well-known programs and services. This includes Employment Insurance, Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, Canadian Dental Care Plan, Social Insurance Number, and Passport Program
ESDC expenditures on programs and services totalled $184.2 billion in fiscal year 2023 to 2024. Of that amount, $166.0 billion directly benefits Canadians through statutory transfer payment programs.Footnote 1 These include Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security, and other transfer payments in support of students, apprentices, and persons with disabilities. The Department also delivered various measures to support early learning and childcare, youth, and helped Canadians gain the foundational skills needed to succeed in today's economy.
Evaluation Directorate mandate
The Evaluation Directorate is mandated to evaluate the relevance and performance of departmental programs, policies, initiatives, and services. The Directorate influences policy and program design and service delivery through rigorous analysis and evidence presented in evaluation reports, as well as via technical reports, syntheses, and supplemental studies. In this context, the Directorate works with program officials and senior management on the evaluation process through an inclusive approach to governance.
The ESDC Head of Evaluation is responsible for leading the evaluation function within the Department. Pursuant to the Policy on Results, the ESDC Head of Evaluation has direct and unimpeded access to the ESDC Deputy Head, when required, for the performance of his/her responsibilities.
In accordance with the Policy on Results, the departmental Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee (PMEC) is chaired by the Deputy Head and is comprised of senior-level ESDC officials. The Committee approves the Departmental Evaluation Plan; reviews evaluation reports, including management responses; approves Evaluation Plans and Evaluation Strategies; and discusses follow-up on management action plans.
The Evaluation Directorate supports program officials at all stages of the program and policy lifecycle:
- at the initial stage, officials use evaluations to help inform the development of new programs and policies, including their delivery and approach to service, and to support the elaboration of data collection strategy
- during implementation, officials use evaluation findings and recommendations to guide adjustments or program renewal
- as a program or policy matures or winds down, officials can use evaluations to inform lessons learned for future programs or policies
Lastly, the Directorate reports on the implementation of management response action plans. Continuous monitoring and reporting enable improvement throughout the program and policy cycle.
Working Horizontally within Government
ESDC collaborates on joint evaluations with other departments and agencies on government priorities, horizontal initiativesFootnote 2, and where departmental responsibilities, results or program outcomes are shared or related.Footnote 3 ESDC also frequently engages with Statistics Canada to explore opportunities for data linkages and impact analysis.
Accomplishments in fiscal year 2024 to 2025
From April 2024 to March 2025, the ESDC PMEC reviewed and approved various evaluation products, including evaluation reports and evaluation plans. Evaluation products and services addressed information needs, responded to key priorities in the Department and contributed to the improvement of programs and services.
Supporting evidence-based decisions
Evaluation products and services influenced and supported evidence-based decision-making. These include:
- 5 evaluation reports that cover diverse program and policy areas
- 6 recommendations contributing to improvements of the evaluated programs and 18 actions that seek to address these recommendations
- 30 technical reports covering 12 different programs to support program officials
- 3 Supplemental Studies completed to inform the 2023 to 2024 Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report
- 10 program evaluations formally initiated
- the review of Treasury Board Submissions and Memoranda to Cabinet to inform policies and programs
- innovative approaches and state-of-the-art techniques (for example, machine learning) in impact evaluation and cost-benefit analysis methodologies to address policy-relevant questions
- peer reviews for select evaluation results and evaluation methodologies and consistent with 1 of the recommendations from the 2023 neutral assessment of ESDC evaluation function
- launching an interactive dashboard to display up-to-date Management Response Action Plan status data accessible to the entire Department
- advanced horizontal discussions on the Department's capacity to assess the impacts and effectiveness of its programs, including the identification of potential actions to support impact evaluations
- sharing knowledge through dissemination and engagement
In fiscal year 2024 to 2025, the Department continued to disseminate evaluation findings and engage with partners inside and outside of the federal government. These activities included sharing evaluation-related knowledge through publications, presentations, and engagement activities, through several workshops and conferences, including the Canadian Economics Association Conference, the Canadian Evaluation Society Conference, and the congress of la Société Canadienne de science économique.
The Department also:
- participated in a workshop co-hosted between the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in October 2024 on embedding evidence in policy making for labour market programs
- strengthened and broadened its network with the academic community to explore new avenues of knowledge dissemination and collaboration
- supported ESDC evaluators contributing to a chapter in an edited volume published by an international publishing group: Public Policy Evaluation and Analysis (2024). The chapter provides insights into assessing the effectiveness of federal government programs via randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental methods
Evaluation coverage in fiscal year 2024 to 2025
The Department uses a consultative process to inform decisions on priorities, evidentiary needs, and timing of future evaluations. This approach prioritizes mandatory evaluations and evaluations that are most likely to inform major policy and program decisions.
In fiscal year 2024 to 2025, 5 planned evaluations were completed (see Table 1), including those required under the FAA as well as the Policy on Results.Footnote 4 ESDC met the public release timeliness standards set by the TBS in fiscal year 2024 to 2025.
In collaboration with program officials, 10 evaluation plans were developed in fiscal year 2024 to 2025. Evaluation plans outline scope, methodology, and timing of evaluation projects of a program or service. PMEC is responsible for reviewing and approving these documents.
| Evaluation reports | Completion date |
|---|---|
| Horizontal Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Evaluation | July 2024 |
| Evaluation of the Apprenticeship Grants | September 2024 |
| Evaluation of the Skills and Partnership Fund | September 2024 |
| Evaluation of the Work-Sharing Program | December 2024 |
| Horizontal Evaluation of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy | December 2024 |
Evaluation products continued to support the Commissioners for Employers and Workers at the Canada Employment Insurance Commission by examining labour market issues and supporting the work of the Monitoring Report and Advisory Committee. In collaboration with ESDC's Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, the Evaluation Directorate carried out 3 supplemental studies to inform the annual 2023 to 2024 Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report.
Consultations
The annual consultation process for this Plan was conducted from October to November 2024 to identify key evaluation priorities, evidentiary needs, and timing of future evaluations. Consultation participants included program officials and stakeholders with specialized expertise (for example, the Head of Performance Measurement, departmental research divisions, the Chief Data Officer Branch (CDOB), and Internal Audit Services). The 2024 consultations re-emphasized the need to:
- carefully review the timing and scope of proposed evaluations to optimize their usefulness and value
- ensure the complementarity of oversight activities (for example, audits)
- inform recently introduced measures, and policy priorities
- take into consideration the capacity of programs and reduce the burden of the evaluation process
- leverage linkages between evaluation and research activities to inform evaluation projects, particularly in the area of the service delivery
- foster more agile evaluation planning, as recommended in the 2023 neutral assessment of ESDC evaluation function
Using information obtained through the consultations, the Evaluation Directorate determined the priorities, evidentiary needs, and the timing of future evaluations. As part of ESDC's consultation process to inform the Plan, feedback is solicited from the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Privy Council Office, and the Department of Finance. Central agency feedback was discussed during the November 2024 consultation sessions.
Once mandatory evaluations have been scheduled, the Department considers additional discretionary evaluations using an analysis of risk, needs and priorities as well as internal capacity to carry out evaluation activities. Through this analysis evaluators consider the perspectives of key partners and stakeholders as well as internal risks. The Department considers key departmental risks, including the Risk-Based Audit Plan . In situations where audit and evaluation schedules overlap for the same program, the Evaluation Directorate collaborates with Internal Audit Services to ensure the complementarity of internal audit/evaluation activities. This provides a means of efficiently examining performance and outcomes.
Neutral assessment
The Policy on Results requires Deputy Heads to ensure that a neutral assessment of the evaluation function is conducted at least once every 5 years. The last neutral assessment of the ESDC evaluation function was conducted in 2023. It found overall conformance of ESDC's evaluation function with the Policy on Results. The next neutral assessment is scheduled for completion in 2028.
Evaluation operating environment
The Plan includes an overview of the environment in which the Evaluation Directorate is operating. This includes the quality and availability of program data and the impact of the operating context.
Gender-Based Analysis Plus
GBA Plus is an analytical process that assesses the potential impacts of policies, programs, services, and other initiatives on diverse groups of people, considering gender and other intersecting identifying factors such as age, education, language, and disability. The Department strives to include GBA Plus considerations when it designs, develops, implements, and evaluates programs and services. ESDC will continue to look for opportunities for data integrationFootnote 5 and use of innovative quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods to measure the impact of programs on specific groups in support of the Department's implementation of GBA Plus.
Official languages
The modernization of the Official Languages Act supports Canada's linguistic duality and helps enhance the vitality of official language minority communities. By taking positive measures to enhance the vitality of these communities and support their development, institutions will ensure the advancement of equality of the status and use of English and French in Canada. This includes considering the specific needs of both official language minority communities at all stages of program development as well as creation of a new accountability and reporting framework.
ESDC evaluation will support the Department's efforts to inform and monitor the implementation of the Official Language Act via its transfer programs. Where applicable, ESDC will incorporate an official languages lens into evaluations to better inform the impacts of programs, projects, and initiatives on these communities.
Quality of Life Framework
The Quality of Life Framework aims to unify several new analytical lenses (for example, GBA Plus, official languages, reconciliation, sustainability) and measure Canada's progress through both material and non-material factors (for example, health, social connections, and nature). By focusing on 5 key domains - prosperity, health, good governance, society, and environment - the Framework provides a holistic perspective on well-being in Canada. The Framework provides evidence to support government decisions, helps ensure that policy and programs enhance the lives of people in Canada, and offers a holistic evidence base with a structured framework for analyzing complex policy problems to provide more comprehensive, consistent, and coherent policy advice while making trade-offs more explicit. ESDC is working towards including this framework as part of its departmental reporting, including, to the extent possible, as part of its evaluations.
The importance of data to evaluation
Evaluations rely on performance measurement information and other quantitative and qualitative data that is reliable and suitable for evaluation purposes to determine the impact of programs and services, and whether they deliver value for money.
The Departmental Head of Evaluation works in collaboration with the Departmental Head of Performance Measurement, program officials, and the CDOB in the development of performance measurement and data collection plans for ESDC's portfolio of programs. This collaboration improves the ability to leverage data and analytics for policy analysis, research, and evaluation purposes, including the application of the GBA Plus, official languages and Quality of Life Framework lenses.
For active labour market programs, Canada is a leader within the OECD on conducting impact evaluations using administrative data. Building on this success, ESDC is collaborating with Statistics Canada to assess additional data integration opportunities, to carry out more refined analysis to inform program reach and performance. Other opportunities that ESDC continues to explore, test, and incorporate into standard evaluation practices include machine learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, and advanced impact analysis.Footnote 6 These efforts are carried out in accordance with ESDC's commitment to the responsible stewardship of Canadian citizens' information, upholding stringent processes to ensure its protection.
Evaluation resources
To support the evaluation function in fiscal year 2024 to 2025, the Department allocated the equivalent of 59 full-time staff for a total salary cost of about $6.77 million. These figures are limited to the ESDC Evaluation Directorate and do not account for resources allocated by other branches in the Department associated with the conduct of evaluations. To meet short-term capacity demands, the Department uses flexible staffing approaches, including hiring students, casual employees, and external experts to fill specific capacity gaps.
In fiscal year 2025 to 2026, the total Evaluation budget is forecasted to increase slightly from fiscal year 2024 to 2025. The forecasted amount for salary expenditures for fiscal year 2025 to 2026 is $7.39 million, and forecasted operations and maintenance is $0.74 million. The Department will continue to plan evaluations with a focus on new and modified programs and services in addition to undertaking previously planned evaluations (with priority given to evaluations with a FAA requirement).
Descriptive text for Figure 1
| Fiscal year | Salaries | Operations and maintenance | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 to 2017 | $4,680,000 | $900,000 | $5,580,000 |
| 2017 to 2018 | $5,690,000 | $1,010,000 | $6,700,000 |
| 2018 to 2019 | $5,260,000 | $790,000 | $6,050,000 |
| 2019 to 2020 | $6,620,000 | $1,180,000 | $7,800,000 |
| 2020 to 2021 | $6,530,000 | $1,320,000 | $7,850,000 |
| 2021 to 2022 | $6,600,000 | $1,190,000 | $7,790,000 |
| 2022 to 2023 | $6,290,000 | $740,000 | $7,030,000 |
| 2023 to 2024 | $6,430,000 | $590,000 | $7,020,000 |
| 2024 to 2025 | $6,770,000 | $590,000 | $7,360,000 |
| 2025 to 2026 | $7,390,000 | $740,000 | $8,130,000 |
Note that figures in fiscal year 2025 to 2026 are estimates.
| Fiscal year | 2016 to 2017 | 2017 to 2018 | 2018 to 2019 | 2019 to 2020 | 2020 to 2021 | 2021 to 2022 | 2022 to 2023 | 2023 to 2024 | 2024 to 2025 | 2025 to 2026 |
| FTEs | 49 | 59 | 58 | 71 | 69 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 59 | 68 |
- Note that figures in fiscal year 2025 to 2026 are estimates.
- Note that FTEs do not include students.
Going forward
The Department tentatively plans to complete 11 evaluations in fiscal year 2025 to 2026. In the years ahead, evaluations will continue to:
- rely on a collaborative approach with policy and program officials to provide timely evidence to inform decisions
- apply state-of-art econometric techniques and improve the use of causal machine learning methods to better capture program impacts across various socio-economic groups in support of GBA Plus
- support the Head of Performance Measurement towards improving performance measurement information and providing advice to internal stakeholders
- engage with Indigenous organizations and communities to co-develop culturally appropriate evaluation approaches of Indigenous programs in support of reconciliation
- engage experts to stay informed and adopt best practices from other jurisdictions, departments, and disciplines
- collaborate with evaluation practitioners to strengthen the evaluation function across government
- work with the CDOB and program areas to identify opportunities for data integration and use of innovative methods (quantitative and qualitative) to inform the impact of programs
- engage with official language minority communities to inform the department's role in the implementation of the Official Language Act through its transfer programs
This document provides a coverage table in the following section that lists all planned evaluations for the next 5 years. The table demonstrates that the Department will meet coverage requirements mandated by the TBS, the Policy on Results, and the FAA. This is in addition to completing discretionary evaluations designated as a priority by the Department. Given the scale and unique objectives of each Employment Insurance benefit, the Employment Insurance program is subject to more than 1 evaluation from fiscal years 2025 to 2026 until 2029 to 2030. Planned evaluation coverage from fiscal year 2025 to 2026 to fiscal year 2029 to 2030 may be subject to change due to funding and operational considerations.
Planned evaluation coverage from fiscal years 2025 to 2026 until 2029 to 2030
| Planned fiscal year of Deputy Head approval | Planned evaluation name | Last program evaluation | Reason for evaluation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 to 2026 (first quarter) | Evaluation of the Foreign Credential Recognition ProgramFootnote 7 | July 2020 | FAA requirement |
| 2025 to 2026 (first quarter) | Evaluation of the Canada Disability Savings ProgramFootnote 8 | December 2018 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2025 to 2026 (first quarter) | Evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program | First planned evaluation | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2025 to 2026 (third quarter) | Evaluation of the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities | December 2020 | FAA requirement |
| 2025 to 2026 (third quarter) | Evaluation of Employment Insurance Fishing Benefits | June 2006Footnote 9 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2025 to 2026 (third quarter) | Evaluation of the Labour Standards Program | February 2019 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2025 to 2026 (third quarter) | Evaluation of the Occupational Health and Safety Program | February 2019 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2025 to 2026 (fourth quarter) | Evaluation of Indigenous Skills and Employment Training ProgramFootnote 10 | February 2020Footnote 11 | FAA requirement |
| 2025 to 2026 (fourth quarter) | Evaluation of the New Horizons for Seniors Program | December 2020 | FAA requirement |
| 2025 to 2026 (fourth quarter) | Evaluation of the Workplace Equity Program | December 2018 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2025 to 2026 (fourth quarter) | Evaluation of the Early Learning and Child Care Innovation Program | First planned evaluation | FAA requirement |
| 2026 to 2027 | Evaluation of Employment Insurance Caregiving Benefits | April 2019Footnote 12 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2026 to 2027 | Evaluation of the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority CommunitiesFootnote 13 | March 2022 | FAA requirement |
| 2026 to 2027 | Evaluation of the Wage Earner Protection Program | March 2022 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2026 to 2027 | Evaluation of the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy - General Trades and Apprenticeship Supports (Component 1) | First planned evaluation Footnote 14 | FAA requirement |
| 2026 to 2027 | Evaluation of Student Work Placement Program | January 2022 | FAA requirement |
| 2026 to 2027 | Evaluation of the Migrant Workers Support ProgramFootnote 15 | June 2021Footnote 16 | FAA requirement |
| 2027 to 2028 | Evaluation of the Old Age Security Program | January 2020 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2027 to 2028 | Evaluation of the Social Finance Fund | First planned evaluation | FAA requirement |
| 2027 to 2028 | Evaluation of the National Canada School Food Program | First planned evaluation | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2027 to 2028 | Evaluation of the Enabling Accessibility Fund | December 2022 | FAA requirement |
| 2027 to 2028 | Evaluation of the Skills for Success Program | October 2022 | FAA requirement |
| 2027 to 2028 | Evaluation of the Sectoral Workforce Solutions ProgramFootnote 17 | March 2023 | FAA requirement |
| 2027 to 2028 | Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits | June 2020Footnote 18 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2027 to 2028 | Horizontal Evaluation of the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Transformation InitiativeFootnote 19 | July 2024 | FAA requirement |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Guaranteed Income Supplement | December 2020 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation ServiceFootnote 20 | June 2021 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Federal Workers' Compensation Service | July 2018 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of Employment Insurance Extended Parental Benefits | November 2022Footnote 21 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Support for Students Learning Program | June 2023 | FAA requirement |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Future Skills Program | June 2023 | FAA requirement |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Social Development Partnerships Program | February 2024 | FAA requirement |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Canada Service Corps | April 2024 | FAA requirement |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program: Student Grants and Loans | February 2024 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Workforce Development AgreementsFootnote 22 | March 2022 | Commitment in Treasury Board submission |
| 2028 to 2029 | Evaluation of the Labour Market Development Agreements (fourth cycle)Footnote 23 | November 2022 | Commitment in Treasury Board submission |
| 2029 to 2030 | Evaluation of the Service Delivery Partnerships Program | First planned evaluation | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2029 to 2030 | Evaluation of the Skills and Partnership Fund | September 2024 | FAA requirement |
| 2029 to 2030 | Evaluation of the Canada Education Savings Program | June 2023 | Departmental needs/risks |
| 2029 to 2030 | Horizontal Evaluation of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy | December 2024 | FAA requirement |
| 2029 to 2030 | Evaluation of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program: Loan forgiveness | October 2023Footnote 24 | Departmental needs/risks |
Programs excluded from evaluation coverage from fiscal years 2025 to 2026 until 2029 to 2030
For some programs in ESDC's program inventory, no planned evaluations are currently scheduled and their inclusion in future evaluation plans will be considered during annual consultations. The main reasons for programs not having a planned evaluation include:
- ongoing programs of grants and contributions that do not have a 5-year average actual expenditure of $5 million or greater per year
- temporary programs with a duration of less than 5 years
- programs with no grants and contributions component (including program services) for which the Policy on Results provides more flexibility on the frequency of evaluation
- specific exemptions stemming from TBS policies
The Passport Program is excluded from ESDC's evaluation coverage since the lead department of its evaluation is Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. ESDC supports the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada depending on the scope of the evaluations.
| Program | Under $5 million 5-year average expenditures | Temporary program | No grants and contributions component | Special exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accessible Canada Initiative | Yes | No | No | No |
| Canadian Benefit for Parents of Young Victims of Crime | Yes | No | No | No |
| Strategic Engagement and Research Program | Yes | No | No | No |
| Community Workforce Development Program (including the Canada Retraining and Opportunities Initiative) | No | Yes | No | No |
| Canada Pension Plan | No | No | Yes | No |
| Job Bank | Yes | No | No | No |
| Citizen Service Network | No | No | Yes | No |
| Canadian Digital Service | No | No | Yes | No |
| Government of Canada Internet Presence | No | No | Yes | No |
| Government of Canada Telephone General Enquiries Services | No | No | Yes | No |
| Black-led Philanthropic Endowment FundFootnote 25 | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| International Labour Affairs ProgramFootnote 26 | No | No | No | Yes |
| Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship (Red Seal Program) | No | No | Yes | No |
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