Backgrounder: Canada Learning Bond

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is accepting project proposals from organizations for new and/or innovative approaches designed to increase awareness and take-up of the CLB to help improve life outcomes for children, with a particular emphasis on vulnerable populations, including Indigenous children. Proposals must align with at least one of the following three themes: support for Indigenous populations, facilitated access to education and research and innovation.

The CLB is money that the Government of Canada deposits directly in Registered Education Savings Plans for children from low-income families, born in 2004 or later, to help pay for their post-secondary education. The CLB provides an initial payment of $500 plus $100 for each year of eligibility, up to age 15, for a maximum of $2,000. Personal contributions are not required to receive the CLB.

To be eligible for the CLB, a child must be from a low-income family and:

·         be born on or after January 1, 2004;

·         be a resident of Canada;

·         have a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN); and

·         be named as a beneficiary to an RESP.

The child’s primary caregiver (PCG) and, effective January 2018, the spouse or common-law partner of the PCG, can request the CLB on behalf of an eligible child. The PCG is the person who is eligible to receive the Canada Child Benefit in the child’s name. The child’s PCG must have applied for the Canada Child Benefit for the child through the Canada Revenue Agency and must continue to file income tax returns, allowing eligibility to be validated. Children in care qualify for the CLB.