Toronto, Ontario
November 10, 2014
Check against delivery
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I’d like to start by thanking Credit Canada Debt Solutions and the many organizers of Credit Education Week. It’s my pleasure to be here today to help launch the week, which is an important component of and addition to Financial Literacy Month.
The theme of this year’s credit education week, ‘failure to launch’ — or looking at debt as something that can hold people back from achieving their dreams — is very appropriate to our work to develop and implement a national strategy for financial literacy.
As others will note today, as a society, our reliance on credit has reached record proportions. And the strain that this places on people is starting to show – as last year’s consumer survey by Credit Canada Debt Solutions showed, half of Canadians reported feeling they’ve lost control of their personal finances. This year’s Canadian Financial Capability Survey supports that finding, as 3 out of 10 Canadians reported they are struggling to meet their bills and payments.
Today, I would like to provide an overview of my approach to coordinating and collaborating with groups across Canada on a national strategy for financial literacy. I believe this will help to show the importance placed on debt management in our financial literacy efforts.
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, or FCAC, is at the centre of the national effort to improve the financial literacy of Canadians. As many will know, FCAC was established in 2001 with a dual mandate. First — ensuring that federal financial institutions in Canada comply with consumer protection measures set out in legislation, and second — promoting financial education and raising consumers’ awareness of their rights and responsibilities.
My role as Financial Literacy Leader, working at the FCAC, is to ensure that the efforts of the many groups involved in financial literacy in Canada — public, private and non-profit — are coordinated. This means resources and tools are shared and promoted widely, and the impact of programs is properly understood, measured and disseminated so that Canadians know what works, and we can see and learn from best practices.
When the Government of Canada appointed me to lead the development and implementation of a national strategy for financial literacy, steps were taken to ensure our work was as inclusive as possible.
First, I along with Minister of State for Finance, Kevin Sorenson, have been gathering input for the national strategy from many Canadians, thanks to online public consultations and stakeholder meetings. Two rounds of consultations — the first on seniors, the second on priority groups — have already been held. Online consultations for Phase 2 will continue until December 10. The third round began last week as part of our national conference on financial literacy.
The consultations have provided excellent feedback. We released Strengthening Seniors’ Financial Literacy, the first component of the national strategy, ten days ago. After we complete the remaining consultations and analyze the results of the 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey, we will be ready to finalize, publish and start to implement the full national strategy in 2015.
Second, I established a National Steering Committee on Financial Literacy with 15 influential individuals from many sectors including insurance, banking and investment, and those working with the priority groups our strategy will target. The members – who include Laura Campbell, and our panelists today Liz Mulholland, Gary Rabbior and Pat Foran – all boast a track record in financial education. They will act as champions for the strategy and in many cases will launch or oversee their own initiatives to engage Canadians.
And finally, FCAC is also playing a role. The Agency has had great success in using Financial Literacy Month, in November, to increase awareness of financial literacy issues. This year, we’re launching the Canadian Financial Literacy Database, offering a ‘one-stop shop’ of all the tools and resources available to Canadians from organizations across the country. Groups with financial literacy resources, tools and programs can still enter this information into the database.
I am encouraged by gatherings such as today’s event because the organizations involved in Credit Education Week reflect our common goals and our shared responsibility in the area of financial literacy. There is great momentum building in Canada to tackle the problems we face in managing debt, increasing our savings, and, in more general terms, helping all Canadians gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to make responsible financial decisions.
In the coming year we will release the National Strategy for Financial Literacy. Our National Steering Committee members will be deeply involved in the work of implementing the strategy, and the organizations and sectors they represent are key stakeholders in generating collaboration on financial literacy.
We need all of you to participate in working toward the goals of the National Strategy.
The result we hope for is to see improved debt management and higher rates of household saving, allowing people to overcome the pitfalls that will keep them from launching toward their life goals.
I look forward to seeing the success of this year’s Credit Education Week, and look forward to our continued cooperation as we work toward the national strategy for financial literacy.
Thank you.
