Social Policies
#5Key Findings
Featuring high-quality education at all levels and a generally well-performing, universally available healthcare system, Canada’s social policies fall into the top ranks in international comparison (rank 5). Its score in this area has gained 0.3 points relative to 2014.
The COVID-19 pandemic refocused the country’s health system. Problems with already-long wait times for health procedures became more acute. However, mask mandates were routine, and after a slow start, vaccination campaigns were strong.
Poverty reduction programs in recent years have been successful, but poverty rates remain worrisome within the Indigenous population. Education quality is high, with impressive equity in access. The gap in educational attainment between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations remains problematic Crime rates are low, but violence against Indigenous women has been a serious concern.
A new program is moving toward affordable universal childcare, a critical step given that the net average cost of childcare is very high. Integration policies for immigrants are quite successful. The pension system is relatively effective at reducing poverty among the elderly.
The COVID-19 pandemic refocused the country’s health system. Problems with already-long wait times for health procedures became more acute. However, mask mandates were routine, and after a slow start, vaccination campaigns were strong.
Poverty reduction programs in recent years have been successful, but poverty rates remain worrisome within the Indigenous population. Education quality is high, with impressive equity in access. The gap in educational attainment between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations remains problematic Crime rates are low, but violence against Indigenous women has been a serious concern.
A new program is moving toward affordable universal childcare, a critical step given that the net average cost of childcare is very high. Integration policies for immigrants are quite successful. The pension system is relatively effective at reducing poverty among the elderly.
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To what extent does education policy deliver high-quality, equitable and efficient education and training?
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Education policy fully achieves the criteria.
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Education policy largely achieves the criteria.
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Education policy partially achieves the criteria.
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Education policy does not achieve the criteria at all.
Education quality in Canada is high. The country has a number of world-class universities and the average quality of its universities is high. Canadian teachers are well-paid by global standards. The most recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, released in December 2019 and covering results for 2018 results, showed that Canadian students score well above the OECD average in reading (fourth place among 77 countries), science (sixth place) and mathematics (10th place). Research has emphasized how these strong results have come without the existence of a federal ministry of education (Wallner, 2014).
Equity in access to education is impressive. A very high proportion of Canada’s population has some post-secondary education, thanks in part to the extensive development of community colleges. There are many educational second chances for Canadian youth. The high school completion rate is also high. Socioeconomic background represents a much lower barrier to post-secondary education in Canada than in most other countries.
Education is under the jurisdiction of the provinces. Allocated resources are reasonable and, in general, efficiently used. The federal government contributes grant money to post-secondary students with financial need. It also offers grants for education through a Registered Education Savings Plan if parents also contribute. Moreover, there exists federal and provincial loans programs.
Despite the strengths of the Canadian education system, a major challenge is the gap in educational attainment between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.
Citations:
Jennifer Wallner, Learning to School. Federalism and Public Schooling in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014).
Equity in access to education is impressive. A very high proportion of Canada’s population has some post-secondary education, thanks in part to the extensive development of community colleges. There are many educational second chances for Canadian youth. The high school completion rate is also high. Socioeconomic background represents a much lower barrier to post-secondary education in Canada than in most other countries.
Education is under the jurisdiction of the provinces. Allocated resources are reasonable and, in general, efficiently used. The federal government contributes grant money to post-secondary students with financial need. It also offers grants for education through a Registered Education Savings Plan if parents also contribute. Moreover, there exists federal and provincial loans programs.
Despite the strengths of the Canadian education system, a major challenge is the gap in educational attainment between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.
Citations:
Jennifer Wallner, Learning to School. Federalism and Public Schooling in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014).
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To what extent does social policy prevent exclusion and decoupling from society?
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Policies very effectively enable societal inclusion and ensure equal opportunities.
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For the most part, policies enable societal inclusion effectively and ensure equal opportunities.
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For the most part, policies fail to prevent societal exclusion effectively and ensure equal opportunities.
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Policies exacerbate unequal opportunities and exclusion from society.
Most social policies, such as income transfers (e.g., child benefits, pensions) and educational policies, support societal inclusion and ensure equal opportunities. A recent CSLS study (Hillel, 2020) has found that Canadians living in poverty (using the Market Basket Measure) declined form 15.6% in 2006 to 8.7% in 2018, with most of this being attributed to offsets after taxes such as with the federal Canada Child Benefit.
However, for certain groups, notably recent immigrants and Indigenous Canadians, social policy has not prevented social exclusion. For immigrants, social disparities tend to diminish with the second generation, but persistent gaps remain for the Indigenous population. Despite the Trudeau government’s promises to improve economic outcomes for Indigenous peoples, progress has proved elusive. Indigenous children are more than twice as likely as non-Indigenous children to live in poverty. Using figures from the 2016 census, a Canadian Press review found that four out of every five Aboriginal reserves have median incomes that fall below the poverty line.
In 2018, the federal government released its first-ever poverty reduction strategy, which stressed the importance of social inclusion and established a target for poverty reduction. Passed into law in 2019, the Poverty Reduction Act established these targets, Canada’s official poverty line and an advisory council on this issue. As reported by the update on the poverty strategy released in 2019, the country was ahead of schedule in reaching its target of a 20% reduction in poverty. However, this lower poverty rate excludes Indigenous peoples living on reserves, where child poverty rates are around 51%. Moreover, while the current rate of poverty as measured by Statistics Canada fell to 10.1% in 2019, the impact of the pandemic has yet to be assessed.
Citations:
David Macdonald and Daniel Wilson (2016), Shameful Neglect: Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada, Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, available from https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/shameful-neglect.
Statistics Canada (2013), Education in Canada: Attainment, Field of Study and Location of Study, National Household Survey 2011 Analytical document 99-012-X
Hillel, Inez (2020) “Holes in the Social Safety Net: Poverty, Inequality and Social Assistabce in Canada,” CSLS Reseaecg Report 2020-06, August, (Ottawa: Centre for the Study of Living Standards), http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2020-06.pdf
Employment and Social Development Canada (2018) “Opportunity for All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy,” https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/poverty-reduction/reports/strategy.html
Employment and Social Development Canada (2019) Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy: An Update,” https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/results/poverty-reduction.html.
Statistics Canada, Canadian Income Survey, 23 March 2021, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca
/n1/en/daily-quotidien/210323/dq210323a-eng.pdf?st=xvtiHl7L
However, for certain groups, notably recent immigrants and Indigenous Canadians, social policy has not prevented social exclusion. For immigrants, social disparities tend to diminish with the second generation, but persistent gaps remain for the Indigenous population. Despite the Trudeau government’s promises to improve economic outcomes for Indigenous peoples, progress has proved elusive. Indigenous children are more than twice as likely as non-Indigenous children to live in poverty. Using figures from the 2016 census, a Canadian Press review found that four out of every five Aboriginal reserves have median incomes that fall below the poverty line.
In 2018, the federal government released its first-ever poverty reduction strategy, which stressed the importance of social inclusion and established a target for poverty reduction. Passed into law in 2019, the Poverty Reduction Act established these targets, Canada’s official poverty line and an advisory council on this issue. As reported by the update on the poverty strategy released in 2019, the country was ahead of schedule in reaching its target of a 20% reduction in poverty. However, this lower poverty rate excludes Indigenous peoples living on reserves, where child poverty rates are around 51%. Moreover, while the current rate of poverty as measured by Statistics Canada fell to 10.1% in 2019, the impact of the pandemic has yet to be assessed.
Citations:
David Macdonald and Daniel Wilson (2016), Shameful Neglect: Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada, Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, available from https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/shameful-neglect.
Statistics Canada (2013), Education in Canada: Attainment, Field of Study and Location of Study, National Household Survey 2011 Analytical document 99-012-X
Hillel, Inez (2020) “Holes in the Social Safety Net: Poverty, Inequality and Social Assistabce in Canada,” CSLS Reseaecg Report 2020-06, August, (Ottawa: Centre for the Study of Living Standards), http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2020-06.pdf
Employment and Social Development Canada (2018) “Opportunity for All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy,” https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/poverty-reduction/reports/strategy.html
Employment and Social Development Canada (2019) Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy: An Update,” https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/results/poverty-reduction.html.
Statistics Canada, Canadian Income Survey, 23 March 2021, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca
/n1/en/daily-quotidien/210323/dq210323a-eng.pdf?st=xvtiHl7L
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To what extent do health care policies provide high-quality, inclusive and cost-efficient health care?
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Health care policy achieves the criteria fully.
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Health care policy achieves the criteria largely.
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Health care policy achieves the criteria partly.
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Health care policy does not achieve the criteria at all.
As has been witnessed globally, health policy in Canada has also been very heavily impacted by the pandemic. While healthcare, like educational policy, is primarily the responsibility of the individual provinces, all levels of government have been focused in their efforts, and expenditures, on dealing with the health crisis. Initially health policy pivoted to focus on procurement of personal protective equipment and, while Canada was slow in acquiring vaccines, by December 2020, Canada had begun to complete major acquisitions with provinces and territories delivering doses into arms.
In Canada, vaccine takeup has generally proven strong, with concerted education campaigns and regular briefings by respective medical health officers, often on a daily basis. Mask mandates and capacity limits both for outdoor and indoor activities have been recurring features across the country as COVID-19 waves have peaked and waned, with provincial and territorial jurisdictions establishing their own protocols. The federal government has also locked down borders during the pandemic and has followed with mask mandates for federally-regulated activities, including travel. As a result, vaccine takeup has been quite strong; as of 28 December 2021, 77.38 persons were fully vaccinated per 100 population.
Despite progress on the vaccine front, the impacts on the healthcare system have been marked. Even before the pandemic the most glaring problem with the Canadian system was timely access to care. In a 2017 study by the Commonwealth Fund, Canada ranked last for providing timely access to care out of 11 high-income countries. As hospitals and healthcare units pivoted to deal with COVID-19, redirecting resources to emergency and intensive care, these wait times and access issues became even more acute. The Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that almost 560,000 fewer surgeries were performed between March 2020 to June 2021, in comparison with 2019. The Canadian Medical Association has championed the need for change, highlighting the immense challenges with which the Canadian healthcare system is “struggling” and calling for an infusion of CAD 1.3 billion in funding on the part of the federal government.
The pandemic also revealed extremely inadequate measures being taken in long-term care homes; in the first wave of the pandemic, 80% of fatalities were in long-term care facilities (OECD 2021). Seniors groups have called for more stringent regulations regarding long-term care but this issue continues to be one of tension between the federal government and the provinces.
With respect to access, income is not a barrier to treatment, with care freely provided for almost the entire population. However, since dental care, eye care and drugs prescribed for use outside of hospitals are excluded from general coverage, not all income groups have equal access to these types of healthcare services. In the 2019 election campaign, Trudeau pledged to implement a national pharmacare program, although the administration has not made it clear how it would fund such a program.
A 2021 Commonwealth Fund study found that Canada’s healthcare system outperforms the United States but trails behind that of comparable countries (e.g., Norway, the Netherlands, Australia). The Commonwealth Fund report ranked Canada second to last overall on a comparative score card of 11 healthcare systems.
Citations:
Canadian Institute for Health Information,“Wait Times for Priority Procedures in Canada,” 2021, June 2021, https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/wait-times-chartbook-priority-procedures-in-canada-2016-2020-en.pdf.
Canadian Medical Association/Deloitte, ”A Struggling System: Understanding the Health Care Impacts of the Pandemic,” November 2021, https://www.cma.ca/sites/default/files/
pdf/health-advocacy/Deloitte-report-nov2021-EN.pdf.
Eric C. Schneider et al., Commonwealth Fund, Mirror, Mirror 2017, 14 July 2017, https://interactives.commonwealthfund.org/2017/july/mirror-mirror/.
Eric C. Schneider et al., Commonwealth Fund, Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly, 4 August 2021, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2021/aug/mirror-mirror-2021-reflecting-poorly
OECD Economic Surveys: Canada 2021, 2021. Paris: OECD Publishing.
World Health Organization, https://covid19.who.int/table.
In Canada, vaccine takeup has generally proven strong, with concerted education campaigns and regular briefings by respective medical health officers, often on a daily basis. Mask mandates and capacity limits both for outdoor and indoor activities have been recurring features across the country as COVID-19 waves have peaked and waned, with provincial and territorial jurisdictions establishing their own protocols. The federal government has also locked down borders during the pandemic and has followed with mask mandates for federally-regulated activities, including travel. As a result, vaccine takeup has been quite strong; as of 28 December 2021, 77.38 persons were fully vaccinated per 100 population.
Despite progress on the vaccine front, the impacts on the healthcare system have been marked. Even before the pandemic the most glaring problem with the Canadian system was timely access to care. In a 2017 study by the Commonwealth Fund, Canada ranked last for providing timely access to care out of 11 high-income countries. As hospitals and healthcare units pivoted to deal with COVID-19, redirecting resources to emergency and intensive care, these wait times and access issues became even more acute. The Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that almost 560,000 fewer surgeries were performed between March 2020 to June 2021, in comparison with 2019. The Canadian Medical Association has championed the need for change, highlighting the immense challenges with which the Canadian healthcare system is “struggling” and calling for an infusion of CAD 1.3 billion in funding on the part of the federal government.
The pandemic also revealed extremely inadequate measures being taken in long-term care homes; in the first wave of the pandemic, 80% of fatalities were in long-term care facilities (OECD 2021). Seniors groups have called for more stringent regulations regarding long-term care but this issue continues to be one of tension between the federal government and the provinces.
With respect to access, income is not a barrier to treatment, with care freely provided for almost the entire population. However, since dental care, eye care and drugs prescribed for use outside of hospitals are excluded from general coverage, not all income groups have equal access to these types of healthcare services. In the 2019 election campaign, Trudeau pledged to implement a national pharmacare program, although the administration has not made it clear how it would fund such a program.
A 2021 Commonwealth Fund study found that Canada’s healthcare system outperforms the United States but trails behind that of comparable countries (e.g., Norway, the Netherlands, Australia). The Commonwealth Fund report ranked Canada second to last overall on a comparative score card of 11 healthcare systems.
Citations:
Canadian Institute for Health Information,“Wait Times for Priority Procedures in Canada,” 2021, June 2021, https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/wait-times-chartbook-priority-procedures-in-canada-2016-2020-en.pdf.
Canadian Medical Association/Deloitte, ”A Struggling System: Understanding the Health Care Impacts of the Pandemic,” November 2021, https://www.cma.ca/sites/default/files/
pdf/health-advocacy/Deloitte-report-nov2021-EN.pdf.
Eric C. Schneider et al., Commonwealth Fund, Mirror, Mirror 2017, 14 July 2017, https://interactives.commonwealthfund.org/2017/july/mirror-mirror/.
Eric C. Schneider et al., Commonwealth Fund, Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly, 4 August 2021, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2021/aug/mirror-mirror-2021-reflecting-poorly
OECD Economic Surveys: Canada 2021, 2021. Paris: OECD Publishing.
World Health Organization, https://covid19.who.int/table.
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To what extent do family support policies enable women to combine parenting with participation in the labor market?
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Family support policies effectively enable women to combine parenting with employment.
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Family support policies provide some support for women who want to combine parenting and employment.
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Family support policies provide only few opportunities for women who want to combine parenting and employment.
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Family support policies force most women to opt for either parenting or employment.
The labor-force participation rate for women with children all under six years of age in Canada is high by international standards. According to Statistics Canada, the number of two-income families nearly doubled over the past decades: in 2015, 69% of couples with a child under 16 years of age have two working parents. In recent years, one key policy has been the increase in the child tax credit, which has reduced the barriers associated with the so-called welfare wall. In the past, when single parents, mostly women, left welfare, they lost all income benefits for their children. With the integration of the welfare system with the universal, income-tested child benefits, there is now less disincentive to leave welfare and enter the labor market. In 2016, the federal government significantly increased the level of child benefits and in 2017 indexed benefits to inflation.
Previously, however, Canada did not have a universal childcare system, although some provinces had taken steps to implement their own, such as Nova Scotia’s pre-primary education system and most notably Quebec’s CAD $7 per day daycare scheme. However, throughout the summer and fall of 2021, the government began moving toward universal childcare, negotiating and signing Early Learning and Childcare agreements with most of the provinces. The goal is to make childcare more affordable, eventually reducing the cost of regulated care to $10 a day by 2025-2026 and reducing costs to parents by 50% in the interim. At the time of writing, all but Ontario had signed on to the agreements. In the case of Québec which already has a full-fledged care system in place funding will be used to enhance their system. Budget 2021 has dedicated $29.8 billion to the new initiative, to be allocated over the next five years.
This initiative is significant, given the government’s commitment to gender equity and coming on the heels of the pandemic when many women had to shoulder both work and childcare in the home environment. Moreover, the average net cost of childcare in Canada is among the OECD’s highest, both as a share of the average wage and as a share of the average family income.
Citations:
Government of Canada, A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience: Budget 2021, https://www.budget.gc.ca/2021/home-accueil-en.html.
CTV News, “What’s the status of Ottawa’s childcare deal with the provinces and territories?” 9 November 2021, https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/what-s-the-status-of-ottawa-s-child-care-deal-with-the-provinces-and-territories-1.5658879.
OECD Family database, www.oecd.org/els/social/family/data base.
Previously, however, Canada did not have a universal childcare system, although some provinces had taken steps to implement their own, such as Nova Scotia’s pre-primary education system and most notably Quebec’s CAD $7 per day daycare scheme. However, throughout the summer and fall of 2021, the government began moving toward universal childcare, negotiating and signing Early Learning and Childcare agreements with most of the provinces. The goal is to make childcare more affordable, eventually reducing the cost of regulated care to $10 a day by 2025-2026 and reducing costs to parents by 50% in the interim. At the time of writing, all but Ontario had signed on to the agreements. In the case of Québec which already has a full-fledged care system in place funding will be used to enhance their system. Budget 2021 has dedicated $29.8 billion to the new initiative, to be allocated over the next five years.
This initiative is significant, given the government’s commitment to gender equity and coming on the heels of the pandemic when many women had to shoulder both work and childcare in the home environment. Moreover, the average net cost of childcare in Canada is among the OECD’s highest, both as a share of the average wage and as a share of the average family income.
Citations:
Government of Canada, A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience: Budget 2021, https://www.budget.gc.ca/2021/home-accueil-en.html.
CTV News, “What’s the status of Ottawa’s childcare deal with the provinces and territories?” 9 November 2021, https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/what-s-the-status-of-ottawa-s-child-care-deal-with-the-provinces-and-territories-1.5658879.
OECD Family database, www.oecd.org/els/social/family/data base.
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To what extent does pension policy realize goals of poverty prevention, intergenerational equity and fiscal sustainability?
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Pension policy achieves the objectives fully.
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Pension policy achieves the objectives largely.
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Pension policy achieves the objectives partly.
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Pension policy does not achieve the objectives at all.
The basic components of Canada’s public pension retirement-income system are the Old Age Security (OAS) demogrant, the income-tested Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the contribution-fed, earnings-based Canada/Quebec Pension Plan (CPP/QPP). Other tiers of the pension system include employer pension plans (both defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans) and government incentive programs for individual saving such as Registered Retirement Saving Plan (RRSPs) and Tax-Free Saving Accounts (TFSAs).
The Canadian pension system seems to be relatively effective as a tool to reduce poverty among the elderly. For individuals over 70 years of age in the lowest quintile of the earnings distribution, the proportion of working income “replaced” by retirement income is nearly 100%. Since 1995, elderly incomes at the bottom have been growing, but not as quickly as the incomes of the rest of the population. Using Statistics Canada’s Low-Income Cutoff (LICO) measure of poverty, an absolute definition, the poverty rate for people 65 and over was 4.7% in 2016, one of the lowest rates ever recorded in the history of the series. In contrast, Statistics Canada’s Low-Income Measure (LIM), a relative poverty definition, senior poverty rates have been on an upward trend over recent years, increasing from a low of 3.9% in 1995 to 14.2% in 2016. OAS and GIS were temporarily boosted during the pandemic. The 2021 federal budget announced a 10% increase in old-age security benefits once recipients turn 75, which is estimated to reduce poverty in this age group by 14.5%.
Intergenerational equity is not a major concern for the Canadian pension system as there is a close relationship between contributions and benefits on an individual basis. With the recent benefits and contribution expansion, the CPP/QPP is projected to replace only a third of the average wage up to a ceiling that will reach CAD 82,700 in 2025. Thus, middle- and upper-income workers with no employer pension plan or private savings may not be able to replace a sufficient proportion of their pre-retirement earnings. In the private sector, this issue affects three in four workers.
The CPP is considered to be actuarially sound and fiscally sustainable at its current rate and benefit structure, due to large increases in contribution rates implemented in the late 1990s and late 2010s and early 2020s. The fiscal sustainability of the OAS/GIS is tied to the sustainability of the federal government’s overall fiscal balance, and is fostered by the indexation of benefits to the CPI rather than to nominal wage increases.
Citations:
Milligan, K. and T. Schirle, Simulated Replacements Rates for CPP Reform Options, School of Public Policy Research Paper, Volume 7(7), University of Calgary, 2014.
Income Security Advocacy Center, “Eligible seniors set to receive increases in Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement,” 14 July 2021, http://incomesecurity.org/public-education/eligible-seniors-set-to-receive-increases-in-old-age-security-and-guaranteed-income-supplement/
The Canadian pension system seems to be relatively effective as a tool to reduce poverty among the elderly. For individuals over 70 years of age in the lowest quintile of the earnings distribution, the proportion of working income “replaced” by retirement income is nearly 100%. Since 1995, elderly incomes at the bottom have been growing, but not as quickly as the incomes of the rest of the population. Using Statistics Canada’s Low-Income Cutoff (LICO) measure of poverty, an absolute definition, the poverty rate for people 65 and over was 4.7% in 2016, one of the lowest rates ever recorded in the history of the series. In contrast, Statistics Canada’s Low-Income Measure (LIM), a relative poverty definition, senior poverty rates have been on an upward trend over recent years, increasing from a low of 3.9% in 1995 to 14.2% in 2016. OAS and GIS were temporarily boosted during the pandemic. The 2021 federal budget announced a 10% increase in old-age security benefits once recipients turn 75, which is estimated to reduce poverty in this age group by 14.5%.
Intergenerational equity is not a major concern for the Canadian pension system as there is a close relationship between contributions and benefits on an individual basis. With the recent benefits and contribution expansion, the CPP/QPP is projected to replace only a third of the average wage up to a ceiling that will reach CAD 82,700 in 2025. Thus, middle- and upper-income workers with no employer pension plan or private savings may not be able to replace a sufficient proportion of their pre-retirement earnings. In the private sector, this issue affects three in four workers.
The CPP is considered to be actuarially sound and fiscally sustainable at its current rate and benefit structure, due to large increases in contribution rates implemented in the late 1990s and late 2010s and early 2020s. The fiscal sustainability of the OAS/GIS is tied to the sustainability of the federal government’s overall fiscal balance, and is fostered by the indexation of benefits to the CPI rather than to nominal wage increases.
Citations:
Milligan, K. and T. Schirle, Simulated Replacements Rates for CPP Reform Options, School of Public Policy Research Paper, Volume 7(7), University of Calgary, 2014.
Income Security Advocacy Center, “Eligible seniors set to receive increases in Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement,” 14 July 2021, http://incomesecurity.org/public-education/eligible-seniors-set-to-receive-increases-in-old-age-security-and-guaranteed-income-supplement/
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How effectively do policies support the integration of migrants into society?
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Cultural, education and social policies effectively support the integration of migrants into society.
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Cultural, education and social policies seek to integrate migrants into society, but have failed to do so effectively.
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Cultural, education and social policies do not focus on integrating migrants into society.
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Cultural, education and social policies segregate migrant communities from the majority society.
Pre-pandemic, Canada was receiving over 300,000 immigrants per year and had one of the highest annual immigration-to-population ratios in the world. However, the pandemic has had major impacts and, by December 2020, the Conference Board of Canada was reporting that permanent resident admissions had declined by 56%.
In large part, cultural, education and social policies, including language training and orientation courses, do support the integration of immigrants. Canada also allows immigrants to become citizens after three years of residency, one of the shortest residency requirements in the world. The high educational attainment of immigrants, the highest in the world with around half of immigrants having university educations, also facilitates integration.
Nevertheless, these policies do have weaknesses, as seen by the relatively poor labor market performance of recent immigrants and immigrants’ high rate of return to their countries of origin. A CSLS study (Wong, 2020) found that, in 2019, the hourly wage of immigrants to Canada with less than five years of residence averaged just 82% of the hourly wage of people born in Canada. However, this was up from 78% in 2010, so progress is being made. The relative wage for university educated recent immigrants was even worse, 70% in 2018, but up from 65% in 2010. Immigrants’ labor market integration is impeded by a number of factors, including difficulties in having their professional credentials recognized by Canadian authorities, the concentration of immigrants in a small number of major cities (e.g., Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal) and language barriers. Moreover, the new decline in immigration has exacerbated geographic settlement patterns and there is a need for greater supports to new immigrants in areas of the country where settlement has fallen behind.
In spite of these challenges, a study by the CSLS over the 2006-2019 period did find that employment rates for new and recent immigrants had improved.
Citations:
Kimberly Wong, The Improved Labour Market Performance of New Immigrants to Canada, 2006-2019, CSLS Research Report 2020-03, June 2020, http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2020-02.pdf.
The Conference Board of Canada, Counting on Immigration: Measuring the Pandemic’s Effect and Building Back Stronger, May 2021, https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=11163.
In large part, cultural, education and social policies, including language training and orientation courses, do support the integration of immigrants. Canada also allows immigrants to become citizens after three years of residency, one of the shortest residency requirements in the world. The high educational attainment of immigrants, the highest in the world with around half of immigrants having university educations, also facilitates integration.
Nevertheless, these policies do have weaknesses, as seen by the relatively poor labor market performance of recent immigrants and immigrants’ high rate of return to their countries of origin. A CSLS study (Wong, 2020) found that, in 2019, the hourly wage of immigrants to Canada with less than five years of residence averaged just 82% of the hourly wage of people born in Canada. However, this was up from 78% in 2010, so progress is being made. The relative wage for university educated recent immigrants was even worse, 70% in 2018, but up from 65% in 2010. Immigrants’ labor market integration is impeded by a number of factors, including difficulties in having their professional credentials recognized by Canadian authorities, the concentration of immigrants in a small number of major cities (e.g., Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal) and language barriers. Moreover, the new decline in immigration has exacerbated geographic settlement patterns and there is a need for greater supports to new immigrants in areas of the country where settlement has fallen behind.
In spite of these challenges, a study by the CSLS over the 2006-2019 period did find that employment rates for new and recent immigrants had improved.
Citations:
Kimberly Wong, The Improved Labour Market Performance of New Immigrants to Canada, 2006-2019, CSLS Research Report 2020-03, June 2020, http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2020-02.pdf.
The Conference Board of Canada, Counting on Immigration: Measuring the Pandemic’s Effect and Building Back Stronger, May 2021, https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=11163.
Graph View
How effectively does internal security policy protect citizens against security risks?
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Internal security policy protects citizens against security risks very effectively.
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Internal security policy protects citizens against security risks more or less effectively.
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Internal security policy does not effectively protect citizens against security risks.
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1
Internal security policy exacerbates the security risks.
Canada’s internal security policy has been quite effective in protecting citizens against security risks. Canada has experienced no terror attacks mounted from outside the country, which suggests that the Canadian intelligence services are doing excellent work. Two separate attacks by native Canadians in 2014, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers, prompted the previous government to introduce a number of bills to bolster security and the power of agencies. These laws increased the powers of Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), to share information and operate internationally, criminalized the promotion of terrorism, and provided the federal police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with new preventative arrest powers. The Liberal government has implemented a new bill designed to roll back some of the powers assumed by the previous government. Bill C-59, which removed some of the liberties accorded to the CSIS and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE; the country’s signals-intelligence organization) in the past, also established new review bodies designed to increase security-service accountability.
Crime rates in Canada are low from an international perspective and continue to fall. Canadians in general have a high degree of confidence and trust in the police. However, this is not true to the same extent within the Indigenous community. A report released by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2014 stated that between 1980 and 2013, 1,181 Indigenous women were reported murdered or missing. The UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Canada previously expressed concerns about violence against Indigenous women and girls and Canada’s perceived failure to address the problem. The government has launched the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls to gather evidence and propose recommendations on the issue. The inquiry has faced substantial criticism over the past year, with several key members stepping down and victims’ families calling for a complete restructuring of the program.
Citations:
UN Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review: Canada, 2013, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/CASession16.aspx.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview, 2014, http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/missing-and-murdered-aboriginal-women-national-operational-overview.
Forcese Craig and Kent Roach, “A Report Card on the National Security Bill” 22 June 2017, https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2017/a-report-card-on-the-national-security-bill/.
Crime rates in Canada are low from an international perspective and continue to fall. Canadians in general have a high degree of confidence and trust in the police. However, this is not true to the same extent within the Indigenous community. A report released by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2014 stated that between 1980 and 2013, 1,181 Indigenous women were reported murdered or missing. The UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Canada previously expressed concerns about violence against Indigenous women and girls and Canada’s perceived failure to address the problem. The government has launched the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls to gather evidence and propose recommendations on the issue. The inquiry has faced substantial criticism over the past year, with several key members stepping down and victims’ families calling for a complete restructuring of the program.
Citations:
UN Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review: Canada, 2013, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/CASession16.aspx.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview, 2014, http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/missing-and-murdered-aboriginal-women-national-operational-overview.
Forcese Craig and Kent Roach, “A Report Card on the National Security Bill” 22 June 2017, https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2017/a-report-card-on-the-national-security-bill/.
Graph View
To what extent does the government demonstrate an active and coherent commitment to promoting equal socioeconomic opportunities in low- and middle-income countries?
10
9
9
The government actively and coherently engages in international efforts to promote equal socioeconomic opportunities in low- and middle-income countries. It frequently demonstrates initiative and responsibility, and acts as an agenda-setter.
8
7
6
7
6
The government actively engages in international efforts to promote equal socioeconomic opportunities in low- and middle-income countries. However, some of its measures or policies lack coherence.
5
4
3
4
3
The government shows limited engagement in international efforts to promote equal socioeconomic opportunities in low- and middle-income countries. Many of its measures or policies lack coherence.
2
1
1
The government does not contribute (and often undermines) efforts to promote equal socioeconomic opportunities in low- and middle-income countries.
Canada’s government has a long history of supporting international efforts to promote socioeconomic opportunities in developing countries, and has shown leadership on critical issues such as nutrition and child health. In 2016, the federal government began a review of its existing aid policies, and has now reoriented the majority of international assistance to creating equal opportunities for women and girls in the world’s poorest countries, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Despite this reorientation, Canada’s share of official development assistance had been declining in recent years and the OECD has critiqued the country for the very modest nature of its development assistance, relative to its economic growth. Even today, its contributions are significantly off the UN target of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI), although by 2020 Canada’s Official Development Assistance had experienced a small upswing, standing at 0.31% of the GNI. Moreover, although the government initially sustained criticism for acquiring vaccines from the Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) for domestic use, the country has now made a commitment to donate 200 million vaccines to COVAX.
The North-South Institute study makes the case that Canada’s focus on improving aid effectiveness and accountability is insufficient as an overarching guide to promoting development. This is because the focus on aid effectiveness captures only a small part of Canada’s engagement with the developing world. A broader vision that includes aid and non-aid policies is needed in order for Canada to improve the coherence of its development policy and be an effective actor in the international development sphere.
Citations:
Anni-Clau dine Bulles and Sghannon Kindornay, “Beyond Aid: A Plan for Canadian International Cooperation” North-South Institute, May 2013, http://www.nsi-ins.ca/wp-content/up loads/2013/05/BuellesKindornay.2013.CNDPolicyCoherenceEN.pdf
OECD, “Canada needs to increase foreign aid flows in line with its renewed engagement,” 14 September 2018, https://www.oecd.org/canada/canada-needs-to-increase-foreign-aid-flows-in-line-with-its-renewed-engagement.htm.
OECD, “Canada,” Development Co-operation Profiles, 2021, Paris: OECD Publishing https://doi.org/10.1787/2dcf1367-en.
OECD, “Gender equality and women’s rights in the post-2015 agenda: A foundation for sustainable development,” https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/POST-2015%20Gender.pdf.
Despite this reorientation, Canada’s share of official development assistance had been declining in recent years and the OECD has critiqued the country for the very modest nature of its development assistance, relative to its economic growth. Even today, its contributions are significantly off the UN target of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI), although by 2020 Canada’s Official Development Assistance had experienced a small upswing, standing at 0.31% of the GNI. Moreover, although the government initially sustained criticism for acquiring vaccines from the Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) for domestic use, the country has now made a commitment to donate 200 million vaccines to COVAX.
The North-South Institute study makes the case that Canada’s focus on improving aid effectiveness and accountability is insufficient as an overarching guide to promoting development. This is because the focus on aid effectiveness captures only a small part of Canada’s engagement with the developing world. A broader vision that includes aid and non-aid policies is needed in order for Canada to improve the coherence of its development policy and be an effective actor in the international development sphere.
Citations:
Anni-Clau dine Bulles and Sghannon Kindornay, “Beyond Aid: A Plan for Canadian International Cooperation” North-South Institute, May 2013, http://www.nsi-ins.ca/wp-content/up loads/2013/05/BuellesKindornay.2013.CNDPolicyCoherenceEN.pdf
OECD, “Canada needs to increase foreign aid flows in line with its renewed engagement,” 14 September 2018, https://www.oecd.org/canada/canada-needs-to-increase-foreign-aid-flows-in-line-with-its-renewed-engagement.htm.
OECD, “Canada,” Development Co-operation Profiles, 2021, Paris: OECD Publishing https://doi.org/10.1787/2dcf1367-en.
OECD, “Gender equality and women’s rights in the post-2015 agenda: A foundation for sustainable development,” https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/POST-2015%20Gender.pdf.