News

This issue of the Prosper Canada newsletter focuses on Indigenous Financial Wellness featuring a number of articles from our partners. We invited Simon Brascoupé, Vice-President, Education and Training of AFOA Canada, to write this month’s feature article and share why financial wellness matters in Indigenous communities. Simon explains some innovative approaches that ...

Reconciliation must create a more equitable and inclusive society by closing the gaps in social, health, and economic outcomes that exist between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.  – 5th Principle of Reconciliation, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada  Indigenous Peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies ...

Last month the Government of Canada expanded the scope of automatic enrolment for the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) to improve service delivery for low-income seniors. Eligible seniors began receiving letters in January notifying them that they will be enrolled for both Old Age Security (OAS) and GIS without needing to apply, and will receive their benefits automatic...

Next to social isolation, poverty is the biggest barrier felt by Canadians with disabilities. Too many Canadians with disabilities are living paycheque to paycheque, earning too little to get ahead. However, the Indigenous population experiences a disability rate twice that of the non-Indigenous population. As Indigenous people with disabilities represent a marginalized p...

The Government of Canada is committed to a renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples that includes closing the socio-economic gap and improving overall living conditions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples.    In response to this commitment, the Financial Literacy Leader, Jane Rooney from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), and National ...

Everyone needs a little help with money from time to time. Setting spending goals, tracking bills and income, and making a budget, are all part of managing your money. These are all important money conversations that happen with frontline staff who work to strengthen financial wellness in their communities.    The Managing your money booklet – a set of...

The federal government created a social and financial innovation called the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) in 2004 to provide low-income families with a substantial contribution and ongoing incentives to save for their children’s post-secondary education. The CLB program provides up to $2,000 per child over a 15-year period. The challenge is that enrollment is relativel...

ABC Life Literacy Canada launched the Money Matters for Indigenous Peoples program nationally in 2017, following a successful pilot program in Ontario in 2016. Since then, Money Matters for Indigenous Peoples has reached 1,976 learners through 141 workshops.   Money Matters is a free introductory financial literacy program for adult learners. The program’s pri...

Last month The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) launched a new automated telephone filing service called File my Return to make it easier for Canadians to file their income tax and benefit returns. File my Return allows eligible Canadians to file their income tax and benefit returns by answering a series of short questions and providing some personal information. This service ...

To reprise Tina Turner’s classic song, when it comes to poverty reduction, policy makers may well ask – What’s financial empowerment got to do with it?    The answer is – everything. It has everything to do with it.   Household finances fall along a spectrum from deep vulnerability at one end to financial well-being at the ot...