These are notes from John Stapleton on learnings from presenting on Retiring on a Low Income in the Toronto Library System in...

In this presentation, John Silver, Executive Director, Community Financial Counselling Service (CFCS), Winnipeg, shares insights from the low income tax program at CFCS. This program files almost 10,000 returns each year, and also provides tax clinic support to other agencies and delivers detailed...

In this video presentation Johnathan Weisstub from Common Wealth discusses recent improvements in senior Canadians' poverty levels due to benefits such as OAS and GIS, and the challenges that still remain in ensuring retirement security for modest-earning and low-income Canadians.  This...

This is a webinar presentation recorded with John Stapleton at Prosper Canada on October 4th, 2016. John Stapleton is a Principal of Open Policy, and has worked for the Ontario Government for 28 years in the areas of social assistance policy and operations. In the session John describes the...

This is a one-hour webinar on matched savings programs and personal savings strategies that work for people living on low incomes. Our panelists share experiences from their programs in Ontario and Calgary. The presenters in this webinar are: Dean Estrella, Momentum, Calgary, AB John...

This is a case study of "The Johnsons," a family studied as part of the U.S. Financial Diaries project. The Johnsons have significant challenges keeping their family afloat. Despite multiple sources of income, which include education aid, their income is volatile and irregular. Their expenses also...

This paper is the text of an address delivered by Sherri Torjman at the conference Welfare Re-form: The Future of Social Policy in Canada held on October 24 and 25, 2013, in Regina. The conference was sponsored by the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of...

This brief highlights new research on food assistance from the edited volume Income Volatility and Food Assistance in the United States, published in fall 2008 by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Income volatility, that is, periodic fluctuations in household income, has increased...

This is an editorial opinion written by J. Michael McGinnis, MD, MPP, on findings by John Hopkins Boomberg School of Public Health connecting life expectancy with income level. It has long been known from national-level data that incomes and standards of living are associated with life expectancy,...

For many newcomers, living in Canada involves learning about finances and money management in new ways. This can include navigating new financial systems, and learning about tax filing and benefits, as well as day-to-day money management and saving. One-on-one financial coaching programs...

We characterize rates of intergenerational income mobility at each college in the United States using administrative data for over 30 million college students from 1999-2013. First, access to colleges varies greatly by parent income. Second, children from low and high-income families have very...

This report has two purposes. The first is to document some of the lessons learned from conducting a financial literacy course on behalf of Houselink Community Homes over the winter of 2013/14. We want to share these insights with others who work with consumer survivors and low-income people. The...

This booklet contains information on retirement planning on a low income. Topics include four things to think about for low income retirement planning, a background paper on maximizing the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), and determining Old Age Security (OAS) and GIS eligibility for people who...

This policy backgrounder provides an overview of how provincial and territorial governments have decided to treat receipt of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) for those receiving social assistance and/or living in subsidized housing. It also looks at provisions for youth aging out of...

The engagement of Canadians with lived experiences of poverty in government consultations on poverty reduction is critical. But as hard as governments work to try to include people living in poverty as full participating members in their consultation processes, there are many barriers that continue...

The study examines consumers’ financial knowledge and confidence levels; financial and money stressors, financial capability aspects and financial management behaviours and practices (across the financial services spectrum). The study also explores external or environmental factors such as income...

This report examines the relationship between the earnings of Canadians in the labour market and their post-secondary education credentials.  Findings are based upon information gathered from the 2016 Census on adults between the ages of 25 to 64 with different levels of education and working in...

This brief examines the financial challenges confronting low-income older adults, with a focus on housing costs. It estimates the share of adults who have inadequate income, reports their income sources, and describes their spending patterns. Data come from the American Community Survey and the...

This report estimates the price of inaction. Regardless of the strategy used to address poverty, it asks, “What does it cost us to allow poverty to persist in Toronto?” It estimates how much more we may be spending in the health care and justice systems simply because poverty exists, and how...

This presentation covers information about retiring on a low income in Ontario. It covers: 1. What seniors get in Ontario 2. What does ‘low income’ mean? 3. What does ‘taxable income’ mean? 4. How to reduce taxable income or get money back ─ understanding the system 5. Protecting...

This is a guide on retirement planning for people living on a low income in Ontario. It reviews the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), CPP and CPP early retirement, smart ways to save before turning 65, and smart ways to save between ages 65 and 71. It gives background on eligibility criteria,...

We have to consider the implications of working poverty in Canada’s richest city. The working poor cannot buy homes on their wages and many use food banks and other services to meet their basic needs. At the same time, shifts in the labour market suggest declining opportunities for a growing...

Low-income people need savings and retirement strategies that won’t leave them worse off in their senior years. The purpose of this paper is to educate people who help low-income adults plan for their financial future. Our aim is to put GIS planning at the centre of the pre-retirement discussion...

SAILis Ontario’s competency-based professional development program for management and staff of Ontario Works (programs delivering financial assistance, employment assistance and social supports).•SAIL competencies are tools for service integration at both the organizational and community...

Students spend a significant portion of their day in school – and as a result, schools can offer these students a safe and consistent place to study and access to caring adults who can help them navigate some of the challenges they face. In an otherwise chaotic time of homelessness, schools can...