NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release:

OTTAWA – 4 December 2001

Today, on behalf the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons With Disabilities, Chair, Judi Longfield, tabled a report on the Guaranteed Income Supplement. This report, entitled The Guaranteed Income Supplement: The Duty to Reach All, addresses a longstanding problem that has adversely affected a sizeable number of low-income seniors for too many years.

The Guaranteed Income Supplement is a means-tested program designed to raise the standard of living among the most needy elderly Canadians. Unfortunately, many seniors do not receive these payments even though they are entitled to them. While no one is sure how many eligible seniors are not receiving this support, the Committee learned there are at least 270,000 eligible non-recipients. Moreover, the Committee discovered that this problem also extends to other federal income support programs including the Spouse’s Allowance, Old Age Security and the Canada Pension Plan.

Judi Longfield said that “the Committee was very surprised to learn that Human Resources Development Canada – the department responsible for seniors’ income support programs - has known about this problem for at least eight years, during which time very little action has been taken to address this serious problem.”

The reasons underlying the Guaranteed Income Supplement under-subscription problem are undoubtedly numerous, but the Committee believes that much of this problem stems from a lack of awareness about the program and eligibility requirements, and an application process, including the form itself, that is unnecessarily complex.

The Committee’s report makes seven recommendations. Key among these include: (1) the development of an automatic notification system to inform all potential recipients, prior to their 65^th birthday, of this support; (2) immediate action to simplify the initial application for the Guaranteed Income Supplement; and, (3) the development of an automatic process for renewing this support from year to year. The Committee’s report also deals with matters pertaining to retroactive payments and occasional income. 

Judi Longfield also noted that “the Committee will, in all likelihood, revisit this issue sometime next year as the Committee has requested a government response to its recommendations and has also recommended that Human Resources Development Canada report to Parliament by October 2002 outlining the progress it has made to address this very important problem.”  

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