In September, FSGV made a submission to the Government of Canada’s pre-budget consultations, highlighting the growing need for financial empowerment supports among British Columbians. Read our submission below:
Family Services of Greater Vancouver (FSGV) has supported British Columbians since 1928. Over the past century, our services have regularly evolved to meet the emerging needs of our community, with core services targeted to support families with child welfare concerns.
Today, FSGV has programs and supports for unhoused youth, children and youth with support needs, families with child welfare concerns, victims of gender-based and family violence of all ages, trauma services for those who are currently experiencing or have previously experienced violence, an employee and family assistance program, and financial empowerment.
While it is this last program that our submission will center around (financial empowerment), we want to note the significant common demographic and experiential overlap that exists across the population we serve. FSGV supports more than 7,000 individuals and families every year. Overwhelmingly, these clients are low-income or living in poverty, have experienced trauma or discrimination, and have barriers to employment or support services. Many have mental health and/or addictions challenges. These are the symptoms of our systems failing to meet the needs of Canadians.
Our Financial Empowerment program has been around since 2008, the same year Canada went through a financial crisis. In 2020, we significantly expanded our supports to help Canadians navigate job loss and benefits during the pandemic. Today, we are proud to be British Columbia’s Financial Empowerment Hub. We provide 1:1 coaching, workshops on a range of financial topics, tax clinics (many in partnership with CRA), and lead a community of practice with membership from across the province. Our goal, with support from ESDC, is to expand financial empowerment services across BC, targeting Black, disability, rural and Indigenous populations that statistics show experience poverty at higher-than-average rates.
In 2026, amidst a trade war that will have a direct impact on many British Columbians, our Financial Empowerment program is already seeing increased demand for support, and we are bracing for this to continue as job sectors in the province are hit by disruption.
A volatile economy – including job loss and continued inflation in food and energy – is driving people we support to one of two scenarios: one, people are taking on additional debt to meet their day-to-day needs (including accessing predatory lenders for those with low credit scores or unstable employment); and two, people are dipping into their long-term savings, likely compromising their long-term financial health. We already support many seniors, many on fixed incomes, and anticipate seeing more in the coming years as a record number of Canadians reach retirement age.
The pandemic years provided FSGV with a significant amount of intelligence around what drives financial stress: job loss, as well as job uncertainty, impacts mental health; many Canadians are ill-prepared to navigate government benefits – existing and new, if and when they become available; food and housing security are compromised during periods of economic uncertainty, as people make difficult decisions about what to prioritize; and household debt rises. What’s more, FSGV and other non-profits see first-hand just how long the impact of the pandemic has lasted for vulnerable people. We should expect the same from today’s trade turmoil.
To address these concerns, our recommendations for Budget 2026 include:
- Create an affordable lending entity to support low-income Canadians. Without access to affordable credit, people currently turn to predatory lenders. The criminal interest rate in Canada was lowered to 35% APR on January 1, 2025. This rate – well above most credit card interest rates – continues to create unsustainable levels of debt for low-income Canadians.
Models such as Australia’s No Interest Loan (NILs) backed by the government and National Australia Bank (NAB) provide affordable lending to low-income individuals. Germany has a network of public, municipally owned savings banks (Sparkassen) that are mandated to provide financial services to all local citizens regardless of income, while the state-owned development bank supplements this, offering heavily subsidized, low-interest loans for housing and education.
- Create an incentivized retirement savings program for low-income Canadians. A growing number of Canadians have insufficient savings for retirement. Some of our clients now report the need to draw from their retirement savings to pay for life today. RRSPs offer little benefit to low-income individuals who do not need income sheltering, while TFSAs offer tax-free savings but do not offer a financial incentive for those on low incomes. Today, we see many individuals moving into retirement with little to fund their senior years other than CPP, OAS, and (when qualified) GIS. Combined, these do not adequately meet basics needs, particularly in expensive urban centers. An incentivized retirement savings program would help people plan their retirement and relieve future burden on government budgets.
The UKs Help to Save program offers low-income individuals an incentivized savings program with a 50% government cash match.
- Reduce barriers for applications to the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). This can be done in a couple of ways: first, by setting a cap on practitioner fees so that low-income people can afford to apply; and second, by harmonizing applications for the DTC and Person with Disability (PWD) assistance.
- Expand consumer protections for seniors and people with cognitive impairments. Often, clients seek Financial Empowerment coaching when they are a victim of frauds and scams. We see a need to expand protections for seniors and people with cognitive impairments, who are at high risk of being taken advantage of, particularly with the rise of AI-enabled phishing.
- Provide immediate one-time support to Financial Empowerment Hubs across Canada. With job loss and mental health struggles expected to rise as sectors (like forestry, in BC) face change in the coming months and years, Financial Empowerment is more needed than ever. Social services non-profits are extremely well positioned to support people directly – with trauma-informed and non-judgmental approaches to financial coaching. We can help file their taxes, apply for benefits, create a budget, and manage debt, as well as connect people to appropriate mental health supports.
