One-fifth of on-reserve families to miss out on child benefit boost: Duclos
OTTAWA — Thousands of Indigenous families living on-reserve will miss out on a boost to the Canada Child Benefit when the more lucrative payments hit parents’ bank accounts Friday, even as Liberals put on a national show to promote their signature family benefit.
Almost every eligible family in the country receives the monthly, means-tested benefit, but take-up rates for families on-reserve consistently lag behind the wider population — largely chalked up to lower tax filing rates among Indigenous families.
Tax returns are the basis for calculating payments to families.
The government now estimates one in every five Indigenous families on-reserve who should qualify are not receiving the benefit, an improvement from two years ago when about half of families on-reserve missed out on it.