A monumental change in social welfare programs was begun in 1966 with the enactment of the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) on July 15. CAP is a comprehensive plan to share the cost of public assistance and welfare services with the provinces and municipalities to encourage provision of adequate assistance and the improvement of preventive and rehabilitative services. It allowed the provinces to combine the four previous assistance programs (Old Age and Unemployment Assistance, and Blind Persons and Disabled Persons Allowances) into one program. Another significant aspect of the CAP is that it provides payment based on the need, that is, on an assessment of the budgetary needs and resources of individuals and families. CAP gave both funding and assistance to programs for rehabilitative, counselling and casework, adoption coordination, homemaker/daycare and community development services.
Regulations for the Plan were approved in January 1967, and by the end of the year, agreements had been reached between the federal government and eight provinces (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
The records in this accession consist of a variety of policy subject files from the 4200-4239 block on topics such as: young offenders programs, child welfare, general assistance, welfare services, agreements and claims under the Vocational Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons program, and reports from field offices on claims.
For a more complete description of the Social Service Programs Branch (SSPB), see RG 29, Accession 1995-96/361.
