Helping people access benefits: Millions of unclaimed federal dollars are available

The GetYourBenefits! Project began as an attempt to convince physicians that it is important to diagnose and treat poverty.

The academics worked with community agencies and physician organizations to communicate about the government benefits for which individuals with low incomes and/or disabilities are eligible. The Project Manager and Outreach Officer met with and gave talks to community groups. The Financial Literacy and Empowerment Program Coordinator, Community Financial Counselling Services (CFCS), who leads Manitoba's free tax filing clinics, led the development of the Get Your Benefits booklet. The authors decided communicating about the project was important. The project was funded by the Winnipeg Foundation with the collaboration of the Manitoba government and is being continued by CFCS.

This paper describes how information on accessing benefits has been communicated to physicians, health care providers, and those who work in public health. Over 170,000 booklets were distributed. By the final year of the project (2023), over 85 websites had linked to the project website, a major growth over the nine websites linked in the first year of the project. Several updates a year were sent advising on opportunities for accessing benefits, with more than 270 individuals and organizations receiving these in the last year of the project.

Accessing these benefits has brought and could bring additional millions of unclaimed federal dollars to eligible individuals across Canada. There is still much to be done.