Editing Employment and Social Development Canada

{{Short description|Government department}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name     = Employment and Social Development Canada
| type            = Department
| seal            = 
| nativename      = {{lang|fr|Emploi et Développement social Canada}}
| logo            = Employment and Social Development Canada logo.svg
| agency_type     = [[Ministry (government department)|Department]]
| parent_agency_type = organization
| jurisdiction    = [[Canada]]
| employees       = approx. 45,000
| budget          = 
| minister1_name  = [[Patty Hajdu]]
| minister1_pfo   = [[Minister of Jobs and Families]]
| deputyminister1_name = [https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/official-paul-thompson.html Paul Thompson]
| chief1_name     = 
| chief1_position = 
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| parent_department = 
| parent_agency   = [[Government of Canada]]
| formed          = 2005
| dissolved       = 
| keydocument1    = [https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/h-5.7/FullText.html ''Department of Employment and Social Development Act S.C. 2005, c. 34'']
| website         = {{url|http://esdc-edsc.gc.ca/}}
}}

'''Employment and Social Development Canada''' ('''ESDC'''; {{langx|fr|Emploi et Développement social Canada}}; '''{{langx|fr|EDSC|label=none}}''')<ref group="NB">''Employment and Social Development Canada'' is the applied title under the [[Federal Identity Program]]; the legal title is '''Department of Employment and Social Development''' ({{Langx|fr|Ministère de l’Emploi et du Développement social}}).</ref> is a [[Ministry (government department)|department]] of the [[Government of Canada]] responsible for social programs and the labour market at the federal level.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Back to Work Back to Work: Canada Improving the Re-employment Prospects of Displaced Workers: Improving the Re-employment Prospects of Displaced Workers|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mV4cCgAAQBAJ|publisher = OECD Publishing|date = 2015-07-07|isbn = 9789264233454|language = en|last = OECD}}</ref> The department delivers a number of federal government programs and services including [[Employment Insurance]] (EI), [[Service Canada]] centres, [[Canada Student Loan Program]] (CSLP), [[Canada Pension Plan]] (CPP), issuing [[social insurance number]]s (SIN) and the federal [[Labour Program]] among other things.

'''Employment and Social Development Canada''' is part of the membership of the [[Inter-American Conference on Social Security]], a technical and specialized international organization, which has the objective of promoting the development of social protection and security in America.

== History ==

=== Background ===
The Department of Human Resources and Skills Development was created in December 2003, when [[Human Resources Development Canada]] (HRDC) was split into two separate departments: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and [[Social Development Canada]] (SDC). Though they continued to share many common services and operations, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada was to focus on workforce-related aspects of the former HRDC portfolio, while SDC was to focus on social support programs for children, families and seniors. The split was given formal legal effect when the ''Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act'' and the ''Department of Social Development Act'' were [[Enactment of a bill|enacted]] in July 2005.

=== Recombined ===
Upon taking office in February 2006, the [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] government of [[Stephen Harper]] announced it would recombine the two departments, and through a series of [[Order in Council|orders in council]], Social Development Canada was folded into HRSDC.<ref>[https://orders-in-council.canada.ca/attachment.php?attach=13917&lang=en Order in Council 2006-0037], dated 6 February 2006</ref>

From 2006 to 2008, Social Development's preceding role was reflected by [[style (manner of address)|styling]] the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development as the "Minister of Human Resources and Social Development", and by changing the department's applied title to "Human Resources and Social Development Canada". This practice ended in late 2008 when the title was changed to "Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development."  The post was later referred to as "Minister of Employment and Social Development" when the department was renamed.

On November 4, 2015, the department underwent [[machinery of government]] changes which saw the employment responsibilities transfer to the Labour Minister resulting in the newly re-titled [[Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion|Minister of Employment, Workforce and Labour]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canada.ca/en/privy-council.html|title=Privy Council Office|last=Office|first=Privy Council|date=2017-12-04|website=aem|access-date=2019-08-13}}</ref> The Social Development aspects were then shaped into the [[Minister of Families, Children and Social Development]].

On March 14, 2025, responsibility for the department was consolidated into a single ministerial post, the [[Minister of Jobs and Families]].

==Sub-agencies, programs and activities ==
Sub-agencies of ESDC include:
*[[Service Canada]]
**[[Service Canada Centres for Youth]]
*[[Student loans in Canada|Canada Student Loans Program]]
*[[Unemployment benefits#Canada|Canada Employment Insurance Commission]]
*[[Canada Pension Plan]]
*National Seniors Council
*[[Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program]]
*[[Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (Canada)|Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service]]
*[[Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation]]
*[[Canada Industrial Relations Board]]

ESDC delivers $87 billion in programs and services and has approximately 24,000 employees. Approximately 19,000 of those employees work under the [[Service Canada]] banner.

== Officials and structure ==
{{Tree list}} [[Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour]] – [[Steven MacKinnon]]
** Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development – Paul Thompson
** Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development – Kristina Namiesniowski
** Business Lead, Benefits Delivery Modernization - John Ostrander
* [[Minister of Citizens' Services]] - [[Terry Beech]]
** Associate Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development and Chief Operating Officer for Service Canada – Cliff Groen
* [[Minister of Seniors]] - [[Joanne Thompson (politician)|Joanne Thompson]]
** Deputy Minister of Labour and Associate Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development – Sandra Hassan
* [[Minister of Families, Children and Social Development]] – [[Jenna Sudds]]
* [[Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities]] - [[Kamal Khera]]
* [[Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth]] - [[Marci Ien]]
{{Tree list/end}}

== Controversies ==

=== 2012/2013 privacy breach ===

On January 11, 2013, Minister [[Diane Finley]] announced that a hard drive containing information of 583,000 student loan borrowers had been lost from a Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP)/HRSDC office in Gatineau, Quebec.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canada.ca/en/news.html|title=News|last=Canada|first=Service|date=2016-08-31|website=aem|access-date=2019-07-03}}</ref>  Borrowers who registered a loan between 2000 and 2006 were potentially affected.  The information on the hard drive contained full names, [[social insurance number]]s, contact information, and loan balances.  The hard drive also contained information on 250 HRSDC employees.  Concerns of privacy breaches and identity theft led to the filing of three class-action suits against the federal government on behalf of the affected students.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-faces-third-class-action-lawsuit-over-student-loan-privacy-breach/article7531526/|title=Ottawa faces third class-action lawsuit over student-loan privacy breach|work=The Globe and Mail|date=18 January 2013 }}</ref>

On January 18, 2013, the Office of the [[Privacy Commissioner of Canada]] stated that a formal investigation had been launched.  The stated outcome of this investigation was to provide information to organizations and individuals to improve privacy protection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.priv.gc.ca/information/pub/faqs_hrsdc_e.asp|title=Information for individuals regarding the loss of the HRSDC hard drive – January 2013|date=23 October 2023 }}</ref>

The RCMP was notified but is waiting for the outcome of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's investigation to do their own investigation.

This incident has become known as "1 in 60", representing the ratio of affected individuals to the Canadian population as a whole.

=== Canada Summer Jobs program ===
In 2018, the government of [[Justin Trudeau#Domestic policy|Justin Trudeau]] introduced a new mandatory criteria for eligible employers and projects of the Canada Summer Jobs program, for which "the core mandate of the organization must respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) as well as other rights" like the "[[reproductive rights]] and the right to be free from discrimination".<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/funding/canada-summer-jobs/eligibility.html | title = Funding: Canada Summer Jobs – Eligibility | archive-url = https://archive.today/rRdPF/ | archive-date = Dec 23, 2017 | url-status = live}}</ref> After facing nine ongoing Federal Court challenges and the complaints of the [[Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops]]<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/statements-a-letters/4865-canada-summer-jobs-cccb-concerns-and-statement | title = Canada Summer Jobs: CCCB concerns and statement | date = Jan 11, 2018 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20190515202238/http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://web.archive.org/web/20180205090557/http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/CCCB_statement_-_Canada_Summer_Jobs_new_requirements-EN.pdf | archive-date = May 15, 2019 | url-status = live | access-date = May 15, 2019 }}</ref> in union with the Canadian Council of Christian Charities,<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/archives/public-statements/2018/4907-update-regarding-canada-summer-jobs-program | title = Update Regarding Canada Summer Jobs Program | date = Mar 28, 2018 | website = [[Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops|ccba.ca]] | archive-url = https://archive.today/20190515202847/http://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/archives/public-statements/2018/4907-update-regarding-canada-summer-jobs-program | archive-date = May 15, 2019 | url-status = live | access-date = May 15, 2019 }}</ref> the requirement was rewritten and became a mandatory point for eligible projects and job activities, which must not "actively work to undermine or restrict a woman's access to sexual and reproductive health services".<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/funding/canada-summer-jobs/screening-eligibility.html | title = Funding: Canada Summer Jobs – Screening for eligibility in 2019 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20190120144846/http://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/funding/canada-summer-jobs/screening-eligibility.html | archive-date = January 20, 2019 | url-status = live | access-date = May 15, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author = Brian Platt | url = https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/here-is-what-the-new-canada-summer-jobs-attestation-says | title = 'The values test is gone': Faith groups welcome changes to summer jobs attestation | date = Dec 7, 2018 | location = Ottawa | publisher = [[Nationalpost.com]] | archive-url = https://archive.today/20171223062059/http://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/funding/canada-summer-jobs/eligibility.html | archive-date = December 23, 2017 | url-status = live | access-date = May 15, 2019 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Poverty in Canada]]

== References==
{{reflist|30em}}

=== Notes ===
{{Reflist|group="NB"}}

==External links==
*[http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/ Official website]

{{Government Departments of Canada}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Employment and Social Development Canada}}
[[Category:Employment and Social Development Canada| ]]
[[Category:Federal departments and agencies of Canada]]
[[Category:Ministries of education|Canada]]
[[Category:Labour ministries|Canada]]
[[Category:Social affairs ministries|Canada]]
[[Category:Children, young people and families ministries of Canada]]
[[Category:Ministries established in 2003]]
[[Category:2003 establishments in Canada]]
[[Category:Employment in Canada]]