Employment and Social Development Canada: The federal response to the fertility rate, programmes and indicatorsExtended without a date
2 Sept 2026 · Access to Information Act · A-2026-00370
3 Sept: file opened, fee waived; the intake officer named four other departments that hold the records. 2 Oct, the due date: extended “up to 180 days”, with no length and no date.
Access to Information request with fee waiver — federal response to the fertility rate, programmes and indicators
Hello,
This is a request under the Access to Information Act, together with a request for a waiver of the application fee under subsection 11(2).
Statistics Canada reported that the total fertility rate of Canada fell to 1.25 children per woman in 2024, the lowest rate on record, placing Canada in the group of countries classified as having ultra-low fertility. The Immigration Levels Plan for 2026 to 2028 sets admissions of 380,000 permanent residents in each of those years. The records requested concern what the federal government does about the first of those facts.
DESCRIPTION OF RECORDS REQUESTED
1. Every federal programme in which the number of births, the total fertility rate, or the completed family size is named as a performance indicator in a Performance Information Profile prepared under the Treasury Board Policy on Results. If no such programme exists, provide the record confirming that fact.
2. Every policy analysis, briefing note, memorandum to Ministers, or Cabinet-level document prepared from 1 January 2019 to the date of this request addressing the decline in the total fertility rate and the options available to the federal government in response.
3. Every record in which immigration is identified as the federal response to the decline in the total fertility rate or to population ageing, including any record comparing that response against measures directed at the fertility rate itself.
4. Every cost-benefit analysis, fiscal projection, or departmental assessment comparing the cost of increased immigration against the cost of direct support to families and to childbearing.
5. Every record setting out the barriers reported by Canadians to having the number of children they intend to have, including the results of the Survey on Family Transitions and any analysis of the gap between intended and achieved family size.
6. Every record setting out the total federal expenditure directed at supporting families with children, by programme and fiscal year, from 2019-2020 to the date of this request, and the measured effect of each programme on the number of births.
7. Every record of correspondence with the Department of Finance Canada or the Privy Council Office concerning the demographic consequences of the fertility rate and the Immigration Levels Plan.
FEE WAIVER
A waiver of the application fee is requested under subsection 11(2) of the Access to Information Act, which empowers the head of a government institution to waive or refund the fee.
The requester is an applicant for social assistance. The Social Benefits Tribunal issued an interim assistance order on 21 August 2026 in file 2608-06747 directing payment from 1 August 2026. The Director has not complied with that order and no payment has been made. The requester is without means to pay the fee.
The records concern the demographic basis of federal policy.
A decision on this waiver request is required in writing. A refusal will be referred to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada as a barrier to access.
FORMAT
Electronic copies are requested.
NEXT STEP
Failure to respond within 30 days will be referred to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada. The absence of any federal programme carrying a fertility indicator will be placed before the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and before the Office of the Auditor General.
Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban