Unemployment Assistance Act

An Act to authorize contributions by Canada in respect of unemployment assistance costs in the provinces Short title This Act may be cited as the Unemployment Assistance Act. Definitions In this Act agreement means an agreement made under section 3; (accord) contributions means contributions by Canada pursuant to an agreement; (contributions) Minister means the Minister of Employment and Social Development; (Ministre) unemployment assistance costs means the aggregate of the cost to the province, and the cost to municipalities in the province, of providing financial assistance to persons who are in need. (frais d’assistance-chômage) Agreements for contributions Subject to this Act, the Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into an agreement with any province to provide for the payment by Canada to the province of contributions in respect of unemployment assistance costs in the province. Maximum amount The contributions to a province shall not exceed fifty per cent of the unemployment assistance costs in the province in respect of which Canada has, under the agreement with the province, undertaken to contribute. Form of agreements Subject to sections 4 and 5, an agreement entered into under this Act shall be susbstantially in the form set out in the schedule. Contents of agreement An agreement shall include provisions for defining, calculating and determining unemployment assistance costs in respect of which contributions may be made; provide for the time, manner and form of making claims or applications for contributions, and for the conditions of payment; provide for the carrying out by the province or by municipalities or other agencies in the province of any arrangements for administering assistance to persons who are in need, and for supplying to Canada all necessary information and documents with respect thereto; provide for the determination of differences arising under the agreement; and fix the time of the agreement at not more than five years and thereafter until terminated by either party giving to the other party one year’s notice in writing. Determination of unemployment assistance costs Except as provided in subsection (3), an agreement shall, for the purposes of this Act, exclude from unemployment assistance costs payments made to or on behalf of persons who are inmates of any institution or class of institution maintained in whole or in part out of funds provided by Canada, a province, a municipality or a charitable organization; payments made to or on behalf of persons who are in receipt of financial assistance under any Act of the legislature of a province the cost of which is shared by Canada under an Act of the Parliament of Canada other than this Act, and payments made by way of supplemental allowance or cost-of-living bonus to those persons or to persons who are in receipt of financial assistance under any Act of the Parliament of Canada; payments made to persons by way of mothers’ allowance; payments made in respect of medical, hospital, nursing, dental and optical care, drugs and dressings, funeral expenses and travelling expenses; and the costs of administration of any legislation or arrangements for providing assistance to persons who are in need. Idem An agreement may include as unemployment assistance costs payments made to or on behalf of persons who are inmates of homes for special care and who would not normally be cared for in general, acute, chronic or convalescent hospitals, tuberculosis sanatoria, mental institutions, institutions for incurables, orphanages or child welfare institutions; relief payments made to or on behalf of the persons referred to in paragraph (2)(b), in addition to the payments therein specified; and travelling costs incurred for the benefit of persons to whom assistance is provided or their dependants. Homes for special care In this section, the expression homes for special care means nursing homes, hostels for indigent transients, homes for the aged, poor houses, alms houses, and hostel facilities provided for the aged within housing projects constructed under the National Housing Act. Effective date of agreements An agreement may provide for contributions in respect of unemployment assistance costs that were incurred within a period of one year prior to the execution thereof. Payments out of C.R.F. Contributions shall be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund upon the certificate of the Minister of Employment and Social Development; but all payments of contributions are subject to the conditions specified in the agreement and to the observance by the province of the provisions thereof. Regulations The Governor in Council may make regulations for the administration of this Act and of agreements and for carrying their purposes and provisions into effect. Report to Parliament As soon as practicable after the end of each fiscal year the Minister shall lay before Parliament a report of all proceedings under this Act for that fiscal year. Memorandum of Agreement Respecting Unemployment Assistance made this day of 19. Between: THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, hereinafter called “Canada”, of the First Part and THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE OF , hereinafter called , of the Second Part Whereas Canada and are desirous of entering into an agreement for the purpose of providing assistance to unemployed persons who are in need, and for the sharing of the costs thereof; Now, Therefore, this agreement witnesseth that in consideration of the premises and of the mutual convenants and agreements herein contained, the parties hereto hereby convenant and agree each with the other as follows: In this agreement, unless the contrary intention appears, province means the province of ; municipality means a municipal corporation in the province and includes any city, town or local governmental body established under the authority of the law of the province and authorized to administer assistance to unemployed persons who are in need; a recipient of mother’s allowance includes a dependent child of a person receiving a mother’s allowance if such child is within the age group for whom provision is made under the law of the province that provides for the payment of mother’s allowances; and the husband of a person receiving a mother’s allowance if an allowance is being paid on his behalf under the law of the province that provides for the payment of mothers’ allowances; population means, except in subparagraph 12(a), the most recent estimate of the population of the province made by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics and published by the Queen’s Printer at Ottawa prior to the month to which the reimbursement claim relates; homes for special care means nursing homes, hostels for indigent transients, homes for the aged, poor houses, alms houses, and hostel facilities provided for the aged within housing projects constructed under the provisions of the National Housing Act; and words in the singular include the plural and words in the plural include the singular. shall make all the necessary arrangements for the receipt, by itself or by municipalities, of applications for assistance from unemployed persons in the province, and the verification of the representations made by applicants and the province shall assume responsibility for the correctness of such representations. shall make available to officials of Canada particulars of the conditions prescribed by or by municipalities under which assistance may be given to persons in need, and the rates of assistance payable. Length of residence shall not be made a condition for the receipt of assistance if the applicant has come from a province whose government has entered into an agreement similar to this respecting unemployment assistance, and such agreement includes a like clause as herein contained in respect of length of residence not being a condition for receipt of assistance. shall deliver to the Minister of National Health and Welfare, at Ottawa, a monthly statement, hereinafter referred to as a reimbursement claim, in such form as Canada may require, indicating, inter alia, the total number of persons who are unemployed and in need in the province, including their dependants, who have received assistance during the month to which the reimbursement claim relates, and the total amounts paid to or on behalf of such persons during the month to which the reimbursement claim relates. shall keep a record of the names and addresses of any persons and of the number of their dependants who have received assistance and the particulars of such assistance, which record shall be made available for examination on request by officials of Canada. There shall be excluded from the reimbursement claim any person, together with any payment made to or on behalf of such person, who is an inmate in any institution maintained in whole or in part out of funds appropriated by the Parliament of Canada, the Legislature of the province, a municipality, or a charitable organization; except that there may be included in the reimbursement claim payments made by the province or by a municipality for the upkeep of inmates in homes for special care and the number of persons in respect of whom such payments are made, provided that said imates are unemployed and in need and the payments claimed do not exceed what an individual might reasonably be expected to pay for accommodation of a comparable kind and quality in the same locality and provided further that said inmates are not such as would normally be cared for in general, acute, chronic or convalescent hospitals, tuberculosis sanatoria, mental institutions, institutions for incurables, orphanages or child welfare institutions; a person in receipt of unemployment benefit under the Employment Insurance Act, a pension under the Old Age Security Act, [Repealed, 1974-75-76, c. 58, s. 11] an allowance under the Blind Persons Act, an allowance under the Disabled Persons Act, or a supplemental allowance or cost-of-living bonus provided under the law of the province to recipients of benefit under any of the aforementioned Acts; or a recipient of mother’s allowance. Notwithstanding subparagraph 7(b) there may be included in the reimbursement claim any additional relief payments made by the province or by a municipality to persons described in the said subparagraph and the number of persons to whom such payments are made if such persons are unemployed and in need. There shall also be excluded from the reimbursement claim payments made in respect of medical, hospital, nursing, dental and optical care and drugs and dressings; funeral expenses; all travelling expenses except those, if Canada is not contributing thereto under some other arrangement, that are made for the purpose of returning a recipient of unemployment assistance and his dependants, if any, to his normal place of residence under an arrangement to which the municipality or the government of the province to which he is being returned has agreed in advance, enabling a recipient of unemployment assistance or dependent member of his family to obtain assured employment as certified by the National Employment Service, or enabling a recipient of unemployment assistance or a dependent member of his family to obtain needed medical, hospital or nursing home care which cannot be provided at his normal place of residence; and the cost of administration. There shall be deducted from the reimbursement claim an amount calculated by multiplying the average per person monthly cost of assistance by the decrease in the number of recipients of mothers’ allowances. The average per person monthly cost of assistance shall be calculated by dividing the total of the payments made during the month, as set forth in the reimbursement claim, by the total number of persons, including dependants, who received assistance during the said month as set forth in the reimbursement claim. For the purpose of paragraph 10, the decrease in the number of recipients of mothers’ allowances shall be calculated as follows: the average monthly percentage of the population of the province who were recipients of mother’s allowance during each twelve-month period from the first day of July 1945, to the thirtieth day of June prior to the month to which the reimbursement claim relates shall be determined, and in determining these percentages the latest estimate made by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics and published by the Queen’s Printer at Ottawa of the population of the province on the first day of June or nearest date thereto in each twelve-month period shall be used; the average monthly percentage determined for the twelve-month period ending the thirtieth day of June immediately preceding the month to which the reimbursement claim relates shall be subtracted from the highest percentage ascertained pursuant to subparagraph (a) of this paragraph in respect of any other twelve-month period; from the difference ascertained pursuant to subparagraph (b) of this paragraph there shall be subtracted .10 per cent; the difference ascertained pursuant to subparagraph (c) of this paragraph shall be multiplied by the population; and in the event that the calculation in subparagraph (c) of this paragraph results in a negative quantity, paragraph 10 shall have no application. The reimbursement claim shall be submitted within six (6) months next following the last day of the month to which it relates, but no claim submitted by in respect of any month prior to the actual date on which this agreement is executed shall be disqualified solely on the ground that it was not submitted within the said six (6) months, and contain the following certificate signed by the provincial auditor: “I hereby certify that this claim for reimbursement has been prepared in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in an agreement respecting unemployment assistance dated the day of 19, and made between the Government of Canada and the Government of the province of ”. Canada shall, on receipt of a reimbursement claim that has been prepared in accordance with this agreement, pay fifty (50) per cent of the total claim. In the event of any controversy arising between Canada and in respect of this agreement, either party may submit such controversy to the Exchequer Court of Canada for determination. This agreement shall be deemed to have come into force and shall bind the parties from the day of 19, to the day of 19, and thereafter until terminated by either party giving to the other party one year’s notice in writing. Any notice given pursuant to paragraph 16 may be communicated as follows: to Canada, by registered mail addressed to the Minister of National Health and Welfare, at Ottawa; and to by registered mail addressed to the Premier of the province at . In Witness Whereof the Honourable , Minister of National Health and Welfare, has hereunto set his hand on behalf of the Government of Canada and the Honourable Minister of has hereunto set his hand on behalf of the Government of the province of