Recommendations:
- Recommendation 1: That the government provide funding in the amount of $1.5 million over 2 years to complete a comprehensive social work sector study.
- Recommendation 2: That the government include social workers on the list of professionals eligible for the Canada Student Loans forgiveness program.
Background
The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) is pleased to submit to the Government of Canada’s 2024 Pre-Budget Consultation. CASW is the national federation for social workers and is comprised of 10 provincial and territorial partner organizations. CASW is committed to promoting the social work profession across Canada and working to advance social justice.
Social workers are an integral component to the health and social workforce in Canada. The front-line roles that social workers play in social programs and institutions across our country give them crucial experience with social and economic inequity, health, mental health and substance use, crime and victimization and the necessary conditions for children to thrive. Their unique roles and training give them the perspective to effectively bring equity and justice for all those who call Canada home.
Canada’s commitment to address challenges facing the health workforce is promising and we wish to see the government include social workers as part of the discussion as these initiatives move forward. In addition, the historic investments in Canada’s health care systems in budget 2023 is a positive step towards successfully bolstering health and social conditions in collaboration with organizations, Indigenous communities and their provincial and territorial counterparts.
CASW’s policy principles includes the Principles of Truth and Reconciliation and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. With those at the forefront of our priorities, we encourage the federal government to invest in upholding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Inquiry Calls for Justice.
Below we have indicated our recommendations for the 2024 federal budget, which we believe are vital to improving Canada’s health care and social systems.
Recommendation 1: That the government provide funding in the amount of $1.5 million over 2 years to complete a comprehensive social work sector study.
We currently have little understanding of the number or proportion of social workers in different practice areas working across Canada. We lack key demographic, labour market and education/training information. This information is critical as social workers provide services in a variety of settings, including health care, to help Canadians attain physical, mental and spiritual well-being. To ensure that the social work workforce has the capacity to meet the current and projected needs of Canadians, it is essential to conduct a comprehensive social work sector study.
The last social work sector study was released in 2000, in partnership with academic, professional and service sector organizations. In Critical Demand: Social Work in Canada[1] explored issues and demographics within the social services sector in order to support the development of a long-term human resources strategy. Now, more than ever, a social work human resources strategy is essential to improve the Canadian health and social system.
We are encouraged by the federal government’s leadership in establishing Health Workforce Canada to improve health workforce data and planning. We are also appreciative of the opportunity presented by the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program (SWSP) housed by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to apply to the program for funding for this proposed and necessary project. Budget 2024 provides an opportunity for the government to invest in this essential sector study.
Registered Social Workers (RSW) serve in a myriad of essential roles in our communities, from hospitals to mental health, to child welfare, to health care, to substance use. As integral members of interdisciplinary health care teams, a sector study is required to ensure that the professional social work workforce can meet Canada’s growing health and social needs moving forward. The three pillars of the social work profession, the Canadian Council of Social Work Regulation (CCSWR), Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE) and the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) are in consensus that a comprehensive sector study is essential and is proposing to work collaboratively with the Government of Canada to realize this initiative.
Funding request: $1.5 million
Recommendation 2: That the government include social workers on the list of professionals eligible for the Canada Student Loans forgiveness program.
CASW was pleased to see the government’s commitment to include social workers to the list of professionals eligible for the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program in the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion’s mandate letter. We are encouraged by the progress made to increase the maximum amount of forgivable student loans by 50 per cent for family doctors, residents in family medicine, nurse practitioners or nurses. CASW continues to push for the swift realization of the expansion to social workers, for several critical reasons we know this government appreciates.
Canada is dealing with a number of social determinants of health that are exacerbating inequality in Canada; coupled with this is the health human resources crisis. Attracting and retaining skilled professionals is crucial to addressing these two health-related problems — social workers are ready and able to help.
Social workers offer many of the same therapeutic services as psychologists and mental health nurses but at a significantly lower cost. Given the gap between urban and rural areas in the availability of health services, including mental health, and the resulting wait times and correlated harms, there is a massive opportunity to leverage the skillsets of social workers.
Social workers can also play a key role in Indigenous communities; often located in rural or remote areas, these already underserved populations are further ignored. In a small community that can only support one mental health practitioner, a social worker provides great value: They can provide many types of care, such as casework, assessment, therapeutic counselling and referrals to other community supports.
Of course, social workers need the support in order to realize this potential. By extending loan forgiveness to social workers, these critical and skilled workers will be able to provide care to Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
Many young social workers, including Indigenous social workers, wish to return to their rural/remote communities but cannot afford to do so. Additionally, as the vast majority of social workers are women, loan forgiveness would unlock the economic potential and career paths of many young women, allowing them to establish themselves in a community of their choosing.
[1] Stephenson, Marylee, Gilles Rondeau, Jean Claude Michaud, and Sid Fiddler. “In Critical Demand: Social Work in Canada Volume 1- Final Report.” 2000, Canadian Association of Social Workers. https://www.casw-acts.ca/files/attachements/in_critical_demand_social_wo....