Canada Learning Bond

Luke who is just 17-months old could have up to $2,000 in a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) account in his name by the end of this week, thanks to the federal government’s Canada Learning Bond initiative.

Luke’s family, as well as 60,022 other low income households in the city of Toronto, will receive vouchers this week, informing them of their children’s entitlement to government funds toward their post-secondary education.

Smart SAVER, a project of the Omega Foundation, funded by the government of Canada’s Education Savings Community Outreach program, made the announcement at a special event hosted by Daniels Corporation on Nov. 3.

“I’m so happy hearing this news,” says Luke’s mother Arlene Pimentel, who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 2008. Pimentel who is a health care assistant while studying nursing, earns well under $41,544, the maximum net income that makes an individual or family eligible for the Canada Learning Bond. Any child born in 2004 or later who lives within the postal area code starting with letter ‘M’ and whose family receives the National Child Benefit Supplement is eligible to receive it.

According to a recent Statistics Canada study, recent immigrants such as Pimentel were two to three times more likely than non-immigrants to experience low income, regardless of sex, level of education, family type, or province of residence.

“You have to have an RESP account to take advantage of this money and to deposit it for the child’s benefit,” says Jennifer Tory, RBC Royal Bank’s regional president for Greater Toronto.

Tory, who joined the event held in the Regent Park neighbourhood, notes her bank is taking an active part in the program to publicize RESP among newcomers. According to her they could find banking in Canada different from their own countries of origin and so newcomers might wonder what to do with the vouchers that they find in their mailbox. “So the complexity of first, what is an RESP, why is the government giving money, where do I get it? … we are going to try, as all of our competitors will as well, to make this process as simple as possible.”

The vouchers will notify families of the amount that the government will deposit into qualifying children’s RESP accounts. Families can open an RESP account with any provider they choose.

Smart SAVER is organizing a series of special sign-up events across the city. Schools and community organizations across Toronto will promote voucher use and families will be able to access more information in 16 languages though a telephone information line, 416-479-8957 or through smartsaver.org.

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