The road to a National Child Benefit System Government support to children and families has a long history. Government of Canada support dates back to 1918 when the child tax exemption was introduced. Universal family allowances were introduced in 1945. Over the years, a variety of other, more targeted, measures were provided in the tax system leading to the 1978 introduction of the refundable child tax credit and the 1993 consolidation of existing federal benefits into the Child Tax Benefit. For many decades, provincial and territorial governments have operated social assistance programs to provide income support and services to those families in need.
Some provinces also provide income supplements or tax credits to low-income families with children.
The 1994 report by the Government of Canada, Improving Social Security in Canada, called for action to address child poverty. Its supplementary paper, Income Security for Children , discussed a number of options for child benefits reform, including an integrated federal-provincial approach. At the June 1996 first ministers' conference, child poverty was placed on the national agenda under the leadership of the Prime Minister and the premiers. At the annual premiers' conference in August 1996, premiers, with the exception of the Premier of Quebec, asked their ministers to work on an integrated child benefit with the federal government. Quebec has remained an observer to the federal-provincial process but is moving in the same direction in its own reforms.