Prosper Canada issues call to action to close Canada's financial help gap

TORONTO, Nov. 21, 2025 /CNW/ - Today, national charity Prosper Canada released a solution framework aimed at closing the financial help gap for Canadians with low incomes. Its comprehensive report, Closing the Divide: Solutions for Canada's Financial Help Gap, sets out clear steps governments, financial services, and community organizations can take to ensure every Canadian – no matter who they are or where they live – can access the financial help they need to build their financial stability, resilience, and well-being. 

This report takes aim at a key target outcome of Canada's National Financial Literacy Strategy, Make Change that Counts – expanding access to trustworthy, affordable, and appropriate financial help services, particularly for vulnerable populations. The strategy highlights that financial well-being is not just about personal choices but also requires the removal of systemic barriers – like the financial help gap – that prevent too many vulnerable Canadians from achieving financial well-being, including Indigenous Peoples, racialized communities, people with disabilities, newcomers, people living in rural and remote communities, and seniors.

The report's release, amid a rising tide of financial vulnerability and hardship affecting Canadian households, is an urgent call to action for collaborators in all sectors help close the financial help gap for those who need it most:

• 61% of low-income Canadians--approximately 3.08 million people--are experiencing significant financial hardship.
• Households in the bottom 20% by income are the only group whose average wages fell from 2023 to 2024 (-3.3%).
• These households averaged $34,539 in negative savings (debt) and were the only income segment who saw their savings drop from 2023 to 2024 (-2.7%).

 "Canadians are struggling financially and those who need financial help the most – people with low incomes – are the least likely to find it," said Prosper Canada CEO, Elizabeth Mulholland. "Our report, developed with and for governments, financial services, and community organizations, offers practical solutions that every sector can take today to help more struggling Canadians to get the financial help they need."

Prosper Canada's report offers a comprehensive set of solutions to build a more inclusive, accessible, and trustworthy financial help ecosystem in Canada.  The organization is calling on governments, financial services, and community organizations to join them in implementing solutions that will ensure every Canadian has access to the financial help and advice they need to build their financial well-being.  

Prosper Canada extends its sincere thanks to Co-operators, whose generous funding and active participation enabled this work.

"As one of the largest financial services cooperatives in the country – with hundreds of advisors embedded in communities from coast to coast – we know that Canadians are more vulnerable to external financial stress than ever before; threatening our purpose of financial security for Canadians and our communities," says Shawna Peddle. Associate Vice-President of Sustainability, Co-operators. "Our partnership with Prosper Canada exemplifies our actions towards meeting the unmet needs of our communities, but we can't do it alone. We need a whole-of-society approach to cultivate an inclusive economy that grants individuals access to the right financial tools and advice, empowering them to not only adapt to negative pressures and dynamic circumstances, but also improve conditions for wellbeing."

Read the executive summary and full report.

Background

In 2023, Prosper Canada worked with financial sector, government, and community experts to identify the priority financial help needs of people with low incomes and assess the current state of financial help services. Their findings, published in Missing for Those Who Need It Most: Canada's Financial Help Gap, confirm that existing services are often unaffordable, inaccessible, or not appropriate to the needs of people with low incomes.

Prosper Canada
Prosper Canada is a national charity driving bold change that enables more people to prosper. With government, business and community partners across Canada, we are expanding life-changing financial empowerment services, innovating for greater inclusion and impact, and removing barriers to financial well-being for people with low and modest incomes. Our goal is a Canada where everyone has the opportunity and support to achieve financial well-being and live with dignity, stability, and possibility. Learn more at www.prospercanada.org.

SOURCE Prosper Canada

Media contact: Wendy Abbott-Serroul, Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications, Prosper Canada, Tel: [phone], [email protected]