Financial Literacy Month 2023: Managing Your Money in a Changing World

From: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

News release

November 1, 2023 
Ottawa, Ontario

Today, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) Commissioner Judith Robertson and Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem officially launched the 13th annual Financial Literacy Month at the Bank of Canada Museum in Ottawa. 

The theme for this year’s Financial Literacy Month, Managing Your Money in a Changing World, reflects a complex and changing financial landscape, and addresses the financial issues most affecting Canadians. FCAC, in collaboration with organizations across the country, will focus on helping Canadians manage their money and debt, and advancing Make Change that Counts: National Financial Literacy Strategy 2021-2026.

Throughout November, FCAC is encouraging Canadians to check up on their financial health, in particular their progress in managing and paying down debt. Managing debt is one of the key consumer building blocks of the National Strategy that leads to financial resilience.

Canadians can visit the Financial Literacy Month page on Canada.ca for practical tips and tools on managing money and debt in today’s economic environment. 

Financial Literacy Month is also an important opportunity to advance the National Financial Literacy Strategy. FCAC’s National Strategy is a five-year plan to create a more accessible, inclusive and effective financial ecosystem for Canadians. It represents an important shift from focusing on individual behaviours to the role of the financial ecosystem – community organizations, the financial industry, governments and regulators, and other key players – in helping Canadians build financial resilience and achieve positive financial outcomes. 

Since the release of the National Strategy in 2021, FCAC has focused on conducting research and gathering data to help align financial literacy initiatives with the outcomes of the National Strategy. Last year, FCAC launched Counting Change: A Measurement Plan for the National Financial Literacy Strategy 2021-2026 to track progress on six priority areas for change, such as building and providing for diverse needs and enhancing access to trustworthy and affordable financial help.

To date, 25 organizations have adopted the Measurement Plan. The Measurement Plan will enable FCAC and the financial ecosystem to share progress and maximize the impact of collective efforts to strengthen financial literacy in Canada.  

Quotes

“This year, Financial Literacy Month lands at a time when Canadians are adapting to many changes in the economic environment. FCAC’s National Financial Literacy Strategy recognizes that helping Canadians achieve positive financial outcomes is a shared responsibility. I thank the many dedicated organizations across the country for their continued support of Financial Literacy Month and commitment to making change that counts for Canadians.”

Judith Robertson, Commissioner, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Quick facts

  • The role of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada is to protect financial consumers by strengthening the financial literacy of Canadians and supervising the compliance of federally regulated financial entities, including banks, with their legal obligations, codes of conduct and public commitments. 

  • Financial Literacy Month began in Canada in 2011. Each November, hundreds of organizations from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors are involved in promoting Financial Literacy Month and organizing events and activities across the country, with the common goal of strengthening the financial literacy of Canadians.

  • Financial literacy includes the skills and capacity to make informed financial decisions, as well as actions or behaviours that lead to positive financial outcomes. Financial literacy is considered an essential skill, like reading and writing. 

  • Financial resilience is the ability to adapt or persevere through both predictable and unpredictable financial choices, difficulties and shocks in life.

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Media Relations 

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada  
media@fcac-acfc.gc.ca 
 
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