The Issue
Millions of consumers in Canada face problems in the marketplace each year, and a significant number of them are vulnerable consumers. Many are denied equal access to government-funded services intended to support consumers. They need someone conveniently located to advocate on their behalf so they can seek assistance in person.
The most vulnerable consumers face barriers such as illiteracy, lack of language skills, or disability. In combination with low income and lack of access to telephones, Internet or transportation, these barriers deprive many vulnerable consumers of fair treatment.
Consumers need to be made more aware of the resources available to help them. No single agency can provide all the advice and assistance needed by consumers. The helping agencies now attempting to assist consumers describe the current help delivered as inadequate, especially with respect to legal advice and legal representation in actions before Small Claims Court. Organizations need the skills, or access to them, to assist different types of vulnerable consumers. Collaboration and an effective system of referrals from one agency to another could help obtain the advice or assistance needed.
Marketplace products and practices are swiftly evolving, and governments must have the capacity to review and respond to developments that may produce market failure or gaps in consumer protection. This means that government must have the best advice from responsible consumer representatives. It also means that government must be able to respond effectively and quickly to significant reductions in consumer protection.
Providing the best value possible with the limited funds available poses the greatest challenge to assisting vulnerable consumers.
Recommendations
The federal government should conduct a review to initiate reforms that will ensure an appropriate share of federal transfers to provinces for legal aid gets apportioned to the support of vulnerable consumers facing consumer protection issues. Consumer legal aid across Canada (i.e., education, information dissemination, summary legal advice, assistance in filling out Small Claims Court forms, representation in Small Claims Court on consumer/debtor issues, referrals to government for enforcement and resolution or mediation by phone) must be enhanced and supported directly and indirectly to enable consumers to engage in “one-stop shopping” on consumer issues.
2. Independent review of existing consumer policy and policy development
The effectiveness of consumer protection laws and their enforcement must be able to be monitored and assessed in a transparent fashion by government. This is best done through a consultation framework that enables the government to receive informed and relevant information concerning the conditions in the marketplace and possible remedial measures for identified problems or market failure. Governments must ensure that resources are available to enable appropriate representation of consumers in the policy development and reform process.
As a way to better coordinate the use of volunteers and partners who serve vulnerable consumers, the federal government should financially support pilot projects by consumer groups to provide referral services and best- practice information sharing to agencies supporting vulnerable consumers.
A greater awareness of services available to consumers locally and from government must be created through more media publicity and better education. This can be achieved cost-effectively by allocating a share of federal consumer protection spending to fact-based consumer organizations to support consumers’ rights days, to promote media exposure of consumer issues or to host public forums that reach many people. For example, more public legal education could be provided through mass media (including ethnic radio, TV and newspapers), workshops at community centres, easy-to-read plain language pamphlets and brochures in various languages, and posters with consumer rights and obligations placed in bus shelters, subways and other high-traffic public places.
All provinces of Canada should consider, encourage and adopt the teaching of consumer protection and awareness in schools starting in Grade 6, when children start to be consumers in their own right, and in higher grades in the areas of money management and the wise use of credit, with the consultation, cooperation and determined support of those federal and provincial authorities constitutionally responsible for the proper functioning of Canada’s financial services systems.
Government must respond rapidly where the market fails to deliver needed consumer products and services. Where marketplace misconduct occurs, corrective action and remedial measures must be swiftly engaged; these must be fully compensatory and provide an adequate deterrent to further misconduct.
