More than one million federal government cheques went uncashed last year, leaving $609.4 million in payments ranging from Old Age Security to carbon rebate cheques sitting idle, according to records tabled in the House of Commons.Blacklock's Reporter says in Inquiry Of Ministry filed in Parliament disclosed that of 36.2 million paper cheques mailed in 2024, 1,204,228 were never cashed due to death, forgetfulness or administrative error. Cabinet said the administrative cost to issue a single cheque is approximately $1.84.Unclaimed payments included 117,654 personal income tax refunds worth $107 million, 246,639 carbon tax rebate cheques totaling $50 million, 69,051 Canada Pension Plan cheques valued at $28 million, and 28,109 Old Age Security payments worth $22.5 million.Records also showed 4,852 Employment Insurance cheques totaling $3.8 million went uncashed, along with 2,255 veterans’ disability payments worth $1.3 million.The figures were released in response to a written question from Conservative MP Adam Chambers, who asked for a breakdown of government payments by paper cheque, department and year of issue since 2022..The federal government attempted in 2012 to eliminate paper cheques entirely and require Canadians to enroll in direct deposit, arguing the move would save money. The proposal was shelved after internal research found 37% of Canadians surveyed were reluctant to provide their banking information.“Direct deposit is the payment method of choice for the Government of Canada,” the Inquiry stated, calling it secure, reliable and the cheapest form of payment. It added that adopting new payment technologies could require departments and agencies to spend substantially on system upgrades.However, previous disclosures show direct deposit has also resulted in costly errors. In 2020 Public Accounts, officials reported $1,426,564 was lost when refunds and benefits were transferred into the wrong bank accounts. So-called “misdirected direct deposits” occurred 10,522 times that year, with incorrect payments totaling $5.6 million. While $4.2 million was returned by recipients, $1.4 million was not expected to be recovered.Over a six-year period, $23.6 million was also deposited into the accounts of deceased individuals, with roughly 20% of those funds never recovered.In a 2022 Inquiry Of Ministry, the Receiver General declined to specify how many deceased pensioners continued receiving payments on average, but acknowledged one case in which $382,000 was written off after payments continued for an extended period before the error was detected.
