No evidence Canadians bill delinquency is coordinated action

Surveys of Canadians routinely show rising prices are impacting the ability of citizens to meet daily expenses, and credit agencies have reported an increasing number of missed bill payments. Small-scale collective actions to refuse to pay rent have popped up in large cities since the Covid- 19 pandemic, but AFP found no evidence of a nationwide, organized movement for Canadians to stop paying creditors.

"Canadians are taking a stand!" the caption of a September 15, 2024 Instagram video says.

The post includes a compilation of clips, beginning with someone claiming that Canadians have collectively stopped paying their bills. It is followed by a news clip reporting on rising payment delinquency rates in the country.

Other videos on TikTok and YouTube repeated the same claim -- sometimes pointing to news reports about missed payments in Canada -- while users on Facebook and X published text posts also purporting Canadians had stopped paying their bills to send a message to the government about the high cost of living.

Canadian inflation eased in August, but Statistics Canada still reported in that same month that nearly half the population found rising prices were greatly affecting their ability to meet day-to-day expenses (archived here) -- with many survey respondents recording concerns about expanding housing and food costs. Rising costs have also been a recurring subject in previous social media claims debunked by AFP.

Claims of Canadians not paying their bills to prove a point are similarly misleading. While many of the news reports referenced in the posts are authentic (archived here), they focus on an inability to make payments on time.

Similar sentiment was evident in comments on the posts.

Many of the social media videos reference quarterly reports on credit delinquency from Equifax Canada which show increases in debt and outstanding balances (archived here). The most recent report, published August 27 (archived here), estimates the non-mortgage balance delinquency rate in Canada to be 1.4 percent -- the highest since 2011.

"High costs of living have likely impacted some consumers' ability to maintain their credit payments, but it is only one factor," Equifax told AFP in a September 19 email.

The group said it could not confirm the exact reason why an individual would not pay their debt, but said its analyses pointed to economic conditions such as provincial housing prices and unemployment levels underpinning the trend.

Who's not paying?

Canadians have organized rent strikes in the past, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic (archived here). Rent strikes in Toronto have in rare cases lasted for more than a year. Keyword searches surfaced other standalone anecdotes about tenants not paying rent, but no evidence of multi-province movements.

VICE reported on one campaign to stop paying bills among the followers of Romana Didulo -- an adherent of the QAnon conspiracy who has falsely declared herself "Queen of Canada." Vice found that one of participant ended up losing her home.

The Credit Counselling Society (CCS), a Canadian financial advice non-profit, said it was not aware of any targeted campaign to stop paying bills, but reported receiving higher call volumes as people struggle to manage the economic situation in the country.

"We can certainly confirm that folks are feeling the pinch of food inflation and higher interest rates and just the general cost of living," said Anne Arbour, the CCS director of partnerships and education, in a September 19 interview.

Arbour said not paying credit card debt specifically can lead to higher interest rates, a lower credit rating and higher payments the following month.

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.