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Family support arrears across Canada

Deadbeats owe $3.7 billion across the country

Deadbeats owe $3.7 billion across the country

They’re commonly called “deadbeats” — people who refuse to support their families after courts order them to pay — and CBC has learned they owe more than $3.7 billion across the country for support orders.

Nearly two thirds of all support orders in Canada are in arrears, and in Ontario that number jumps to 80 per cent. Experts and recipients say there aren’t enough staff to do an adequate job of monitoring the nearly half a million open files across the country.

See how much is owed in your province: