Since the repeal of the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) in 1995, social assistance and civil legal aid have been in decline, with devastating effects for the poorest women. On its face, CAP was neither a gender-specific nor a human rights-promoting instrument. But, the spending designations and the standards set out in CAP were an important means of protecting the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living and of promoting women’s human rights. They helped to ensure that the poorest women had basic economic security and access to justice. In 1995, Canadian women were told that shifting to unconditional block funding would increase innovation by the provinces and foster improvements in basic social programs. But after 10 years, the evidence shows that this has not occurred. Instead, social assistance and civil legal aid for family law and poverty law — the areas of law in which women most often need legal assistance — have been devastated by cuts and the imposition of new rules that shrink access.