Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) was a significant Canadian government department established in 1993 under Prime Minister Kim Campbell, tasked with a broad range of social services including unemployment insurance, job training, and issuing Social Insurance Numbers. Officially sanctioned by an act in 1996, it consolidated responsibilities previously held by departments like the Department of Employment and Immigration, inheriting one of the largest departmental budgets.

However, HRDC gained public notoriety in the late 1990s and 2000 due to poor procurement practices and a major controversy alleging $1 billion in unaccounted employment grants, though this figure was later largely refuted as vastly exaggerated. The department was ultimately dissolved in December 2003, initially splitting into two new departments before re-amalgamating in 2006 to become Employment and Social Development Canada, its direct successor.