Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) – October 25, 2022

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Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) – October 25, 2022

Notice of meeting

Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP)
44^rd Parliament, 1^st Session

Meeting 34

Tuesday, October 25, 2022, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Room 035-B, West Block
Televised

Report 1, Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations, of the May 2022 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada

Witnesses

Canada Revenue Agency

Bob Hamilton, Commissioner of Revenue and Chief Executive Officer
Maxime Guénette, Assistant Commissioner, Service, Innovation and Integration Branch
Gillian Pranke, Assistant Commissioner, Assessment, Benefit and Service Branch

Department of Employment and Social Development

Lori MacDonald, Senior Associate Deputy Minister, Employment and Social Development and Chief Operating Officer for Service Canada
Tammy Bélanger, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Benefits and Integrated Services Branch
Atiq Rahman, Assistant Deputy Minister, Learning Branch

Office of the Auditor General

Karen Hogan, Auditor General of Canada
Nicholas Swales, Principal

Statistics Canada

Josée Bégin, Director General, Labour Market, Education and Socio-Economic Well-Being
Andrew Heisz, Director, Centre for Income and Socioeconomic Well-being Statistics

Opening remarks

Speaking notes for Bob Hamilton, Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency

Standing Committee on Public Accounts
OAG Report 1— Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations

Ottawa, Ontario
October 25, 2022

Check against delivery.

Good afternoon,

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for this opportunity to discuss the Canada Revenue Agency’s (the CRA) response to the Auditor General of Canada’s Report 1— Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations.

Today, I am accompanied by these people from the CRA: Gillian Pranke, Assistant Commissioner, Assessment, Benefit and Service Branch, Maxime Guénette, Assistant Commissioner, Service, Innovation and Integration Branch, and Marc Lemieux, Assistant Commissioner, Collections and Verification Branch.

First, I want to recognize the excellent work of Agency employees during the COVID-19 pandemic who have been supporting Canadians in accessing benefits and credits to which they are entitled.

They have gone to many lengths to do so. And despite the impacts of the pandemic over the past three tax filing seasons, our employees have been able to provide billions of dollars in urgent support to help millions of Canadians.

When it comes to hard to reach populations, the Agency has taken many steps to continue to reach the most vulnerable.

In fact, when many tax clinics that are part of the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) were set to close in March 2020, the CRA quickly pivoted to alter processes so as to keep the clinics up and running. These approaches remain in place and provide much greater flexibility and access to those in need.

Over the 2017 to 2020 period, there has been over 7% increase in individuals who have accessed the CRA’s CVITP. The number of tax returns filed has increased by over 11%, and the number of individuals that were assisted during outreach sessions has increased by over 15%.

The CRA is making it easier for individuals, especially from at-risk populations, to access important benefits and credits by enhancing the funding available to CVITP clinics.

The Minister of National Revenue recently announced a new formula for the CVITP Grant that will increase the amount of money awarded to organizations through the grant each year, helping them cover the cost of hosting free tax clinics. It also recognizes the unique challenges of organizations that serve Northern and Indigenous communities.

Thus, we are proud to have been able to implement this important part of the Minister of National Revenue’s mandate letters for the past 5 years.

With respect to the specific recommendations in Report 1, the CRA has noted that it agrees with all three recommendations from the Auditor General. And we recognize there is more work to be done.

Indeed, the CRA has provided a detailed Action Plan to the Committee already outlining how we will work towards meeting all of the recommendations and the timeline for such.

This will include, among other things, continuing to work with ESDC to ensure alignment in the prioritization, planning, and monitoring of work related to the take-up of benefits by hard-to-reach populations.

And, as well, continuing to leverage Statistics Canada’s expertise, including the most recent Census data, to gain more insight into hard-to-reach populations.

In closing, the CRA is committed to improving its client service to Canadians, including our country's most vulnerable, through its “People First” service philosophy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, I am happy to now answer any questions you may have.

Supporting Documentation

OAG May 2022 Report – Report 1

2022 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada to the Parliament of Canada

Report 1—Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations

Auditor General of Canada’s Opening Statement to the News Conference (May 31, 2022)

www.oag-bvg.gc.ca

Good morning and thank you for joining me. I want to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People.

I am here today to discuss 4 performance audit reports that we released this morning.

As I near the third year of my mandate, I’m feeling more frustrated than hopeful. As much as I’d like to report that government programs and services improve once weaknesses are identified, I find that is seldom the case.

For us, the story is too often familiar—over years of auditing, we report slow progress and results that are stagnant or worsening. Information that could help Canadians understand whether results are getting better or worse is at best incomplete. In many programs and departments, it seems that too often people run into barriers when accessing programs and services they are entitled to.

Let me turn first to our audit of systemic barriers in correctional services. We wanted to know whether Correctional Service Canada delivered interventions that reflect the ever growing diversity of the offender population. This included whether corrections staff had the cultural awareness and sensitivity to deliver programs that meet the diverse needs of offenders.

While we set out to look at whether the department was meeting the needs of its offender population, what we found were outcomes showing that certain groups of offenders were disadvantaged by systemic barriers that affect their timely access to parole. In particular, we found that Indigenous and Black offenders experienced poorer outcomes than any other groups in the correctional system. They also faced greater barriers to a safe and gradual reintegration into society.

A systemic barrier results from seemingly neutral policies, procedures, or practices that disadvantage one or more groups. We found not only systemic barriers but also, in my view, systemic racism in certain instances where those seemingly neutral policies, procedures, or practices have persisted, and have resulted in disproportionately different treatment of some groups of racialized offenders.

Correctional Service Canada has failed to identify and eliminate the systemic barriers that persistently disadvantaged certain groups of offenders in custody. We raised similar issues in our audits in 2015, 2016 and 2017, yet the department has done little to change the policies, practices, tools, and approaches that produce these differing outcomes.

We found that barriers were present from the moment offenders entered federal institutions. For example, Indigenous and Black offenders were assigned to maximum security institutions by staff at twice the rate of other groups of offenders. They also remained in custody longer and at higher levels of security before their release.

We also found that timely access to correctional programs designed to prepare offenders for release and support their successful reintegration into the community had continued to decline since our 3 past audits. By December 2021, with the additional impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic, only 6% of men offenders had accessed the programs they needed before they were first eligible to apply for parole.

Different outcomes for certain groups of racialized and Indigenous offenders have persisted for too long. Correctional Service Canada must identify and remove systemic barriers to eliminate systemic racism in corrections, including meeting its own commitment to better reflect the diversity of the offender population in its workforce. The Department needs to address representation gaps—namely Indigenous representation across all institutions, gender representation in women’s institutions, and representation at institutions with a high number of Black offenders.

Next, I will turn to our audit of hard‑to‑reach populations. We wanted to know whether the federal government ensured that individuals in low‑income groups could access the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Workers Benefit, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the Canada Learning Bond.

The Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada know that not everyone who could receive these benefits is getting them. These individuals who may be unaware of benefits available to them include low‑income groups who are not easily served through regular channels, Indigenous persons, seniors, newcomers to Canada, and persons with disabilities. These hard‑to‑reach populations often face one or more barriers to access benefits. As such, they require more help from government.

The Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada lacked a clear and complete picture of the people are not accessing benefits. The Agency and the Department also did not know whether most of their targeted outreach activities had helped to increase the benefit take‑up rates for hard‑to‑reach populations.

We also found that the Agency and the Department overstated the rates of people accessing benefits because they did not always account for people who had not filed income tax returns—a requirement to access most benefits.

Though the Agency and the Department have taken some action, they still lack a comprehensive plan to connect people with benefits. As a result, they are failing to improve the lives of some individuals and families who may need these benefits the most.

Our third audit focused on the processing of disability benefits claims for veterans from the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Overall, we found that veterans waited almost 10 months for a decision when first applying for benefits. Processing timelines were longer for Francophones, women, and RCMP veterans.

We also found that the department’s data on how it processes benefits applications—and the organization of this data—were poor. Because of this, Veterans Affairs Canada was unable to determine whether its initiatives to improve the treatment of claims have sped up the process or made it worse.

We noted that both the funding and almost half of the employees on the team responsible for processing applications were temporary. The Department also lacked a long‑term staffing plan. The combined impact of these shortcomings means that veterans are waiting too long to receive benefits. They experience unacceptable delays that can significantly impact their well‑being and their families.

Our last report today is a follow‑up on our 2015 audit on the use of gender‑based analysis plus in government, or GBA Plus. This is an analysis tool to help reduce existing and potential inequalities based on gender and other intersecting identity factors.

Overall, our audit showed that the government does not know whether its actions are achieving better gender equality outcomes for diverse groups of people. In many cases, the analysis had been completed but we did not see a concrete impact on outcomes.

We found that longstanding challenges that we previously identified continue to hinder the full implementation of GBA Plus across government. Although the lead organizations have addressed some of the recommendations from our 2015 audit, many others date back to our first audit of GBA in 2009.

Some of the challenges include gaps in the capacity to perform a gender‑based analysis and the lack of data available on demographic factors. In addition, we found that the government doesn’t know if GBA Plus is achieving its goals because impacts have not been measured and reported on in a consistent and structured manner.

The Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and Women and Gender Equality Canada need to better collaborate and ensure that all departments and agencies fully integrate GBA Plus in a way that produces real results for all Canadians.

To sum up, these audits point to long‑standing problems and barriers across a broad range of government activity. These barriers are unacceptable, whether faced by Indigenous and Black offenders or by low‑income individuals and veterans accessing benefits. As to the barriers that GBA Plus is meant to break down, while there is a greater dialogue and awareness today of gender and identity factors, actions have yet to catch up with words.

The federal government must do better. All of Canada’s people, no matter their gender, race, ability, or geographical location, deserve better—much better.

Thank you. I am now ready to answer your questions.

News Release - Government of Canada welcomes the Auditor General of Canada’s performance audit on Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations (May 31, 2022)

Government of Canada welcomes the Auditor General of Canada’s performance audit on Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations

News Release - Minister of National Revenue announces more support for organizations that help improve access to benefits and credits

Minister of National Revenue announces more support for organizations that help improve access to benefits and credits

Overview: Impact on the Canada Revenue Agency

2022 May Reports of the Auditor General of Canada
Report 1 – Access to Benefits for Hard to Reach Populations

Impact on the Canada Revenue Agency

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) concluded that Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have not taken sufficient steps to ensure that hard to reach populations are made aware of, and can access, the Canada Child Benefit, Canada Workers Benefit, Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement, and Canada Learning Bond.

The OAG noted that opportunities for improvement exist in addressing gaps in the measurement of benefit uptake, in the demonstration of results of outreach efforts, and in the provision of seamless support between federal organizations to assist hard to reach individuals in accessing their benefits.

The draft audit report contains three recommendations. Two of the recommendations are addressed to both the CRA and ESDC and one recommendation is addressed to the CRA, ESDC, and Statistics Canada. The CRA agrees with the recommendations and has provided corresponding management responses.

Audit objective

The objective of this audit was to determine whether ESDC and CRA directly, or through leveraging other federal departments and other non-federal government entities, ensure that hard to reach populations are made aware of, and can access, the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), Canada Workers Benefit (CWB), Old Age Security (OAS)/Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), and Canada Learning Bond (CLB).

Audit score

Based on their stated importance as elements of Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, the Canada Child Benefit (CRA-led), Canada Workers Benefit (CRA-led), Guaranteed Income Supplement (ESDC-led), and Canada Learning Bond (ESDC-led, CRA supported) were selected for examination related to the outreach approaches undertaken to ensure hard to reach populations are made aware of and can access these benefits.

Primary entities within scope included CRA and ESDC as leads for the selected benefits, and Statistics Canada as a supporting organization providing information and analytical support to the entities in the design and implementation of their outreach approaches. Indigenous Services Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada were included in relation to how they are involved in supporting outreach to their specific clientele.

The OAG examined CRA’s and ESDC’s efforts to improve access to benefits during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 fiscal years.

Highlights

Poverty reduction is a priority of the Government of Canada. Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, launched in 2018, includes various federal government programs that contribute to poverty reduction, including the four programs examined for this audit. Since 2016, the government has made improvements to enhance the ease of access to benefits and increased the dollar amount of benefits available to eligible recipients for certain programs.
The government has acknowledged a responsibility to help Canadians receive their benefits and has communicated this responsibility in Ministerial mandate letters issued to the Minister of Revenue (in 2015 and 2019) and the Minister of Indigenous Services Canada (2019). In 2019, the Prime Minister directed various deputy ministers to collaborate to recommend next steps to reduce barriers to benefit receipt, target proactive outreach, improve consistency and granularity of take-up data, and report publically.
Federal organizations have implemented a wide range of outreach approaches and initiatives aimed at encouraging people to apply for benefits for which they may be eligible. Since 2018, additional funding was allocated to ESDC and CRA to build outreach capacity targeted at low income Canadians. The OAG estimated that ESDC and CRA collectively spent $18 million in fiscal year 2020-21 on targeted outreach activities.
The OAG acknowledged in the report that identifying populations who are eligible for, but not accessing benefits is challenging, both overall and for hard to reach populations. Many of the factors impeding ESDC’s and CRA’s ability to precisely measure the take-up gap are beyond the control of ESDC and CRA.
The OAG found the following:
- CRA and ESDC have not done enough to help hard to reach populations to connect with the benefits (such as the CCB, CWB, OAS/GIS, and CLB) that were put in place to support low-income Canadians.
- Since 2018, CRA and ESDC have increased their efforts to raise awareness of these benefits among people who most need them. Outreach activities have focused on hard-to-reach populations – those most likely to have modest incomes and often face barriers accessing benefits.
- ESDC and CRA did not have a clear and complete picture of the people who were not receiving benefits for which they were potentially eligible. They also did not know the take up rates of specific hard to reach populations known to experience barriers to accessing benefits, such as those who do not have secure housing, newcomers to Canada, people living with disabilities, and Indigenous populations.
- ESDC and CRA currently do not have an approach for ensuring a seamless service experience for hard to reach clients accessing certain benefits, particularly those needing support to navigate through the various requirements to gain access to the benefits.

Positive observations about the Canada Revenue Agency

The OAG found the following:
- CRA and ESDC had measured take-up for one identified hard to reach population, First Nations living on reserve. In 2017, supported by Statistics Canada, ESDC and CRA analyzed this population’s take-up of the Canada Child Benefit and, based on the outcomes of this analysis, developed a joint outreach initiative targeting this group. The department and agency plan to update this uptake analysis in 2022, based on updated census data.
- CRA and ESDC have implemented a wide range of outreach approaches and initiatives, with the aim of providing more support targeted at individuals to increase their take-up of benefits.
- CRA and ESDC have introduced various policy and process changes to streamline access to, and improve take-up of, benefits.
- CRA and ESDC have developed certain limited measures to demonstrate some of the results of their targeted outreach efforts.
- In 2021, the CRA began analyzing ways to better demonstrate the results of targeted outreach approaches, and ESDC began developing a logic model to inform their approach to measuring the performance and results of their targeted outreach approaches.
- CRA and ESDC have initiated some pilot projects to support and work with community groups on more individualized support. These community organizations play an important role in building relationships with hard to reach individuals with the aim of linking these individuals with government programs so that they can access their benefits.
- In September 2021, CRA, ESDC, and Indigenous Services Canada jointly initiated a working group to take stock of the various ongoing initiatives to increase CCB uptake for First Nations living on reserves. The working group is considering different approaches for providing higher levels of individualized support for this community.

Negative observations about the Canada Revenue Agency

The OAG found the following:
- Estimates overstated the uptake of benefits because they did not always account for people who had not filed tax returns, which are required to access most benefits.
- ESDC and CRA had limited evidence that their increased outreach activities had resulted in increased take-up of benefits by hard to reach people.
- ESDC and CRA did not have a comprehensive plan for improving how benefit take-up is measured. Both entities acknowledged the need to generate more complete, accurate, and timely benefit take-up data.
- Without the development of measures to enable the assessment of the impacts of outreach activities, ESDC and CRA were not always able to show that the money spent on these activities helped achieve their goals of removing barriers and increasing the benefit take-up rates in the targeted populations over time.
- CRA had not clearly defined responsibilities for improving how benefit take-up is measured among its benefit program administrators, the departmental outreach function representatives, and their own departmental Chief Data Officer. Furthermore, Statistics Canada, ESDC, and the CRA had not defined their respective roles to address their collective challenge of improving how they measure benefit take-up.
- ESDC and CRA service approaches for assisting individuals that required a higher level of support to navigate through the various barriers and requirements they face to access benefits, were not sufficiently integrated.

OAG recommendations and Agency response

The audit report contains three recommendations for CRA:

Recommendation. CRA, ESDC and Statistics Canada should establish a joint prioritization, planning, monitoring and reporting process to improve how they measure the take-up of benefits. This should include:
- Assessing available specific data holding on hard to reach populations
- Defining and implementing actions to collect additional data on specific hard to reach populations
- Improving the use of data in measuring benefit take-up and the sources of gaps in benefit take-up.
Canada Revenue Agency’s response

Agreed. The CRA will continue to work with ESDC to ensure alignment in the prioritization, planning, and monitoring of work related to the take-up of benefits by hard-to-reach populations. The CRA will also work with ESDC to leverage Statistics Canada’s expertise and broad socio economic data (including through the 2021 Census) to gain more insight into hard-to-reach populations, and help measure the take-up of benefits. This will include an assessment of available data in support of this work and what would be required to facilitate and align ongoing monitoring of progress.

The CRA notes that the take-up of benefits can be a limited measure of performance as it is often not possible to attribute program activities directly to a change in the take-up rate. This challenge can be exacerbated by incomplete data and sources of data that are updated on an infrequent basis while the population being targeted changes constantly. The take-up rate of benefits has and will continue to be used to target activities for particular vulnerable populations (e.g., Indigenous communities), while the CRA works with ESDC and Statistics Canada to improve the use of data in support of monitoring and reporting.
Recommendation. To better understand the effectiveness of outreach approaches, CRA and ESDC should develop and implement consistent results-based performance measures relating to targeted outreach to hard to reach populations.
Canada Revenue Agency’s response

Agreed. The CRA will work to identify additional ways to measure the effectiveness of outreach approaches, recognizing the limitations inherent in the process (e.g., the CRA does not currently collect personal data of those individuals who participate in outreach events). The CRA does however measure the effectiveness of its outreach efforts to those served through in-person or community visits where information about accessing benefits and credits is shared and where clients are either provided with direct, hands on support or are directed to resources where this support can be obtained (e.g., Northern Service Centres, CVITP tax clinics, etc.). For these types of interactions, the CRA gathers and reports out on metrics pertaining to the number of individuals who have accessed the support provided, including the number of tax returns filed as a result (e.g., 574,330 individuals accessed CVITP clinics resulting in the filing of 638,610 tax and benefit returns in 2021) and the number of individuals that attended outreach sessions. Over the 2017 to 2020 period, the CRA has demonstrated an increase in individuals who have accessed CVITP clinics by over 7%, the number of tax returns filed by over 11%, and the number of individuals that were assisted during outreach sessions by over 15%.

The CRA is in agreement that other measures be explored and will work with ESDC and other partners in order to do so, while adhering to CRA’s authorities under the Income Tax Act and the Privacy Act.
Recommendation. To improve the integration and effectiveness of targeted outreach, the CRA and ESDC should collaborate to establish a seamless client service experience to address the needs of those requiring a high level of support to access benefits.
Canada Revenue Agency’s response

Agreed. The CRA has actively collaborated with ESDC on outreach activities targeted to specific vulnerable or hard-to-reach populations for the past 5 years, and will continue to do so in pursuit of a seamless client service experience. This collaboration is evidenced through initiatives such as, joint service offerings through the Northern Service Centres (NSCs) in the territorial capitals of Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit, the Let Us Help You Get Your Benefits! pilot, the Canada Child Benefit Journey Mapping project and nudge letter initiatives.

Additionally, through coordinated outreach activities such as super clinics held across the country, CRA and ESDC offer complimentary services to those individuals requiring a higher level of individual support to access benefits.

The CRA will work with ESDC to identify opportunities to further improve upon the service provided by individuals requiring a high level of support to access benefits. This collaboration will include defining the extent of the support that both entities will provide, determining any service gaps, and developing specific approaches for certain populations, while adhering to our respective roles and responsibilities within CRA’s mandates and authorities under the Privacy Act and Income Tax Act.

Action Plan (to be shared with PACP)

Canada Revenue Agency detailed action plan

Issues Notes

CRA Storyline - Overall

Key messages:

The CRA continues to support and build trust with hard-to-reach populations across the country, such as Indigenous peoples and newcomers to Canada. We want to make it as easy as possible for eligible individuals to access the benefits and credits to which they are entitled.
We welcome the OAG recommendations and we recognize there is more work to be done. We are actively engaging with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and other partners to explore ways to expand our collaboration to plan, track, and better deliver services.
The CRA continues to work with ESDC to ensure we are aligned in our prioritization, planning, and monitoring of the take-up of benefits by hard-to-reach populations.
The CRA will also continue to leverage Statistics Canada’s expertise and data to gain more insight into hard-to-reach populations, and help measure the take-up of benefits.
The CRA is currently working with Statistics Canada on a second iteration of a project to leverage their most recent Census in order to better understand its clients, including Indigenous peoples; this will inform our approach to improving programs and services.
The CRA is working to identify additional ways to measure the effectiveness of outreach approaches, including refined performance indicators, while still adhering to the Income Tax Act and the Privacy Act.
The CRA has actively collaborated with ESDC on outreach activities targeted to specific hard-to-reach or vulnerable populations for the past 5 years, and will collaborate even more closely in pursuit of a seamless client service experience in the future.
Specifically, the CRA will work with ESDC to increase ongoing joint activities, such as super clinics and outreach in Indigenous communities.
The CRA will analyze the service journey for hard-to-reach populations to determine and mitigate gaps which will help us get a clearer picture of barriers and allow us to better serve those requiring a higher level of individual support to access benefits.
Individuals need to submit a tax return every year to confirm their eligibility for benefits and credits. We cannot make assumptions about the eligibility for benefits for those who do not regularly file tax returns.
Free tax clinics can remove tax-filing barriers for those with a modest income and a simple tax situation. Free tax clinics and outreach programs serve more than 600,000 individuals a year (even more pre-pandemic) and continue to provide participants with benefits information and tax-filing support despite the challenges of the pandemic.
The CRA allocated over $25 billion in Canada Child Benefit payments to over 3.7 million families in Canada in 2020-2021.
The Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) is a refundable tax credit that supplements the earnings of low and modest income workers and improves their work incentives.
In 2019, the Government made changes that allowed the CRA to calculate the CWB for any tax filer who hasn't claimed it. As a result, everyone who could benefit from the CWB would receive it when they file their taxes.
The CWB replaced the Working Income Tax Benefit and increased both the maximum benefits received, as well as the income level at which the benefit is phased out completely.

Does CRA agree with the OAG recommendations?

Key messages:

The CRA agrees with the three recommendations from the OAG.
1. We will continue to work with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to ensure that our prioritization, planning, and monitoring of work related to hard-to-reach populations are aligned.
2. We actively collaborate with ESDC on outreach activities targeted to specific vulnerable or hard-to-reach populations and will continue to do so in pursuit of a seamless client service experience.
3. We are working with ESDC and other partners to identify additional ways to measure the effectiveness of outreach approaches, including refined performance indicators, while still adhering to the Income Tax and Privacy Acts.
Specifically, we are working on a project with Statistics Canada that is now in its second iteration. The project leverages the most recent Census data in order to help us better understand our clients, including Indigenous peoples. This work allows us to make data-driven decisions about programs for Indigenous people and how to improve our current services.
We also have been working with ESDC for more than 5 years on joint projects that help hard-to-reach people. We are going increase these joint activities, such as super clinics, where people can go to access a variety of government services in one place, and our outreach in Indigenous communities.
We also need to better understand how hard-to-reach and vulnerable people interact with us, what we call their service journey. Once we understand that service journey more, we can identify gaps or barriers, and then work towards removing them, as possible.
We will analyze the service journey for hard-to-reach populations to determine and mitigate gaps, allowing us to better serve those requiring a higher level of individual support to access benefits.

How will the CRA better measure and track the uptake of benefits as a result of its outreach?

Key messages:

The CRA does measure and quantify elements of its outreach work, such as level of attendance at CVITP clinics and the number of returns that are filed using those volunteer services.
We do not, however, collect personal data of those individuals who participate in outreach events; while these events are invaluable for relationship building, they cannot be directly tied to tax-filing.
We continue to prioritize balancing our responsibilities under the Income Tax and Privacy Acts with the collection of data to inform our work.

Can the CRA offer a ‘clear and complete picture’ of non-filers?

Key messages:

CRA encourages all Canadians to file their taxes.
Not all Canadians are required to file taxes.
Annual tax filings are required in order for CRA to establish eligibility for benefits based on individual or family income.
CRA cannot make presumptions about the eligibility for benefits for those who did not regularly file tax returns.
CRA is collaborating with other Federal Departments and Agencies in order to better identify and understand hard-to-reach populations within Canada
CRA is working with Federal Government Partners to align and improve its outreach activities.

How does the CRA estimate the rates of eligible people accessing benefits?

Key messages:

When estimating benefit take up, the CRA looks at eligible individuals who have filed an income tax and benefit return.
We cannot accurately take non-filers into account as we do not know if they would be eligible as well as entitled. Other data relating to hard-to-reach populations can also be incomplete or out of date.
This is why we are working with our government partners to leverage further data and to continue to reach out to people who may need more support to interact with our services.

If the CRA does not exactly know how outreach activities impact take-up rates, how does it assess such activities?

Key messages:

The CRA is able to measure certain initiatives and activities, such as participation in outreach programs and free tax clinics which serve more than 600,000 people a year (even more pre-pandemic).
Other activities establish or grow relationships and build trust, even if they cannot be numerically proven to increase benefit uptake.
In-person visits and work with organizations, such as support agencies, band offices, and homeless shelters, facilitate access to hard-to-reach or vulnerable citizens and give us the opportunity to provide information about benefits, credits, and the free tax-filing services available to them through the CVITP.

How does the CRA plan to improve collaboration with ESDC to create the seamless service experience recommended by the OAG?

Key messages:

Like all government departments, we strive for the integrated delivery of services to Canadians and Indigenous peoples.
At the CRA, we are committed to a “People first” philosophy that seeks to improve service wherever possible.
We recognize there is more work to be done. We are actively engaging with ESDC and other partners to explore ways to expand our collaboration to plan, track, and better deliver services.
An Inter-departmental Working Group was established to collaborate on concrete options to increase benefit (CCB) uptake while taking the OAG’s findings and recommendations into consideration when evaluating new initiatives or approaches.
The CRA is also collaborating with ESDC and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) to expand the promotion of Let Us Help You Get Your Benefits initiative to Indigenous communities and partners.

How does the CRA promote benefits to people who do not have digital access?

Key messages:

The CRA seeks to reach people in multiple ways: in person, by letter, and by phone.
We launched a new initiative to reach out to First Nations by making in-person visits to over 940 communities, including over 710 joint visits with Service Canada.
CVITP virtual tax clinics allow individuals to file their taxes with a volunteer over the phone.
We introduced File My Return (FMR) service for eligible, very low income individuals to auto-file their income tax and benefit return over the phone. In the 2021 tax year, nearly 61,500 individuals used this service.
We provide Outreach Officers with factsheets, infographics, and other resources to share with community organizations.

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts with indigenous communities

Key messages:

The CRA’s Benefits Outreach officers understand the importance of relationship-building with Indigenous partners and take the time to understand cultural nuances of an Indigenous partner prior to working with them.
When in-person visits are possible, Outreach officers discuss the partner’s needs in advance and prepare accordingly. This could include bringing additional technology (i.e. additional laptops, WIFI hotspot) and paper products.
The CRA strives to pool resources when possible, and collaborates with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC/Service Canada) to offer joint sessions to Indigenous partners. This provides well-rounded service that is relevant to client needs.
The Let Us Help You Get Your Benefits (LUHYGYB) program addresses literacy and technological barriers to tax filing by offering a simplified benefit and credit return and Canada Child Benefit (CCB) application.
- The LUHYGYB simplified paper form is available to Indigenous Peoples across Canada, in both urban and rural settings.
  - In addition to outreach officers promoting the use of the form to Indigenous partners, the Outreach program collaborates with ESDC and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) to expand promotion of LUHYGYB to Indigenous communities and partners.
The CRA’s Benefits Outreach Program is developing its information materials (factsheets and infographics) in various indigenous languages including: OJIBWAY, South Slavey, Mi'kmaq, Innu-aimun, Stoney, North Slavey, OJI-CREE, Plains Cree, Swampy Cree, Tlicho, Inuktitut, Nunavik, Dene, Inuktitut Nunavut, Innuinnaqtun. These products will be available to view and print on canada.ca and also available through the outreach officers.
As well, the CRA’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) has fillable posters in Dene, Inuktitut, Mi'kmaq, Ojibway, Oji-Cree, and Plains Cree
The CRA has a webinar for Indigenous Peoples available online on Canada.ca and YouTube.

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts for Canadians in rural and remote communities

Key messages:

CRA’s Individual Tax Filing Assistance (ITFA) initiative identifies modest income individuals whose tax filings were not up-to-date, and offers CRA’s assistance to help them access a suitable filing option. The initial offer of assistance was sent in a letter and followed up with a phone call.
For individuals living in remote locations who have unreliable internet, this means that they are able to receive direct assistance filing their tax returns over the phone with an ITFA agent.
ITFA has played an important role in offering tax filing assistance to individuals in remote communities who experienced reduced access to CVITP clinics due to COVID-19.
Although travel has been on pause during the pandemic, as normal travel activities resume, the teams in each Northern Service Centre will travel to every community in their territory at least once per year. Additional community visits are considered for places with a larger population, for example Rankin Inlet, Inuvik, and Dawson City.
CRA’s Outreach officers are aware that travel in the north can be impacted by weather, flight cancellations, and other issues. In many remote communities, an event or a death in the community can result in last minute changes to travel plans. Our officers are flexible and demonstrate understanding and empathy in these situations.
When travel is not possible, Outreach officers continue to serve remote communities via the clients’ preferred means of communication.

CRA's specific outreach efforts for newcomers / refugees

Key messages:

The CRA’s Outreach officers work with more than 500 regional organizations that serve newcomers to provide information on tax filing, and to promote the CVITP. The Benefits Outreach Program continues to be proactive to ensure information materials meet the needs of individuals immigrating to Canada.
The CRA is conducting webinars for Afghan refugees. These are done jointly with Service Canada, and are planned and facilitated by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Translation services (in Dari and Pashto) are arranged by IRCC. A total of 66 webinars have been completed; they are still ongoing.
Information sessions for Ukrainian refugees are being held, some of which were in partnership with the Canadian Ukrainian Immigrant Aid Society. In the coming months additional presentations to Ukrainian and Russian refugees will be facilitated with Service Canada.
CRA’s Benefits Outreach continues to work jointly with Revenu Quebec to host information sessions this year via Service d'aide aux Néo-Canadiens. All the sessions were provided with translation services (e.g. Arabic, Dari, Swahili, Spanish). Approximately 13 more sessions are scheduled, some of which will be translated into Ukrainian.
From April 1 to August 30, 2022, a total of 127 outreach activities have been completed that included a newcomer audience. They were attended by 2,301 participants.
CRA’s Benefits Outreach Program is has its information materials (factsheets and infographics) available in various third languages including: Arabic, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Russian. We will also be adding Dari, Pashto, Simplified Chinese, and Punjabi in the coming weeks. These products will be available to view and print on canada.ca and also available through the outreach officers.
The CVITP has fillable posters available in Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog and Urdu.
A webinar for newcomers is available online on Canada.ca and YouTube. Video on benefits and credits available in 12 languages on canada.ca and YouTube. This year, a webinar is also planned for international students.

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts for persons with disabilities

Key messages:

CRA’s Benefits Outreach collaborates with partners who would like to offer American Sign Language as well as Langue des signes du Québec at an outreach session by sending presentation material to an organization so the sign language interpreter can prepare in advance.
Outreach officers provide information in webinar invitations that details how attendees can enable closed captions during virtual MS Teams events.
From April 1 to August 30, 2022, a total of 75 outreach activities have been completed that included a Persons with Disabilities audience. They were attended by 994 participants

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts for seniors

Key messages:

To effectively present to 65+ audiences, CRA’s Outreach officers will check in with participants and adjust their presentation based an participant needs. This includes increasing the display size of the presentation, and adjusting speaking volume and pace. From April 1 to August 30, 2022, a total of 81 outreach activities have been completed that included a 65+ audience. They were attended by 1,338 participants.
CRA’s Individual Tax Filing Assistance (ITFA) program offered filing assistance to many seniors from April to August of 2022.
- These clients would have had great difficulty filing on their own, and provided overwhelmingly positive feedback on the services offered.
- In some cases seniors had not filed for multiple years due to reduced mobility from Parkinson’s and stroke. As a result of the effort of ITFA agents, they are now able to receive their full CPP and OAS benefits.
CRA’s 65+ factsheets are provided in large-print format.

CRA's contact centre improvements

Key messages:

A new telephony platform was implemented in 2018 that has allowed a number of improvements for the contact centres:
- National agent queues along with skills based routing allows callers to speak with the next available agent across the country, who is equipped to handle the enquiry correctly, the first time.
- National standardized interactive voice response (IVR) system providing estimated wait times. Wait times are also available on Canada.ca, to allow callers to make informed decisions about when to call.
- A callback feature (virtual hold) has been implemented; it is available when certain criteria are met and gives callers the option to hang up and hold their place in the line for a callback
- Ability to record calls to identify training needs and for quality assurance monitoring. As a result, the CRA implemented a National Quality Assurance Program to monitor accuracy and service quality. Detailed observations are used to identify agent training needs and continuously improve agent tools.
A new National Quality Assurance Program was implemented that includes reviews of a random sample of call recordings to ensure the information accuracy and service quality of calls. Detailed observations are used to identify agent training needs and continuously improve agent tools.

PACP Committee Information

PACP Committee Profile

Standing Committee on Public accounts (PACP)

Mandate

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g) of the House of Commons, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts has a mandate to, among other matters: review of and report on the Public Accounts of Canada and all reports of the Auditor General of Canada, which shall be severally deemed permanently referred to the Committee immediately after they are laid upon the table [...]

The Committee also has the general mandate given to all committees under Standing Order 108(2); that is, the power to study and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management and operation of the government department(s) that are assigned to them. In the case of the Committee, the department is the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.

Additionally, the Committee may enquire into any other matter that the House of Commons may refer to it.

The Public Accounts Committee is Parliament's standing audit committee, and it reviews the work of the federal government's external auditor, the Auditor General of Canada.

When the Speaker tables a report by the Auditor General in the House of Commons, it is automatically referred to the Public Accounts Committee. The Committee selects the chapters of the report it wants to study and calls the Auditor General and senior public servants from the audited organizations to appear before it to respond to the Office of the Auditor General's findings. The Committee also reviews the federal government's consolidated financial statements – the Public Accounts of Canada – and examines financial and/or accounting shortcomings raised by the Auditor General. At the conclusion of a study, the Committee may present a report to the House of Commons that includes recommendations to the government for improvements in administrative and financial practices and controls of federal departments and agencies.

Government policy, and the extent to which policy objectives are achieved, are generally not examined by the Public Accounts Committee. Instead, the Committee focuses on government administration – the economy and efficiency of program delivery as well as the adherence to government policies, directives and standards. The Committee seeks to hold the government to account for effective public administration and due regard for public funds.

Table of contents

Jean Yip

Liberal – Scarborough—Agincourt (Ontario)

Biography

Jean Yip was born in Scarborough, and raised in Agincourt, and has deep roots in the community. Jean's mother and father immigrated to Canada, and she grew up in Agincourt surrounded by their values of hard work, family, and compassion – values which she now instills in the three sons she raised with her late husband, Arnold Chan.

After completing her degree at the University of Toronto, Jean pursued a career in insurance and underwriting, becoming a team leader in her field. Jean holds the Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional Designation.

Prior to becoming an MP, Jean has focused on her community and her family, stepping up to serve Scarborough—Agincourt. She has taught Sunday school at her church for over 13 years, and has been involved with the STEM Fellowship Board of Directors which promotes computer literacy and programming capacity among youth.

In Parliament, Jean sits on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Special Committee on Canada-China Relations. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Liberal Seniors Caucus. Jean is also a member of the Liberal Party's Caucuses on Immigration, and Mental Health as well as Women's and Scarborough Caucuses where she brings attention to the issues facing the people of Scarborough—Agincourt. Jean is a member of the Canada-China Legislative Association, as well as the Canada-Armenia, Canada-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group, and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Since being elected, Jean has spoken in the House of Commons on many issues including student employment, pension security, National Daffodil Day, the Anniversary of Armenian Independence, and removing barriers to STEM.

Valerie Bradford

Liberal – Kitchener South—Hespeler (Ontario)

Biography

Valerie Bradford has spent the last 15 years supporting small businesses and bringing jobs and investments to Waterloo Region as an economic development professional for the City of Kitchener.

She is the former Chair of the Workforce Planning Board, serving in that role for eight years. With extensive knowledge of the local economy and experience with workforce development, Valerie is well-equipped to help the region recover from the hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Raising her three children as a single mom, Valerie understands the challenges that families face, as they juggle responsibilities at home, finances, and careers. Valerie is passionate about universally affordable and accessible childcare, which will allow parents, particularly women, to fully participate in the workforce. Making ends meet was never easy, but growing up on a dairy farm near Dunnville, Ontario, she learned the value of hard work and responsibility at a young age.

Waterloo Region is a great place to live, work, and raise a family - we need to continue to make it better and accessible for all residents. Valerie's goal is to ensure that Canadians everywhere have access to safe and affordable housing that meets their needs.

Since moving to the region 17 years ago, Valerie has been a volunteer with multiple local organizations. She is dedicated to public service and is committed to being a strong voice for residents of Kitchener South-Hespeler as their Member of Parliament.

Han Dong

Liberal – Don Valley North (Ontario)

Biography

Raised and educated in Toronto, Han, his sister, and his parents immigrated to Canada from Shanghai in the early 1990's. Growing up working at his parent's 24-hour coffee shop, Han learned the value of hard work, family, and community which ultimately lead him to public service.

In 2019 Han was elected as the Member of Parliament for Don Valley North. He currently serves as the Co-Chair Canada-China Legislative Association, a member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills, and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, and a member of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics.

Prior to being elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Han served as a Member Provincial Parliament (MPP) at Queen's Park from 2014-2018, standing up for public education, and consumers rights.

A passionate advocate for our Community, Han has continuously stood up for the residents of Don Valley North, advocating for safer communities, easing traffic congestion, action to combat climate change, and housing affordability.

Han has proven that he will never stop working hard to support the residents of our diverse, dynamic, and forward-looking community. Han and his wife Sophie, are the proud parents of Emma and Matthew, and their extra-large dog Seesea.

Peter Fragiskatos, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue

Liberal – London North Centre (Ontario)

Biography

Peter Fragiskatos was first elected as the Member of Parliament for London North Centre in 2015.

In this role, Mr. Fragiskatos previously served as a member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, the Standing Committee on Finance, and the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations. He was also a member of various other committees, parliamentary associations, and interparliamentary groups.

In December 2021, Mr. Fragiskatos was appointed by the Prime Minister to serve as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue.

Prior to entering federal politics, Mr. Fragiskatos was a political scientist at King's University College at Western University and a media commentator. His works have been published by major Canadian and international news organizations, including Maclean's, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, BBC News, and CNN.

Born in London, Ontario, Mr. Fragiskatos has combined his passion for politics with a desire to give back to his community. He has served on the boards of Anago (Non) Residential Resources Inc. and the Heritage London Foundation. An active volunteer, he ran a youth mentorship program and has worked with many local not-for-profit groups, such as the London Food Bank, the London Cross-Cultural Learner Centre, and Literacy London, a charity dedicated to helping adults improve their reading and writing skills.

Mr. Fragiskatos holds a Political Science degree from Western University, a master's degree in International Relations from Queen's University, and a PhD in International Relations from Cambridge University.

He lives in the riding of London North Centre with his wife, Katy, and his daughter, Ava.

Brenda Shanahan

Liberal – Châteauguay—Lacolle (Quebec)

Biography

Brenda holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Social Work and a Bachelor of History. During her career as a banker, social worker and financial educator, she provided counsel in financial management and developed financial literacy workshops and materials as well as being a commentator on financial issues for various media outlets.

A long-time resident of Châteauguay and mother of three adult children, Brenda has been involved in a number of organizations such as Amnesty International and the Canadian Federation of University Women.

Elected as the Member of Parliament for Châteauguay-Lacolle in 2015, Brenda served on the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Death, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. She was then appointed to the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence. She was also Vice-Chair of the Quebec Liberal Caucus, Vice-Chair of the Liberal Women's Caucus and Co-Chair of the Multiparty Global Health Caucus.

John Williamson, PACP Chair

Conservative – New Brunswick Southwest (New Brunswick)

Biography

Member of Parliament John Williamson has over 25 years of experience in public policy research and conservative movement activism. He was re-elected to Parliament in 2021 after being returned in 2019, representing New Brunswick Southwest. He is chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts as well as chairman of the Atlantic Conservative parliamentary caucus.

John was also the MP for New Brunswick Southwest until 2015. Prior to his election to the House of Commons in 2011, he worked as Stephen Harper's Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister.

During his time in Parliament, John served as a member of the House of Commons committee investigating all aspects of the Canada-China relationship. He also successfully led efforts to reform gold-plated pensions for Members of Parliament, introduced a Private Member's Bill to eliminate lifetime parliamentary pensions for federal politicians convicted of criminal malfeasance, and voted with Conservative colleagues to end the Liberal's wasteful and ineffective Long-Gun Registry.

In 2016, John launched Canadians for Affordable Energy to promote the benefits of energy affordability. He was National Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) from January 2004 to September 2008, and CTF Ontario Director from September 2002 to December 2003. He has also worked for the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, is a past Fellow with the Manning Centre for Building Democracy and Senior Fellow with the Fraser Institute.

Before entering politics, John campaigned on behalf of the CTF to lower income and gasoline taxes and expose wasteful government spending. He supported the Conservative Government's two-point GST cut, a one-third cut to Canada's business tax rate and its monthly child-care allowance paid to parents with young children.

His work has been featured in national publications such as the National Post, Maclean's magazine, Toronto's Globe & Mail, Toronto Sun, CBC News, Vancouver Sun, C2C and others.

John is a former National Post editorial writer (1998-2001) and founding member of the newspaper's editorial board.

He has a master's degree in economic history from the London School of Economics and earned a bachelor's degree from McGill University after graduating from Fredericton High School.

In 2012, John met the love of his life, Kelly. Kelly Williamson is a Captain in the Royal Canadian Navy who has served both at sea and ashore and also worked with the Canadian Army, Special Operations Forces Command, and Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team. In 2019, Kelly was invested into the Order of Military Merit.

John & Kelly have a sweet baby girl: Charlotte Tessa Abbigail Williamson. She was born on July 2, 2020. They live in St. Andrews with the family's Cairn terrier Teddy. Teddy is from Harvey, New Brunswick.

Kelly McCauley

Conservative – Edmonton West (Alberta)

Biography

Kelly J. McCauley was elected Member of Parliament for Edmonton West in October 2015. He is currently serving his third term after two successful re-election campaigns in 2019 and 2021.

Mr. McCauley was born and raised in North Vancouver, graduating from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 1982. Prior to entering politics, Mr. McCauley spent more than 30 years managing hotels and convention centres from Victoria to St. John's. During that time, he served on many volunteer boards including as Vice President of the Burnaby Board of Trade and Vice Chair of the Avalon Convention and Visitors Bureau.

As an advocate for seniors, Mr. McCauley is a past President of the Greater Victoria Eldercare Foundation, the largest seniors hospital foundation on Vancouver Island, for which he continues to serve as a special advisor. In recognition of his advocacy for veterans, Mr. McCauley was named an honourary member of the Vancouver Island Aircrew Association.

In Edmonton, Mr. McCauley has served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Northlands, the board of the Alberta Aviation Museum, was Chairperson of the EI Board of Referees for Edmonton and Northern Alberta, and was a founding co-chair of the Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels.

Michael Kram

Conservative – Regina—Wascana (Saskatchewan)

Biography

Michael Kram is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Regina-Wascana, a position which he has held since the general election of October 21st, 2019.

Michael was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. His parents are both retired teachers and his grandparents were farmers. He graduated from Dr. Martin LeBoldus High School in Regina.

Michael has a Bachelor of Science Degree majoring in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Economics. Both degrees are from the University of Regina. He also studied Economics at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Garnett Genuis

Conservative – Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan (Alberta)

Biography

Garnett Genuis is the Member of Parliament for Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan. First elected to Parliament in 2015, MP Genuis is a long-time resident of Strathcona County, where he currently resides with his wife Rebecca, a family doctor, and their five children.

During his time as a parliamentarian, Genuis has developed a reputation for being outspoken and principled. He has served in various roles in the Conservative Shadow Cabinet since 2019. He previously served as the Vice-Chair of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations.

Genuis has been active on many high-profile domestic and international human rights issues. His interest in human rights was shaped by the experience of his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Genuis is also a passionate advocate for free speech, for increased efforts to combat violence against women, and for Canadian energy. He is the sponsor of Bill C-257, a bill to add "political belief and activity" to the Canadian Human Rights Act as prohibited grounds of discrimination, and Motion 57, a motion to promote bystander awareness and intervention training to combat violence.

Genuis holds degrees from Carleton University and the London School of Economics. He runs a weekly podcast called "Resuming Debate", and spends any spare time reading history books and playing strategy games with his children. The family also includes a Newfoundlander dog named Grace.

Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné

Bloc Québécois – Terrebonne (Québec)

Biography

Sinclair-Desgagné was educated at McGill University, where she graduated in economics. She has a Master's Degree from the University of Oxford.

Prior to being elected, she was a senior economic advisor to the general management of the City of Montreal. She has also worked for Deloitte and PwC.

Blake Desjarlais

New Democratic Party – Edmonton Griesbach (Alberta)

Biography

Blake Desjarlais (he/him) was born in ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᕀᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Edmonton) and raised in the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement.

Blake made history in September 2021 when he was the first openly Two-Spirit person elected to the House of Commons. Blake is currently Alberta's only Indigenous Member of Parliament.

Prior to his election, Blake was the National Director of the Métis Settlements General Council.

Blake currently serves as the Caucus Vice Chair and Critic for Treasury Board, Diversity and Inclusion, Youth, Sport and Post-Secondary Education. Blake is the Deputy Critic for 2SLGBTQI+ Rights and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Blake is proud to call the Boyle Street neighbourhood in Edmonton Griesbach home.

Relevant PACP Meeting Recap

Parliamentary Affairs monitored the House of Commons Public Accounts (PACP) Committee meeting held on June 2, 2022. PACP met with the Office of the Auditor General to discuss the four OAG Reports released on May 31, 2022 – including Report 1, Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations.

During her opening statement (verbatim as the media statement delivered on May 31, 2022), the Auditor General stated with respect to Report 1 that the OAG: “wanted to know whether the federal government ensured that individuals in low‑income groups could access the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Workers Benefit, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the Canada Learning Bond. The Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada know that not everyone who could receive these benefits is getting them. These individuals who may be unaware of benefits available to them include low‑income groups who are not easily served through regular channels, Indigenous persons, seniors, newcomers to Canada, and persons with disabilities. These hard‑to‑reach populations often face one or more barriers to access benefits. As such, they require more help from government. The Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada lacked a clear and complete picture of the people are not accessing benefits. The Agency and the Department also did not know whether most of their targeted outreach activities had helped to increase the benefit take‑up rates for hard‑to‑reach populations. We also found that the Agency and the Department overstated the rates of people accessing benefits because they did not always account for people who had not filed income tax returns—a requirement to access most benefits. Though the Agency and the Department have taken some action, they still lack a comprehensive plan to connect people with benefits. As a result, they are failing to improve the lives of some individuals and families who may need these benefits the most.”

During the question and answer portion of the meeting both Report 2 (Processing Disability Benefits for Veterans) and Report 4 (Systemic Barriers—Correctional Service Canada) were the primary focus, as well as the OAG’s general frustration with the lack of implementation of their recommendations over recent years writ-large (pointing to the OAG’s recent efforts to better hold departments and agencies to account of implementation as a result of such).

There were limited questions and comments related to Report 1 (Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations) as follows:

Liberal PACP Member Peter Fragiskatos inquired about Report 1’s Recommendation 1.45, wondering how such results-based performance measures should look like and how they could be best tailored for hard-to-reach populations:

Mr. Peter Fragiskatos (London North Centre, Lib.):

Auditor General, I want to read to you key recommendations—at least in my mind—from various reports in the time that I have allotted and get your thoughts on implementation based on your expertise. The first report I'll point to is report 1, appropriately called “Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations”. The recommendation that is especially highlighted is as follows: To better understand the effectiveness of outreach approaches, the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada should develop and implement consistent results‑based performance measures for targeted outreach to hard‑to‑reach populations.

What would these results-based performance measures look like, exactly? As important, how would they best be tailored to hard-to-reach populations? What would be some suggestions there, zeroing in on and delving into that question of hard-to-reach populations that the report focuses on?

Ms. Karen Hogan (Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General):

I'm going to attempt it, and I might turn to Mr. Swales to add. We found that the departments were measuring the number of activities. For example, they would visit indigenous communities in the hopes of making individuals aware that, if they filed their tax returns, they could receive the Canada child benefit. They measured the quantity of visits, but didn't actually measure whether or not those visits ended up in individuals filing a tax return and, therefore, getting access to the Canada child benefit.

To me, that is not targeted to that group. As we've seen from statistics, many individuals on reserve are not accessing the Canada child benefit. Perhaps it is because they are unwilling or unable to file a tax return. Finding another way to ensure that an indigenous family can access a benefit they are entitled to would be a targeted outreach activity. Sometimes there are individuals who need help filling out a form. Filling out the form might be the first step, but if they then also need to deal with a different department, they're on their own. There isn't an end-to-end service model that is focused on the individual and their barriers to accessing these benefits.

That's why we encourage the government to think differently about how they try to reach hard-to-reach people who are not accessing the benefits in the traditional way that everyone else is.

Mr. Peter Fragiskatos:

I suppose that's my question. Do you have advice or thoughts, based on your expertise, on how exactly this could move forward? For example, what are best practices or where has it worked internationally in other G7 countries? Do you have any thoughts there?

Ms. Karen Hogan:

I'll leave some time for Nick to perhaps add to this. I believe what we're not seeing is a focus on the actual barrier that needs to be addressed. We're really seeing the focus on having the hard-to-reach populations understand that this is the traditional access point to get these benefits and helping them get through that access point, instead of actually understanding the barrier. Nick, would you like to add something about other countries?

Mr. Nicholas Swales (Principal, Office of the Auditor General):

Mr. Chair, I could just add a couple of quick points. In terms of your initial question about measurement, a key issue from our perspective is disaggregation. It's getting down into the community levels and collecting information there on what the take-up rates are and seeing whether the initiatives they're undertaking are having an impact at that level, instead of just leaving it to the country as a whole where the large numbers tend to obscure what's happening in those communities.

There is a report the British do. They produce a report on take-up rates every couple of years, which is based on some sophisticated ways of thinking about this problem. They do some modelling and some additional surveys. That is certainly an example we think could be looked at more closely.

Mr. Peter Fragiskatos:

Certainly there's always room for improvement. The Canada child benefit has been mentioned here. I think it would inform the committee. I think most members will know this already, but it's important to put on the record the 300,000-plus children who have been lifted out of poverty because of that program, not to mention so many families right across the country that benefit each month. The means-based approach is central to that. As I say, we can always get your thoughts on how to do it better. That's just one example.

The Chair: Mr. Fragiskatos, I'm afraid that is your time.

NDP PACP Member Blake Desjarlais inquired if Report 1 looked separately at the experiences of indigenous communities in rural and urban settings – given the increased barriers in rural settings:

Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP):

I just want to begin by addressing my Liberal colleague's comment on room to improve. I think this room is far greater than that comment provides. This is, I think, a very serious situation that's provided by the government, and it has mounted. This is really a situation in which the whole house, not just one room, needs to be improved. This is an extreme situation.

Our country's most disadvantaged, as you mentioned, are being left alone to deal with these kinds of violences and barriers by themselves. The core of what this committee and our work here provide must be showing the government with urgency how this must seize their attention immediately.

We can't continue to disadvantage these groups for so long. I don't want to have to sit here for another decade and have to talk about the same thing Ms. Hogan mentioned. Some of these issues have persisted since 2009. That's just not acceptable. I think that comment diminishes in many ways the reality of the severity of this and the people who are being left behind.

My riding is one of the largest in terms of its urban indigenous population. It's also plagued by a massive amount of poverty. Community members in my city have done extraordinary work to actually do this work on the ground level without the government. They've provided for themselves and tried their best to survive. They're literally selling bottles and doing what they can to feed themselves. This is the condition in which we're seeing people in my community suffering right now. Without community members supporting each other, we wouldn't have a community where I'm from. It's really because of each other that it's happening.

Your report says really clearly that the outreach activities that ESDC conducted with indigenous communities were inadequate. Those were largely for rural communities. I just want to ask, given the fact that a majority of indigenous people now live in urban centres, how are they being consulted and did your report look at the condition of those populations as hard to reach?

Ms. Karen Hogan:

In our report on hard-to-reach individuals, I don't believe we disaggregated whether communities were rural or in a more populous area. We just looked at the group of indigenous communities as a whole when we identified them and tried to disaggregate some data.

CPC PACP Member Jeremy Patzer also noted the challenges faced by rural residents when applying for and accessing benefits, and if this is something the OAG had looked at:

Mr. Jeremy Patzer (Cypress Hills—Grasslands, CPC):

I think we need to talk about hard-to-reach populations as well, which you look at from many different perspectives. You touched on many of them here, such as serving a very large rural community, for example. That can sometimes be and quite often is forgotten as one of the harder-to-reach areas, just because of the fact that the distance between places is so vast and becomes problematic. Again, I think there are ways we can be more efficient in how government operates without it being more expensive, for sure.

Building on that point, then, and looking at how the government works with hard-to-reach populations, I think it's fair to say.... I guess we touched already on the different groups, but it's also the case that anyone in a rural area generally has a harder time with accessing or navigating the services. Can you elaborate on the process for rural communities and how that could be more efficient or be better dealt with?

Ms. Karen Hogan:

I'll start, and then, if I may, Chair, I'll see if Mr. Swales would like to add to that. I agree with you that a lot of the programs were accessed online before the pandemic, and the pandemic actually accelerated how so many more programs are accessed online. That does present a barrier for certain rural communities. Mr. Swales, would you like to add something to that?

Mr. Nicholas Swales:

Thank you. I think part of the issue is that the government plays a role in reaching out. We talk a little bit about that in our report. Some of the activities they have undertaken in aboriginal communities more recently involve doing that kind of thing and taking a more proactive stance. That could be part of a way of helping rural communities and more remote communities as well.

Mr. Jeremy Patzer:

Yes. Service Canada and all these different outfits quite often tend to be in the larger urban centres. Logistically it makes more sense, but sometimes the participation is a bit of a problem or a factor in terms of reaching out. Not everybody is going to go looking through a Government of Canada website to try to find where the feedback link is on a program or how to make something better. What more should be done? Do the audits reflect on what should be done in terms of improving that outreach to make sure that these disadvantaged communities are more adequately serviced?

Ms. Karen Hogan:

That's a bit of a difficult question. I think that's something that the government needs to ponder on its own. There are so many different factors to consider, and we really just targeted four programs that were meant to help lift low-income families out of poverty and support them in their day-to-day lives. You can tackle any program, and there's likely a different need or a different response that might be needed. I think it's about acknowledging that you now need to actually touch the edges. The most vulnerable are those who really need the programs the most. Recognizing that the traditional way is likely not going to reach them, how do you change that to reach those who the program was also meant to support and might need it most?

Liberal PACP Member Han Dong pointed to challenges that some new Canadians often experience in terms of awareness of and access to Government benefits, asking it the OAG had looked at cooperation between CRA/ESDC and IRCC to raise awareness to benefits; the OAG noted they had spoken to IRCC as part of its work on Report 1:

Mr. Han Dong (Don Valley North, Lib.):

To the Auditor General, I'm going to start off with a question on the hard-to-reach populations when it comes to government programs. You mentioned there's one category of the population who are newcomers, including refugees. In your findings, did you see any collaboration among various ministries, whether it's CRA or employment services, with IRCC through the settlement programs, so that the community organizations can go out proactively and inform and assist these populations with government benefits?

Ms. Karen Hogan:

Mr. Chair, if you will permit me, I will ask Mr. Swales to add onto this issue, but I do think newcomers to Canada face many barriers. Oftentimes it's the language of the form or their hesitancy to interact with a government, depending on where they may be coming from. They face those unique barriers as well. I will turn to Nick to comment on the collaboration and the program that you mentioned. Thank you.

Mr. Nicholas Swales:

Thank you. We did speak with IRCC, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, as part of our work. Certainly there is some collaboration. We're talking about measuring and identifying the communities and getting a better understanding of the take-up rates among them. That was one of the groupings where we thought there was an opportunity for improvement. Certainly there is more work that could be done there.

Liberal PACP Member Han Dong questioned the OAG about barriers that individuals waiting for their immigration status to be confirmed but with Canadian-born children have in obtaining the CCB, and if the CCB should be modified to address the issue:

Mr. Han Dong:

In my constituency work I came across a very niche population. They are waiting for a decision on their status, whether they are asylum seekers or previously undocumented workers, but they have Canadian-born children. These are Canadian kids. Because of the way the program is set up, they won't be able to access, say, the Canada child benefit in that case. Do you think there should be some modifications or perhaps increased eligibility from...? I'm not talking about the policy side. I just want to get your thoughts on this. Should there be a way to include these Canadian kids when it comes to the Canada child benefit?

Ms. Karen Hogan:

Mr. Chair, honestly that is a very large policy question as to who should be scoped into the programs. I'm not sure that I actually have a view or perspective on it. I do know that we issued a report on the Canada child benefit program, and we found that, when someone had submitted an application, the government was really effective at providing those payments to individuals. Now it's about identifying those people who aren't aware or are incapable, or who have different barriers to accessing them, but your question is much more specific about a policy angle, which I'll defer to the policy-makers to comment on.

NDP PACP Member Blake Desjarlais questioned how the Government is addressing the issues facing those with multiple barriers to access (e.g. those with disabilities, the homeless, etc.):

Mr. Blake Desjarlais:

I want to follow up on a similar topic that I addressed previously. To remind everyone, it's about access to services, particularly the hard-to-reach-populations portion. There are many kinds of ways people can face barriers. There are racial barriers, but there are also persons with disabilities. Sometimes there are both or multiple barriers. There can also be gender inequities present in that.

Considering that, I'm thinking of community members in my city. We have 3,200 houseless folks. It's a massive population that is completely unserviced. When I go and talk to these folks, they often don't have ID. They don't have some of the basic things that these programs often demand in order to provide support.

Thinking about how we can do better to service these populations, I think of some of the models that have been employed by Indigenous Services Canada, such as going to hard-to-reach, remote communities in person, for example, and saying, “Here are some programs”. However, that's not very successful, considering the mistrust that's often there between the government and community members. However, that's an aside to my question.

For those who may be experiencing very real barriers to access to these services, such as persons with disabilities, is there a specific process that the departments take, if any, in order to better consult or to better inform those people—who may be living with a disability—about these programs?

Ms. Karen Hogan:

I believe that's one area that we highlighted in our report on hard-to-reach people where there's a large opportunity for improvement. What we found is that a lot of the outreach actually didn't have that sort of hands-on, tailored approach for an individual who might be experiencing multiple barriers in order to access the program. You highlighted those who are housing insecure or those who are disabled. I would argue it could be someone who might be living in a shelter who is fleeing an abusive situation and may not have a permanent address and an inability to file a tax return and to access some of the programs that they might absolutely need on a day-to-day basis.

It goes back to that comment about needing to understand the barriers that these hard-to-reach populations are facing, and then how to break them down. The traditional route of filing a tax return might not be what best serves them.

I understand that these programs we looked at are mostly income-based, so the guaranteed income supplement program is actually piloting other ways to demonstrate income, other than filing your income tax return. There are individuals who are hesitant to file them, but not necessarily unwilling.

The OAG later noted that when the Government measures the success of its outreach efforts, it should look at the whole population – not only the subset of those filing their taxes:

Mr. Nicholas Swales:

This is what I would say in relation to our report. We found that when the government measures its success in relation to this population, it does not always include those who have not filed a tax return. In our opinion, the entire population has to be considered. This benefit is not intended solely for those who apply for it; it is intended for the entire population. Se we need data about the entire population.

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Date modified:: 2023-02-22

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Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) – October 25, 2022

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Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) – October 25, 2022

On this page

Notice of meeting

Witnesses

Opening remarks

Speaking notes for Bob Hamilton, Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency

Standing Committee on Public Accounts OAG Report 1— Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations

Supporting Documentation

OAG May 2022 Report – Report 1

Auditor General of Canada’s Opening Statement to the News Conference (May 31, 2022)

News Release - Government of Canada welcomes the Auditor General of Canada’s performance audit on Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations (May 31, 2022)

News Release - Minister of National Revenue announces more support for organizations that help improve access to benefits and credits

Overview: Impact on the Canada Revenue Agency

2022 May Reports of the Auditor General of Canada Report 1 – Access to Benefits for Hard to Reach Populations

Impact on the Canada Revenue Agency

Audit objective

Audit score

Highlights

Positive observations about the Canada Revenue Agency

Negative observations about the Canada Revenue Agency

OAG recommendations and Agency response

Action Plan (to be shared with PACP)

Issues Notes

CRA Storyline - Overall

Does CRA agree with the OAG recommendations?

How will the CRA better measure and track the uptake of benefits as a result of its outreach?

Can the CRA offer a ‘clear and complete picture’ of non-filers?

How does the CRA estimate the rates of eligible people accessing benefits?

If the CRA does not exactly know how outreach activities impact take-up rates, how does it assess such activities?

How does the CRA plan to improve collaboration with ESDC to create the seamless service experience recommended by the OAG?

How does the CRA promote benefits to people who do not have digital access?

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts with indigenous communities

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts for Canadians in rural and remote communities

CRA's specific outreach efforts for newcomers / refugees

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts for persons with disabilities

CRA's specific outreach and accommodation efforts for seniors

CRA's contact centre improvements

PACP Committee Information

PACP Committee Profile

Mandate

Jean Yip

Biography

Valerie Bradford

Biography

Han Dong

Biography

Peter Fragiskatos, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue

Biography

Brenda Shanahan

Biography

John Williamson, PACP Chair

Biography

Kelly McCauley

Biography

Michael Kram

Biography

Garnett Genuis

Biography

Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné

Biography

Blake Desjarlais

Biography

Relevant PACP Meeting Recap

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Standing Committee on Public Accounts
OAG Report 1— Access to Benefits for Hard-to-Reach Populations

2022 May Reports of the Auditor General of Canada
Report 1 – Access to Benefits for Hard to Reach Populations