QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
Indian Status Card Applications
September 22, 2022
Minister, I’m asking this question on behalf of Senator Duncan, who represents the Yukon.
Minister, through the Indigenous Peoples Committee report MAKE IT STOP! we learned that your department does not report on service standards regarding Indian registration applications and whether service standards are met. Senator Duncan has since learned from women who hold a status card that those cards must be renewed periodically with considerable processing delays.
Can you please tell us what you’re doing to establish higher service standards throughout your department, to determine what those service standards are and whether those service standards are, in fact, met?
Thank you, senator. Certainly, service standards have trailed particularly during the pandemic as people were working from home. At times applications have to be done by hand, particularly with paper documentation.
The service standard varies. If it’s a renewal, the service standard is only a few weeks and shouldn’t take that much time. If it is a new application, or an application under Bill S-3, it’s something that can take a little more time, and often an unacceptable period of time.
We have allocated a number of resources to increase and prioritize the processing of applications, particularly when it is for people who need immediate care that depends on the issuance of a status card. This is work that Minister Hajdu is doing with her team in Indigenous Services Canada to make sure that, in particular, the site at Winnipeg is running in a way that is up to the standard that we would like to see things happen.
Again, this is a highly volatile turnaround time, depending on the type of application. I could admit to you quite freely that throughout the pandemic things have, yes, slowed down.
