QUESTION PERIOD — Employment and Social Development
Access to Programs
June 8, 2022
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, last week the Auditor General released four performance audit reports, one of which focused on access to benefits for hard-to-reach populations. Ms. Hogan found that the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada, or ESDC, had an incomplete picture of potentially eligible people who were not receiving benefits, and the departments did not know whether most of their targeted outreach activities had helped to increase benefit take-up rates for hard-to-reach populations.
Can you share with Canadians what the government is doing to increase the number of hard-to-reach individuals who are eligible for government-funded benefits? Although it’s only two years old, can you tell us if Service Canada’s Reaching All Canadians initiative is reaping any benefits and showing early signs of success?
Senator, thank you for the question. The government welcomes the recommendations of the Auditor General and acknowledges, frankly, that there is more work to be done.
Barriers keeping at-risk Canadians from accessing benefits include lack of awareness, lack of cultural awareness, service design, accessibility and others. To address these barriers, ESDC developed a strategy structured around four key components: simplification, direct reach, inclusion, and promotion and awareness. This strategy includes client-centric solutions to connect with at-risk Canadians where they live, similar to the successful Indigenous Outreach initiative that obtained funding in 2018 to reach remote and northern Indigenous communities that have been historically underserved. I’m also advised that the CRA continues to support and build trust with hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities across the country. For example, free tax clinics and outreach programs serve approximately 600,000 people a year.
With respect to your question regarding the Reaching All Canadians initiative, I’m advised that the government is presently seeking to strengthen this initiative to respond to the findings in the audit. I have been assured that the government will continue to develop programs and processes to ensure that all Canadians — especially marginalized and underserved people — are able to access services, benefits and support.
Thank you for the answer, Senator Gold. It’s reassuring.
As Ms. Hogan said, the government needs to find out what the barriers that prevent hard-to-reach populations from accessing these programs are and then tailor its outreach programs instead of repeating the same recipe over and over again in the hopes that it will generate more buy-in.
I know the government acknowledged the responsibility to help Canadians receive their benefits, and to that effect it allocated $18 million in 2021 to ESDC and CRA for targeted outreach activities. Is the government able to provide us with an update on how this money was spent, and how many Canadians it helped obtain benefits they otherwise would have likely not received or applied for?
Thank you, senator, for the question. With regard to the specifics of the question, I will have to make inquiries with the government and hope to report back in a timely fashion.
