Thank you, Mr. Cuzner.
I want to thank Ms. Gray, Mr. Thorsteinson, and Ms. Williams for your presentations. You've highlighted the three real benefits of this legislation. First and foremost it is a compassionate piece of legislation addressing the needs of people at the most serious and probably the most sensitive part of their lives, when they're grieving the loss of a loved one. It's a piece of consumer legislation in that it will ultimately reduce the costs, primarily for the consumer, who will no longer have to turn to people like lawyers to help them fill out documents and make contact with the government.
I know that because I was one of those estate lawyers people would often come to and say, “I don't know what to do.” They would find the process so daunting that they would just give up and place it before my me or my staff. I would say, “Well, I'm going to have to wind up billing you for this extra work and I don't want to have to do that. Are you sure you can't do it yourself?“ They found it so overwhelming that they preferred to just leave it at the doorstep of a lawyer.
As well it does create efficiencies in government. I think Mr. Armstrong has highlighted the fact that this will unfold over time. This isn't just going to be, over time, we'll flick a switch and everything will happen tomorrow. It is going to be cumulative and incremental, using SIN with other departments that will adopt the SIN system and integrate as our systems improve and our technologies change.
I'm going to ask a few questions and I'll ask this of Ms. Gray and Mr. Thorsteinson first.
Do you know of anyone who had, or did either of you ever have, to deal with a lawyer with respect to these issues of someone dying and having to apply for benefits with the government?