Evidence of meeting #126 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
A video is available from Parliament.
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
No, calls are not recorded at this time.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
How do you monitor how the staff are treating clients?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
It's what we call silent monitoring. Another individual listens in on a call as it is actually happening.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Okay, so what happens in a situation when a Service Canada representative treats a client inappropriately, insensitively or that type of thing? What would be the process?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
Feedback would be provided to the individual to ensure that they understand their role, their functions, and the way they should be engaging. Follow-ups would be done to ensure that there were no further issues.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Is there ever training? Do people ever need to go for extra training, sensitivity training?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
I think there's always a value in refreshing these sorts of things. It's very easy for people to receive the training, but with everything else going on at a given time, you might require a refresh to ensure you're fully focused on all of your functions.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Would Service Canada be willing to have their employees retrained every five years or whatnot, as a refresher course?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
It's certainly something that we can take away and look at as part of our larger service excellence program.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to go back to part of the questioning this morning. We focused on the point of first access, which is the call-in number. Do you think it would be feasible for Service Canada to have a separate portal, a separate call-in number, to deal with bereavement issues?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
It's certainly something that we can look at. We'd want to make sure that we were designing it in such a way that it truly facilitated things, because you want to make sure you have that balance between that deep program knowledge and the specific skill set that you're speaking about in terms of dealing with these specific clients. Certainly it's something we intend to take away and look at.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
It's not out of the realm of possibility, then. Would it be a reasonable position for Service Canada to undertake to have a separate response centre so that if an individual were going through the bereavement process and they had a loss, they would call this centre, and it could provide information on what type of benefits they might be eligible for?
A lot of the time, people are not aware of what benefits they're entitled to, even within the limited scope that we have currently. It could give them this in a free and open process and guide them through the process without having to go through that, because you are correct that call centres are dealing with a host of issues and that bereavement would be thankfully only a small part of the EI system.
That was a consistent theme, so that's why I posed the question. Would it be a reasonable service for Service Canada to explore?
9:40 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
Yes. Just to close on that, certainly as we look forward in the way we deliver services writ large, we certainly want to make sure that we are capable of offering a more tailored service. That would include these types of circumstances, so that we are more effectively facilitating the process for those individuals.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
The chair is not paying attention, so I get more time.
You might not be able to answer this, but I'd like to go back to the topic of the young victims of crime. It references the 35-week benefit. Is the $6,500 broken down over a 35-week period? Are both of you knowledgeable on this particular program that's administered by Service Canada?
9:40 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
I'm trying to do the quick math in my head.
We've made recent changes to it.
9:40 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
It was to increase the rate to $450.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Then it's a weekly benefit, administered by Service Canada. It does not necessarily come out of the EI fund.
9:40 a.m.
Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
It does not.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Therefore, it's out of general revenue. That's interesting.
What are the eligibility criteria?
9:40 a.m.
Director, Special Benefits, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment, Department of Employment and Social Development
It is a grant for parents whose child is missing or has died as a result of a probable Criminal Code offence, looking at abductions, murders, and so on. I can't comment further. It is a separate grant and it is administered—
9:40 a.m.
Director, Special Benefits, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment, Department of Employment and Social Development
It was originally launched in around 2013. It has been around, but recent changes to that grant were made this fall.
