Human Resources Committee on Nov. 26th, 2020

[Elisha Ram]

It is not.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Okay. That's separate. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Falk.

Next we're going to Mr. Long, please, for six minutes.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Kent did an admirable job, but it's great to see you back in the seat.

Certainly I want to thank all the department officials for being here this evening. I want to make a comment that the work you've done at the department in looking after Canadians, especially through this historic pandemic, has really been noticed and certainly appreciated. Again, thank you very much.

Mr. Robidoux, I'll ask my questions through you, and maybe you can direct them to the appropriate person.

There's no question that seniors are one of the most vulnerable groups in Canada. That was clearly evident through the pandemic. Whether it was the GST or $300 or the $200 top-up if you got the GIS, it was so appreciated.

I want to focus also on retirement savings. First, how has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the cost of living for vulnerable seniors and their retirement savings?

Mr. Robidoux, that question could go to you, or maybe to Mr. Conrad.

[Benoît Robidoux]

I can take the question, sir.

In terms of retirement savings, they have been affected by a lower rate of return, as has every other Canadian, potentially. That's affecting them.

In terms of the cost of living, although inflation has not been very strong, some of the components of the cost of living, such as food, have been quite strong in terms of price increases, so they have been affected by that, and I would say more than maybe the rest of the population, which sometimes uses more transport. For them, the cost has been going down because of the drop in the price of oil and gas.

Overall, I would say they have been potentially more affected on the price side, and again, affected generally on the rate of return. In terms of what the government has done for those seniors who have to take part of their retirement income out of their savings account every year, early in the year it reduced by 25% the amount they had to withdraw from their account, which helps them preserve more of their savings if they didn't need the income for this year.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Are you able to give me some comments on how the department, the government, is monitoring the issue? Do you have any data on this issue?

[Benoît Robidoux]

I don't, and I don't believe we have. This is a program that is managed by the Department of Finance. I think asking them if they have monitored the withdrawal this year would be a good question.

I would say they are probably not in a position to answer that, because we're still not at the close of the year. It would be more after this year that there might be a possibility of getting into the data, through the data that StatsCan releases, on how much seniors have reduced their savings compared to other years.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

That would be good to know. Thank you very much.

Elder abuse has been on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. How, if at all, has the department changed the way it assesses needs and delivers assistance to help reduce elder abuse during this pandemic?

[Benoît Robidoux]

As the minister mentioned, the main tool we have.... Again, we supported provinces to a large extent. We provided financial payments, but also a one-time payment to seniors with a GST credit, which many seniors benefited from.

In the New Horizons for seniors program, we have elder abuse as part of the priorities for the people in communities who receive funding through the pan-Canadian stream or through the better-known community stream. Those are the main channels by which we are trying to provide support to the community for different ways that they could help seniors to avoid elder abuse.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Okay.

[Benoît Robidoux]

As the minister mentioned, the government has topped up the program overall, once by $20 million from $50 million, permanently. I can't remember the year exactly, but it was probably in 2018-19. Then we added at the beginning of the year, with the help of the United Nations, $9 million, and then another $20 million. A lot of funding is going to the New Horizons for seniors program to try to do our best to support communities that are helping seniors to avoid elder abuse.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thanks for that.

I want to switch and focus in on mental health for seniors, especially vulnerable isolated seniors.

I certainly see it daily in my office here in Saint John—Rothesay. We get calls from seniors who are isolated and lonely. I think we all can agree that mental health for our seniors during this pandemic is a major concern.

Are you able to tell me what data and information the department has gathered on the mental health of seniors during the pandemic?

[Benoît Robidoux]

I don't, but I will ask Alexis if he has any information on that, or any other officials on the line.

[Alexis Conrad, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Income Security and Social Development Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thank you.

No, I am not aware that the department specifically has collected data. Certainly Health Canada and the Public Health Agency have been collecting data from various resources on the impacts of the pandemic on Canadians' mental health and on specific subgroups, including seniors.

If the committee would like, we can follow up and try to gather some information on that front.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Okay, that would be appreciated.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Conrad. Thank you, Mr. Long.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Now we will go to Madame Chabot.

Ms. Chabot, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being here.

I have a question about the guaranteed income supplement. I'm talking about the special amount of $200, made available because of COVID-19. In a lot of cases, people applied well in advance but they never received that amount because Service Canada did not process the applications in time, that is before September 11.

Have you at Service Canada come up with any special measures to process those applications and rectify the situation? How much would that cost?

[Benoît Robidoux]

I will ask Mr. Groen to answer that.

[Cliff C. Groen]

Thank you very much for those questions.

In order to send the special payment to seniors receiving the old age security pension and those receiving the guaranteed income supplement, we made our priority to process all the applications we received. This was done by our processing centre. So we did process them as a priority. We wanted to assure you that, as much as possible, people eligible for those payments were going to receive them. That's why we first issued a payment in July for those who were eligible as of June 2020. Then, a second payment was issued for those whose applications were processed between July and September 11. It is possible that a few people—

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I am sorry.

I wanted to know whether you have come up with any special measures that will allow Service Canada to process those applications and rectify the situation. There are people who applied correctly. Although their applications were on time, Service Canada did not process them before September 11 and told people that they were not on time. That was my question

As I understand it, those people are still in a difficult position and have not received the payment. It's quite odd that they would be victims of a delay in processing, given that their applications were in order. I hope that corrections will be made in this regard.

A number of seniors are eligible for the GIS, the guaranteed income supplement, and they have not registered for it, because they don't know it exists. Since you know full well that it is based on their income tax returns in the previous year, why don't you make it automatic?

[Benoît Robidoux]

Ms. Chabot, for some years, we have in fact made the payment to a number of seniors who are eligible for the GIS. We have a program for that, but, in certain cases, we do not have enough information to really know whether they are eligible. In addition, we can only make the payments to them when they are 65 years old. As a result, it is more difficult if they have slipped through the cracks.

So it is difficult to make the payments to them if they are older than 65 and do not choose to fill in the form. We communicate with them regularly. We have a sample of those who we know are probably eligible for the GIS benefit, but who have not asked for it. We often send them letters so that they can fill in the application.

We have also developed new tools. People can apply for the old age security pension and the guaranteed income supplement at the same time, with a single form, not with two different forms. That is to make the task easier for them. For seniors who have turned 65 more recently, it is much more simple than before, because of the improvements that we have made. But it is still difficult to make payments to those who are older than 65 and are eligible.

Mr. Groen, do you want to add anything?

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

No, that will do. I have a question on another subject.

I want to talk about contributions. In the main estimates, a fund of $1.8 million is being made available to NGOs to establish programs to reduce violence and fraud against seniors. The amount was much higher in 2018-2019. I don't know why it was $7.3 million. I don't know why it has been decreased so much.

Could you tell us what results those payments, those contributions, had? Were many initiatives supported from that fund to reduce fraud, considering that it is specifically an issue during this pandemic?

[Benoît Robidoux]

I am not sure I understand your question, Ms. Chabot.

I don't know which program you are referring to, or whether you are referring to the supplementary estimates (B), or to something else.