Human Resources Committee on Feb. 10th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Madame Goodridge.

We'll now go to Madame Ferrada for six minutes.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to say that I will be sharing my time with my colleague Mr. Van Bynen.

Madam Minister, thank you for being here today.

I am interested in one of the issues mentioned in your mandate letter, which is the national school nutritious meal program. I know that this is part of your mandate and that of the Minister of Agriculture.

In Quebec, currently, 70% of young people do not consume enough fruits and vegetables. In Montreal alone, about 17% of youth live in a low-income household. Indeed, we don't even know if they've had breakfast or if they're going to have dinner.

I'd like you to tell us about the importance of our commitment to creating this program.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you very much for the question.

It reminded me of my university days, when I volunteered in Montreal to provide breakfast to children in need.

Every child in Canada should, of course, have access to healthy and nutritious food. As we know, this is important for their mental development and learning progress. It is also a way to lift them out of poverty.

This is an important issue. Partners from across the country are really committed to this initiative.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you.

I have seen that several coalitions are forming across the country.

Last year in Sudbury, the Public Health Agency of Canada was calling on the provinces and territories to collaborate on a program.

In your opinion, are the provinces open to working with the government to develop a national plan?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

That's an excellent question.

Of course, collaboration with the provinces and territories is fundamental. It is also important to know that there are different initiatives across the country, although some provinces and territories are more engaged than others. We need to learn from their experiences and retain best practices so that all children, no matter where they come from, have access to the food they need to nourish their bodies and minds.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I will now yield the floor to my colleague.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

We will go to Mr. Van Bynen for three minutes.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you, Minister, for coming today.

I was very happy to see that your mandate has the commitment to develop a national school food policy and a national school nutritious meal program.

My wife is a retired public school teacher, and she has seen all too often that for many children, their school is the only time or place where they get a healthy meal. Many schools have developed programs on an ad hoc basis, but they do not also have neighbourhood associations to support these programs.

In my riding of Newmarket—Aurora, for example, Frank Stronach, the founder of Magna International, is developing the GUHAH Way, which stands for growing up healthy and happy, as a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy eating for children. I know he's eager to see that he is able to support, if possible, rolling out the program.

This is a very real issue, and I feel it's important, since one out of 10 families and children across Canada would benefit from these programs.

Minister, could you speak about how the program is being developed and how other organizations might also be able to get involved?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Certainly. There have been a number of consultations leading up to the inclusion of this in my mandate letter and that of Minister Bibeau, and there is certainly an opportunity for organizations to share their ideas and feedback as we develop this policy further.

I know there are many people who have been working in this space for a very long time. We also know—and certainly I experience it in my own riding in Burlington—that there are a lot of initiatives that are volunteer-led and making a difference by filling gaps, but I think what many have said and what many probably across parties feel is that there is a way to do this that will not just be filling a gap but will be more consolidated and more coordinated. Those are the things we're looking for to ensure there's a nutritious meal, but we're also looking to see how we can make it inclusive as well.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Minister, are you planning on working with provinces and territories? How do you plan to approach this need when you're implementing the national school food policy and program?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

We certainly have to work with provinces and territories on this issue, and it may be different depending on the province and territory that we work with.

As I mentioned, different provinces and territories are at different stages and have different programming in place. Certainly, we will be starting to have those conversations with provinces and territories as well as with the stakeholder community, because we have a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting impact for kids right across the country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Van Bynen, your time is up. Now we move to Madame Chabot for six minutes. Madame, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, Madam Minister.

Thank you for being with us today to explain the many mandates given to you by the Prime Minister.

I don't know if you're going to prioritize, but I'm going to dare to suggest one. You are the Minister responsible for Service Canada, and in your mandate letter it states very clearly:

As the Minister responsible for Service Canada, lead the development and implementation of modern, resilient, secure and reliable services and benefit delivery systems for Canadians and ensure those services and benefits reach all Canadians regardless of where they live.

It will come as no surprise to you that I want to talk to you again about the crisis at Service Canada right now. In my view, it is indeed a crisis, as there are many problems in meeting the needs of thousands of EI claimants in a timely manner, claimants who have been waiting for weeks and months.

Last week we heard from officials that the volume was almost normal and that we should not worry too much, while there are cries of alarm everywhere about these delays. I'm not sure what the point of these service standards is, because many people have been waiting for a long time and they're not getting a response within a time frame that meets those standards.

As the Minister responsible for Service Canada, do you feel that services are currently being delivered effectively?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you very much for the question, Ms. Chabot.

I would like to start by saying that it is a priority for me to ensure that all Canadians who access Service Canada receive service in a timely manner.

I would also like to provide a small update. Since the officials appeared before this committee last week, we have been able to verify the identity of 2,900 people whose files were on hold. Many of them are already receiving their payments.

Service Canada officials are doing an extraordinary job. There has been an incredible increase in applications, due to the winter spike that we face every year, but also due to the closure of many businesses caused by the Omicron variant during December and January.

I am currently working with officials to ensure that we can respond to the most urgent cases where the deadline has passed. As I mentioned earlier, if you know of anyone who is not receiving a response within our service standards, please do not hesitate to contact my office so that we can assist you.

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

Thank you, Minister.

If you want to be flooded with emails, we can do that.

Your response addresses one part of the problem, which is the issue of identity theft.

On the other hand, I raised a rather disturbing aspect regarding efficiency, and I don't mean the efficiency of Service Canada employees. Some things were predictable. Emergency measures such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, or CERB, and the Canada Recovery Benefit, or CRB, have ended. A certain volume of claimants could be expected, which is not unusual in December and January. This volume was to be expected and it seems that it was not anticipated. We hear that people are going hungry, but some people are hungry because they are not getting their benefits.

The 28‑day service standard is a long time. What are you doing, today, to relieve the 300,000 people who have not received their benefits within the 28 days and are still waiting for them?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you for the question.

I want to assure you that I take this issue very seriously.

Let me clarify something. Every year there is a winter spike, but this year we saw a 25% increase over last year due to closures caused by the Omicron variant.

We had indeed anticipated the normal increase in applications, but the Omicron variant wave, of course, took the whole country by surprise. The increase was significant. Despite this, we had increased the number of staff and agents at the call centre in preparation for the winter peak. I can assure you that we are mobilizing all the necessary resources to be able to respond to the increasing demands.

The numbers you mentioned are not necessarily good. Some cases are being processed, but not everyone is waiting for benefits. Some people have gone back to work while others had opened a file but did not need to apply.

As I mentioned, if you know of anyone who is not getting a response within a time frame that meets service standards, you can email me, and we will follow up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

Madame Zarrillo, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you. Welcome, Minister.

I'm going to ask some questions about mental health today.

I spoke recently in this committee about two children whose lives were tragically cut short in my community. This pandemic has been hard on children and youth. I hear from parents regularly that they cannot access mental health support for their children. It is either not available, or what is available is too expensive.

I note that the mandate letter says to work with other ministers to ensure that mental health supports are accessible for children and youth. That need has been exacerbated through this pandemic.

My question is in regard to children and youth. What is the plan to work with other ministries to ensure that mental health supports are accessible to children and youth, given that service delivery is a provincial jurisdiction and that multiple ministers have this directive in their letters?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you very much for that question, Ms. Zarrillo. It is one that is incredibly important. As the minister responsible for children, I see and hear about it every single day. We talk about the fact that our children are resilient, but gosh, this has been really hard on them. We need to do everything we can to support them through it.

One thing we've already done is provide support to the Kids Help Phone of about $8.5 million in the last budget to support its initiatives. This was led by Minister Bennett. I am supporting her in those efforts in making sure the voices of children in particular are heard.

A couple of things that our government has done already with regard to supporting mental health include creating the wellnesstogether.ca portal and the PocketWell app.

You're absolutely right that mental health is within provincial jurisdiction, but there are initiatives that we can take to reach Canadians directly from the federal government. We will absolutely be working with provinces and territories on this issue as well.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Just to speak to those apps and the access to information, we know broadband Internet is not available in many of our rural communities. I want to ask a little bit about disaggregated data and the way that this information is being collected so that we can find the most vulnerable pockets and make sure we're getting supports to all these children and youth.

Can you share how data is being collected right now? Is there any learning so far in regard to the impacts of this pandemic on the mental health of children and youth?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I would probably have to defer that specific question to Minister Bennett. She is leading in that regard. I can say that we are working to support her in the development of this strategy.

One thing I'm hoping to do is to get out there and speak specifically with children right across this country.

I think you raise a really important point about children in remote and rural areas. We also know that access to broadband can be difficult if you are in a low-income family in downtown Toronto. We need to make sure that the services and supports can reach every child, no matter where they are in the country and no matter what their family circumstances are.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'm going to follow up by talking about low-income families.

We know that the price of food right now has many families stretched, families that were already stretched because wages are not as high as they should be in this country. I want to talk about the national school meal program and ask if there is a time frame to get a program operating under this plan. Right now, in my community of Port Moody—Coquitlam, kids are going hungry every day.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I hear you. I've spoken with our honourable colleague, Leah Gazan, on this issue a number of times as well, and I look forward to working with you and all members as we move forward on it.

Look, this is right at the beginning of this initiative. We have work to do when it comes to engaging provinces and territories and engaging stakeholders across the country. I don't have a specific timeline for you. I can tell you that I'm very committed to getting this done but also to getting it done right.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'll just ask about the community partners. There are a number of community partners that have been doing this type of programming for a very long time through schools. I'm just wondering if this program will also take into account those children who are going hungry who aren't at school. Are there plans in place to do outreach outside of the schools?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

It's a really good question. It's something I think we have to think about very carefully.

For example, in my community I have partners that provide meals in schools, and then there are partners that have meals to take home on weekends and over PA days and on winter breaks to make sure that children can eat even when they're not in school. We saw very clearly during the pandemic how important school meal programs were, especially for children who don't have access to healthy food at home.

These are all really good questions. I would welcome the opportunity to talk to you further about them.