Public Accounts Committee on April 21st, 2016

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

The Governor in Council appointments, of course, are not under your control, but that added to the problems you had.

[Murielle Brazeau]

In order to have more members, I contacted the minister's office and I worked closely with the department to discuss the number of members we actually needed. There was an eligibility list established. The members were gradually appointed, they were trained, and they started hearing cases as soon as they were ready.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Now you have about 150 employees. Is that number adequate?

In your statement you mention—

[Murielle Brazeau]

There were 150 employees. They were ESDC employees before the ATSSC—

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Yes, I understand, but is that adequate?

[Murielle Brazeau]

—and 90 members.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

No, is the number adequate? Is it sufficient?

[Murielle Brazeau]

Right now it is sufficient. We have the right number of members in income security to meet the service standards we established last fall. Right now the backlog is resolved. We are completing cases in a timely manner.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

You were planning to bring down the processing time to five months from the current 317 days. When do you think you'll be achieving that?

[Murielle Brazeau]

Parties are given one year to confirm that they are ready to proceed. The average age of our caseload at 317 days is actually very positive right now. The people who apply today have one year to complete their case.

As my colleague was saying, the conditions for these individuals evolve, so if somebody appeals today, they may provide more medical information in six months. That's why our caseload will always be of a certain age, because the parties take time before they're ready to proceed.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Can you confirm that as of today you have sufficient resources, you have infrastructure, you have systems, and you have operational processes? Can you confirm that?

[Murielle Brazeau]

We do. We have progressed significantly in three years. There are still improvements that.... We still have work to do, and we're still just three years old. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are in a very good place.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

I understand that you are three years old, ma'am, but for the people who are in pain and in need, more than three years is quite a long time. Hopefully, you'll come to your new standards sooner rather than later.

[Murielle Brazeau]

We are working hard to meet our new standards.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Arya, your time is up, but I know Mr. Shugart wanted to answer, and he had signified so.

[Ian Shugart]

Mr. Chair, in the interests of clarity and in response to Mr. Arya's question about the caseload, those numbers we knew, and those are the numbers that informed the planning. My earlier reference was to cases that we did not know, which were very substantial—on the order, I believe, of about 7,000.

During the process, those were increasing. Those were being adjudicated under one of the earlier tribunals, but we did not know those numbers. If we had, I think our planning assumptions would have been very different.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much.

We now move back to Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Let me talk about Canadians who are suffering from a disability or a terminal illness.

Only 7% of applicants who received a terminal illness diagnosis received a decision on their application within 48 hours and only 59% of applicants with a serious illness diagnosis received a decision within 30 days.

Could you reassure Canadians this morning that you are going to implement efficiency measures? The processing of these files needs to be accelerated considering that these people, as the name of this category suggests, are terminally ill.

[Benoît Long]

As the deputy minister indicated, we agree that our decisions and the processing of these applications need to be quicker, especially in the case of people who are terminally ill.

At the department, the 48-hour deadline is a guideline. Case monitoring and management was not as good as it should have been. As part of our service standards review, we are going to recommend setting a real standard, which will be public. The level of performance will be accessible to clients, directly, so that they can be reassured and assured that we are going to apply the standard when these decisions are made. We are reviewing the entire process.

In January, we launched a pilot project in Victoria. We are auditing and testing practically every imaginable approach, including receiving material, requests, internal procedures, case management, or dividing up tasks. Everything is on the table and being looked at. We want to make sure that we can implement this new service standard. Of course, we hope to be able to implement it as soon as possible.

So far, the pilot project is showing that we will achieve much higher levels of performance, as well as a quality and assurance of service that will make people see, through this process, that we are on their side.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to know how long it would take to respond to my request if I became disabled and submitted an application today, April 21. Would the deadline be 48 hours?

Would I get an answer by Friday?

[Benoît Long]

Of course, the problem is that we have to make sure the forms are filled out properly. That is always the first step and it is hard because, as has already been mentioned, our application forms are complex and onerous. However, there is essential information that we need in order to make a decision. It is not necessarily an artificial decision, given that there are preliminary conditions included in the legislation and the regulations. We have to find a balance.

There is a faster way to access the department. The application can be sent by fax. It depends on the situation. If someone submits an application at an office or sends it by mail, then it will take longer than 48 hours. We are reviewing our process so that we can basically promise people better and more punctual service.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

If I go to Service Canada tomorrow morning, will there be an agent there to help me fill out the form? As we know, not every Canadian is necessarily able to fill out the forms quickly. I would also remind you that the category we are currently talking about is that of people with a terminal illness. It goes without saying that for them, time is of the essence.

Is it currently possible to go to Service Canada with this?

[Benoît Long]

Yes, now it is.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thanks very much.

We'll move now to Ms. Shanahan, please, for five minutes.