Mr. Speaker, we took the decision to close in-person Service Canada centres for the safety of the public in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and also for the safety of our staff. However, we have enhanced and redeployed staff to make sure that there are many alternative modes of service, including online and telephone; we have dispatched community liaison officers to the most vulnerable communities in Canada to assure them that we will be there to serve them through other modes of service, as well as through trusted intermediary organizations; and finally, for folks who are not able to fill out those forms even with phone assistance, we will make the extraordinary attempt to have appointments in person.
In the House of Commons on April 20th, 2020. See this statement in context.