Mr. Speaker, with respect to the question above, what follows is the response from the CRA as of December 6, 2022. Regarding Canada emergency response benefit payments, please note the following.
The CRA blocked any federally incarcerated individuals from applying at the time of launch, which was April 6, 2020. The CRA is notified of federal incarcerations by Correctional Service Canada. Since this information is only provided on a periodic basis, timing can be a factor with respect to when the block is placed.
With respect to provincial incarceration, this segment of the population may have been eligible due to various provincial programs that allow for weekend-only incarceration, in order to allow for continued participation in the workplace, and day programs for inmates. The CRA is not notified of these incarcerations. However, individuals who had a mailing address located at a provincial institution were blocked beginning on May 11, 2020.
With regard to parts (a), (b) and (c), the CRA has identified recipients whose federal incarceration dates cover the entire benefit periods. As part of the CRA's ongoing post-payment verifications, which began in January 2022 and are ongoing, these individuals will be contacted to validate their eligibility.
Following a CRA manual review to verify an application for COVID-19 individual benefits, if an applicant is determined to be ineligible, they will receive a decision letter informing them that they were not eligible for benefit payments received, with the reason for the ineligibility, and that they will need to repay ineligible amounts. The decision letter also provides recourse options if the individual disagrees with the CRA’s decision.
Following a decision letter, the applicant will receive a notice of redetermination. Notices of redetermination inform applicants of debts or credits that have been established on their CRA accounts related to COVID-19 individual benefits. Once these debts have been established, only then may collection activities begin.
For these reasons, the CRA is unable to respond in the manner requested.