Mr. Speaker, in 2020 and 2021, Employment Insurance, or EI, call centre employees had no guidance instructing them to reply in the affirmative whenever individuals enquired about eligibility for EI benefits. Although there were temporary simplification measures in place for benefits, there were eligibility criteria that needed to be met. Employees were expected to inform callers of the criteria and encourage them to apply for all benefits that they might be entitled to, in order for them to get a decision. Note also that eligibility decisions are not made at the call centre level, but instead based on EI applications that have been formally submitted.
In the House of Commons on March 20th, 2023. See this statement in context.