Question Period Note: INDIGENOUS OUTREACH AND ACCESS TO SERVICES

What is the Canada Revenue Agency doing to ensure Indigenous peoples get the benefits and access to services to which they are entitled?

• The Canada Revenue Agency (Agency) is committed to a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples, to ensure they have access to responsive government services and receive the benefits and credits to which they are entitled.

• The Agency has directly engaged with Indigenous communities on issues of access, and will continue to do so.

• In response to challenges shared by Indigenous peoples and northern residents, the CRA opened 3 new Northern Service Centres in Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit in February 2019.

• From these centres, Agency employees are increasing outreach, Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP), and liaison officer activities to support territorial residents and businesses.

• The Agency also created 2 new dedicated telephone lines – one for individuals and one for businesses – to connect callers from the 867 territorial area code with CRA agents trained in northern tax matters.

• The Agency is also collaborating with Service Canada to engage Indigenous communities across the country to share information about important benefits and how to apply for them.

• In 2018-19, Agency officers visited 320 Indigenous communities, 236 of which were conducted jointly with Service Canada.

• While great strides on enhancing access have been made, the Agency will continue to work to ensure that Indigenous peoples can access all the benefits and credits to which they are entitled.

Supplementary:

• To enhance access to benefits and credits among Indigenous peoples, the CRA has also developed communication products for Indigenous peoples, a number of which are available in Indigenous languages.

• Increased Agency outreach has resulted in a 24% increase in 2018-19 in the participation of Indigenous focused organizations in the CVITP.

In the fall of 2016, representatives of the Canada Revenue Agency travelled to northern Canada as part of the Serving You Better consultations in the North and heard about the challenges individuals and businesses face when attempting to meet their tax obligations. In particular, the Agency heard that it needed to provide more assistance to territorial residents so they can file tax returns and receive the benefits to which they are entitled and that it is difficult to comply with the lowest return airfare element of the northern residents deductions.

The Agency also conducted public opinion research (POR) to improve its understanding of tax-filing barriers faced by Canadians. This study noted that some of the most effective ways for the Agency to interact with vulnerable populations was through face-to-face communications and outreach. In this context, the Agency launched the Yukon pilot project in September 2017, which offered enhanced outreach, CVITP, and Liaison Officer activities in the territory.

Building on the Yukon pilot, the Agency announced the Northern Service Improvement Strategy (NSIS) on August 24, 2018, to further enhance services in Whitehorse, and to extend that enhanced service to Yellowknife and Iqaluit. The NSIS was implemented on February 11, 2019 and includes:
• Three Northern Service Centres (NSCs) from which CRA employees will provide a year-round physical presence to support individuals and businesses in Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. CRA employees based in these centres are expanding outreach, CVITP, and liaison officer activities throughout the territories.
• Two dedicated phone lines – one for individuals and one for businesses – to connect callers from the 867 territorial area code directly to CRA employees familiar with northern tax matters.

In partnership with Service Canada, a joint pilot project was launched in September 2016 to increase the take-up of the CCB in Indigenous communities by providing benefit and tax information, Social Insurance Number (SIN) registration services, and tax filing support through the CVITP. The pilot demonstrated the importance of reaching Indigenous communities, often remote and hard to reach, where significant challenges and barriers remain to participating in the tax system and receiving their benefits. The CRA and Service Canada will continue this work into the future.

To enhance access to benefits and credits among Indigenous peoples, the Agency has also developed a number of outreach products for use during community visits and events. These include posters, factsheets, presentations, and webinars promoting key benefits such as the Canada child benefit (CCB). Some of these products are available in Indigenous languages including Cree, Micmac, Ojibwa, and Inuktitut. Moving forward, the Agency will use what it heard through consultations and research to better target its communications and services to Indigenous peoples to ensure they can access all the benefits and credits to which they are entitled.

As a result of recent efforts by the Benefits Outreach Program and the CVITP to increase the take-up of the benefit entitlements among Indigenous peoples, 318 free tax preparation clinics were held on reserves and in Inuit communities in 2018-2019, an increase of 29% over the previous year. In addition, 426 Indigenous focused CVITP-organizations, serving individuals on and off reserve, participated in the program, which represent an increase of 24 percent.

Other Agency efforts to ensure vulnerable segments, including Indigenous peoples, receive the benefits and services to which they are entitled include simplifying the CCB application process and implementing the Automated Benefits Application (ABA) in the Northwest Territories in March 2018. ABA is an easy way for mothers of newborns to apply for the CCB, along with any related provincial/territorial programs.

In June 2018, the CRA initiated a research project to learn more about Indigenous peoples’ experiences applying for and receiving the CCB. The goal of the project was to identify barriers and challenges in the CCB program, identify opportunities for improvement, and ultimately improve client experiences and uptake of the benefit. The final project report is now complete.

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