Question Period Note: DEATH NOTIFICATION

The process of notifying governments of a death can be a confusing and frustrating service experience. As such, the Government of Canada is working with the Provinces and Territories to simplify the process for Canadians.

he federal government wants to make it easier for Canadians to notify any level of government of the loss of a loved one during a difficult time in their lives.

We are supporting jurisdictions in the implementation of an electronic solution to ensure that the Government of Canada delivers on commitments to streamline processes and reduce administrative burden.

Budget 2023 provides $9.7 million dollars towards electronic death notification processes ensuring that Canadians can easily notify the federal government of the loss of a loved one.

Improvements to the death registration process are needed to simplify death notification to government programs, ensuring timely survivor benefits, reducing opportunities for fraud, and avoiding overpayments to the deceased. Delayed registration from the provinces and territories can result in additional financial and emotional burden for Canadians during an already difficult time.

In February 2019, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) released a report “Supporting Families after the Loss of a Child”. The Committee found that bereaved parents have difficulty navigating the process of reporting a death and can incur financial hardship, which may be compounded with the need to repay overpayments.

In fiscal year 2020-2021, overpayment amounts for Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefits were estimated to be over $3.8M, which is partially attributed to the delay in receiving death information from the province or the survivor. With ESDC’s current recovery rate of 37%, only $1.4M is anticipated to be recovered, resulting in an annual loss of $2.4M per year solely for these two programs.

Each Province and Territory has its own death registration process, which must be completed before they can notify Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) as well as provide death certificates to loved ones. Delays in receiving these notifications can range, on average, between 8 to 93 days depending on the complexity of the case. To complete the death notification process with the federal government, Canadians are often required to notify the government on a program-by-program basis.

ESDC is working with the provinces and territories to improve the timeliness of death notification. Since April 2020, ESDC has signed agreements with seven provinces to provide funding in support of the development and implementation of modern electronic death registration systems.

In 2017-18, a national client experience journey mapping exercise was completed in collaboration with the provinces and territories to identify service delivery improvements needed. This exercise revealed that the process is confusing and cumbersome, and there is no single, easy to use, official government resource to help, which causes additional stress and often requires help from family and friends. Most respondents assumed that the federal government shares information across departments, which is not the case due to privacy and legal reasons.

To simplify the federal death notification process for Canadians, ESDC has developed a bereavement information webpage to provide Canadians with a single source of information related to death reporting in Canada to make the process less confusing. An interactive module will be added to the webpage and will provide content specific to client circumstances (e.g., for a parent who has lost a child) to respond to their unique needs.

Additionally, some ESDC programs (e.g., Temporary Foreign Workers Program) under the responsibility of the Ministers of ESDC cannot benefit from information contained in the Social Insurance Register (SIR) (e.g., death information) as they are not authorized to collect this information. As death information is nearly universally required among ESDC programs and services, amendments to DESDA will ensure that programs can collect and use information and can subsequently obtain information from the SIR if required.

Budget 2023 provides approval to seek amendments to the Department of Employment and Social Development Act (DESDA) to allow departmental programs to collect and use the Social Insurance Number (SIN) for the administration of these programs.

Canadians reporting a death to the Government of Canada can sometimes experience a long and complex process, resulting in overpayments of pensions and delays in obtaining survivor benefits. Moreover, Canadians have an expectation that this information is shared in a timely fashion between the provincial and the federal government.

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Improving the timeliness of death notification would improve the integrity of key government programs that rely upon death information.

The Department is committed to protecting the privacy and integrity of the personal data it collects and retains from Canadians through strong and well-established policies and procedures that are constantly reviewed and strengthened.

Each Province and Territory has their own death registration procedures which must be completed before they notify the Government of Canada. Delays in receiving these notifications can range between 8 to 93 days depending on the complexity of the case.

As many government programs (primarily ESDC and Canada Revenue Agency) require timely death notification from the Provinces/Territories or a death certificate before they can suspend benefits payments or provide survivor benefits, ESDC is working with them to reduce delays and to streamline processes to reduce the burden on Canadians.