Ottawa – The Auditor General in a report stated that the government is still struggling to find a way to put core support such as the Canada Child Benefit in the hands of hard-to-reach groups such as Indigenous peoples or newcomers who have a language barrier, and that the federal government is not doing enough to ensure that the money truly goes to those who need it.

The Auditor General reviewed efforts to increase uptake of the Child Benefit, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, the Canada Workers Benefit, and the Canada Learning Bonds, and found that the government falls short in ensuring that vulnerable people have access to these supportive programs.

Most programs require beneficiaries to file income taxes, which can be difficult for some people such as seniors, youth, First Nations people, and newcomers—especially for those living in remote areas or who have a language barrier.

Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada spent over $18 million in the last fiscal year on targeted outreach to help these people access the benefits they are entitled to, but the Auditor General said the government has no effective way to achieve that and measure whether those efforts have any impact.

The report also stated: "They were unable to measure any increases in benefit uptake rates for target groups over time, or related effects such as increased tax filings by those groups over time."

In the same context, without measuring these kinds of impacts of outreach efforts targeted at specific groups, management and the agency were not always able to demonstrate that the money spent on these activities would help remove barriers and increase benefit uptake rates for the targeted populations.

The Auditor General found that the government does not have a good idea of the magnitude of the uptake gap because it does not take into account people who did not file income taxes.

In 2017, the Canada Revenue Agency estimated that more than 10 percent of Canadians who were supposed to file income tax returns did not do so, meaning there could be many more people not receiving benefits than the acknowledged number.

The report also mentioned that the government lacks a comprehensive plan to accurately measure uptake. The government had invested in data collection in 2018 and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) launched an uptake measurement strategy in 2021, but the auditor found there has been no tangible progress.

The auditor also found that departments lack coordination when it comes to helping people who need a more practical approach to applying for benefits.

In one case, ESDC launched a pilot project to reach people whom community groups classified as needing extra help. Someone from the department can assist them in applying, for example, to programs related to CRA.

The report said: "This finding highlighted by the report is important because asking the most vulnerable individuals in society to meet the complex requirements of two separate federal organizations could be a barrier to receiving certain benefits."

The government says it agrees with all the recommendations of the committee's report to break down barriers between departments, improve how they measure benefit uptake, enhance communication with broad segments of society, and simplify the process for applicants.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair