Government Response to the Ninth Report of the Standing
Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, entitled Modernizing Client Service
Delivery
Introduction
The
Government of Canada thanks the Standing Committee on Citizenship and
Immigration (CIMM) for its ninth report, entitled Modernization of Client
Service Delivery, which was tabled in the House of Commons on March 23,
2017.
The
Government’s ability to provide quality,
timely and efficient service is
central to ensuring a high-performing immigration
system that maintains the confidence of Canadians and is reflective of the
Government’s goal to continue welcoming those who want to contribute to the
future of Canada.
The
Committee’s study and the resulting Report provide the Government with an
opportunity to build upon significant gains made in recent years and explore
the ways in which the Department can further modernize to meet client needs and
expectations going forward. The Government welcomes the Committee’s work
examining client service delivery issues from the broad and rich perspectives
of stakeholders and parliamentarians who participated in the study.
The
modernization of client service
Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship Canada is a service-focused Department that operates a
vast service delivery network, interacting with millions of clients in Canada
and across the globe every year, including applicants for electronic travel
authorizations, visas, permanent residency, asylum and resettlement,
citizenship and passports, as well as Canadian sponsors, employers and schools,
amongst others.
The
immigration program is growing and permanent resident admissions and temporary
resident volumes are on the rise. At the same time, clients increasingly expect
fast, streamlined and electronic service.
In
recent years, coordinated efforts to increase levels space, invest in
technology, and re-engineer existing processes have resulted in: the Express
Entry application system for economic immigration; reduced inventories and
faster processing times for spousal and citizenship grant applications; end to
end automated service for most Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) clients;
and, increased availability of electronic application forms and online tools to
check application processing times and access case status information.
The Government shares the Committee’s commitment to improving
client service and welcomes the focus on this subject, which is a key
Departmental priority. Indeed, in 2017 the Government has mandated the
Department to work on reducing processing times and on improving its service
delivery and client services to make them timelier and less complicated. Additionally, in the Budget
Implementation Act, 2017 (BIA), the Government proposes to make amendments
to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to ensure that the
Express Entry system “is responsive to the needs of the Canadian labour
market, and that the candidates most likely to succeed in Canada are selected.”
This legislative change will benefit clients and increase processing
flexibility and efficiency.
The
response below to the Committee’s recommendations is organized by the seven
areas identified by the Committee. The Government agrees with most
recommendations and, as suggested by the Report, the Department will continue
to build on efforts already underway.
Area
1:
Call Centre
1. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada train all Call Centre agents on
client service excellence and on how to communicate with people who may have
limited English or French speaking abilities. |
2. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada provide a standard process to
facilitate calls between a client and a Call Centre agent when an interpreter
is used. |
3. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada have a 15-minute standard for
clients to be connected with an advisor or agent for all Call Centre
operations. |
4. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada consider including
specializations and subject-matter experts for Call Centre advisors and
agents based on application type, including (1) temporary residence, (2)
permanent residence, (3) refugees, including protected persons, (4)
citizenship and (5) passports. |
The Committee’s recommendations relating to the Call Centre
highlight the importance of this function as the first line of personalized
support for clients. Expanding on recent changes to the Call Centre, rebranding
to the Client Support Centre and continuing to reform the service delivery
model is an immediate Departmental priority.
Service
excellence is a key tenet of the new client service approach implemented at the
Client Support Centre in January 2017. Specifically, the Department is focused
on resetting the relationship with the client to be more welcoming and assuring
and geared towards building trust with each interaction. This new approach
includes the increased use of positive and clear language by the Integrated
Voice Recognition (IVR) system and by agents who respond to calls and email
enquiries. For all client enquiries, the Department now systematically
provides case status information based on the latest information on file,
provides follows-up to clients via emails as necessary and records and refers
back to clients’ history of contacts and enquiries.
The
Department is also increasingly focused on providing agents with advanced
training and support to ensure their soft skills are perfected and aligned with
best practices across industry. Understanding that the
Department’s client base has a range of abilities when speaking an official
language, agents are trained in techniques to communicate efficiently with
clients in clear and simple language and to be alert and sensitive towards
clients with varying linguistic fluency.
The Client Support
Centre has in place a standard process to facilitate calls between agent and
client when an interpreter or third party is used to assist in the
communication. Ensuring compliance with privacy requirements is fundamental to
this process and the Department requires that both documentary and verbal
authorization are provided by the client before engaging with any third party,
including interpreters.
As noted in the response to the CIMM study on Family
Reunification, the Department’s Client Support Centre is a key point of
contact for in-Canada clients and is operating at capacity based on its current
resources and service model. The Department is exploring ways to incrementally
reduce the amount of time it takes clients to reach a live person on the phone,
when they otherwise can’t self-serve. This could involve addressing enquiries
via another channel, extending hours of operations for responding to email
enquiries, and simplifying Client Centre technologies including the Integrated
Voice Recognition (IVR) system. A plan is being developed to explore how the
Department might best do this, however the impact of these potential changes on
productivity is yet to be determined. Nevertheless, the Department will review
how a clear standard could be implemented for clients to be connected with an
advisor or agent.
Comprehensive cross-training across program areas has proven to be
a more effective investment in human resources than specialized training in one
line of business as it provides the Department with the flexibility to be
responsive to volume fluctuations by program and ensures equal coverage
regardless of seasonal peaks. The current structure of the Department’s Client
Support Centre includes a tiered escalation process that allows agents to
consult a subject matter expert for complex client enquiries so as to provide
clients with resolution on first contact. This means the majority of agents are trained and possess
knowledge in immigration and citizenship services writ large and a subset of
agents receive more in-depth training to address complex questions and cases.
As well as this, specialized training is provided to agents who
handle enquiries from those who are in particularly vulnerable circumstances,
such as emergency or abuse situations. Also, it is important to note that currently
Passport clients are not served by the Department’s Client Support Centre, as
Service Canada is the principle service delivery body in Canada and Global
Affairs Canada’s missions are the principle delivery body abroad
Area
2:
Website
5. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada consider, as part of the
redesign of its website, using (1) client-centric design principles to
produce digital channels for each business line, (2) plain language, (3)
languages other than French and English, similar to what the Government of
British Columbia is doing, and (4) virtual assistance. |
6. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada make improvements to “My
Account” to allow clients to view and print applications before filing and
during processing, and allow applicants to maintain a complete record of
every application filed. |
7. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada improve the ability for
applicants and their representatives to link paper applications with online
accounts. |
8. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada provide alternative payment
methods for individuals without access to online payment services and credit
cards, such as returning to the previous policy of accepting proof of payment
at a bank. |
The Government agrees with the
overall concerns raised by the Committee with regard to improving the online
service experience. Recognizing that for both the private and public sector
the future of front end client support is digital, the Department is investing
in technology to ensure that clients have access to program information,
applications, and case status updates in a well-designed, accessible and usable
online environment. Focus
groups conducted during March 2017 in ten locations across Canada showed that
most newcomers are heavy users of the website, and while there is room for
improvement, in general found the site resourceful, helpful and generally easy
to use.
Website information provision
Client-centric
design principles are embedded in Government of Canada directives on web style,
accessibility and architecture. The Department will continue to work on
developing digital channels that make sense and incorporating more services
into our online application environment. As part of the redesign of the online
service experience, the Department will increasingly apply usability and
user-centered methodologies to support more in-depth examinations of the online
experience. Any changes to its online presence and services will also respect
the Treasury Board Web Accessibility Standard.
As
with all types of communications, the Department is committed to implementing
plain language content on the website. The Department takes an iterative
approach to website improvements, most recently undertaking a plain language
re-write of the top 750 web pages to a grade 8 level, improving search and
navigation and resolving common user issues with uploading documents and paying
fees. As changes are made to improve the website, client feedback is monitored
to inform a continuous improvement cycle.
On
the website, non-official language content in 15 languages has been implemented
to support new traveller requirements for Electronic Travel Authorization. In
other instances, such as through campaigns aimed at recruiting skilled workers and
preventing immigration fraud, the Department has also translated the content
into common non-official languages. The current non-official languages approach
of the Department is to provide services in local languages to temporary
resident clients at the Visa Application Centers (VAC).
The
Department is in the early stages of exploring client service opportunities
that might be supported by virtual assistance. As with all potential
client service solutions, including those enabled by technology, the Department
is committed to ensuring that client insights drive our choices to test and
experiment with specific technologies and that we measure client outcomes to
determine which options are worth investing in and scaling up.
Online case status portal
As
noted in the Response to the CIMM Report on Family Reunification, the Department is
moving toward My Account as being the primary portal for clients to be able to
access information on their case status and receive mail online. My Account is
the platform to enable the Department to gradually move toward a single window
for the majority of services, whether the client submits an application online
or by mail. As of Fall 2016, the majority of immigration clients are now able
to link their application submitted by mail to My Account to receive online
case status information.
The
Department is continuously making improvements to My Account.
Enhancements,
which include the provision of more information on the status of applications,
are planned for fiscal year 2017-18. Additionally,
the Department is exploring ways to permit clients to print and/or save a copy
of their online application during various stages in the process for a
specified period of time. Work on improving view, print and save
functionalities is a longer term effort that will require operational,
technical, privacy and legal considerations and assessments before investments
and timelines can be confirmed.
Further
to this, the Department is evaluating ways to improve the guidance and support
provided to clients and authorized representatives who are having difficulty
linking paper applications online. The ease of users’ ability to access My
Account needs to be balanced with the obligation to maintain and safeguard the
significant amount of private information within this online portal.
Payment services
As
noted in the Response to the CIMM Report on Family Reunification, many
payment options are already in place for clients as the Department accepts
payment by major credit cards (Visa, Amex, MC and JCB) as well as Interac Debit
and Visa Debit. As new forms of online payment are developed, the Department
will explore the possibility of accepting them at that time.
As
per the Department’s strategy to be more efficient and effective by moving
processes online, payment services are also moving online. This enables the
Department to keep in step with banks in Canada that are gradually moving away
from in-person paper remittance slips. It also enables the Department to
address some of the complexities and inefficiencies that existed as a result of
the payment of fees at Canadian banks. As such, the Department will not be
returning to the previous policy of accepting proof of payment at the bank. For
exceptional and emergency situations where clients are unable to pay fees
within the currently available options, the Department does have an alternative
payment mechanism. For
example, in scenarios where online payment is unavailable for more than two
consecutive business days, an urgent request resulting in being out of status,
or for certain and more exceptional accessibility limitations, a credit card
form can be requested and sent via mail to the Department. Outside of a Canada, Visa
Applications Centres (VAC) offer a range of payment options for clients who use
their services.
Area
3:
Providing more frequent and useful information
9. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada contact clients via email or
other channels when (1) processing exceeds times provided at the time of
application (2) an incorrect payment is made (3) common or simple errors are
made on the application. |
10. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada implement an online portal for
clients and authorized representatives to track application progress,
including but not limited to: (1) current status of the application, (2) any
reasons for delays, (3) an estimated time for decision and (4) any missing information
or complications with the application. |
11. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada provide more information and
details to clients on the reasons for negative decisions. |
12. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada examine ways, in collaboration
with partners and stakeholders, to increase the number of pre-arrival service
sessions available, including attendance, in Foreign Service locations. |
13. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada ensure Members of Parliament and
Senators continue to have access to the Ministerial Enquiries Division. |
Contact with clients via email or other channels
The Government shares the Committee’s commitment to ensuring
clients and stakeholders have regular and clear communication channels with the
Department. The Department is
moving toward My Account as being the primary portal for clients to access
real-time information on their case status and receive communications. The
Department is also experimenting with proactively communicating with clients
about case status, next steps, and when processing times exceeds the average to
determine what type of information has the biggest impact on decreasing
clients’ anxiety about what is happening with their case and to ensure clarity
while clients are waiting for their final decision.
In order to ensure efficient processing and to deliver on
processing time objectives, the Department needs clients to provide necessary
information upfront. Flexibility afforded in the past from accepting incomplete
applications has been resource intensive and introduced inefficiencies in
processing, leading to increases in processing times. For spouse and partner
applications, the Minister recently issued Ministerial Instructions to require
that applicants submit upfront the documents needed by immigration officers to
assess their application. Any application which is incomplete or missing key
documents must be returned. This approach has also been used in the Parent and
Grandparent program, Express Entry and Citizenship. While there was a period of
adjustment, the Department has noted progressively lower rates of application
returns as well as increases in efficiency as a result of such measures.
As
concerns errors made on applications, the Department continuously strives to
make the application process simple and intuitive for clients. Examples of
this include the recent changes the Department made to simplify forms and
processing for spouses, partners and children.
The
Department continues to use feedback gathered directly from clients to inform
further refinements to these new products. Additionally, the Department uses
online application guides and responds to frequently asked questions via the
Help Centre (www.cic.gc.ca/helpcentre) to advise clients of common errors,
with a view to helping clients avoid having their application returned for
missing forms or documents.
The
Department’s long-term goal is to implement pre-submission validation for a
majority of services, which would mean that no matter the channel which clients
apply to (online, VACs, Service Canada, etc.), clients would know upfront
whether or not their application is complete. In cases today where there are
small omissions in information, and where these omissions do not render the
application incomplete, the usual practice of the Department is for the officer
reviewing the case to send a request to the applicant to ask them to supply the
missing information. Where appropriate, the officer responsible for the
application may also contact the applicant by telephone or convoke the
individual to an interview, particularly if an interview is required to finish
assessing the application or where more documents are required to assess
eligibility or admissibility.
The
Department recognizes that in some cases the need to return files for the
correction of incorrect payments presents delays in the processing of
applications. The Department works with clients to quickly and conveniently
resolve the issue without significant delays to the acceptance of the file for
processing. As part of a review of the Department’s refund policy,
there is consideration of including clear and specific guidelines to clients on
how to pay the missing fee difference when there is a discrepancy. This would
eliminate the need to complete a full refund of incorrect fees and repayment of
the correct fees.
Reasons for refusals
While the Government is
committed to providing clarity and transparency of decisions to clients, the
Response disagrees with the recommendation to provide more information and
details to clients on negative decisions.
In
order to communicate decisions as consistently and clearly as possible as well
as manage the volume of demand, officers use standard refusal letters which
clearly identify the legislative or regulatory requirement(s) of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its Regulations that have not been
met. In some lines of business (e.g. refugee, Humanitarian and Compassionate
and spousal processing) officers may on a discretionary basis, provide
additional information in their letters to explain the reason for the
refusal.
To
achieve the objectives of transparency and clarity, a review of refusal letter
wording was conducted this year. The Department will be using this input and
feedback from across the global network to make standard refusal letter templates
simpler for clients.
Pre-arrival information
The Government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation to
examine ways to increase the uptake of pre-arrival settlement service sessions
available to eligible clients outside Canada, and is committed to offering
pre-arrival services as a means to provide information and support to eligible
clients in preparation for settlement and integration into Canadian life. Starting in
2015-16, the Government increased its investment in pre-arrival services to
eligible newcomers and has been working with service provider organizations to
provide an increased number of in-person sessions in more locations as well as
more on-line services.
The
Department has recently taken action and will be further implementing
initiatives to improve eligible clients’ uptake of pre-arrival services. This
has included a review and update of information available online, the increased
use of social media to promote the use of pre-arrival services to eligible
clients, and the proactive and early notice about the existence of pre-arrival
services via letters at the beginning and end of the processing of eligible
clients’ applications for permanent residence. The Department is also working
on implementing an automated message to notify all applicants of the
availability of pre-arrival services when they successfully pass a preliminary
assessment of their Permanent Residence application.
In the fall of 2017, the Department
plans to launch a pre-arrival services Call for Proposal process to solicit
proposals for new pre-arrival services contribution agreements starting April
1, 2018. As part of this process, the Department is currently conducting an analysis
of existing projects and engaging with external stakeholders to develop lessons
learned to inform future delivery and uptake of pre-arrival services.
Service to Members
of Parliament
The Government agrees that Members
of Parliament (MPs) should have clear and accessible support from the
Department on immigration matters. With
the objective to enhance services and provide a single point of contact to MPs
and Senators seeking departmental assistance, year the Department implemented
the Information Centre for MPs and Senators (ICMPS) in 2016 for general and
case status enquiries, including urgent processing requests. The ICMPS
currently receives enquiries on approximately 3,500 client cases each week,
through phone, fax, and email.
While
implementing ICMPS, Ministerial Enquiries Division (MED) has consistently
remained available and accessible to MPs and Senators for complex case
enquiries including sensitive or high-profile cases. Contact information for
MED is distributed to all MP constituency and parliamentary offices. MED will
remain available and accessible to Parliamentarians.
Area 4: Application forms
14. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada regularly review all application
forms to (1) simplify the form, (2) improve the client experience, and (3)
evaluate common patterns in mistakes and errors made on applications. |
15. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada establish a process for
notifying applicants when forms are changed and establish a mechanism to
ensure that completed applications submitted with once-current forms are not
rejected due to form changes. |
The
Government agrees with the Committee’s recommendations to enhance the overall
client experience by improving the forms and tools provided to clients to submit
applications. Some lines of business such as Express Entry and Electronic
Travel Authorization are already using dynamic online applications instead of
application forms to collect the information needed for processing in a
simplified manner.
As
previously noted, the Department’s long-term goal is to have all services
include pre-submission validation, which would mean that clients would know
before they submitted the form if information was missing.
The
Department has already made efforts, particularly in some targeted programs, to
identify where forms can be improved or simplified, and to flag to clients
areas where mistakes are commonly made. For example, the guide for
spouse/partner applicants published in December 2016 includes a section which is
specifically dedicated to flagging common errors so that clients are sensitized
to them and can avoid them. The Department is using client feedback received
on the new guide to continue making changes to improve it for clients use. In
addition, in September 2016, the adult citizenship grant application form was
modified to address known reasons for return due to incompleteness. This
change resulted in an 11% decrease in incomplete citizenship applications. A
plain language review of a number of tools is also underway in several
programs.
Increasingly,
the Department will be applying client-centered and usability methodologies to
the review and redesign of forms and guides to ensure that changes make them
more intuitive and simpler for clients to complete, thus avoiding common errors
and mistakes that are driven more by poor design than by client inattention.
The
Department recognizes that updates to forms can cause confusion. Forms and
instruction guides are updated regularly to reflect for example, regulatory
changes. Minor changes may also be made to correct typos or other minor issues
that do not affect the information collected. When forms are updated, the
department advises clients on the website by changing the “date updated” next
to links for that form. The Department also aims to provide sufficient notice
and communication when the forms are changed and is currently looking at
additional ways to highlight when changes are made to forms.
Area 5: Processing Times
16. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada consider establishing service
standards and processing times for all business lines and publish the
standards on the website. |
17. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada extend the validity period of
work permits from six months to one year to take into account processing
times at the department. |
Processing
times are a key issue that impact clients in all of the Department’s business
lines. The Government welcomes the Committee’s focus on this important issue
and the Department has been and will continue pursuing efforts to improve
processing times for economic immigrants, citizenship applicants, family class
immigrants and refugees. For instance, increased admissions of permanent
residents have allowed the Department to process more applications in a given
year, resulting in inventory and processing times reductions across permanent
resident lines of business (i.e. economic class, family class, and refugees).
The Department is also investing in processing innovations, including making
better use of data and electronic tools to deliver a fast, streamlined and
online application process that will help the Department keep up with growing
volumes across lines of business.
The Government recognizes that in addition to timely
processing, clear communication of what clients can expect is important. As
noted in the Response to the CIMM Report on Family Reunification, the Department provides
regularly updated processing time information for the majority of services on
its website to give clients a general idea of how long a process takes.
The Department has set service standards for a number of services.
On an annual basis, the Department reviews all service standards and lines of
business to determine readiness to set new service standards based on an
analysis of factors such as inventory levels, processing capacity, programming
complexities, and processing time analysis. Once a service standard has been
established, service standard adherence rates are published annually on the
Departmental website.
The Government supports the recommendation to issue open work
permits for 12 months for categories of applicants where it makes operational
sense to do so and in fact this is already Departmental practice. For some
clients, for example pre-removal risk applicants who face removal in the near
term, work permits will continue to be issued for 12 months or less.
Area 6: Performance Measurement and Client
Feedback
18. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada offer automatic client service
feedback forms for applications to the department. |
19. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada review key performance
indicators for all client service channels and review best practices from
other immigration systems around the world, such as those of the United
States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. |
20. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada create a “Reconsideration
Committee” to deal with reconsideration requests within applicants’ 15-day
deadline. |
The
Government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation to offer clients feedback
channels and the Department is exploring ways to automate and expand its
collection of client feedback. Currently, the Department receives feedback a
number of ways including via an online web form, annual client satisfaction
surveys and at the Client Support Centre. The Department is increasingly
seeking client feedback online on specific changes, such as to the new Family
Class kit and guide. Increasing and automating the collection of feedback will
benefit both the client and the Department by making it more convenient and
timely for clients to submit feedback and for the Department to analyze the
data to identify trends and insights and use them to inform continuous
improvement cycles.
The
Department is already engaged in reviews of key performance indicators and best
practices from comparable immigration systems around the world. Under the
auspices of the Migration Five (M5), which was formerly the Five Country
Conference, the Department contributed to comparative analysis of the member
countries’ (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United
States) client satisfaction surveys and document verification practices, as
well as a report on contact centre best practices. As chair the of
the M5 working group that focuses on the traveller experience and traveller
facilitation, the Department will continue to engage with other immigration
agencies around the world to exchange best practices and potentially
collaborate on initiatives to address mutual client experience gaps, either on
a bilateral or multilateral basis, if research validates the need.
The
Government has assessed the Committee’s recommendation regarding the creation
of a ‘Reconsideration Committee’ and views this as not needed for a number of
reasons. Firstly, under the Designation and Delegation Instrument, officers
have the delegated authority to assess and take positive and negative decisions
which take into account legislative and regulatory provisions related to
eligibility and admissibility. Functioning within the legislative framework of
the Immigration Refugee Protection Act, the Department is bound to principles
of procedural fairness. Where an application is refused, the Department issues
refusal letters which identify which legislative or regulatory requirement(s)
have not been met.
Additionally,
there are already mechanisms in place for applicants who disagree with a
decision. Applicants for temporary residence may opt
to reapply if they have new information to provide or if their situation has
changed such that it would address the issue with their initial application. In
permanent residence streams, sponsors in the Family Class may appeal a refusal
of their relative’s permanent residence application to the Immigration Appeal
Division (IAD) at the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), with some exceptions
(e.g., there is no right of appeal if the applicant is inadmissible based on security
reasons). In addition, under Canadian immigration, citizenship and passport
law, applicants have recourse to the Federal Court to seek judicial review or
judicial review with leave.
Finally, the Department is committed
to using its current resource and funding complement to ensure timely and
efficient decisions. Redirecting these resources to reconsider negative
decisions when mechanisms exist for this to occur based on a clear set of
legislative criteria is not the optimal use of finite resources at this time.
Area 7: Continuous Improvement in Client
Service
21. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada conduct “client service and
delivery” consultations with customer and client service experts, the private
sector, former and current clients of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Canada and all Canadians on how the department can better provide service. |
22. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada consult with refugees to
determine their issues with client service and take steps to address them;
the review would include (but would not be limited to) the website, Call
Centre, languages used, access to technology and payments. |
23. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada work to better serve Canadian
businesses and employers by studying the possible benefits of the department
creating a trusted employer program to offer employers an expedited service
for assessments (subject to a fee); that this study include input from
Canadian businesses and employers; and that IRCC make its findings available
to the Committee. |
24. |
That
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada conduct a cost-benefit analysis
on having regional immigration offices to deliver in-person service similar
to Passport Canada and Service Canada locations. |
The
Government agrees with the Committee’s recommendations to engage directly with
clients, client service experts and the private sector to inform the Department
on how to better provide service.
Over
the past year, the Department has started applying user-centered design methods
to the review of services, specifically for Family Class and Citizenship Grant.
This approach includes direct consultation with clients and other stakeholders,
such as lawyers, academics, community workers, client service experts, and
private sector leaders.
In the coming year, the Department also plans to put in place an
advisory committee made up of client experience experts with a mandate to
provide advice on leading-edge approaches to service design, as well as a
client experience roundtable made up of actual clients and users of IRCC
services from whom the Department can solicit direct feedback on tools and
services.
The
Department’s Client Service Strategy includes plans to increasingly engage with
clients and analyze data to understand pain points, to develop client insights,
and to use insights and evidence to drive innovation and test solutions that
make sense to clients based on clear evidence and best practices. This core
capacity will be established over the next fiscal year, and the Department will
continue its review of the service experience as informed by regular and
rigorous consultation and engagement with users.
Specifically
as it relates to the service experience of refugees, the Government
acknowledges the Committee’s observation that this is a uniquely vulnerable
client group and is committed to addressing issues specific to this at risk
group of clients. Over the past year, the Department has accelerated its work
to focus on interactions with refugees being resettled to Canada. A
review of the Department’s contact points and messaging is in progress, and
includes an assessment of all contact points that may be accessed by an
overseas refugee or his/her sponsor or representative, including the website,
Client Support Centre, processing offices, and partners involved with refugee
resettlement.
The Department remains
committed to further engage directly with refugees and sponsors to ensure the suite of short-term and longer-term
solutions meet these clients’ distinct needs. Use of plain language in
all messaging is another change being pursued; visa offices, and their overseas
partners, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), are also
resourced with officers who can speak in the local language and/or use
interpreters to communicate with refugees.
The Department is committed to ensuring it responds quickly and
efficiently to the needs of Canadian businesses and employers when recruiting
talent, without creating a new administrative burden for employers. Creation
of a trusted employer program has been contemplated in the past, however, it
was not pursued as it would subject employers to another set of program
requirements and potential compliance measures necessary to ensure program
integrity. Instead, the
Department has undertaken to implement measures that will further support
Canadian businesses and employers in a more streamlined and client focused
manner. The Employer Liaison Network (ELN), launched in 2015, assists Canadian
businesses by providing individual guidance on how to access the Department’s
programs and services, and connects employers to Canada’s visa offices to
facilitate recruitment of overseas talent. As part of the Global Skills
Strategy, the Department has committed to implement a two-week service standard
for the processing of select work permits to support the recruitment of needed
talent from abroad. This will be done without new fees. A new work permit
exemption will also be introduced for certain foreign nationals coming to work
in Canada for a short duration and who met other criteria. As well, the
Department will be opening a Dedicated Service Channel to provide additional support, as it relates to immigration
requirements, to companies making significant investments in Canada. Employers have welcomed these
changes and noted they will enhance their ability to attract and retain top
talent. Implementation of these measures is scheduled for June 2017. Moving
forward, the Department will continue to consult with business and private
industry on policies and programs aimed at supporting Canada’s economic growth.
With regard to in-person service, the Department’s service
delivery model is increasingly moving online to meet most clients’
expectations. As a result, in-person interactions are no longer required for a
number of tasks. However, the Department does offer many in-person services
such as the intake of asylum claimants, in-person interviews to help resolve
issues and make decisions as expeditiously as possible for clients whose
applications are complex in-Canada Permanent Resident landings, and Citizenship
Grant testing, hearings, ceremonies, and itinerant services.
As committed to in the Government’s response to the CIMM study on Family
Reunification, the Department recognizes that under certain circumstances,
information available to clients online or by telephone and current in-person
offerings may not sufficiently meet the needs of either the client or the
Department. In the case of complex applications, offices may reach out to
clients to provide further information or seek clarifications. Flowing from the
Committee’s recommendation, the Department commits to explore the feasibility
of limited in-person services being offered to clients at Departmental offices
on a case-by-case basis. The extent of this cost-benefit analysis will not
necessarily include an assessment of the full cost to deliver all services
in-person as per the Passport Canada and Service Canada model, as the
Department’s current focus is to consider what is feasible within existing
resource levels and funding.
Supplementary Recommendations
With regard to supplementary recommendations put forward by CIMM
members related to the review of fees, the Government notes that the Department
monitors fees annually to identify any changes in costs which may include
efficiency improvements that have been implemented in service delivery during
the year. This annual monitoring also guides the Department in
determining the timing of its regular fee review process. As a result of
a full fee review in 2014, fees under the Temporary Resident Stream as well as
the Grant of Citizenship Fee were amended. The Department is now
undertaking a review of the Permanent Resident fees with a commitment to be
completed in 2018.
Conclusion
As the committee members are aware,
the Government’s immigration plan for 2017 will maintain the historically high
levels from the previous year. At a target of 300,000 new permanent residents,
this is the highest number of projected admissions put forth by the Government
of Canada which still only represents less than 1% of Canada’s current
population.
In recognition of immigration's
important role in our country's economic growth and future, one of the
priorities of the Government is to ensure the effective implementation of
Canada's increased annual immigration levels. Achieving these immigration
levels will support another of my mandate priorities, namely to reduce
application processing times and improve the department’s services to clients,
as will other departmental efforts to make application processes less
complicated and more timely for all applicants.
I
wish to thank the committee members for their study on client service. The
Government of Canada is committed to the modernization of client service
delivery and will take into consideration its recommendations as we work to
improve services for our clients.