Questions and responses 42nd Parliament, 1st session December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019

With regard to the Canada Child Benefit (CBB): (a) what is the total number of eligible (i) parents, (ii) children in 2016-17; (b) what is the total number of applications received in 2016-17; (c) how many were successful, meaning how many families actually received the benefit in 2016-17; (d) what is the regional breakdown of applications received and approved; (e) what is the urban and rural breakdown; (f) what are the protocols and service standards for the processing of applications; (g) how many applications, if any, exceeded the processing time specified in the service standard; (h) what were the most common reasons for exceeding the processing time; (i) what remedy is available for cases that have gone beyond the service standards and, if difficult cases are moved to a different unit for treatment, are they then subject to a different set of protocols and service standards; (j) where are these applications processed; (k) are there regional offices with trained staff; (l) do all staff who process applications receive the same training; (m) are there regularly scheduled training or briefing sessions to keep the unit staff current on Ministry policies and practices and, if so, how often do these occur; (n) who is ultimately responsible for incorrect information given to applicants and MP offices, in particular what is the chain of command, or organizational chart for staff processing applications; (o) are all applicants given the same options and information, or is this a flexible standard, depending on the agent and officer; (p) what is the appeal process, if any, for unsuccessful applicants; (q) what are the service standards for the appeal process; (r) has the department identified issues and been made aware of problems with regard to the delivery of the CCB to eligible Canadians and, if so, what are they; (s) how many eligible families are currently not receiving CCB payments; (t) of the families identified in (s) what are the reasons they are not receiving payments; (u) what triggers a review of a CCB file; (v) what documentation is required from persons under review and how are they informed that these documents are required; (w) are benefits suspended during a review and, if so, when are benefits reinstated; and (x) is there a service standard for how the review is conducted and is there an appeal process when a review is conducted?

With regard to the new application process for Senate appointments: (a) how many applications were received for the first Senate appointments; (b) of the applications in (a), how many of those were unsolicited applications and how many were nominated by (i) government employees, (ii) parliamentary staff, (iii) Members of Parliament within the governing party; and (c) how were the applications received, and specifically, how many were received by (i) e-mail, (ii) phone?

With regard to the federal disability tax credit (DTC) : (a) what is the average DTC amount a successful claimant is eligible to receive per year; (b) what is the total DTC amount claimed for the fiscal year 2015; (c) what is the total number of DTC claimants for the fiscal year 2015; (d) does the rejection of a DTC claim affect the outcome of an application for provincial credits for disabilities; (e) what is the approval rate for DTC applicants who reapplied for the credit with the assistance of a tax credit consultant; and (f) how many times has the procedures manual that Canada Revenue Agency assessors refer to in administration of the DTC program been updated and what are these updates for the past 10 years?

With regard to the government’s Syrian refugee resettlement initiative, including, but not limited to the measures announced by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship on November 24, 2015: (a) what is the total number of existing Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) visa officers and other CIC employees, in whole or in part (i.e. FTEs), who have been re-assigned since November 4, 2015, from processing applications under other streams or “lines of business” to enhance the processing capacity of Syrian refugee applications, broken down by employees re-assigned from processing (i) spousal sponsorship applications, (ii) economic immigration permanent resident visas, (iii) work permit applications, (iv) student visa applications, (v) all other streams, identifying the stream in question; (b) what was the total number of CIC employees, in whole or in part (i.e. FTEs), including visa officers, responsible for processing Syrian refugee applications on November 4, 2015; (c) what is the total number of CIC employees, whole or in part (i.e. FTEs), including visa officers, who were responsible for processing Syrian refugee applications on December 10, 2015; (d) what is the anticipated operational impact, expressed in additional application processing time, for each CIC “line of business,” caused by the re-allocation of CIC employee resources to enhance the processing of Syrian refugee applications; (e) what is the total number of cases that were finalized for each week in the 2015 calendar year, up to and including December 10, 2015, for each permanent and temporary resident visa category, broken down by (i) outcome (i.e. “approved,” “refused,” or “withdrawn”), (ii) CIC Visa Office or CIC Processing Office; (f) what is the total number of Syrian refugee applications, broken down by sponsorship category (e.g. Government Sponsored Refugees, Privately Sponsored Refugees, Group of Five, etc.), finalized on or after November 5, 2015; and (g) of the total number Syrian refugee applications that were finalized on or after November 5, 2015, how many applications were referred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, or the Canada Border Services Agency, prior to the visa officer’s decision to either grant or refuse a permanent resident visa, for a (i) record check, (ii) comprehensive security vetting?

With regard to the implementation of a lottery system for the parent and grandparent stream of family reunification, broken down by province and by country of origin of sponsored individuals: (a) how many online applications for the 10,000 sponsorship spots were submitted; (b) how many applications were repeat submissions from the same sponsor; (c) how many applications were repeat submissions for the same sponsored individual; (d) of the original 10,000 applications that were drawn, how many were deemed ineligible on the basis of (i) being incomplete, (ii) not meeting financial requirements, (iii) not submitting the full application after being selected, (iv) being a repeat submission by the same sponsor, (v) was a repeat submission for the same individual being sponsored (iv) other reasons; (e) when were department officials made aware that fewer than 10,000 eligible applications were selected; (f) what was the decision-making process to determine a second lottery drawing would occur; (g) to date, how many completed applications have been submitted; (h) how many completed applications have been returned due to errors; (i) what is the current average processing time for these applications; (j) how many online applications were considered eligible for the draw; and (k) how many applications will be selected in the second lottery draw?

With regard to Veterans Affairs Canada, for the fiscal years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016: (a) what was the number of applicants for each of the following programs, (i) Disability and Death Compensation – Disability Pension Program – Disability Pensions, (ii) Disability and Death Compensation, (iii) Disability and Death Compensation – Disability Pension Program, (iv) Disability and Death Compensation – Disability Pension Program – Exceptional Incapacity Allowance, (v) Disability and Death Compensation – Disability Pension Program – Treatment Allowance, (vi) Disability Awards Program, (vii) Disability Awards Program – Disability Awards, (viii) Financial Support Program, (ix) Financial Support Program – Financial Benefits, (x) Financial Support Program – Financial Benefits – Earnings Loss, (xi) Financial Support Program – Financial Benefits – Canadian Forces Income Support, (xii) Financial Support Program – Financial Benefits – Supplementary Retirement Benefit, (xiii) Financial Support Program – Financial Benefits – Permanent Impairment Allowance, (xiv) Financial Support Program – War Veterans Allowance, (xv) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services, (xvi) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Rehabilitation, (xvii) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Career Transition Services, (xviii) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Health Care Benefits, (xix) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Health Care Benefits – Health Care Benefits and Services, (xx) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Health Care Benefits – Veterans Independence Program – Other Services, (xxi) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Intermediate and Long-Term Care, (xxii) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Intermediate and Long-Term Care – Non-Departmental Institutions – Veterans Independence Program, (xxiii) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Intermediate and Long-Term Care – Non-Departmental Institutions – Long Term Care, (xxiv) Canada Remembers Program – Partnerships and Collaborations, (xxv) Health Care Program and Reestablishment Services – Intermediate and Long-Term Care – Funeral and Burial Program; (b) what was the number of rejected applications for the programs identified in (a); (c) what was the number of completed applications for the programs identified in (a); (d) what was the average length of time for applications to be processed for the programs identified in (a); (e) what was the median length of time for application to be processed for the programs identified in (a); (f) what was the shortest length of time for an application to be processed for the programs identified in (a); and (g) what was the longest length of time for an application to be processed for the programs identified in (a)?

With regard to the Vessel Operation Restriction Regulations (VORR) and where applicable its Local Authorities’ Guide: (a) what are the details of all applications ever received under Section 4, broken down by (i) date of first contact or initiation of the application, (ii) date of receipt of a completed application, (iii) name and jurisdiction of the local authority making the request, (iv) current status of the application, (v) file, tracking, or reference numbers of all files, correspondence, and other information relating to the application, including title or subject, authors, and recipients, where applicable; (b) what options do local authorities have to simplify or expedite the handling of applications to implement specific limitations to vessel type or speed, on waters within their territories; and (c) what are the details of all regulations and local modifications currently in force under the VORR broken down by (i) date of change or implementation, (ii) requesting authority, (iii) reason for change, (iv) the file, tracking, or reference numbers of all relevant files, correspondence, and other information, including title or subject, authors, and recipients?

With regard to the processing of family members under the One-year window of opportunity provision for refugees and protected persons, from 2005 to the present time: (a) how many applications have been submitted, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin; (b) how many applications were for spouses, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin; (c) how many applications were for dependents, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin, (iii) number of dependents per application; (d) what is the processing queue for this program, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin for application; (e) how many applications in the processing queue are for dependents, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin, (iii) number of dependents per application; (f) how many of the applications in the queue are for spouses, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin; (g) what is the average processing time for applications under this program, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin, (iii) dependent application specific, (iv) spousal application specific; (h) what is the median processing time, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin, (iii) dependent application specific, (iv) spousal application specific; and (i) how many applicants have had to do more than one medical exam as a result of the 12 month expiry of the medical examination, broken down by (i) year, (ii) country of origin, (iii) dependent application specific, (iv) spousal application specific, (v) number of medical exams conducted?

With regard to the government's refugee initiative: (a) what is the total number of private sponsor groups who applied to sponsor a Syrian refugee family or individual from October 21, 2015, to February 29, 2016, broken down by outcome (i) approved, (ii) refused, (iii) withdrawn; (b) what is the total number of approved applications which have not yet met the stage of transporting the sponsored family or individual to Canada; (c) of the applications identified in (b), what is the anticipated timeline for arrival of these families; and (d) what is the total limit or cap imposed on the number of private sponsorship of Syrian refugees within the original 25,000 goal?

With regard to refugee processing in Canada: (a) how many government-assisted Syrian refugees have been resettled in Canada since January 1, 2015, in total, broken down by (i) month; (b) how many applications for private sponsorship of Syrian refugees have been received since July 2013, in total, broken down by (i) year; (c) how many applications for privately-sponsored Syrian refugees have been received since January 1, 2015, broken down by (i) month; (d) how many applications for privately-sponsored Syrian refugees have been accepted since January 1, 2015, in total, broken down by (i) month; (e) how many privately-sponsored Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since January 1, 2015, in total, broken down by (i) month; (f) what was the average processing time in 2014 for applications for privately-sponsored Syrian refugees; (g) what was the average processing time in 2015 for applications for privately-sponsored Syrian refugees, broken down by month; (h) how many Syrian refugees have made inland claims for refugee status at the Immigration and Refugee Board since July 2013, in total, broken down by (i) year, (ii) month; (i) how many Syrian refugees have received a positive decision at the Immigration and Refugee Board since July 2013, in total, broken down by (i) year, (ii) month; (j) how many applications for private sponsorship of Syrian refugees are currently waiting to be processed; (k) what criteria has the government enumerated for prioritizing resettlement on the basis of religion or ethnicity; (l) what instructions have been given to processing officers regarding religion or ethnicity of Syrian refugees; (m) what is the projected budget for the government’s resettling of 25 000 government-assisted Syrian refugees, in total, broken down by (i) program, (ii) year; (n) what is the projected budget for the processing and transport of privately-sponsored Syrian refugees, in total, broken down by (i) program, (ii) year; (o) over the next two years, how many Syrian refugees does the government plan to resettle each year, in total, broken down by (i) government-assisted refugees, (ii) privately-sponsored refugees; (p) how many government-assisted Iraqi refugees have been resettled in Canada since January 1, 2015, in total, broken down by (i) month; (q) how many applications for private sponsorship of Iraqi refugees have been received since July 2013, in total, broken down by (i) year; (r) how many applications for privately-sponsored Iraqi refugees have been received since January 1, 2015, broken down by month; (s) how many applications for privately-sponsored Iraqi refugees have been accepted since January 1, 2015, in total, broken down by (i) month; (t) how many privately-sponsored Iraqi refugees have arrived in Canada since January 1, 2015, in total, broken down by (i) month; (u) how many Iraqi refugees have made inland claims for refugee status at the Immigration and Refugee Board since July 2013, in total, broken down by (i) year, (ii) month; (v) how many Iraqi refugees have received a positive decision at the Immigration and Refugee Board since July 2013, in total, broken down by (i) year, (ii) month; (w) how many applications for private sponsorship of Iraqi refugees are currently waiting to be processed; (x) over the next two years, how many Iraqi refugees does the government plan to resettle each year, in total, broken down by (i) government-assisted, (ii) privately-sponsored; (y) what was the average processing time for all refugee applications in 2014 and 2015, in total, broken down by (i) year, (ii) processing centre, (iii) government-assisted refugees, (iv) privately-sponsored refugees; (z) how many refugees has Canada accepted in 2013 and 2014, in total, broken down by (i) country of origin, (ii) year; and (aa) how many total refugees does Canada intend to resettle in 2016?

With regard to Employment Insurance (EI) for 2015: (a) what was the volume of EI applications in total and broken down by (i) region and province where the claim originated, (ii) the number of claims accepted and the number of claims rejected, (iii) month; (b) what was the average EI application processing time in total and broken down by (i) region and province where claim originated, (ii) month; (c) how many applications waited more than 28 days for a decision and, for these applications, what was the average wait time for a decision, in total and broken down by (i) region and province where claim originated, (ii) month; (d) what was the volume of calls to EI call centres in total and broken down by (i) month, (ii) region and province; (e) what was the number of calls to EI call centres that received a high volume message in total and broken down by (i) month, (ii) region and province; (f) what were the national service level standards for calls answered by an agent at EI call centres, broken down by month; (g) what were the actual service level standards achieved by EI call centres for calls answered by an agent, broken down by (i) month, (ii) region and province; (h) what were the service standards for call-backs from EI processing staff, broken down by month; (i) what were the service standards achieved by EI processing staff for call-backs, broken down by (i) month, (ii) region and province; (j) what was the average number of days for a call-back by EI processing staff, broken down by (i) month, (ii) region and province; (k) what was the number and percentage of term employees and the number and percentage of indeterminate employees, working at EI call centres and processing centres; (l) what was the rate of sick-leave use among EI call centre and processing centre employees; (m) what was the number of EI call centre and processing centre employees on long-term disability; (n) what was the number of overtime hours worked by call centre employees; (o) who authored the report on EI processing for which the former parliamentary secretary for Employment and Social Development was credited; (p) what is the table of contents for the report; (q) will the government make the report public; (r) how many complaints did the Office of Client Satisfaction receive, broken down by (i) month, (ii) region and province where the complaint originated; (s) how long on average did a complaint take to be investigated and resolved, broken down by month; and (t) what were the major themes of the complaints received?

With regard to the federal disability tax credit (DTC) that helps persons with disabilities and certain medical conditions defray unavoidable medical expenses: (a) what is the total DTC amount claimed for the fiscal year 2017 in Canada; (b) what is the total number of DTC claimants for the fiscal year 2017 in Canada; (c) what is the total number of DTC applications that were denied for the fiscal year 2017 in Canada; (d) of the DTC applications that were denied, what were the tabulated and categorized reasons for their denial; (e) what is the total number of DTC applications that were rejected for life-sustaining therapy due to not meeting the average 14 hours per week requirement for the fiscal year 2017 in Canada; (f) of the DTC applications that were rejected for life-sustaining therapy due to not meeting the average 14 hours per week requirement, how many of them had at least 10 hours per week for the fiscal year 2017 in Canada; (g) in deciding whether or not to approve an application for life-sustaining therapy, what are the criterion utilized by the Canadian Revenue Agency to make such a determination and how are these criterion logged and recorded; and (h) how many times has the procedures manual that assessors refer to in administration of the DTC been updated and what are these updates for the 2015, 2016, and 2017 calendar years?

With regard to supervised injection sites approved or in process of application since November 4, 2015: (a) how many supervised injection sites did the government receive applications for in (i) total across Canada, (ii) Toronto, (iii) Ottawa, (iv) Montreal, (v) other municipalities; (b) has the government followed the Respect for Communities Act in this plan; (c) when planning the establishment of supervised injection sites in Canada, (i) has the government consulted with communities, neighborhoods, local stakeholders, elected officials of the municipalities, and local police services; (ii) exercised the authority within the Respect for Communities Act to publicly post applications for any existing and future supervised injection site exemptions under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act; and (d) how many times did the Minister request amendments to the application in order to improve health and safety controls?

With regard to the new interview and selection process for Senate appointments: (a) how many applicants were interviewed (i) by phone, (ii) in person; (b) of the applications in (a), who performed the interviews; (c) of the applications in (a), what process was put in place in order to determine which applicants were interviewed; (d) of the applications in (a), who decided which applicants would be interviewed; (e) what costs were involved in the interview process; (f) how many recommended nominees were sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for final decision; (g) were written recommendations made for the nominees, and, if so, what are the details of these written recommendations; (h) what was the travel cost for each interview done; and (i) were any memos sent to the PMO regarding the nominees, and, if so, what are the details of these memos?

With regard to the online application system run by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: (a) how many hours has the online system been down in total since January 1, 2017; and (b) what is the number of hours the online system has been down, broken down by week, since January 1, 2017?

With regard to grants, contributions, and funding applications to departments for the period of November 3, 2015, to April 22, 2016: (a) what applications were approved by departmental officials, but were (i) rejected by the Minister, or (ii) approved on terms other than those initially recommended by departmental officials; (b) for each case in (a)(ii), what are the details of how the approved applications differed from (i) what the applicant sought, and (ii) what the department recommended?

With regard to applications for Indian Status submitted to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, specifically as a result of the passage of the Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act, Bill C-3, 40th Parliament, Third Session: (a) how many applications have been submitted; (b) how many applications have been approved; (c) how many applications have been denied; (d) what is the average length of time required to process an application; (e) is there currently a backlog of processing applications; (f) if the answer to (e) is in the affirmative, how long has there been a backlog of processing applications; (g) does the Department have a projected date by which they will be caught up on any backlog that may exist; (h) has the Department identified any causes for delays in processing applications, and, if so, what are these causes; and (i) has the Department identified a staffing shortage for people required to process applications?

With regard to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, for the period of November 3, 2015, to April 22, 2016: (a) how many funding applications have been submitted; (b) how many funding applications have yet to be processed; (c) how many funding applications have been approved for funding; (d) how many funding applications have been rejected for funding; and (e) what is the total funding amount that has been provided to approved applicants?

With regard to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s YouTube video titled “Cracking the Code” released on May 30, 2018: (a) how much was spent to create the video; (b) was an actor or actress paid to do the voice-over for the video and, if so, how much was the actor or actress paid; and (c) how many full-time equivalents worked on the video from development to publication?

With respect to the Innovation Superclusters Initiative: (a) what was the full assessment, evaluation and selection process and criteria used to select the five successful supercluster entities representing industry-led consortia, namely, the SCALE.AI Supercluster, the Next Generation Manufacturing Supercluster, the Ocean Supercluster, the Protein Industries Supercluster, and the Digital Technology Supercluster, from other applicants; (b) what are the Lead Applicants and Partner Applicants, as well as participating or enabling firms, individuals and other entities in each of the five successful supercluster entities in (a); (c) what were the names of the industry-led consortia that submitted unsuccessful applications, broken down by region and economic sectors as defined by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; (d) what were the Lead and Partner Applicants in the unsuccessful applications; and (e) what is the breakdown by supercluster and by fiscal year, over the next five years, of planned spending in the Innovation Superclusters Initiative?