The Auditor General of Canada released four performance reports that spotlighted deficiencies in several service areas involving diversity, including systemic racism in the delivery of federal government services.
But federal ministers say the reports don’t reflect the progress made since the audits were taken last year and earlier this year.
Auditor General Karen Hogan said at a press conference the reports identify systemic barriers and systemic racism across several government services that came from “seemingly neutral procedures, policies, or practices that disadvantage one or more groups.”
The first report said the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada were not collecting enough information on barriers to benefits and services or the hard-to-reach populace. They said that these agencies did not account for people who didn’t file taxes which led them to overstate the number of people receiving these benefits.
The two departments had incomplete information about those potentially eligible who weren’t receiving benefits, the report said.
The second report said Veterans Affairs Canada said that wait times were too long for veterans to get compensation for injuries, some up to 10 months. They found that some subgroups such as francophones, women, and RCMP veterans took even longer. The findings in this report were similar to those of a 2014 audit.
The third report found that there were gaps in the way government services performed gender-based analysis. They said the gaps have made it difficult to address existing potential and existing inequality gaps. Hogan said that the same issues despite them being brought up in a 2009 audit.
The fourth report identified significant discrimination in Corrections Canada against Black and Indigenous prisoners. They said that Black and Indigenous prisoners received higher security classifications and were sent to maximum security institutions at twice the rates of other populations. Hogan said Corrections Canada was given audits in 2015, 2016 and 2017 on these issues but had not made the improvements recommended.
“Indigenous and Black offenders were placed at higher security levels on admission into custody at twice the average rate of other offenders,” the audit found. “However, the reliability of Correctional Services Canada security classification tool, the Custody Rating Scale, had not been validated since 2012, and its use had never been validated for Black offenders specifically.”
At a later press conference, the federal ministers in charge of the audited departments responded to the reports.
All four said they would implement the changes recommended, adding the federal government has been making progress on several of these issues.
Lawrence MacAulay, the minister of veterans’ affairs, said the audit on his department was a snapshot of an earlier time and that they had improved services and applications since then.
Marco Mendicino, the public safety minister, announced he is directing the creation of the position of deputy minister of Indigenous Affairs to address the issues of incarceration among Indigenous People among other mandates.
Hogan said the federal government has not delivered on the promises made from previous audits on the issues. She said promises must translate to concrete actions.
“As I near the third of my mandate, I am feeling more frustrated than hopeful,” said Hogan at the media conference. “As much as I’d like to report that government programs and services improve once weaknesses are identified, I find that is seldom the case.”