One week before the new Mark Carney government was sworn-in, the Minister of Citizen Services released the 2025 State of Service report. One week later, the minister and his department were gone. Prime Minister Carney folded Citizen Services (which contained Service Canada) into a new department of Government Transformation, Public Services, and Procurement. While no official mandate letter for the new department has been released, the work of digital service delivery promoted by the former department will continue.
The pandemic proved the power and necessity of digital delivery of government services. A return to the traditional in-person kiosk model is gone. Faster delivery of services at a lower cost from more efficient digital government has put paid to that approach. Digital service delivery allows Canadians to access government services wherever they live, anywhere and at any time.
The State of Service report outlines the government’s approach as well as successes to date. Five pillars are established:
- Deliver the most efficient, timely and accessible services in Canadian history
- Placing user experience and productivity at the centre of government services
- Lowering costs and maximizing value for Canadians
- Building a digital-first service that includes scalable, secure and reliable infrastructure
- Empowering a culture of service and excellence in the public service
The report highlights progress in four major programs:
- Passport Program
- Canadian Dental Care Plan
- Employment Insurance Program
- Social Insurance Number Program
The Passport Program went through a very demanding period following the pandemic. Canadians wanted to travel and the program was unable to process passport applications in anything like a timely manner. The figure below shows the number of passports issued from 2018 to today.
The government introduced a number of measures to reduce wait times, allow applicants to check status online, and schedule appointments to avoid waiting in lineups. The government is introducing a digital passport renewal application process which will eliminate the need for any in-person interaction and provide the service within 20 days.
The new Canadian Dental Plan for low to middle-income Canadians without private coverage began in 2023. The State of Service report states results as follows:
“Just over one year after the CDCP’s launch in December 2023, the plan has received more than 3.8 million applications. Over 86% of these applicants have been deemed eligible and approved for coverage. Since access to the oral health services began in May 2024, over 1.4 million Canadians have already received care (as of January 2025).”
According to Service Canada, The CDCP Call Centre has maintained an officer accessibility rate of over 99%, meaning that no callers are turned away due to high call volumes. The average call wait time has been less than 35 seconds.
Service Canada has since transitioned to a digital-first service delivery model for eligible applicants. Since then, approximately 80% of applicants have applied online.
Employment Insurance (EI) is one of the government’s longest and most expensive legacy social programs. Service delivery improvements have been focused on reducing call wait times for claimants and automating more of the processing by using AI. Call wait times for some 6 million calls per year, are down from an average 20 minutes at the height of the pandemic to an average of 4 minutes.
Here are some initial results from using AI to process claims:
Canada’s Social Insurance Number (SIN) has existed since 1964. More and more, the granting of SINs is being automated for faster service delivery. This is necessary given the large number of SINs being processed each year. In 2023/24, 1.7 million first-time SINs were issued. SIN processing is predicted to drop from days to just minutes as a result. This will be through an eSIN Automation mechanism proposed to launch in Fall, 2025. This is predicted to save work hours and costs, as seen in the figure below.
The government proposes to expand SIN processing for new arrivals to Canada. This will be done via two new programs: SIN@Landing and SIN@Entry. The aim is to reduce the need for new immigrants and refugees to line up at Service Canada offices to complete essential documentation.
