ARCHIVED - Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman biannual review of the Canada Revenue Agency's training videos

September 30, 2016

The Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman has conducted its biannual review of whether the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) considers the Taxpayer Bill of Rights in its policies and procedures for purchasing or producing training videos related to interacting with the public.

Background

In May 2012, the Honourable Gail Shea, then Minister of National Revenue, became aware of five training videos used by the CRA, which she found disturbing. She requested that my office review all training videos that the CRA had in use to verify whether they respected the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. She also requested that the Ombudsman review all future training videos to provide assurance that they respect the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Since closing our systemic review of this issue on February 25, 2016, my office has examined all of the CRA’s training videos which relate to interacting with the public. This review included 39 videos from various CRA branches.

Findings

Of the 39 videos reviewed, my office found the majority to be professional and respectful of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. We did, however, find three videos that did not respect the Taxpayer Bill of Rights as it relates to the right to be treated professionally.

During the course of the review, the branch responsible for the three videos stated that the videos were no longer used for training and have been permanently removed.

I conclude that the CRA’s actions adequately address the issues identified with the three videos.

Next steps

My office will be reviewing the CRA’s inventory of training videos biannually. The next report will be sent to you in March 2017.

Should you require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Original signed

Sherra Profit