CBC News has obtained documents that reveal Service Canada investigators were instructed to carry out exhaustive examinations of 1,200 randomly selected EI claimants, who were collecting regular benefits, or benefits relating to maternity or parental leave, compassionate care, sickness and work sharing. Investigators with the Integrity Services Branch were provided with a 23-page manual, dated October 2012, outlining investigative techniques intended to be used in a pilot project starting in November and winding up at the end of March. The document makes it clear the Service Canada employees are to leave no stone unturned in their inquiries, even in the absence of evidence that selected EI recipients had done anything wrong. The document suggests investigators check addresses, bank accounts, medical documents and even the physical appearance of claimants. The pilot project involves controversial home visits in which agents knock on the door of an EI claimant's home and ask for an interview on the spot, or deliver a letter to schedule a mandatory face-to-face meeting. The documents, obtained exclusively by CBC News, reveal Service Canada agents do much more than visit private residences. Investigators are told to seek out the claimants' former employer, and to select a sample of five prospective employers the EI recipient says he or she sought out for work opportunities. A check is to be made that the claimant really did make a job request, and employers are to be asked whether the claimant said the job was not suitable and if so, what reasons were given. One section says the address a former employer lists for the EI recipient is to be verified, and if there is "indication of (a) manipulated residential address, the integrity investigator may ... obtain from the financial institution a record of all deposits, locations and withdrawals."

Another section suggests a claimant's photo should be verified, or their name checked on utility bills or lease agreements that presumably must be handed over. An employer can be asked to describe the "physical characteristics" of the person who worked for them to see whether the description matches the EI claimant.

Originally posted by pigwithoutawig
reply to post by TFCJay

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Yeah but it's fine for the Senators to steal hundreds of thousands, their not entitled to because they signed a paper saying they are " Honerable Men" C'mon!!

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
reply to post by pigwithoutawig

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everything you quote will only affect people making fraudulent claims - so whats the problem ?

Originally posted by pigwithoutawig
reply to post by TFCJay

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I'm sorry do you work in the PM's office.

edit on 2-3-2013 by pigwithoutawig because: spelling