What Government Agencies Do

• Government agencies make many decisions that can affect your life.
• They must treat people fairly when making these decisions.
• They must follow the law when making decisions.

Government agencies deal with many things, including:

• Employment Insurance
• immigration issues
• renter rights
• Social Assistance
• human rights

 In the course of their work they make decisions about things like whether someone:

• can get Employment Insurance
• can stay in Canada
• can get Social Assistance

They can also settle disputes between people such as landlords and renters, or employees and employers.

You have the right to know what information the agency used to make a decision. This includes information they collected. It also includes information someone else gave them. You also have the right to give them any information that you think should be considered.

There are also rules about how government agencies make decisions. Their decisions must be based on guidelines created by the law. For example, if the law says that landlords must give renters notice of a rent increase, they cannot decide that notice is not needed. They cannot unfairly take sides. It must not look like they would favour one side or another. For example, they must not be friends with one party.

People who work for government agencies are employed by the government. However, they cannot favour the government when making a decision. They cannot stand to gain anything from making a certain decision. They cannot take bribes in exchange for a certain decision.