CFIA opens complaints office

Thursday, April 5, 2012

by SUSAN MANN

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s new Complaints and Appeals Office is open and ready to accept your complaints and compliments.

The office became officially operational on April 2. In a letter posted on CFIA’s website, Catherine Airth, the agency’s chief redress officer, integrity and redress secretariat, says people will now have a more accessible and transparent way to register complaints, appeals, comments or compliments about service delivery, administrative errors or regulatory decision.

The CFIA uses an incremental process to manage complaints and appeals. Front line staff are encouraged to resolve complaints. Many incoming concerns will be referred back to the front line staff, she says. “While this process does not change, stakeholders can now, as a final step, submit a formal complaint, appeal, comment or compliment directly to the Complaints and Appeals Office.”

CFIA senior media relations officer Guy Gravelle says in an email CFIA has always encouraged people to try and resolve their concerns at the front line with supervisors. But now they have the option to make a formal complaint to the agency’s Ottawa office if they aren’t happy with the response at the local level.

Before the new office opened, it wasn’t always clear where people could complain if they weren’t satisfied, he says.

The volume of complaints will be posted on the CFIA’s website quarterly to ensure transparency, he says.

Aith says in her letter the person submitting the complaint will be contacted either by phone or email within two business days. They will be given a file number, an acknowledgement of receipt and information about the process.

“This single-window process will complement processes already in place by allowing regulatory decisions and service delivery issues to be more thoroughly addressed,” Airth says.

The complaints office is part of the CFIA’ Statement of Rights and Service for producers, consumers and other stakeholders and the six guides to inspection. They were released earlier this year.

By developing the statement, guides and office, the agency is demonstrating its “commitment to improving interactions with its stakeholders,” she says.

More information about the complaints process is available on the CFIA’s website at: www.inspection.gc.ca . BF