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Canadian Dental Care Plan: Delivering a better user experience (UX) using GC Notify

“We’ve been using GC Notify to send new communications to Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) applicants, since May 2025. It enables us to provide updates via email, saving us the cost of mailing over 1.4 million letters so far. GC Notify has been very stable and trouble-free, allowing us to focus on our program priorities.”

– Public servants Kyle Butts and Pat Heroux

We often hear that sharing CDS product use cases helps GC teams see themselves using the tools, and gives them the confidence to adopt them. If your team delivers services that send updates to verified contacts, this blog about GC Notify is for you!

Read our interview below with public servants Kyle Butts and Pat Heroux at the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), where they share how and why they’re using GC Notify, and the UX benefits of providing digital updates.

What’s the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP)?

“Did you know that until recently, one in three people in Canada lacked dental insurance and one in four reported skipping dental visits due to cost? To address this problem, the GC introduced CDCP… it’s the largest federal government benefit program in the last 60 years, covering 23% of the population.”
– Blog: Putting people at the center of services: Dental meets digital

CDCP was introduced in 2023: it’s a program that makes dental care more affordable for eligible Canadian residents. CDCP currently has over 6 million approved applicants.

Haven’t heard of GC Notify before? 

The notification product helps federal public servants send emails and texts (to their teams and members of the public). Guide people through government processes, one message at a time: explore what you can do with GC Notify!

How’s CDCP using GC Notify? Any benefits to share?

Emailing service updates to verified contacts

Thanks to GC Notify, CDCP applicants can choose to engage with the program digitally vs letter mail, saving the program physical mailing costs. We’ve sent around 1.4 million automated new communication emails to CDCP applicants using the notification service and its API feature, and the number continues to grow as awareness of the service increases.

CDCP sends 3 types of notifications:

  • Verification code: To ensure the email the client provided us is valid and can be used to communicate with them, an email containing a verification code is sent to that address.  To complete the digital registration, the client must enter the verification code.
  • Confirmation email: Lets the client know that their CDCP application has been successfully submitted.
  • New communication: Advises clients that there is a new communication related to their CDCP application for viewing in their My Service Canada Account (MSCA) account. This can be related to application being processed, their determination has been processed, an invitation to renew, etc.

Benefits: Improved UX for applicants

  • Verification process makes engagement easier: Ensuring that emails are verified through an authorization code allows ESDC to properly engage with CDCP clients and know that any correspondence is going to the correct accounts. This reduces the time it takes to determine contact info.
  • Applicants are updated faster via email than letter mail: Improves user experiences (UX) with the program, and reduces the amount of follow-up requests to our Service Canada officers.

Why did your team adopt GC Notify?

  • Using the notification service addressed our need for digital comms: Prior to the introduction of GC Notify, most of the correspondence to CDCP clients was via letter mail. To drive a more digital-first solution, as of May 2024 clients now have the choice to view letters digitally, significantly reducing the costs associated with communication. 
  • Knowing other ESDC teams use it gave us confidence: We knew it was stable, reliable, easy to integrate, and familiar to us. 

Learn how GC Notify can support your GC digital comms!

Thanks to Kyle and Pat for sharing their experiences using GC Notify for CDCP digital communications! Working in the open helps other GC teams learn how they can improve their service delivery too.

If your team delivers services that send updates to verified contacts: register for a GC Notify demo! We’ll show you how to: 

  • Send email and text notifications securely and reliably.
  • Create, edit, and manage reusable templates.
  • Send messages with custom content.
  • Use a spreadsheet to populate templates.