Two years after the federal government made the unprecedented decision to provide quick financial assistance in the form of $ 2,000 a month to those who lost their jobs in 2020 due to the pandemic, many Canadians are told they must return the money, including some. who say they didn’t even apply for that particular benefit.
Many who received letters of warning from the Tax Agency of Canada in recent months told CTVNews.ca that they had no idea they should return any of the benefits, and some say they have difficulty finding the money.
As pandemic measures closed thousands of jobs in the spring of 2020, the government launched a program called the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to help Canadians who had lost their jobs or could not work because of of COVID-19.
Those who qualified received $ 2,000 a month during the initial stage of the program, which has since ended.
But two years later, thousands of Canadians began receiving letters informing them that they had to return at least some of the money, and many were told that they had been ineligible for the CERB or that they had received too much money.
CTVNews.ca asked Canadians who had received a letter telling them about CERB-related money to share how this news affected them and their finances. Responses were emailed to CTVNews.ca and not all have been independently verified.
As of Wednesday, more than 250 emails were sent to CTVNews.ca, and many respondents noted their confusion and frustration.
“When I said goodbye during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought CERB was a miracle,” Kaitlin Hartley said.
“But when I received a letter from the CRA recently telling me that I had to give them back $ 2,000 because‘ I shouldn’t have received so much initially, ’my first thought was,‘ This is a joke. ’ to be real ‘”.
He said he is struggling with a “mountain of debt” from school, as well as with payments from his daily life.
“I was shocked, then angry, and now I’m just sad. All I can think about is that I would never have accepted it, or saved it if I had known that the government would turn around during the most difficult time of my life. life (personally and financially) and I would ask for that money back. ”
Some respondents also stated that they had not even applied for the CERB: they had applied for employment insurance (EI) in early 2020 and instead were given money from the CERB.
When Kara Truelove, who lives in Winnipeg, Man., Originally received the $ 2,000 government e-mail, she thought it was a scam e-mail, she told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview .
But he quickly realized what it was: the same email a friend had told him he had received a month earlier, which Truelove had thought was a coincidence.
She had been finishing her final nursing practice when the pandemic broke out and she lost her job as a waitress.
“I needed some kind of income,” he said. “That’s why I applied for ISIS like everyone else in the country.”
The fact that he did not want to receive the CERB makes the situation even more frustrating, he said.
“They gave me the CERB amount instead of what I probably should have received, because the ISIS takes out a percentage of what you earn and therefore only receives 60% of your salary,” he said. She believes CERB became the default at this time because it was easier to calculate given the deluge of people in need of assistance.
“So I guess instead of figuring out how many people applied for IE, they just gave that to everyone. [same] amount of money. ”
He said that if he had known that he would end up owing money, “he would not have even asked for it” and that the government should have been more transparent.
“I don’t think they knew what they were doing,” he said. “And they realize that now and then they’re trying to cover up their tracks, but it’s not fair because they’re asking working citizens to give them that money back, which they never told them they should do in the first place.”
The federal government and the CRA had previously stated that some CERB recipients may have to return the money as the reviews are made, but the CRA also said it would consider the “unique situations” of those who are struggling to make ends meet. return the money.
Derek Rhodes said he applied for ISIS after being fired from Air Canada in June 2020, but “was incorporated into the CERB without my permission.”
On Monday, the CRA sent him a letter informing him that he had been “overpaid” during the first month he was at CERB, but replied that he was eligible for the full $ 2,000 during that month and plans to contact CRA for explain your case.
He added that his family had struggled for the past two years and that he had just returned to work with “a significant loss of salary”.
“How will we pay for it when we’re still drowning?” He said. “The government is supposed to help its people. Instead, they are helping us to fail.”
A construction worker in Oakville, Ontario, said his workplace was closed around the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 in March 2020. He applied for ISIS even earlier. that the CERB would have been announced.
“Suddenly, after submitting the application, the government notified me that instead of receiving EI, it will automatically switch to CERB,” said Wally Azarcon.
“I now have to pay more than $ 2,000 for CERB that I didn’t originally apply for.”
FROM THE GIFT OF THE PANDEMIC TO A NIGHT
For many, a sudden $ 2,000 charge hanging over their head is overwhelming them.
Karen Mahler, who lives in High River, Alta, said she’s not sure she can pay thousands of dollars right now.
“Right now we’re struggling to stay fed, to have a roof over our heads and gasoline in the car to go to work,” he wrote. “I had a stomach operation last week and I just applied for IE. I hope none of that affects me.”
The government has stated that there is no interest in these refunds and that Canadians can contact them to establish a payment schedule to slowly return the money they owe.
A May 11 press release from the Tax Agency of Canada described how Canadians who have received one of these letters should proceed.
“If you can’t pay your debt right now or you can’t pay it at all, you should call the ARC to discuss your situation,” the statement said. “We understand that these can be difficult times and we are here to help you.”
A 29-year-old from Saskatoon, Sask., Said he felt “stupid” for assuming that CERB would only be useful.
“I didn’t expect to have to return $ 2,000,” Elliott Kwok said. “I’ve never had to deal with a situation like this. I foolishly thought that the government was turning its back on me and that, like IS, I shouldn’t have to go back because I was fired from my job. it’s my fault, because of a pandemic. “
He added that he has struggled with his mental health and that he has started and dropped out of school during the pandemic. He currently has two jobs to support himself and his girlfriend.
“I can’t afford to pay for it and I don’t know where to go from here,” he said.
Some Canadians allege that they did not even receive any funds, but are still told that they owe money.
Ann Belshaw said she “tried to apply for unemployment” after being fired in March 2020.
When he was told that IE was not offered and that the only option was a CERB payment, he decided not to request it at all.
“A couple of months ago I started receiving mail saying I owed them $ 2,000 for a $ 2,000 payment I didn’t receive,” he said.
“I spoke to someone on the phone and they told me that I only had to print the bank statements from April 2020 to show that I didn’t receive anything. I did and sent it, but I’m still receiving notices that “They say they owe them money. They don’t respond to my email attempt to show them that I didn’t receive any money from them.”
The feds say this was going to happen
Officials say it should come as no surprise that some people who owe money should be told that the government had previously stated that anyone who received funds incorrectly should return them.
“The government has made it clear throughout the pandemic that while there will be no sanctions for those applying for these benefits in good faith, people will have to reimburse emergency benefits to which they were not entitled.” the government said in a statement. in early May.
The statement stated that in May, “redetermination notices” were issued to those who were considered ineligible for the CERB or who had to return the money for some other reason.
Canadians have been receiving “Debt Notices” since last November. These were issued to those who received a “prepayment” from CERB but “did not remain in CERB long enough to fully reconcile this payment requesting subsequent payment periods,” according to the statement.
Jade Stewart said in an email that his girlfriend, Leo, had received a debt notice and that they were confused that the speed of the first CERB payment had meant that it was an advance payment that had to be paid.
“Nothing was said about that when he applied for CERB and we also paid taxes,” he said.
The couple, who live in Sarnia, Ontario, have had to postpone their wedding for two years due to COVID-19, and are finally set to have it this summer. But they are struggling with the accumulation of costs.
“We live paycheck by paycheck [sic]and at the cost of everything else, having to pay the $ 2,000 we thought was there to help us …