Photo: The Canadian Press
People’s Advocate Jay Chalke released a report during a press conference in Victoria, BC on Thursday, April 6, 2017. Chalke’s office on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, released a new report on what he calls a “disturbing” case in which federal benefits for the family of a disabled Indigenous girl were held in the coffers of the British Columbia government for almost three years THE CANADIAN PRESS / Chad Hipolito
The British Ombudsman has released a report on what he calls a “disturbing” case in which federal benefits for the family of a disabled Indigenous girl were kept in the coffers of the province for nearly three years. years.
The Jay Chalke office report says the BC Ministry of Child and Family Development acted unfairly by delaying thousands of dollars in federal payments to caregivers, whose little granddaughter has mental and physical problems.
Published on Tuesday, the “Short-Changed” report says grandparents became the girl’s legal guardians in 2013 and the Canada Tax Agency confirmed her eligibility for the disability tax credit and the child disability benefit in June 2019, retroactive to 2015.
Under federal law, the girl was considered “maintained” by the provincial ministry, which sent the family a monthly payment for the costs of parenting, allowing the ministry to deposit the federal disability benefit into BC’s general income.
But the report says the provincial payments were not related to the girl’s disability and that the ministry did not find a way to pay the family funding equivalent to the federal benefit until February 2022, despite knowing the problem.
Chalke says the ministry has since accepted its office’s recommendations to ensure that caregivers of children eligible for federal disability benefits receive that money.
A letter to Chalke from Allison Bond, Deputy Minister of Children and Family Development, says lump sums were paid to caregivers of children eligible for federal disability benefits, and in the future the amounts would be added to monthly payments from the province.
In the case of the girl, the report says her grandparents had been eligible for more than $ 7,000 during the time the ministry had failed to find a solution.
“Other families in the same position were similarly deprived of funds specifically earmarked specifically for essential care needs,” Chalke writes in the report’s prologue.
He describes the case as “disturbing on a couple of levels”.
“Not only did the (family) not receive money that they could have used for their granddaughter’s essential care needs, the ministry knew there was a problem and it took too long to fix it. This investigation shows the interaction between provincial and federal benefits, and what can happen when those ties are broken. “
Throughout the ombudsman’s investigation, the report says ministry staff “constantly acknowledged the injustice experienced by families” and were already looking for possible solutions to get federal disability benefits to caregivers.
This is encouraging, the report says, but “any further delay in implementing a solution runs the risk of continuing an injustice with those who have taken on the responsibility of raising a child who might otherwise be in charge. of the ministry “.
In addition to ensuring that caregivers receive retroactive and future payments, Chalke’s office has also recommended that the ministry regularly inform the ombudsman about its work to address inequalities in the way this funding is distributed.