Some poverty advocates across the country are asking for amnesty for low income and vulnerable Canadians who received the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit while not being entitled to it.
Many are concerned that if the government claws back the CERB, that will force the country’s most vulnerable into abject poverty.
Dan Meades, the provincial coordinator for the Transition House Association, says before COVID-19, 15 per cent of Canadians were living below the poverty line, Newfoundland and Labrador has a slightly higher number.
(Dan Meades, VOCM file photo.)
He says poverty is an intergenerational cycle; 60 per cent of people who grew up in poverty have kids that also grow up in poverty. For many, this may be the first time they have not had to make tough choices between diapers and rent, healthy food, and safety for their kids.
Meades states the only choice is amnesty because if the CRA goes to take the money back, they are going to have to take it off the Child Tax Benefit and other things for years to come. That will push people living in poverty even further below the line, which in turn they will have to access more services paid for by the same government that’s trying to recoup the money through the income tax system. He says it makes no sense.
Meades says as taxpayers we will end up paying more for education, justice, and health, so there will be an economic cost down the road.
He argues at this stage canceling the CERB is unethical and not the right thing to do.
