Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has helped millions of Canadians experiencing financial hardship, including vulnerable and low-income seniors, by providing them with COVID-19-related supports and benefits.
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) were intended to support people who lost their job as a result of the pandemic. However, the Government recognizes that some Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Allowance recipients may face lower benefit payments because of the income they received from pandemic benefits.
That's why the Government of Canada took action by introducing Bill C-12, which amends the Old Age Security Act to exclude any income received under the CERB, the CRB, the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit, the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit for the purposes of calculating the amount of GIS and Allowance payable beginning in July 2022.
Today, Bill C-12 received royal assent. Minister of Seniors Kamal Khera marked this important legislative change, as it ensures that low-income seniors will not face a reduction in their GIS or Allowance benefits if they received pandemic benefits in 2021, or if they find they need to access any related benefits in the future.
Furthermore, as announced in the Economic and Fiscal Update, the Government is providing up to $742.4 million for one-time payments. These payments will alleviate the financial hardship of seniors who qualified and received pandemic benefits in 2020, but who subsequently saw that they counted as income and impacted their GIS or Allowance benefits. This automatic one-time payment will be issued by direct deposit on April 19, 2022. Clients who have not signed up for direct deposit will receive a cheque by mail no later than the end of April 2022. These payments will support those who saw a loss of GIS or Allowance by compensating them for the full annualized amount of that loss.
