Students seeking more support after Emergency Benefit from Ottawa

The feeling is mixed when talking about the Canada Student Emergency Benefit from the federal government.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that 9-billion dollars are being made available to students impacted by COVID-19.

It would see students receive 12-hundred dollars a month or just over 17-hundred dollars if they are caring for someone or have a disability with the payments being retroactive to May 1st.

College of New Caledonia Students Union Communications Officer Damon Robinson believes the funding is a step in the right direction but admits it doesn’t quite put them on a level playing field with those receiving money from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.

“While it is appreciated that there is something there for these students, it doesn’t feel equal, it doesn’t feel fair, however, from a personal standpoint I know a lot of people who have been looking for something and this is definitely something.”

“We’re trying to find that balance of this is something that we need and is something a lot of people have been asking for but is it fair and could we have gotten more.”

UNBC student Mackenzie Kerr echoes Robinson’s frustration stating that a more sustainable economic model is needed.

“We’re still getting 40% less than everyone else and I think that we do need to make it equal for everyone and that’s what brings me to the guaranteed livable income that we were talking about before and I really think that is where we need to go.”

Kerr has been advocating for a Living Wage or a Universal Basic Income structure in Canada, which would be designed to put people on more stable ground financially.

“It would be an income floor so that no Canadian would fall below it, it would be a protection safety net for everyone so I think that is where we need to go so that if a crisis like this happens again, for those that don’t need it they pay it back in taxes and for those that do, they aren’t thrown directly into poverty.”

“The funding programs announced by the government are short-term solutions and they’re kind of all over the place. We see that the government services are really gridlocked with all of the applications, it’s pretty impossible to get on the phone with Service Canada and get some help right now.”

In addition, Trudeau acknowledged that 76-thousand new jobs will be created in industries that need employees.

Robinson and Kerr both believe this will give students more of a fighting chance to afford their education.

“Everything has been thrown up into the air because of COVID-19 but at the very least there is hope at the end out of all of this so that they can get a summer job. Personally, I know of a lot of people who have been in contact and about to be hired that got thrown out the window, so this is very hopeful,” said Robinson.

“I was a student with the Canada Summer Jobs Program last year and it worked really well but was only for eight weeks so it wasn’t quite long enough to help me make enough money to live for the whole year. I think we need to expand that program to make it sixteen weeks again so that people can have a job for the entire summer but I really think it’s great that he’s making effort (Trudeau) an effort to find jobs for us because most of us are at a loss, we don’t where to look, nobody is hiring right now since everything is on pause,” added Kerr.

Students who can’t find a job but are volunteering are also eligible for between a grand and five thousand dollars a month depending on the volunteer work they are doing.

“I feel like that is a great thing. I have no problem with that. I think that is very fair because a lot of these unpaid positions are essential but they haven’t been treated the same as workers who work at a grocery store or in the medical field so I think it was a great thing to introduce,” added Robinson.