By Jen Smerdon
Published in December 2020
We met Joe for the first time on a hot summer day. Joe was detained by the Canadian government at the Canada Border Services Agency Holding Centre in Toronto. After he was quarantined there for 14 days he was given a bus ticket to Kitchener where he had been living prior to the start of COVID-19. Joe arrived at our site broken and in tears. He had no money, no possessions, and no housing. So much had happened to him since the start of COVID-19.
Joe had left Canada for Colombia on February 22nd, 2020. He was originally planning on staying with his wife, who still lives in Colombia, for four weeks. He was supposed to come back to Canada and return to work on March 23rd, 2020. However Joe’s original flight back to Canada was cancelled and he couldn’t find another flight back to Canada due to COVID-19. While he was in Colombia Joe learned that the company that he worked for shut down due to Coronavirus and he was laid off.
Joe’s son, who lives in Canada, tried to help his father by applying for CERB. His son used the CRA telephone application. Joe received one payment but then was cut off of the CERB during his second submission because Canada Revenue discovered that Joe was outside of the country.
Prior to COVID-19 Joe had been supporting both himself and his wife through his employment in Canada. Joe and his wife experienced extreme financial hardship as they were without any income from May to the end of August. He was finally able to return to Canada at the end of August.
When he arrived back in Canada, he had lost his housing. While he was in Colombia Joe’s landlord had emptied his room and disposed of all of his furniture, personal belongings, and government paperwork.
Initially when we met with Joe, we had some difficulties communicating with Canada Revenue Agency since all of his paperwork had been thrown out and he couldn’t pass their security questions. We were able to secure a copy of his T4 from his previous employer and we were able to file his 2019 Income Tax Return. When Joe arrived back in Canada he was staying at the men’s shelter; while he was there Joe used our mailing address and phone messaging service.
Once his taxes were received by Canada Revenue we booked another appointment with Joe and he was now able to pass their security questions. We were able to get the back payment for CERB while he was outside of the country. We also set up Joe’s direct deposit so that all monies from Canada Revenue would go directly into his account.
We have continued to meet Joe monthly to assist him filing his CERB. We also referred Joe to one of our employment counsellors to update his resume and support him in his job search. Joe was able to secure some part-time employment and, more importantly, housing.
We will see Joe at the end of this week to help him with his EI application.
