Coleman couple frustrated by AISH impacts on CERB benefits

Grant Clark and his wife Larrisa Archer, of Coleman, Alta., are struggling to pay bills after discovering Larrisa's AISH benefit is being reduced because Grant's CERB payments.

Lethbridge, Alta. — The federal government’s Canada Emergency Response Benefit has been a big help for many Canadians, but its complicated life for one couple living in Coleman.

Grant Clark is a chef by trade, who was forced out of work after the COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses to close their doors.

He applied for the CERB after finding out he was eligible and began receiving the $2,000 payments shortly afterwards, but the impact of the benefit didn’t last long as Clark learned a sizable portion of his CERB payments will be deducted from his wife Larrisa Archer’s income.

Archer suffers from cerebral palsy and receives AISH benefits from the province.

“What they’re doing is deducting from her cheques. They’re taking almost $900 away from what I receive because I’m receiving CERB and at the end of all this, we have another month before things get well enough that I’ll be working again, so that’ll be around $3,200 we’ll be owing AISH,” Clark said.

The provincial government announced in April that a family receiving AISH benefits would see the first $875 fully exempt from the CERB, but any money over and above that is deducted at a rate of 75 per cent.

Clark has received three months of CERB payments so far, but when you factor in what he’s putting away to cover taxes, the couple is left with less than $400 a month.

“To feel like we were given that safety net of ‘OK, you can’t work here’s some help’ but then to have almost half of that ripped out from under us is a hard pill to swallow,” Archer stated.

The couple says they feel like the province is hijacking part of the federal benefit.

Reaching out

They first reached out to the office of their local MP John Barlow, and the response was that they were not happy with how the benefit was being deducted.

Then last week they got in touch with the office of provincial MLA Pat Stier to try and get some answers, and when Clark and Archer heard back it was again unhappy.

“They told us that when we do get our notices, they would like to know as they’d like copies for the record. And they were moving our concerns on as an urgent message to the Minister of Community and Social Services’ office,” Archer explained.

The couple was told it would be at least two weeks before the minister’s office could get in touch with them.

In the meantime, Clark and Archer are continuing to figure out how to pay their bills and take care of themselves and their three-year-old son.

The couple has never missed or been late on rent since moving into their place in Coleman, and Archer explained they’ve worked out a deal with their landlord to pay the rent in two installments next month due to their AISH-related issues.