Provincial payments to families during teachers’ strike begin

The province says payments are now going out to parents whose children were impacted by this month's teacher strike.

Friday marks the beginning of the Alberta government’s rollout of payments for parents whose children were affected by the provincewide teachers’ strike.

Although teachers went back to work on Wednesday, the province said financial assistance for eligible families would be retroactive to Oct. 6 when the strike first began, and cover each school day between then and Oct. 28.

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Families that applied through the government’s payment portal before Oct. 27 will now begin to receive their payments: up to $30 per school day per child under 12, or $60 for children 17 and under who have active Family Support for Children with Disabilities plans.

Anyone who applied to the program after Oct. 28 could still receive another round of payments scheduled to go out Nov. 30, according to a media release from the province.

E-transfers will be sent out to the email address affiliated with your Alberta.ca account. Parents have 10 days to accept the money unless they have automatic deposits set up – otherwise it will be cancelled and re-sent on Nov. 30.

To accept the e-transfer, you’ll need the application confirmation number you got when you first applied for funding. The security question password is on each person’s YourAlberta Parent Payment Program application.

To avoid being scammed, the release adds that any e-transfers from the Government of Alberta should only be accepted if you know you applied through the official Parent Payment Program portal.

Families who applied before Oct. 27 who don’t receive an e-transfer before Nov. 3 can check their spam folders or log in to their Alberta.ca accounts to check the status of their payment.

Applications are still open for eligible parents who haven’t yet applied and will stay open until Nov. 14 through Alberta.ca accounts.