‘I am resurrected’: B.C. woman who was mistakenly declared dead says situation resolved

June Miller and her late husband Giorgio pose for a selfie. After submitting his final tax return, she found the CRA had declared her dead as well.

Nearly two months after learning the Canadian government had mistakenly declared her deceased, June Miller is celebrating the return of her official status as a living person.

The 65-year-old Vancouver resident said she received calls from both the Canada Revenue Agency and Service Canada on Monday assuring her the error has been fixed.

“I am resurrected,” Miller said Tuesday, with a laugh.

Miller’s trouble started after she filed a final tax return for her late husband Giorgio, who died last fall. The two had been married for 35 years.

Miller was told she couldn’t file his return online so she sent it through the mail, and included her own tax return in the same envelope. When she received her notice of assessment in early May, she was shocked to see it was addressed to “the estate of the late June Miller.”

She spent weeks struggling to have the situation rectified, submitting everything from a doctor’s note to a letter from the funeral home that handled her husband’s service – but had little luck, and was told the problem would prevent her from receiving Canada Pension Plan payments.

The retiree considered finding work in the meantime, but her social insurance number was also deactivated.

Miller said she’s now been assured she will begin receiving CPP payments by the end of July.

She credited the coverage of her situation on CTV News with helping to finally bring about a resolution.

“That’s what moved them to do something,” Miller said. “The woman I spoke to yesterday said this could have been done in hours.”

She is also enjoying some of the attention that sharing her story has brought, including at her grocery store.

“I know everybody that works there because I’m in there all the time – and when I walked in, the produce guy said, ‘Dead woman walking!’” she laughed.

The CRA told CTV News it couldn’t discuss the case due to privacy concerns, but that there are a number of possible reasons someone could be mistakenly declared dead, including human error and miscommunication between government departments.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Shannon Paterson