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Sask. government to pay back emergency benefits clawed back from student’s disability income!

Shaylee Rosnes, a University of Regina Social Work student who received the Canada Emergency Student Benefit -- federal coronavirus benefit for students -- is expecting to be refunded thousands of dollars clawed back from her provincial disability benefits after winning an appeal against Saskatchewan’s Social Services Ministry. The 23-year-old University of Regina Social Work student has cerebral palsy and relies on the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) program to help fund her complex care needs. She typically works in the summers, earning the additional $6,000 permitted under the program’s wage exemption. Because she couldn’t do so amid the coronavirus pandemic, she filed for the Canada Emergency Student Benefit. Congratulations Shaylee for standing up for your human rights!

When the federal government created the CESB, Minister Qualtrough, federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, communicated to provinces that they should not claw-back provincial disability benefits support for those in receipt of the Canada Emergency Student Benefit or the Canada Emergency Relief Benefit.

This decision, in Shaylee's favour, sets a precedent for other Saskatchewan post-secondary students with a disability and for disabled students across Canada studying in provinces where their income from COVID benefits has resulted in claw-back of provincial disability benefits. Read the full story and watch the Global News TV report including an interview with Shaylee!




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