Waiting for weeks: A Saskatoon substitute teacher hopes Employment Benefits are on their way

March 16 was Anika Burmeister’s last day on the job. As a substitute teacher who graduated from university not long ago, she took the jobs that came her way.

Unfortunately, her school board had to lay off every single substitute teacher that they had working for them. On March 17, she applied for Employment Insurance, but wasn’t able to get through to anyone on the phone.

It took four days for someone to call her back at that time to straighten out some Record Of Employment questions, and she received a case number March 26 so she could access her information online.

“I was really in a holding pattern where, until I received a phone call back days later, I wasn’t able to update that information. I’m not sure if that held up my case, or if it’s the same way for everyone,” she wonders.

Over the last three weeks Burmeister has been filling out her reports as she’s supposed to, but there is no information on that at all that’s reflected on her profile.

“My biggest concern and confusion right now is the newly announced CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit), which is convoluting the process and making it incredibly confusing whether or not I’ll be receiving EI or the CERB.”

That’s creating a lot of anxiety for her; adding more stress to an already stressful time.

“I just graduated from university a few months ago,” she explained. “I was incredibly excited to join the workforce and be a productive citizen and to have lost my job and not be able to access EI and have no idea how I’m going to pay my bills (or) when I’ll be able to go back to work again, it’s incredibly stressful.”

Right now, Burmeister is living off her savings and staying with her parents. She knows she’s very lucky to be able to do so.

“If my savings run out, my parents will be able to support me. But they’re saying this could go on for 18+ months. No one wants to be in that situation relying on their parents as an adult if they don’t have to.”

She doesn’t blame Service Canada workers, emphasizing that they’re trying to work within a system that just wasn’t designed to take on so much demand so quickly.

To the federal political leaders though, she has some words.

“It’s really a shame how convoluted this process has become. Hardworking Canadians have lost their jobs and are unable to receive the supports that the government was promising would be available to them.”