B.C. ombudsperson finds request for repayment of provincial COVID-19 aid unjust

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s ombudsperson says the provincial government unfairly required some workers to repay $1,000 they received after losing their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BC Emergency Benefit for Workers was introduced in 2020 and, in an effort to work quickly, the B.C. government initially required recipients to also be receiving the federal Canada Emergency Response Benefit.

Jay Chalke’s office says in a news release that the province was unaware that some people who had lost their job due to COVID-19 were being paid through other federal benefits, including employment insurance.

He says the B.C. government paid those applicants, then ordered them to repay the funds.

Chalke says people applied for the benefits in good faith to get through a crisis, then were ordered to pay back the money, not because they lost their jobs, but because of how a federal benefit claim was processed behind the scenes.

His report makes one recommendation that the Finance Ministry change the Income Tax Act to extend the benefit eligibility to workers who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 but were excluded only because of employment insurance claims.

Chalke says “it was unjust for the province to require repayment in such circumstances.”

The report also found some eligible workers were told to repay even though they met all the criteria.

It says the repayment letters people received were confusing and offered no explanation as to why they were being asked to repay the benefit.

The report also says the ministry did not use available federal data to verify their eligibility and instead placed the burden on the individual.

“This report isn’t about trying to undo a program that was created in a hurry,” Chalke says. “It’s about what governments do when they later find out that parts of those programs were flawed.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025.

The Canadian Press