Those making up-to C$1,000 per month now eligible for CERB in new changes to CERB program

Justin Trudeau widened the CERB net to include people earning $1000 a month. It was also some relief that the new updated CERB will now also pay those whose EI benefits came to an end since the beginning of 2020.

STUDENTS STILL OUT ON THE CERB

However, students still remain beyond the purview of CERB. Federal government has promised to unveil support measures for students soon.

Canadian students and recent graduates are clamoring for financial support and be included as part of CERB. Students who get parental support and usually did summer jobs are able to sustain themselves, however, independent students, with no financial support other than working multiple jobs to pay for tuition and rent and other living expenses have been left out by the current version of CERB 3.0

Students in graduate or professional programs are also excluded and are finding it difficult to sustain. As per STATSCAN , this points to upwards of 125,000 graduate and professional students enrolled in Canadian universities, who are currently being left out of CERB.

The government has established a dedicated line for CERB applications:1-800-959-2019

Applications are accepted at

CERB Application Link

The Eligibility Criteria:

Given here by CRA

The scope of this program is to provide a taxable benefit of C$2,000 per month for up to 4 months to those who:

1. Residing in Canada, who are at least 15 years old;
2. Who have stopped working because of reasons related to COVID-19 or
3. Are eligible for Employment Insurance regular or sickness benefits or
4. Have exhausted their EI regular benefits between December 29, 2019 and October 3, 2020;
5. Who had employment and/or self-employment income of at least $5,000 in 2019 or in the 12 months prior to the date of their application; and,
6. Who have not quit their job voluntarily.
7. When submitting your first claim, you cannot have earned more than C$1,000 in employment and/or self-employment income for 14 or more consecutive days within the four-week benefit period of your claim.
8. When submitting subsequent claims, you cannot have earned more than $1,000 in employment and/or self-employment income for the entire four-week benefit period of your new claim

It remains to be seen if government will also include those who had confirmed employments in the works and are now left without it

Waiting Period

There is no waiting period Benefits will start within 3 to 5 days of you submitting an application.

Day to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit