After more than half a month of disruption in their fall routine, thousands of Alberta parents received a Halloween treat courtesy of the provincial government on Friday.
“It helps a bit,” explained Damanjit Maher, a father of one.
“But (it doesn’t) fully cover the day, when we take days off.”
The Parent Payment Program offered families of eligible children impacted by the strike $30 a day.
The strike led to 16 missed days of instruction, meaning a payout of $480 per child, with higher payouts for children with special needs.
The strike screeched to a halt when Smith’s government passed a bill this week forcing teachers back to work, imposing a new collective bargaining agreement and using the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield the law from a court challenge.
The payments are to come from funds saved by the province that would have gone to teacher salaries if it had not been for the strike.
Father of two, Colton Nickel, saw the e-transfer email from the provincial government when he woke up Friday morning.
“I’m just a ‘Type A’ personality… I like to get things done.”
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But Nickel will have to wait a little longer to see that money in his account, explaining the confusing process that began when he tried to accept the deposit.
Nickel says he tried using the e-transfer’s unique “reference number” as the password, but that didn’t work.
“Then I learned you had to go back to the program website… you have a separate application reference number — also called a ‘reference number’ on the page — which you have to plug in.”
By the time Nickel figured that out on Friday, it was too late. His deposit had already been cancelled after several incorrect password attempts.
It’s leading experts to wonder why Interac e-transfer was the method the province chose for these payments.
“There are barriers there. That’s why it’s usually the electronic (bank transfer) that gets done,” said Ritesh Kotak, a cybersecurity and technology analyst.
“That goes right into someone’s account with their banking information.”
The province’s department of education and child care sent out an online bulletin Friday, though it was several hours after some parents first received their e-transfer.
“All parent payments will be sent by e-transfer using the email address associated with your Alberta.ca account. If you have auto-deposit, the payment will be automatically deposited. If you do not have auto-deposit set up, you will have 10 days to manually accept your payment. If the e-transfer is not accepted within 10 days, it will be cancelled and reissued on Nov. 30,” reads the information.
The province goes on to say, “the security question password can be found on an individual’s YourAlberta Parent Payment Program application under application summary… the Application Reference Number will be in the form of XXXX-XXXX and must be entered as shown, including dashes, and is case sensitive. Do not copy and paste.”
The information also supplied a phone number and email address for assistance — but Nickel and other parents reported issues calling the phone number in the morning and early afternoon on Friday.
“If this was the easiest option to quickly get money to parents, I’m all for it,” Kotak said. “It just seems a little unconventional.”
Parents like them feel for those who are really counting on the money, hoping they don’t run into the same roadblocks.
Marrie Diaz says she didn’t apply for the money as a way to show support for educators during the labour strife.
“The people who accept the money, they’re just going with the flow, hoping this is going to pass.”
The Parent Payment Program portal is still open for eligible families, and they are able to apply until Nov. 14.
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