Some Albertans who should have qualified for emergency isolation cash were denied, ombudsman finds

Alberta's emergency isolation support program was inconsistent and unfair to some applicants, the province's ombudsman has found.

The program, which gave $1,146 in emergency cash to people who had to isolate during the start of the pandemic, rejected some applications without explanation, ombudsman Marianne Ryan said. People who had to care for someone in isolation also qualified.

The eligibility criteria changed on the last day — information that was never conveyed to the public, says a report released on Wednesday.

The government's application system had no way to correct errors and applicants rejected had no avenue for appeal, the ombudsman said.

"We acknowledge the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and we realize the best of intentions lay at the heart of this program," Ryan says in the report. "However, complaint processes during emergencies must continue to reflect administrative fairness principles."

A review of 86 applications found that some people who should have been eligible for the payment were erroneously turned down, Ryan said.

Alberta's auditor general is also looking into how the government handled applications to the program, spokesperson Val Mellesmoen said, and will report his findings early next year.

Alberta's ombudsman launched her investigation after receiving 19 complaints after the program launched in March 2020, she said in an email.

Potential applicants also complained publicly at the time. They said they couldn't get through to the website or that the government portal wouldn't accept their identification.

Ryan said she doesn't have jurisdiction to look at technical issues, but noted that future emergency benefit programs should not exclude citizens because of technical limits.

On April 6, the last day the program accepted applications, someone in government decided to relax one of the criteria —  that applicants must be in the midst of their 14-day isolation period.

Ryan said government had no record of who made that decision. It prompted government workers to revisit more than 14,000 applications that had previously been rejected. The government didn't explain this change to the workers or the public, leading Ryan to suspect some people who ultimately could have received the benefit never applied.

By the program's conclusion, the Alberta government had paid out more than $108 million to almost 94,000 people. About 5,000 applications were denied.

Ryan recommended improvements to how governments document decisions, better communication with the public and using consistent criteria. People denied a benefit have a right to know why, and need an avenue for appeal, she said.

Ryan recommended preparing a template for future emergency response programs to avoid repeating some of the errors.

Province tried to act quickly, spokesperson says

Joseph Dow, press secretary to the labour and immigration minister, said the province tried to move fast to provide aid to struggling Albertans before the federal government's emergency benefits program began in early April 2020.

"Once the program closed, the policy was amended to be more administratively fair to Albertans that were unable to apply within the 14-day timeframe due to systems issues," Dow said of the website crashes.

He said the ombudsman's recommendations should improve future emergency benefit programs. He would not specify which recommendations the government has accepted or plans to act upon.

NDP labour and immigration critic Christina Gray said the report echoes the frustrations of people who called her office, looking for help.

"I felt a lot of anger in reading this report," she said. "This is impacting people who were in desperate situations at the very first wave of the pandemic, which had the most uncertainty."

Gray said she hopes the ombudsman reviews other government pandemic aid programs, which she said have been plagued by similar problems.