A Chinese mother, who had been living in a government shelter for three years with her two children to escape domestic violence, was studying and working and dreaming of a new Life in Canada. But she never dreamed she would receive a letter from the government saying that she was not eligible and that she would have to return the $18,000 she had received in Canadian Child Benefit, commonly known as milk money.
Natalie Zhang lives in a shelter with her two children. The federal government’s demand that she repay her Canada Child Benefit payments adds to the hardship of the single mother who is fighting her husband’s legal battle.
In the letter, the federal government says the refugee claimant’s children are not entitled to federal benefits designed to lift all children in Canada out of poverty, so she needs to return the $18,000 she wrongly received.
Speaking at a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Natalie Zhang, who is a freshman in law school, said she, along with two other refugee women, are suing the Canadian government for refusing to pay milk money as discrimination against low-income children and families with precarious immigration status.
I have borrowed money from Family and friends to pay for legal fees and necessities, Natalie Zhang said. I don’t want my children to see all the legal problems and financial hardships we have to face in our lives. I was like a person crawling through a dark tunnel with no future in sight.
Despite the fact that many people work legally in Canada and file personal income tax returns, these refugee status claimants still do not receive milk money, and even those children born in Canada are denied government benefits because of their Parents‘ immigration status, said Govy Go, head of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Aid Centre. Ironically, Canada’s Income Tax Act allows the government to grant benefits to visitors with temporary visas who have been in Canada for 18 months, regardless of whether they work in Canada or pay any Canadian income tax, as long as they stay. But these people who work in Canada and pay taxes do not receive child benefits.
Leila Sarangi said that 1.3 million or 18.2 per cent of Canada’s children live in poverty (WV editor’s note: by Canadian poverty standards), which disproportionately affects minorities, women and immigrants because of the systemic barriers these groups face.
After waiting three years for a refugee hearing, Natalie Zhang was granted asylum in Canada. She says she believes the Canadian Child Benefit program was designed for good reason to protect vulnerable children like her son and daughter, who are now 10 and 8 years old.
The case is scheduled to begin a three-week trial this April.
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