Mom in financial mess after gov't declares her dead

Susan Campbell, the Ontario woman declared dead by the government, is not alone. CTV heard from other Canadians living the same experience, fighting to prove they're alive. Daniele Hamamdjian has more on the ghosts in the machine.

CTV Southwestern Ontario: Error sparks outrage

A Stratford woman is struggling to prove to the federal government she is indeed alive, after being declared dead.

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Susan Campbell speaks with CTV News, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012.

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CTVNews.ca Staff

Date: Thu. Feb. 2 2012 10:48 PM ET

As far as the Canadian government is concerned, Susan Campbell died two months ago.

But the 51-year-old Stratford, Ont. woman is very much alive and getting more frustrated each day with the bureaucratic snafu that landed her in financial limbo.

Campbell first noticed something was amiss when she didn't get her monthly government cheques in December. A leukemia patient raising a son on her own, she relies heavily on government assistance, especially the $382 monthly child tax benefit.

"The money that goes into the bank is what comes out almost immediately for cost of living," Campbell told CTV News.

When she called the Canada Revenue Agency about the missing cheques, she was shocked to discover that she had been marked as "deceased." The government employee she spoke with said the bizarre mistake was likely a keystroke error and would be taken care of immediately.

"I told my son. He said, ‘Mom, I can see you, you're standing right in front of me," Campbell said.

But a few days later, Campbell received a letter from the government seeking to recoup the money paid out since her "death."

"I just about threw up," she said.

Campbell got back on the phone and was once again assured the mix-up would be resolved. Then, she received another letter saying she's not entitled to the GST or HST tax credits because she's, well, dead.

"We've watched Sue go through enough, so to see her go through this, it was just another slap in the face," said Campbell's friend Jim Bell.

The union representing federal clerical workers says it's possible staffing issues caused the error and then allowed Campbell's file to slip through the cracks.

Opposition MPs in Ottawa blame hundreds of government job cuts for mistaken deaths and other not-so-innocuous clerical errors.

Government officials say mistakes happen, but staff members work to correct them as quickly as possible.

"I still want to know how it got done without a death certificate," Campbell said. "It's beyond me."

With a report by CTV's Daniele Hamamdjian in Ottawa

Comments are now closed for this story

firstMickey
said

Sounds like Revenue Canada has more than its share of civil serpents. If cancer is not bad enough, the miserable dummies who make too many mistakes too often have multiplied their madness with added mistakes. Whoever did this, come out in the open and confess. You don't need a job. I hope they can find somebody with competence and a heart to fill the job and earn the pay. If somebody calls and says they are alive, they are.

Stan in scarborough
said

You people kill me..have any of ever made an error. My god there are a lot of perfect people piping up from the peanut gallery. Just because it's government employees it's time take your shots. Well you know what, ou people soud like he same individuals that would rip into a teenager who forgot your fries at Mickey D's..I mean really folks, do you uany better to whine about. Sorry it happened, and I am vey sure the money is very important and it would be a stressful situation, but the slings and arrows in the blog are hilarious, if not stupid and ignorant..

Debbi
said

I am a close personal friend and neighbor of Susan and her family. It is true that mistakes are made but in its wake has left her son shaken and none the less heartbroken. Not only is she struggling with her cancer already but to be declared deceased in print is quite alarming for everyone that loves Sue. I believe our officials need to send her a letter of sincere apology to her children instead of bills. The truth is that no one in particular wants to fess up to the serious error and quite frankly we teach and preach to our children to take ownership of fault. Be done with it and fix what you broke officials because it is more than her bank account IT IS HER LIFE! SHAME ON Revenue Canada!

Thomas
said

The federal governments public service demographics changed over the last few decades and with it their efficiency and professionalism. I know, I worked with them for a few years and seen it first hand. At the pleasure of not sounding politically correct, I would suggest they might think about hiring a balance based on gender, currently in some departments and agency's it is almost 90% women. Also, cut down on the visibleminority/immigrant hiring and focus on the more Canadian groups like the Aboriginals and the disabled, they lived here a lot longer and deserve a greater chance than those that don't even live in the country as I write. In order to achieve this, I would strongly suggest that the hiring committee's/boards be made up of at least half males, women have a tendency to hire based on female gender first and ascribe more readily to the blindness of the political correct. In addition, the ability to speak write or anything french is extremely over rated in the government, we either got to get rid of the official languages act altogether or tame it down about a hundred notches, at least 70% of the government work force should be english first with the odd translator thrown in, not french first and no translators. What idiotic bureaucrat come up with the first model, fire them! Above all else, the government as a whole has got to get off this political correct garbage that the left wing, liberal minded, political correct, marxist/socialist creeps have put us on. Do these things and I do believe you will see the efficiency level within the federal government improve.

Rhiannon
said

That is great the government is going to fix this....in the mean time, who is going to pay for this lady's living expenses? I have had a pay check bounce in the past, the hydro and phone didn't much care. They wanted their money on time. Doesn't matter who is running the country, accountability has never been a top priority for any party.

bikerborz
said

Another case of "If the computer says it, it must be correct." I'm beginning to really despise an electronic and paperless society. Yes, a mistake was made, but either nobody wants to fix it, or worse, nobody knows how... Give me a paper trail any day.

Mike - Winnipeg
said

A union representative thinks it may have happened due to staffing issues. I agree: a union staff member goofed!

oldtimer
said

if she is deceased how can they send her letters asking to repay back the money that they sent her since her death.how is she going to get the letters. i am sure that she did not take the money with her.

you get what you pay for
said

How can we honestly expect a conservative government to run a country properly when they are ideologically based on reducing public expenditures and services, and limiting the "invisible hand" of bureaucracy?A good public system will cost more. You get what you pay for.

Liz
said

Years ago the gov't sent my Dad's death benefit cheque to his address. Being dead he was unable to collect it. They re-sent it multiple time & eventually it was stolen & cashed. After speaking to the fools on the phone, I called my MP (it was Dan McTeague by the way) & within days his staffers got me the cheque. The moral here is...contact someone who wants your vote & they'll help you.

lwinslow
said

Is anyone surprised about this kind of gaffe with the level of incompetency that exists within our over-paid tax-supported civil service?

Dave
said

When dealing with government employees over these issues...do not hang up until it is fixed!, as soon as you hang up they move on to the next person to ignore. After two promises to 'fix' thier mistake I refused to hang up the third time until I had been satisfied that the error had been corrected (had to get two different sups to do it)...BUT...I got it fixed...yay..

rmsbl4
said

@ Sinone by your answer I am willing to bet you are union.@ Enough already All you have to do is read Simone's answer and you will see the problem.@ H In most places it must be a doctor to declare someone dead and issue a death certificate. If someone in revenu Canada can declare anyone dead to cut down on their workload.I could imagine what would happen if I tried contacting them after getting out of Quebec and Canada, I had an eight month runaround with the Canadian Embassy in Berlin which was my third passport through them. I finally got in contact with the Canadian Consul and had my passport in 10 days . The woman I was dealing with didn't seem to know sh!t from schinola.

RS
said

Agree with Will.Much ado about nothing.Obviously, the press is bored.

Diane
said

Its the damn bureaucracy that is dead in Ottawa. It used to be a joke in Ottawa that you could tell who worked for the government because when they winked they opened one eye...... have a good one!

Will
said

Some of you twits seem to think that he PM has nothing more important to do than to find a way to screw over some obscure woman chosen at random. Others rabidly defend a union since it obviously can't be a symptom of incompetence being protected in the public service (since public servants and union members are by definition congenitally incapable of error or malice). Having a vast experience of the public service staffing system, I can state categorically that the staffing system is far from infallible since the HR people are easily able to overule managers on who is hired for what positiion, equity "targets" trump qualifications and experience, and it is very nearly impossible to terminate someone unless you can prove in a court of law criminal activity. It's an error, folks, let the government fix it. And GROW UP.

MM
said

I have a friend that went through the same thing. It is unbelievable how the government can out of the blue say someone is dead. That you would think is bad enough but then they hassle you to prove to them you are alive. I guess talking to them either on the phoine or face to face isn't quite enough to prove you are still alive. Makes you wonder about these over paid idiots. They probably get the $800 French language bonus too.

Doug in Dartmouth
said

Mistakes can be made. No one can disagree with that. And its not about politics. But its how government bureaucracy reacts to correct the error that is dumbfounding. I once had a client who had that happen with his US Social Security. When I reported the error to the US Treasury Dept they would not correct the error until the client provided a letter sign, and notorized by a lawyer saying he was still alive

SL in NL
said

A VOCM radio talk show had an elderly lady call in to complain about her old age security payment. Apprently someone had called in and reported her deceased so the gov't cut off her payment on the word of the caller. Its seems this kind of "error" happens more often than we may think.

Frank Buchan
said

To all those blaming Harper for a civil service error, take a deep breath and wait for something he might be responsible for. This nonsense has happened not infrequently under every government and stripe and jurisdiction since the civil service got bloated and the complexity was unnecessarily increased in every venue. It is one of the few things we ought not be blaming the present crop of politicos for, since the trend was established in the 70s.

Cara
said

This is an outrage! This woman's local MP should be on this for her NOW!! what is the use of electing all these over paid suits if it does not help the people? It is obvious that our current system of Governing is quickly becoming obsolete...that is...it is no longer working on several levels. Having to deal with the Government should not be so difficult! This is disgusting! At the verrrrry least...I hope to see this matter fixed for this woman stat and any charges or fees she may have due to this mistake paid by the Government.

Canadian Bob
said

For first mistake this woman made was even thinking that a government employee in the same department who made the mistake could fix it. She should have marched directly to the office of her MP and demanded immediate action. Honestly... a government employee fixing anything? Your killing me here... Ha Ha Ha!

Jarrett
said

Does anyone else find it amusing that we have reached a level of bureaucracy in our gov't that the gov't sends letters to dead people asking to repay the money?If people are truly interested in saving money in the gov't maybe we should remove the redudant layers of bureaucracy.

KJ in Kingston Ontario
said

Could be worse: she might REALLY BE DEAD! Maybe it is a dry run for the new OAS cut-backs. Just mark us all as dead... If that fails: form teams of pension hit squads...

Howard in Brampton
said

I feel sorry for Susan Campbell and her problems with the Federal bureaucracy. This isn't the first time this has happened, and won't be the last. Not to make light of Ms. Campbell's problems, but this leaves me wondering what the CRA would do regarding taxes on income earned by a person after they were declared dead, if that person never took any steps to correct the mistake. If they were young enough, and had a cash only business, what one could save in income taxes in two years would more than make up for any CPP, and OAS that would not be received.

AC in NB
said

This has nothing to do with the Conservative Government. These departments simply work for the government, they don't re-hire when the Government changes. It's not the unions fault either; although it was a pretty ignorant statement on behalf of the union to blame job cuts. Typical pass the buck. There is incompetence everywhere, you just happen to see more of it in unions.

Neil
said

CRA has poor policies. We were getting the child tax benefit for our daughter up until someone applied for the benefit for their child and a typo caused our daughters SIN to be entered on this other file. Immediately all of our benefits stopped. When the money didn't go in to the bank, we called about it. No one called us to see what was going on. We were five months trying to fix that. CRA said that their records indicated our daughter was not in our care. When asked where the info came from, they couldn't tell us. These guys need customer service training.

Cat in NB
said

Some very harsh comments. To error is human and all it takes is just a wrong keystroke to cause many problems for someone.Death certificates across Canada should be standardized as they provide very little info on the deceased person.And as one person stated once the enter key is hit and with all the automation it sets off a whole course of other problems. Upper management has the authority to correct this lady's situation.

Chris, Alberta
said

Government services will only continue to degrade under Harper's arrogant mismanagement..

Dave
said

When our grandson was born, we went to register him and found out that he had been declared deceased at birth. It took over a year and dozens of letters from doctors and others to get it straightened out. We were unable to get any documents (birth certificate, SIN, etc.) for him.

Beauticoco
said

We will hear more stories like this as the number of disgruntled public servants increase. No surprise there. Don't blame the public servants though - being a public servant under the Harper government is like selling your soul to the devil. He cuts back staff on essential services - and with everyone being shaken up about losing their jobs - no one dares to speak up about program flaws, let alone being overworked and overstressed. How would you like to work for a boss that treats you like the enemy? There's more pride in selling lollipops on a street corner than working for the federal public service these days!

Billy
said

The letters were probably already in the mail. As soon as someone coded her account as deceased, the letters were automatically sent out. This all stems from the one error. It's really unfortunate and no doubt they've already resolved her issue

greg
said

Where's her member of Parliament? Shouldn't he be stepping up and getting this fixed for his constituent?

Bill
said

the lackies in gov't wont admit to a 'mistake, nor will the try and do anything to correct it. The 'I didn't screw it up and I am not fixing it' mentality. I say, fire the person responsible for this mess and fully reimburse her for ALL of her expenses including interest.How can they do this without a death certificate?

toms
said

@ Mitch you are 100% correct these are your typical lazy Union workers all passing the buck, till we get rid of thses unions it won't get any better
I feel sorry for this lady

H
said

This was an easy fix in the first place but with our bureaucracy it became just another typical mess.And its always the clerks fault. what hogwash.That clerk is supervised by some senior person usually an administrative officer and in this case would have had to OK that deceased designation, the clerk doesn't have the authority to declare someone deceased.In fact. that supervisor reports to a director and so up the ladder. The buck should stop with the most senior person in that dept. the Minister.Who has the authority to declare someone deceased, that is the question??Typical of this govt, blame the lowest person on the ladder to deflect inadequacies at the higher levels of the dept..

Theotime
said

Actually, people in the civil service are hired according to standards set by the Public Service of Canada, which is regulated by the Public Services Modernization Act. So the idea that civil servants are , as a whole, unqualified is just wrong. But it makes for good repartee and script.

D. Vancouver
said

So dreadful. To be declared in complete error would frighten anyone, never mind some one battling cancer, as lady is doing. Then, to not get your benefits, despite many calls to the government. I feel just dreadful for this poor woman and her family. I hope this horrible mistake is rectified immediately now that it has hit the news. Very sad.

DON
said

Job cuts my ass .Just over paid for what they do,or are suppost to do.

Tina
said

The Government has made this and many other mistakes that take months if not years to correct. My mother was incorrectly charged with owing $50.00 on her income tax, which ended up being a over $4, 500 in tax owing. It took me almost a year to straighten it out and it was not a friendly adventure.Whoever made the mistake should be held accountable and fired, after all we do pay these people's salary don't we?

lindamtl
said

I wish a speedy process getting the money owed to you and maybe a little something extra from the govn't to compensate you for the hardship you were caused.I also thought like you that a death certificate had to be received by the govn 't and the info entered into the system to stop payments on a citizen's account. Check and see if you can claim a short term death benefit for the time they claim you were deceased. ( Joke). Wishing you all the best with your health and family. God Bless

Gerhard
said

How passive aggressive of the union to blame "staffing issues." Pay us more money or this happens again? Fire the lot of them.

albertam
said

cuts backs and over whelm workers, hello we are Canada, and there's alot of people out there wanting jobs to fill in the void and do the work that the others are overwork with. hire more people and stop giving us bull. there's whole line up of people out in the country who can do the work then just the union or other wise. alot of out of work people who can do and help out with the complex system.

Cam
said

hit the nail on the head Mitch

Brenda Mouncey
said

I received a letter from the Government of Canada in September 2011. It was addressed to my father. My father has been deceased for over 30 yrs. The cheque was for $4.02; a death benefit … shouldn’t there be about 30 yrs of interest

Nevin in Brooks, AB
said

OK, mistakes happen. As they have stated, "Government officials say mistakes happen, but staff members work to correct them as quickly as possible". Shut up and wait to have the error corrected!! Period.

oldtimer
said

this is happening too often.there should not be any excuses.here is what she should do.collect all her ID papers. put big signs on that say i am not dead.take her son and go to see harper and his so efficent staff and present herself in person. then maybe and only than will they believe her.just a couple of months ago there was another case like that. no matter what they did, the government did not believe them.maybe if some took stephen's or jimmy's money and hold it back then they will do something.

bigpianoguy
said

Now's the time to (non-violently) rob a bank...?

Hasib Ullah
said

I can see how it can happen. When she prepared her taxes last year, the tax preparer may have mistakenly checked the wrong box which shows that tax payer was deceased. But it shouldn't take longer that a month to two months to fix that mistake.

Janet in Alberta
said

How rude to say it's because of the Union and they're just union lackeys. I'm union. I'm the one who answers 911 phone lines for police, fire and medical, dispatches them, then stays on the phone saving a life or keeping someone calm until in-person help can get there. You're a jerk to blame it on 'union' like it's some sort of disease that means anyone who is Union is an idiot. Whatever soured you to paint everyone as a 'lackey' with one brush is something you need to deal with, not belittle the high level of training many of us have in order to get those jobs. Or maybe you're just jealous for some unknown reason. Whatever it is, get over it and stop hiding behind your computer - so easy to call names when not face-to-face, isn't it?This woman can't pay her daily bills. It's not due to Union, it's due to someone who didn't do their job right because they were too lazy to double check for a death certificate. You think only Union has lazy people? I've worked outside Unions more than in them - believe me, people like you are everywhere.

Bill
said

Way to go Cons...I guess if you can't make cuts to OAS, you'll just declare people dead to make monetary cuts instead!

MillWoodsAlberta
said

Oh, it is very easy to have this happen without a death certificate. In most instances, (phone and front desk) agents that connect with customers and the general public are not paid well, and not well trained enough to know what should and shouldnt be done when a client claims a family member is deceased. In delicate situations like this, due to our culture, the least you say, the better. It would be worse to have a person with a loss to deal with all the red tape to mark someone deceased, than to just take a person at their word that it happened. With the privacy act in place, I think that it is not even a document that could be asked for with some companies.

andmetoo
said

At 56yrs old I have seen and heard a lot of dumb things done by the gov. Not because of anything the victim did, but because ---someone in power, put their niece/nephew/son/daughter's best friend/lover/ 2nd cousin( you fill in the blanks) and once unionized, they don't have a worry in their pretty little empty skull.......

Tristan Goertzen
said

if the financial stress is too great, you can seek immediate remedy through a Civil Court of competent jurisdiction (meaning simply, a Court with the power of command over the branch of Government which issues your cheques)... you don't need "fancy words" or a lawyer... just the simple facts will do & a description of the crisis remedy you would like to see take place.

nazmul
said

This is beaucratic ghost. This mistake should not be taken lightly, since the poor lady called and let Revenue Canada know that she is still alive. How come they repeat the mistakes. Kick those incompetent emplyees out of govt. service.

West Coaster (born in Stratford)
said

I think they should not only correct the error but also offer compensation for the hardship they are putting the family through while they wait for the retroactive cheques to arrive. Susan should be offered an emergency cheque amount equal to the amount she is waiting for, without having to pay it back later. That is the least the government should do for such a screw up on their part. Good Luck to you, Susan

Sorry my mistake
said

Government officials say mistakes happenDo they realize the biggest mistake the Canadian population has ever made was voting these clowns into power.

ken
said

Mitch now you cant blame the union for everything, yes some union workers are lazy, and have the mentaltiy of a small soap dish, some of them do care . The question is how did this happen in the first place ( this is not the first time), and now that it has hit the news it will be fix tomorrow.Now how do the unions and goverment stop it from happening again , some how lines got crossed and with red tape it takes more than a day to fix things

Brent
said

Why do the opposition parties try to make political points from this poor woman's problems? Maybe the Loyal Opposition should file a grievance against their union brothers/sisters and investigate this issue enough that the poor clerk that made the data entry error goes on long term stress leave. In the meantime, how about a high priced bureaucrat tap his/her expense account and make sure she gets her monthly cheque.

TheB
said

Even more subtle in this article is the union adressing it's own agenda; rather than blame the incompetent staff they go for blaming the government for cutting employees. Perhaps if they were held more accountable these unionized clerical workers might actually do their jobs.

LWP
said

I know someone that this has happen and it's not fixed immediately, it took more then 2 years of phone calls and lawyer letters to get it fixed. The Government never compensated nor did they retroactively paid the man.If you owe money they want it now and don't care of technicalities but if they screwed with you it will take the time it takes. Gotta love our Government.

Jon in London ON
said

I love this passage; "The union representing federal clerical workers says it's possible staffing issues caused the error and then allowed Campbell's file to slip through the cracks." Translation from the collective agreement contract booklet, page one paragraph one: blame management. Unions - gotta love 'em.

will
said

Not the first time, won't be the last and it will be fixed. Just keep calm.

Enough already
said

I'm infuriated after reading this article. This issue can be rectified immediately and the offending snivel servants dismissed. How could this poor woman be declared dead without a death certificate? It's impossible! We want answers and results, not excuses. To the Union, stop protecting these imbeciles. Show some pride in your membership. Release the garbage that hides within your ranks.

simone
said

Mitch"It is better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt"Whether a person is in a union or not has no bearing on this topic at all.Think, turn on brain and then speak.

Elizabeth Sellwood
said

Welcome to the new Canada. Harper's Canada.

Gundula Baehre
said

Well, if mistakes are supposedly corrected, why is she still facing problems?? Typical government attitude and response (all governments, be they Conservative, Liberal or NDP), if you make a mistake, YOU PAY, and if the government, Revenue Canada etc. makes a mistake, YOU PAY as well. She should be very amply financially compensated for this mistake (especially since the mistake has not been taken care of even after she phoned Revenue Canada). However, any compensation should be taken from the pocket books (personal savings) of those same bureaucrats who made the mistake, and also those bureaucrats who have now basically been paying lip service to this poor woman and not doing their job (stringing her along); any compensation should definitely not be paid by the general tax-paying population (and perhaps publicly identifying the offending bureaucrats would also be a good thing).

rmsbl4
said

Why do they mail letters to supposidly dead people. How are supposidly dead people supposed to answer these letters, through a medium? Stupid for first letter and more stupid for second one. People in revenue Canada filling a position they are not qualified for

Alex
said

Typical of unions to blame staffing cuts.More likely staff incompetence is the cause of the error.

Jorja
said

Absolutely disgusting. There is no reason in this day and age with computers that this can't be corrected immediately. Also, find the person responsible and hold them accountable.

Ribbit
said

This isn't the first time its happened and now for their mistake, the government should step in right now and help fix the mess that they made in this poor ladies life.

Mitch
said

these things happen because... they have a union. How about hiring people who can do some quality work - not just another union lackie.

Terry from Pickering
said

You poor thing, what screw ups our own country can make and this was a biggy, i hope she gets some kind of compensation for this horrible mistake and a letter in writing saying that.....

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