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After months of fighting a government glitch that declared her legally dead, it appears that the federal government has finally declared Ottawa resident Susan Campbell alive. Susan Campbell speaks with CTV News, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012.

Mom mistakenly declared dead finally gets money back

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After months of fighting a government glitch that declared her legally dead, it appears that the federal government has finally declared Ottawa resident Susan Campbell alive. Susan Campbell speaks with CTV News, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012.

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After months of fighting a government glitch that declared her legally dead, it appears that the federal government has finally declared Ottawa resident Susan Campbell alive.

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Date: Thu. Feb. 9 2012 10:08 PM ET

After months of fighting a government glitch that declared her legally dead, it appears that the federal government has finally declared Ottawa resident Susan Campbell alive.

Campbell, a single mother who has cancer, had her disability payments and benefits cut off two months ago. And when she contacted the federal office to find out why, officials told her she was legally dead.

CTV's Daniele Hamamdjian reported in recent weeks that Campbell's imbroglio was due to a bureaucratic snafu. But despite media attention over the obvious error, officials in Ottawa said that correcting the mistake would take time.

Finally, on Thursday morning, Revenue Canada corrected the problem, and Campbell got her long-awaited disability payment -- two months after she was cut off.

"I checked and there was money in my bank account," an elated Campbell told Hamamdjian on Thursday.

Campbell's first stop: The grocery store, where she bought much-needed food and home supplies.

"It's a blessing," she said.

While it's suspected that a simple keystroke error in a government office caused the problem, it was a split-second that has caused weeks of turmoil for Campbell.

The problem grew worse when a letter from the government was addressed to the "Estate of Susan Campbell," causing the 53-year-old to shake with disbelief.

After her story was reported across the country, there has been an outpouring of support from Canadians, along with other tales of bureaucratic hell.

"I'm just amazed at the outreach of people," Campbell said, referring to the donations of Canadians struck by her misfortune.

The most glaring problem was the government's inability to correct the problem quickly -- which had left Campbell struggling to pay her bills through the bleak winter months.

Gail Shea, the minister in charge of Revenue Canada, spoke to CTV News this week, saying that officials in fact have the ability to fix glitches in a timely manner.

"The CRA does have the ability to fix these mistakes, administrative errors, quickly," Shea said.

Last Friday, Shea phoned Campbell directly and apologized. But Campbell says that when she asked the minister about getting it right as soon as possible, Shea demurred.

"I did ask at that time, whether things were going to go quicker, and she said ‘no,'" said Campbell Thursday.

Liberal MP Scott Brison was quick to pounce on story and brand it as a Kafkaesque tale of government obtuseness.

"This is a combination of incompetence and heartlessness," he said, pointing to Revenue Canada's decades-old computer rig as a key issue.

"We're dealing with antiquated systems," he said.

In fact, a 2010 report from the auditor general warned that the 30-year-old computer system was glitchy and needed to be overhauled.

"If some of these major systems fail, I think the impact could be dramatic on people," said then-auditor general Sheila Fraser.

Shea has said that there are updates for the computer system, but she stressed that it can't happen overnight. So far, $250 million has been set aside to update the system, but it's expected it will take nine months to finish the project.

Comments are now closed for this story

J
said
0 0

Isn't it nice to see how fast things can get fixed when you make them know via the news with added public outcry?

It wasn't the computer who declared her dead, so don't blame the system. Blame the red tape holding the government offices together for the slowness of fixing the problem.


janfromnorthvan
said
0 0

I believe she should be entitled to extra compensation for this horrendous glitch. Already battling a dreadful disease, she is cut off from much needed and indeed and proberly or most important lever of support as well as receiving correspondance addressed to somone other than herself talking about her in the past tense as if dead. I think a shiver would go down my spine at that point and I would wonder if it was an omen or something. That must surely haved caused cruel and unusual mental suffering.


Cannot be named
said
0 0

Wow! Looking at all these comments, you'd think human error only occurs in the Public Service! And it really bothers me when people generalize and think that absolutely no one in the Public Service deserves their salary!!! However, I do agree that this error could and should have been corrected in a more timely manner...


glenn
said
0 0

another example MP's spend more time for themselves and pensions than fixing outdated computer and programs in Canada.
How about getting rid of the debt and putting the $60billion in interest payments to our social programs and updating gov't systems.



rmsbl4
said
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@ CannotBeNamed If as you say it was probably a human error, then why could a HUMAN go back and correct the obvious mistake. A person suffers for months with something that probably could have been fixed in less than 5 mins. Of course they will not be able to find the person that made the mistake so they can get some remedial training.By the way who was the doctor that signed the non existant death certificate, that they used to declare her dead.


Jo
said
0 0

My father died 22 years ago. In addition to his F/T job, he owned a small [part/time] business. Shortly after his sudden death my mom received a letter from the provincial govt related to quarterly payment of PST based on the business sales. We had no idea what to do. I took her to the closest office in London, ON and talked to the clerk. She told us not to worry about it, entered something on the computer, ripped up the letter, handed it back and told us how sorry she was for our loss.


Always Right
said
0 0

@ trunorth: You've never made a mistake at work? Or are you living in a glass house, my friend? So someone made a typo when entering data. Perfectly plausible and understandable situation. The problem is obviously the length of time it took to fix it, so try to focus here, folks. I think the real problem is that you're looking at a management culture that is process and rule-driven, plus very risk-averse. Plus, the CRA is not exactly known for their client-focused culture. I suspect that nobody was willing to make the call to get this fixed. Government is getting better, but obviously some areas still need work.


Prof. Pye Chartt
said
0 0

An error or mistake is one thing. Taking an inordinate amount of time to rectify the resulting problem is inexcusable. (Spare me the "computer system" argument.) This is simply another case of government bureaucrats being insulated and indifferent while operating without disciplinary consequence.


Dani_Marie
said
0 0

Shortly after my father passed away more than twenty years ago, my mother went to a government office (I don't recall which one or where) to deal with some paperwork arising from his death. The clerk told her that nothing could be processed because in the government system, my father was not dead. Clearly a compassionate soul. It seems that at various times the government bureacracy can take on a God-like role and determine who is dead and who is not, regardless of the reality. The unanswered question to this story is who is going to be held responsible for the mistake. It was obviously human error and that needs to be addressed.


MyOpinion
said
0 0

The computer systems work fine, it was almost definitely human error. I no longer work there but they kept the almost NON English speaking immigrants, I didn't fill their equity quota, my skin is white and I was born in this country. Some of my co-workers back then could not even file properly, they didn't know the English language alphabet, no I am not a racist but I am thinking the US has the right idea, if you are NOT a citizen of the country you can NOT work for the Federal govn't.


Jjaycee
said
0 0

As a Tax Preparer for more years than I like to admit to, I have seen a number of things happen, that mostly come down to Human Error.I outright do not believe the Government would make a person wait for their refund until they had collected from the person it was sent to, in error. This is flat out not the policy. I have had to correct this sort of error in regards to the wrong Transit number on a Direct Deposit form, CTB going to the wrong parent (the non custodial parent was the first to file & eroneously claimed it). In case of a split in a union where the Bank account on file is a joint one and the wrong spouse received the cash and kept it. In all these cases the money was forwarded as soon as the proper facts were assertained and then CRA went after the money. First the ask politely, and then they mean business!As soon as there is some indication that a person is deceased, the money flow is stopped. I don't think anyone here would take kindly to seeing money go to the account of a deceased and then spent by whomever had access to the account.


ninona
said
0 0

A bunch of lazy, incompetent, and full of themselves. They don't deserve their salaries, their benefits and they don't deserve their job.


Bruce C.,Calgary
said
0 0

This is my story of the CRA.....Several years ago my Tax refund was mistakenly deposited into the bank account of a complete stranger in a town about 100 miles North of here.I found this out when I called CRA about when my refund would be coming.The glitch?According to CRA rules,and even though it was totally their error,they wouldn't issue me a new refund until they had collected the money fully from the other person.It took several months before I got my refund.How's that for fairness?


CannotBeNamed
said
0 0

Some comments in this article are misleading. I work in IT at CRA and the "system" is not "glitchy". Yes mistakes happen and what happened to this woman is very unfortunate but it has nothing to do with the CRA'a systems which, by the way, are not on the brink of failure. What happened to this woman was caused by a human making a mistake when entering data into the system. thing to do. I do agree it should have been remedied much faster...


Mike - Lloyd
said
0 0

Dear Minister Brison I enjoy how quickly you are to blame the current government for this problem, when in fact it was the same outdated system when the Liberals were in power, yet nothing was done to bring the system up to date then. Childish.


Shelley
said
0 0

How in the world did they decide she was deceased? Don't they need a death certificate to declare someone dead? The system definitely needs to be fixed as this poor woman was not only fighting Cancer but then she had to fight with the government to change their system so that she could get her money. This is just a disgrace, nothing like adding more stress to her already stressful situation. Shame on CRA and the minister responsible!!!


trunorth
said
0 0

Oh, we should be so proud that our illustrious civil servants can finally tell the difference between a dead citizen and a live one!


Wild Bill
said
0 0

Why does one have to fight the government. Maybe one should look at their hiring practices. To think that this was a typo error ridiculous. This was probly someone with a criminal record. The government appears to need to do a better job for what they get paid.


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