A Toronto resident struggled for months to access her public service records after Service Canada noted that the owner of her Social Insurance Number (SIN) had died.
Jessica Moon, a Toronto teacher, told the press that she first suspected something was amiss during tax season.
“I tried to log into my Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) account, but I couldn’t,” she said. – “It seemed pretty strange to me.”
It wasn’t until late June, when school was out and the woman had more free time, that she was able to call Service Canada. She ended up waiting four hours for the line and was told that her SIN had been marked as “belonging to the deceased.” She was also told she needed to visit a Service Canada office in person to get more information.
At the Service Canada office at Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue, she again had to wait in line for about four hours. When she was finally able to speak to a service worker, she was again told that her SIN was marked as “belonging to a deceased person.” Moon laughed at the situation with the office worker as she sat in front of him in good health.
“They told me that they would mark my case as urgent and that I would get a call very, very soon, given the seriousness of the problem.”
But nearly two months later, she still hadn’t seen a solution to the problem. During that time, she could not access her student loan payments, apply for further teaching positions, access her CRA account, or apply for Employment Insurance (EI).
She says she called Service Canada many times and even visited the office again in person.
“This time I only had to spend three hours in line,” she said. But each time, she just had someone tell her to expect a call soon.
When the media got wind of the story, the issue became a higher priority for Service Canada employees.
“I feel so relieved to finally see the government take some action after months of indifference,” she said. “Although I have yet to officially reinstate my SIN, it’s nice to know that there has been at least some movement in this process of coming back to life.”
