In the waning days of this year’s tax season, nothing could be so dull as to reignite the topic—it isn’t particularly stimulating conversation. But to many Canadians, the spring months severely disappoint pockets, and of those individuals, students are directly harmed.
It isn’t new, certainly, but remains improperly addressed: unreasonable restrictions on the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) have prevented full-time students, and their spouses or common-law partners, from claiming its necessary financial support. Since 2007, the benefit has aimed at drawing Canadians into the workforce and supporting lower-income individuals. The sum of money isn’t small to those who require it, either—every bit counts when living on minimum wage to sustain a one-bedroom apartment shared between three roommates. Students who work know this well. But, still, although the phenomena of the overworked student is increasingly common, the federal government has yet to grasp this, or perhaps has decidedly abandoned them all together.
Canada’s non-commitment to post-secondary has been underscored in the past year, leaving students uncomfortable at the thought of their education’s direction. By the decision of former minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship Marc Miller, the number of international students entering Canada was capped, leading to severe underfunding of educational institutions across the country. However, neither the provincial or federal budgets in the past year addressed the crisis.
But the apathy toward struggling working students has been clear every year for several decades. If a student is considered full-time (by government definition, “enrolled as a full-time student at a designated educational institution for more than 13 weeks in the year unless, on December 31, you have an eligible dependent”) they and their partner are ineligible. The assumption and justification of this then is that students do not work, and indeed this is false; perhaps as the cost of living skyrockets, too, this has never been so false. Approximately 40 percent of all full-time undergraduate students work. And that isn’t a choice—students who are not supported by other family members must find a means to fund both their education and their livelihoods.
For some, the discrimination is a deterrent from pursuing post-secondary education full time if it means sacrificing that useful bump come the end of the fiscal year. As a result, those students will be required to spend several more years completing their degrees, and more time at unfulfilling retail, service, and food-industry employment living off of minimum wage.
As I fit all these boxes, my tax return was modest this year. For the first time claiming both a spouse and full-time student status, my return, which normally offers me stability, took a major cut. And while it’s unfortunate to lose money where as a worker I should be owed, my partner, who is not a student but legally my husband, also was disadvantaged from my educational decision. In short, we both missed out on what we deserve as workers, which meant pinching pennies while the affluent are given tax breaks up the yin yang.
University and college students living below the poverty line aren’t a rare bunch. They require support to sustain their long-term contribution to Canada’s workforce. They require the CWB not because they will one day work, but because they do work. And, instead, what they are shown is contempt by a government that chooses to turn a blind eye at the living and working conditions of an important demographic.