Many Albertans still struggling to access emergency funding for COVID-19
Posted March 30, 2020 12:20 pm.
Last Updated March 30, 2020 4:28 pm.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – It appears many Albertans are still having trouble applying for financial support from the provincial government.
A number of callers to 660 NEWS say they still can’t get through to the My Alberta website for the emergency funding.
Others on Twitter expressing similar frustrations including not being able to get their digital ID.
@jkenney for the love of god, fix the MyAlberta Digital ID website! People are not able to access much needed funds!
— Simone Torkington (@Storki) March 30, 2020
instead of playing with twitter find out why citizens can't verify their myalberta digital id to apply for emergency benefits . It's been broken for days
— Rock Ptarmigan (@neufmille_hal1) March 30, 2020
Are you gonna fix myalberta digital ID? It's been down for 5 straight days.
— B (@billyfayad00) March 30, 2020
https://twitter.com/SomewhatTipsy/status/1244642679176048640
@DShepYEG @Scott_McKeen @heathersweetab @ChrisNielsenNDP @ChristinaNDP @shoffmanAB @RachelNotley I've been trying for days to verify my ID for myalberta digital ID for the emergency benefit. The site crashes, phones are swamped. How am I able to get this done? #PleaseHelp
— Jantina (@Jantina8) March 30, 2020
One man phoned to say he tried applying in the middle of the night with no luck.
On Monday afternoon, the website temporarily shut down again due to “higher than anticipated demand”.
The province started accepting applications last week for the funding which offers a one-time payment of just over $1,100.
In a statement to 660 NEWS, the province said it apologizes for the “snags in the system.”
Tricia Velthuizen, the press secretary for Nate Glubish said, as of Monday afternoon, more than 29,000 applications had been processed.
That represents an 80 per cent increase from Friday afternoon.
“The demand for Emergency Isolation Supports remains extremely high and we apologize for the snags in the system which are leading to some delay,” she said.
She encouraged Albertans to continue to check the site throughout the day in order to apply.
