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Credit Unions are Here for You.

​Members are encouraged to contact your credit union to discuss challenges you are facing, or to understand the ways that you can transact business without attending a branch. To find your credit union’s website,
click here.

This page is a guide to the numerous programs and measures, launched by the Government of Canada and the Province of Manitoba, that are designed provide support to individuals and businesses facing financial challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

You will also find links to important Public Health measures and guidance, as well as information about the increasing threat of COVID-19 financial scams. Click here for our latest news.
Click a topic below to learn more:
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For Individuals & Families
Information, Supports and Public Health Guidance
  • Government of Canada Main COVID-19 Site: Go to site
  • Government of Manitoba Main COVID-19 site: Go to site

United Way of Winnipeg Free & Confidential 211 Service
211 helps people navigate the complex network of government and community programs and services quickly and easily and promises access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in over 150 languages. Across Manitoba, the service is offered through phone and website. In all cases, 211 confidentially connects people who are seeking support to the right information and services. Simply dial 211 or visit mb.211.ca. 

Manitoba Vaccine Eligibility​
  • Current eligibility criteria is available using this link.
  • Immunization cards can be ordered 2 weeks after receiving your second shot. To order your card, click here.

Mental Health Supports
Government of Canada’s Wellness Together supports:
Wellness Together Canada will offer Canadians different levels of support depending on their need, ranging from information and self-assessment tools, to the opportunity to chat with peer support workers, social workers, psychologists and other professionals for confidential chat sessions or phone calls. It will make it easier to find credible information and help address mental health and substance use issues. The portal is the result of the work of a broad consortium of organizations with experience in providing digital mental health and substance use support, including Stepped Care Solutions, Kids Help Phone, Homewood Health, Greenspace Health, the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and the Canadian Psychological Association. Learn more
 
Province of Manitoba’s Mental Health Virtual Therapy Program for Manitobans:
Caring for your mental health is important during the COVID-19 pandemic. AbilitiCBT is a new digital therapy program from Morneau Shepell, available to all Manitobans experiencing low to mid symptoms of anxiety due to the pandemic. You will be able to connect to a professional therapist trained to help you deal with:
  • pandemic challenges
  • the state of uncertainty
  • physical isolation
  • care for family and community members
  • information overload 
  • stress management
Services are free of charge and confidential. Learn more

Financial Supports
Canada Revenue Agency 'My Account': 
Many Federal government supports require you to create an account in the CRA My Account site. This site will also allow you to sign up for Direct Deposit of government payments to your own credit union account. Learn more
​
​Government of Canada: COVID-19 Support for Individuals  
The following link contains a detailed list of programs offered by the Government of Canada, meant to support individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information about recent program changes and newly announced programs can also be found here. 
Learn more
​

Current programs for individuals:
  • Employment Insurance (EI) program,
  • Canada Recovery Benefit – ended on October 23, 2021.
    • For information on periods still open for application – click here
  • Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB) – click here
  • Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit
  • Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit
  • Supporting families with children under the age of six
  • Supporting low-income workers and families
  • Mortgage payment deferral
  • Provincial and territorial support

Canada Child Benefit Increased to $300 per Child:
Families already receiving the benefit need not apply. Learn more

Canada Child Benefit Young Child Supplement (CCBYCS)
Temporary additional support in 2021 of up to $1,200 to families with children under the age of six. Must have been entitled to receive the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) in January, April, July or October 2021 to receive the CCBYCS. ​If individuals already receive the CCB, they won’t need to apply for this benefit.

Payment dates:
May 28, 2021 (includes amounts for January and April)
July 30, 2021
October 29, 2021

Deferral Support for Borrowers:
Manitoba credit unions have developed policies to assist borrowers. In some circumstances, payment or interest deferrals may be available. Contact your own credit union to discuss what options would work best for your circumstances. Visit this page to find your credit union. Learn more

How Mortgage Payment Deferrals Work - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC): 
Learn more
 
Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba:
  • Click here to see Q&A for Workers about WCB coverage during COVID-19. Learn more
  • Healthcare Providers receiving WCB payments are strongly advised by WCB to sign up for Direct Deposit​
 
For Students
Overview of Government of Canada programs for students and recent graduates impacted by COVID-19: Learn more 

The Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) 
​The Government of Canada’s Budget 2021 included additional supports for individuals with student loans, including:
  • Suspension of interest
  • Student grant supports
  • Skills Boost program
  • Easier access to repayment assistance
  • Expanding support for borrowers with disabilities
 See details here.
 
For Seniors
​Help Next Door MB: 
A site where Manitobans can ask for support or offer to help others. All volunteers are screened. Learn more
​

 
For Businesses
Federal Supports
The federal government is proposing to continue COVID-19 business support programs until May 2022 for organizations hit hardest since the start of the pandemic or most affected by public health restrictions.

Government of Canada: COVID-19 Support for Businesses 
The following link contains a detailed list of programs offered by the Government of Canada, meant to support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information about recent program changes and newly announced programs can also be found here. 
Learn more
​

Additional Proposed Business Support
  • Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program, which would provide support through the wage and rent subsidy programs, to hotels, tour operators, travel agencies, and restaurants, with a subsidy rate of up to 75 per cent.
  • Hardest-Hit Business Recovery Program, which would provide support through the wage and rent subsidy programs, would support other businesses that have faced deep losses, with a subsidy rate of up to 50 per cent. 
    More information can be found here

These programs will be available until May 7, 2022, with the proposed subsidy rates available through to March 13, 2022. From March 13, 2022, to May 7, 2022, the subsidy rates will decrease by half.

New Program Launched To Support Bus, Air Charter Operators Affected By Covid-19 Restrictions
The Manitoba government is launching a new, $1.92-million program to support bus and air charter transportation companies that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and public health restrictions. Learn more

The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA):
The deadline for CEBA loan applications has passed. For more information regarding the CEBA program, including loan repayment deadlines, click here


Canada Revenue Agency My Business Account:
The Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy program requires you to sign up via your account in the CRA My Business Account site. This site will also allow you to sign up for Direct Deposit of government payments to your own account. Your credit union can also help you sign up for Direct Deposit. Learn more

Government of Canada Online tool to navigate Federal COVID-19 supports that may be available for your business:
English language version
French language version

New Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy
The original Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) program has ended. 

Canadian businesses, non-profit organizations, or charities who have seen a drop in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic may be eligible for a subsidy to cover part of their commercial rent or property expenses, starting on September 27, 2020, until October 23, 2021.

This subsidy will provide payments directly to qualifying renters and property owners, without requiring the participation of landlords. For more information, click here.

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) - Proposed extension to May 2022.:
As a Canadian employer who has seen a drop in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be eligible for a subsidy to cover part of your employee wages. This subsidy enables the re-hiring of workers, prevents further job losses, and eases business into normal operations.

  • Next deadline: November 4, 2021 – last day to apply for claim period 15
  • Next period opens November 1, 2021 – First day you can apply for claim period 2021
 
To learn more about the program, to calculate your subsidy amount, or to learn about planned extensions of government support programs for hardest hit sectors, please click here

Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program (HASCAP)
On January 26, 2021 the Government of Canada announced the launch of the Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program (HASCAP). The program is intended to provide support to businesses that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
 
For this program, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) will work with participating financial institutions to offer government-guaranteed, low-interest loans of up to $1 million and repayable over as long as 10 years. Among other eligibility criteria, applicants will need to show a year-over-year revenue decline of at least 50% in three months, within the 8 month period prior to their application. The business must also have previously applied to either the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy or the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy to qualify.

The program is available for application until December 31, 2021. 
Click here for additional details, including information on eligibility criteria and how to apply

The Work-Sharing Program – temporary special measures
  • The maximum duration of the Work Sharing Program ha been extended from 38 weeks to 76 weeks for employers affected by COVID-19.
  • This measure will provide income support to employees eligible for Employment Insurance who agree to reduce their normal working hours because of developments beyond the control of their employers
  •  Check eligibility/Apply here

Co-Lending Programs for Small and Medium-sized Businesses
Through the Business Credit Availability Program, Business Development Canada (BDC) is working with financial institutions to co-lend term loans of up to $6.25 million to SMEs for their operational cash flow requirements. The program offers differing maximum finance amounts based on business revenues.
​
This program is now available and businesses must apply through their credit unions or banks. Most Manitoba Credit Unions are offering this program.
Learn more

Innovative and early-stage businesses
The Government of Canada is investing funds to assist innovative, early-stage companies that are unable to access other COVID-19 business supports. These supports are provided through the IRAP (Industrial Research Assistance Program), an existing program that provides advice, connections and funding for business to increase innovation capacity and take ideas to market.

The National Research Council has a variety of Challenge programs that technology companies may wish to review here.
 
Young Entrepreneurs
The Government of Canada is providing funds to Futurpreneur Canada to continue supporting young entrepreneurs facing challenges related to COVID-19. Learn more

Business Resilience Service for Small Businesses
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Government of Canada, EY, CPA Canada and Imagine Canada have teamed up to launch a new hotline to provide small business owners with free advice from accounting professionals on how to navigate their way through the current economic crisis. The Business Resilience Service (BRS) will be staffed seven days a week with 125 members of CPA Canada. Advisors can answer questions about tax regulations and the implications of COVID-19, inform business owners about government support programs that best fit their unique circumstances, and provide strategic financial planning for their road to recovery. 
  • To access the BRS: call 1-866-989-1080 to connect with a business advisor from the accounting profession. The service is available 7 days/week from 8am – 8pm ET (7am – 7pm CT).
  • Read more

Rural Businesses and Communities
The Government of Canada is providing funds to support rural businesses and communities by providing access to capital through the Community Futures Network. Businesses should look for support through their Regional Development Agency (in Manitoba, the Regional Development Agency is Western Economic Diversification Canada, also known as WD).
Learn more

For Agricultural Businesses:
The Federal Government is supporting Farm Credit Canada by allowing an additional $5 billion in lending capacity to producers, agribusinesses, and food processors.

Provincial Supports
Sector Support Program
The Sector Support Program is a $22 million program that provides assistance to businesses affected by the COVID-19 public health order restrictions released on December 17, 2021 and are in effect from December 21, 2021 to January 11, 2022. For more information and a list of criteria, click here.

Healthy Hire Manitoba Program
The province is now accepting applications for the Healthy Hire Manitoba Program, a wage support program designed to help private-sector employers reopen and encourage employees to get fully vaccinated. Final application deadline October 30, 2021. Deadline for final claim November 30, 2021.
​
Key dates, full eligibility criteria, and more information on the new Healthy Hire Manitoba Program can be found here.

Manitoba Pandemic Sick Leave
The Manitoba Pandemic Sick Leave program provides employers with up to $600 per employee for up to five full days of COVID-19 related sick leave, which do not have to be taken consecutively. Deadline has been extended to March 31, 2022. Learn more

Manitoba Gap Protection Program:
The $120 million Manitoba Gap Protection Program (MGPP) provided a one-time $6,000 grant for businesses that did not qualify for the various federal government assistance programs and wage subsidies created because of COVID-19. It has since closed intake.
For information, click here

The Manitoba Economic Support Centre:
Business Manitoba has launched a new call centre support service. You can contact them to obtain guidance about supports available for your business. Learn more or phone: 1-888-805-7554

​Manitoba: Temporary Exception to Employment Standards Layoff Rules:
The Manitoba government added a temporary exception to employment standards regulations, to give employers more time to recall employees laid off as a result of COVID-19. This measure will provide flexibility to employers to recall employees once work picks up again, and avoid severing their employment. This measure is temporary and specific to situations where employees will eventually be rehired once the COVID-19 crisis has subsided and economic activity picks up again. More details

 
Support Agencies
New Horizons for Seniors Programs: 
New supports for this program were provided, including expansion of eligible activities for 2019-20, and extension of report deadlines for 2018-19 recipients. New 2020 eligible activities can start immediately and include: supports to seniors to stay connected by providing devices and virtual activities, supporting food and medication deliveries, assistance with essential activities like doctor visits, hiring staff to replace senior volunteers who cannot attend due to the outbreak, providing information for seniors who are coping during the outbreak. 
Learn more

Emergency Community Support Fund:
This funding is provided to agencies supporting vulnerable Canadians, and will flow through United Way/Centraide Canada, the Canadian Red Cross and Community Foundations. It will allow funds to be provided quickly to local agencies that support vulnerable populations. Activities it will support include increasing volunteer home deliveries of groceries or medications; providing transportation services for appointments; increasing the capacity of help lines; helping people access government benefits; training and supplies to volunteers; replacing in person and social gatherings with virtual contact. 
Learn more
​
 
Scams & Fraud
​While cybersecurity is an ongoing and very serious issue at the best of times, security experts say the spike in email scams during this coronavirus pandemic is the worst they have seen in years. This includes scams arising through email, text, phone or door to door.

Examples of Scams:
  • Emails and texts from a financial institution asking you to click a link to be pre-approved for a low-interest rate loan to help you through these uncertain times.
  • Email from someone in your company requesting to upload personnel information, or to send an urgent wire transfer.
  • Email advising to open an attachment from the World Health Organization (WHO) for more information on COVID-19.
  • Fear-mongering emails, such as "Virus is now airborne" or "products Made in China have virus on them" and have a link to get more information.
  • Emails from seemingly legitimate sources asking you to click "Donate here to help", or "Click here to see the tax cuts", or "Your Zoom attendees are waiting."
  • Phone call from government or health providers requesting credit card or banking information.
  • A number of phone and online scams continue to circulate. A new one is a phone call supposedly from  MB hydro to say that your electricity will be cut off if you don’t pay a bill. Hydro has stopped doing any disconnections at this time. Hang up if contacted in this way.
​
​Stay Vigilant:
​Tips for email in your work/personal email inboxes, for texts, and for phone calls
  • Be suspicious of any email or text that asks you to do something out of the ordinary.
  • Do not open any attachment from an unknown sender, including known businesses.
  • Hover over any links within any received email to view the URL address of that link; do not click that link before confirming the URL it links to.
  • If you receive an email or text from any business or service with a link to click that seems legitimate, do not click the link, but rather go to the original website.
  • Do not provide any financial/credit card or personal information to anyone via email, text or over the phone, regardless of how legitimate it sounds.
  • Be sure that any action you are taking at your business is a legitimate request: emails from CEO, COO, etc., that are out of the ordinary must be confirmed with that person.

Recommended Action:
If you are a business, stay vigilant and report suspicious activity within your organization. Make sure all your employees see this information so they can stay aware as well. Post this information for your customers, on your websites and on your social media channels.
 
Health & Safety

Manitobans are strongly encouraged to return to the fundamentals to help stop the spread of COVID-19. 
Learn more

Pandemic Response System: 
  • Manitoba Health has implemented a Pandemic Response System, to indicate provincial and regional level of risk, based on a variety of indicators.
  • To see the structure of this system here, as well as a document with further details click here
  • Information from the province about current status and recommendations is available at this link

Dashboards providing cases and risks for the province, for individual Health Regions and for districts with each region are available by clicking here

Restoring Safe Services in Manitoba: The Province of Manitoba has issued roadmaps for staged reopening of services. The documents also provide information about best practices in businesses and services of various types. These can be found here.
  • Businesses seeking further information about maintaining safety in the workplace can visit this link.
  • Critical public health measures and travel restrictions will remain for now. This includes mandatory self-isolation upon one's return to Manitoba from provinces East of us, and limits on travel to the North. Any changes made in a phase will depend on the evaluation of the previous phase.

COVID-19 Testing in MB
Information for Manitobans regarding COVID-19 testing is available using this link. 
Learn more

 
Travel
Manitoba Government: COVID-19: Travel, testing, quarantine and border information
In general, if travelling to or from Manitoba, please familiarize yourself with these guidelines.

Canadian Government: COVID-19: Travel, testing, quarantine and border information​
If travelling to or from Canada, please familiarize yourself with these guidelines.

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Disclaimer: 
Please note that content on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide specific legal advice, nor to be relied upon as such. Users of this site are advised to seek specific legal counsel as required.  Information provided on this site is without warranty and CUCM is not liable for any damages arising from the use thereof.  This site contains links to other third-party sites. Such links are only for the convenience of the user. CUCM does not recommend or endorse the contents of any third-party sites.

 

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