Yesterday morning, when I logged into my CRA account, there is a piece of information saying I owe Ontario Works sponsorship debt.
When I called an agent, the agent says it incurred in 2009, when my ex-wife received social assistance in 2009.
However, when I asked them why I got informed of the debt this late, they said they cannot answer.
So my question is :
Does the sponsor have right to get informed when the sponsored person starts to receiving social assistance?
Who I should to talk to to know why I got informed this late (6 years later)? The agent said she didn’t have the information why.
As a 6yo debt, any chance for me to have a settlement?
Thanks for your answer in advance.
Hello,
Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us.
You can find some detailed information in this Ontario Works Policy Directives - Procedure in Sponsorship Default Cases guide.
Here is an excerpt,
If there is a valid undertaking, CIC automatically sends a warning letter to defaulting sponsors to advise them that there is a potential sponsorship breakdown and reiterates the requirement to resume full support obligations and that they will not be allowed to sponsor again unless they meet their obligations.
If the sponsored person is at risk of domestic violence as a result of the notice to CIC, this must be noted on the referral and no letter is to be sent by CIC.
Once a sponsored immigrant is in receipt of any amount of social assistance, Ontario Works staff sends a letter to notify the sponsor that debt is being incurred.
The letter reminds the sponsor of the obligation to provide for the sponsored person, advises that the federal government has been notified of the default, and
If a defaulting sponsor and/or a co-signor reimburses the delivery agent for the full amount of social assistance that was paid to the sponsored immigrant while the sponsorship agreement was in force, staff will notify CIC that the repayment has been made by sending the Confirmation of Repayment of Social Assistance Benefits form to CIC.
If a defaulting sponsor and/or co-signor does not respond after fifteen days and/or does not resume their support of the sponsored immigrant, the delivery agent uses the Notification of Sponsorship Debt Form to confirm the default to CIC.
The case is then referred to the ministry’s centralized Overpayment Recovery Unit (ORU), by emailing the electronic Validation of Sponsorship Debt form to ORU. The ORU staff will pursue the sponsorship debt by sending letters at 45 and 90 day intervals to the defaulting sponsor. If the sponsor does not begin repaying the debt, the ORU will refer the case to the Canada Revenue Agency to begin the Refund Set-Off process.
Where there is an outstanding sponsorship debt that was not addressed at the time of application under the previous policy, the staff should accept voluntary repayments from sponsors. If the repayment is less than the total amount of the sponsorship debt, staff must advise the sponsor that reimbursement must be made in full before CIC can be notified that the debt is satisfied. The amount of the sponsorship debt is not negotiable.
You may want to contact the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, Overpayment Recovery Unit, Box 333, Toronto, ON, M7A 1N3, Toll free: 1 (888) 346-5184, Fax: 1 (866) 778-7750 to find out if they have any information regarding this case and whey you were not informed earlier.
You may also want to contact the nearest Community Legal Clinic for some assistance.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.
=====Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRSSettlement.Org