I spent the last three days sitting at this computer hitting refresh while pressing the redial button on my phone. I was trying to get through to the government in hopes of getting the new Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) which is designed to give an economic lifeline to people with no work.
The first day, I gave up; I kept getting bumped out of the queue by the many, many Canadians who were also trying to get relief.
When I did get through, I had to tell my story to at least six government employees, including one who sounded like he was still drunk from a Thanksgiving feast. My story is not unusual. I was a contract employee with the federal government making a good wage, and was booted out because I'd reached my allowed days. I had to wait for nearly a year to reapply for work, and had exhausted my employment insurance. The month I was eligible to go back to work, COVID-19 happened and public servants flocked to the safety of their homes and cottages, and there was no hiring. At all.
Thankfully, the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit came my way and I was able to pay my rent and bills. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was a lifeline at a time when few places were hiring, and most weren't hiring people like me, who were turning the magic age of 64.
During the CERB time, I worked hard at looking for work. I'm compromised by a bad knee and hip which make it hard for me to stand for hours on hard floors at big box stores. Plus I have a pre-existing condition, scarred lungs, from that time I worked at the Bruyere Hospital and got SARS, the predecessor of COVID-19. That's when I got my up close view of life with a Big C virus. I had to quit my job after contracting pneumonia and a chronic cough. I was a long hauler; it took six months for me to recover and the virus left its scars. It's been nearly two decades but I still live in terror of getting a bad cold or bronchitis which cause the scar tissue to reopen in my throat and lungs.
So I have little hope of getting jobs dealing with the public.
Because of the virtual shutdown of the news business and publishing, where I toiled for nearly 40 years, I have had to segue into new kinds of employment. With my background as a health writer and communications professional in the not-for-profit arena, the federal government was a good market for me. I'm not bilingual, so I cannot get a job in my field unless I am hired on contract. And now the contracts have dried up and I'm looking at an unknown future. The CRB at least will give me a temporary perch to look at my options which are limited at my age. It's rare that I even get an interview for a job I'm qualified, or over-qualified for. Nobody wants to take a chance on somebody who is within striking distance of old age security.
It's ridiculous, really. I'm very healthy and I have all my marbles. And I have a lifetime worth of knowledge, perspective and experience. But most recruiters only care what I've done in the last five years.
It's so puzzling. The next president of the United States will be in his mid-to-late Seventies. Ruth Bader Ginsberg was in her Eighties and worked through four bouts of cancer. Anthony Fauci is 79.
Our generation has a solid work ethic, a sense of history, and an understanding that loyalty and commitment should mean more than a paycheque.
Joe Biden got it right.
A job is more than a paycheque. It's about your dignity.
Instead, here in Canada, the approach is more like Trump's philosophy
"It is what it is".
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