Guild staff have compiled the best available information on pan-Canadian programs available to support our members during the coronavirus pandemic. This includes supports available through DGC Benefits and other programs specific to our members and industry as well as the Government of Canada’s Emergency Response Plan.

We strongly recommend that you use this FAQ only as a helpful resource to point you in the right direction while seeking out your own information from official sources and consulting with financial professionals wherever possible.

Canada Emergency Response Benefit
Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
Additional Government/Public Support
DGC Membership Dues
DGC Health Benefits – Short Term Disability (STD)
DGC Health Benefits – Virtual Appointments
DGC Benefits – Plan Finances
CEIRP (Retirement Savings Plan) – Request for Extreme Hardship Withdrawal
AFC- Emergency Financial Aid

Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)

What is it?

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) replaced the two measures initially announced by the Government of Canada – the Emergency Support Benefit and the Emergency Care Benefit. The benefit provides $500 per week for 16 weeks to any Canadian who have lost work and work income due to COVID-19.

NOTE: For the Government of Canada’s other major income replacement program, please see below for information on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).

Eligibility

• Workers who stopped working due to COVID19, or those in seasonal or cultural industries who would have begun working after March 15th but now cannot due to COVID-19, and who do not have access to paid leave or other income support
• Workers who are sick, quarantined, or taking care of someone who is sick with COVID-19
• Working parents who must stay home without pay to care for children that are sick or need additional care because of school and daycare closures
• Workers who still have their employment but are not being paid because there is currently not sufficient work and their employer has asked them not to come to work
• Self-employed individuals, including contract workers, who would not otherwise be eligible for Employment Insurance (EI)
• This benefit is likely to apply to small business owners whose businesses have had to stop operating due to COVID-19

Applicants will have to certify they have been without a job (including freelance work) for at least 14 consecutive days over a period of four weeks for reasons related to COVID-19, including temporary layoff, loss of a job, illness, quarantine or need to care for a child or a family member.

What if I’m already eligible for EI?

The CERB is available to both workers who are eligible for EI and those who are not. Those workers who are eligible for EI will receive CERB for up to 16 weeks while retaining their eligibility EI after that period is over. Workers who have already applied for EI since March 15th do not need to reapply to receive CERB. Their application/benefits will be directly.

How can i apply?

Applications for the CERB will begin the week of Monday, April 6, 2020. You will be able to apply online with a “CRA My Account” or over the phone with an automated service.

While you cannot yet apply for CERB, you can sign up for a “CRA My Account” or learn how to login to your “CRA My Account” via an existing “My Service Canada Account” (ok for the link to "Switch to Canada Revenue Agency").

Applications for CERB will be process according to birth month. You can find a time table for priority submission dates here.

How do I prove I would have been working?

The government has not spelled out specific criteria for people applying for benefits to demonstrate they would have been working after March 15th. If you apply for benefits you may – at a later date – be asked to provide documentation supporting your claim that you would have been at this time such as past records of seasonal at the same time of year, planned work on a production scheduled to begin or a new cycle of a production on which you’d previously worked.

Am I allowed income from part-time work while receiving CERB?

Yes. Workers are allowed up to a maximum of $1,000 per month in earned income from part-time work (including self-employement/small business income) while receiving CERB.

Do I lose benefits if I received royalties from the DRCC?

No. All royalties on past work are excluded from the $1,000 limit on additional work income. You may receive those royalties over and above both part-time wok income and your CERB payments.

Are members working under loan out corporations eligible?

The government’s language including the self-employed, independent contractors and small business owners in the description of those eligible for CERB seems to indicate clearly that Guild members working under loan outs will be eligible to receive. W e have received anecdotal feedback from members working under loan outs who have applied, selecting the "self-employed" option, and have received benefits without issue thus far. 

Am I better off applying for the wage subsidy?

The Guild cannot provide financial advice to individual members as their circumstances vary so widely. We highly recommend reading the available information from government and consulting with a professional such as an accountant where possible; however, you can find answers to some of the more common question below.

Is my benefit retroactive?

CERB is retroactive back to the date of revenue loss up to, but not exceeding March 15, 2020.

Is the CERB taxable?

The CERB benefit is taxable for the 2020 tax year, but – according to the latest available information – no deductions will be taken from the initial payment (unlike EI). Therefore, taxes will be due on your 2021 taxes. Please plan accordingly.

How long will my benefits last?

CERB benefits last for a maximum of 16 weeks per affected worker, but and available only in the period beginning March 15, 2020 through to October 3, 2020. The benefits application must be renewed monthly.

Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

What is it?

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) is a program to assist employers to keep workers on payroll, or re-hire laid off workers, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is currently scheduled to last 12 weeks, not the 16 weeks allotted for Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), and will subsidize wages at a rate of 75% up to a maximum benefit of $847 per week.

Am I eligible for the wage subsidy if I work under a loan out?

Employers that are not at “arm’s length” from their employees, such as loan outs, are eligible for the wage subsidy, but under a “special rule” that limits the amount of the subsidy for those non-arm’s length employees.

You can find out what amount you may be eligible to receive on the official government page detailing how the subsidy is calculated based on your gross earnings. Under the section “2a) Gross payroll for eligible employees: Understand how situations are calculated”, simply click on the option that matches your weekly earnings paid to you from your loan out corporation and the calculation is given.

Can I apply for both CERB and the wage subsidy?

Our understanding is ‘no’. To receive the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), you must have stopped working and to receive the wage subsidy (CEWS), your employer/loan out must attest that you have remained employed.

If you believe you fall into a circumstance where you might be eligible for both programs for the same time period, please seeking out appropriate professional financial advice or contact Service Canada.

What if I already applied for CERB?

If you’ve already applied for, or received, CERB, but think you may be better off under CEWS, we recommend you seek advice on how to proceed from your accountant or Service Canada.

Additional Government/Public SUPPORT

Extra time to file income tax returns

The federal government is deferring the filing due date for the 2019 tax returns of individuals. For individuals, the return filing due date will be deferred until June 1, 2020. 

The government will allow any new income tax balances due, or instalments, to be deferred until August 31, 2020 without incurring interest or penalties.

Special GST credit payment

Low- and modest income families if eligible for the GST credit will automatically receive a one-time payment starting April 9. $400 for single individuals, close to $600 for couples.

Mortgage Support

Canadian banks are providing solutions to help their customers to manage financial hardships caused by COVID-19, such as a mortgage deferral, on a case-by-case basis.

DGC Membership Dues

2020 Q2 dues has been waived for all Members in Good Standing. Anyone who has prepaid their dues, the credit from Q2 dues will be applied against their future invoice. Anyone with an owing balance will received an automatic extension until June 30, 2020, no penalty will be applied on owing balance between March 17 and June 30, 2020.

Anyone who received a notice for Risk of Termination has also been given an extension to pay their outstanding owing balance by June 30, 2020.  No member will be terminated from the DGC membership until July 1, 2020.

DGC Health Benefits – Short Term Disability (STD)

If your 2020 default coverage is Level 2 or 3 (STD benefits is not available to those who purchased to upgrade their benefits coverage), you may be eligible for STD benefits from the start of the quarantine period if you are displaying symptoms consistent with COVID-19, have tested positive, and are unable to work. Note that mass quarantines issued by a health authority or cautionary quarantines issued by an employer would not qualify for coverage.

For more information, see attached news bulletin (dated March 27, 2020) from Canada Life. Please check Canada Life GroupNet for all new updates.

DGC Health Benefits – Virtual Appointments

Canada Life is accepting receipts for virtual appointments from the following providers:

• Dietitian
• Naturopath
• Occupational therapist
• Optometrist
• Physiotherapist
• Psychologist
• Social Worker
• Speech therapist

These are all subject to our plan provisions, and usual reasonable & customary amounts. Please make sure to get proof of payment, and submit these claims via GroupNet like any other claim. For more information, see attached news bulletin (dated March 27, 2020) from Canada Life. Please check Canada Life GroupNet for all new updates.

DGC Benefits - Plan Finances

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, members across the country have contacted us with questions and concerns about our health plan, DGC Benefits. Below is a summary of the most common questions along with the best answers available at this time.

Is there a risk benefits will be reduced or eliminated?

The DGC Health Plan is a well-managed plan with sufficient assets to continue in its present form for a long period even in the absence of producer contributions.

Many years ago, the Trustees of the plan had the foresight to adopt a funding policy that obligates the Plan managers to retain a reserve of one year of insurance premiums and administration expenses to be available in times of reduced Producer contributions. They could not have envisioned the current crisis, but that policy serves us well now.

Currently, our total expenses are approximately $20M annually and our available reserves are in the order of $33M. At the last Trust meeting held on April 24th, your Trustees decided that the focus of the Trust will now shift to doing everything possible to  maintain the benefits in their current form for as long as possible even if there is a need to temporarily suspend the one year of reserves policy.

Will my benefit level drop?

Members’ benefit levels are calculated every June 30th by taking the average of the last 24 months of producer contributions. For the next evaluation, the Trust will look at your earnings for the period starting July 1, 2018 and ending on June 30^th 2020. While we will not know the exact number until after June 30th, very few members should be negatively impacted by the coronavirus shutdown for the 2021 plan year. It is currently too early to judge how many many members may be affected in future years, but the DGC Health & Wealth Trust is already monitoring the impact closely.

Can I get refund for added benefits I paid for, but cannot use?

During the renewal period last year, some members paid to upgrade insurance coverage to include dental or para-medical benefits, but now cannot access these services due to government emergency orders related to COVID-19.

It is too early in the year to give an answer to this question at this time. Hopefully, governments across the country will soon allow these practitioners to resume services and that members will be able to receive the care that they have been forced to forego. We will only know this answer near the end of the year.

In the meantime, CanadaLife is now accepting receipts for virtual appointments from a variety of providers.

What happens to money transferred from my Dollar Bank to my Health Care Spending Account?

The deadline for using money transferred in 2018 from a member’s Dollar Bank to a Health Care Spending Account is approaching on December 31st. We understand that using remaining funds available in a Health Care Spending Account may not be possible at this time as many dental and para-medical benefits services are unavailable to due to government emergency orders related to COVID-19.

Unfortunately, this is a Canadian Revenue Agency regulation and not in the Trust’s control. That said, our industry wide lobbying group has petitioned the government to extend this deadline. We are waiting for a response and will update members as soon as more information becomes available.

CEIRP (Retirement Savings Plan) – Request for Extreme Hardship Withdrawal

The CEIRP Committee is regularly monitoring and assessing the effect of the pandemic on the employment situation in the film and stage industries, and working with the respective unions and guilds.

The mandatory portion of CEIRP funding is contributed by producers with the stipulation in our collective agreements that this contribution be reserved for retirement only. As such, drawing down the mandatory portion of the plan prior to retirement is only possible in cases of “extreme hardship” (for example, pending eviction/foreclosure, extraordinary medical expenses). Details of this policy can be found here.

Rather than immediately seeking to withdraw from funds which has been set aside for retirement, as stipulated by contracts/collective agreements, please first refer to economic supports and payment deferral announced by union/guild offices, employer, federal, provincial and municipal government, financial institutions, utility companies, landlord and other service providers.

If you have exhausted all other options, attached is the CEIRP policy on Extreme Hardship Withdrawal and the request form. Once completed, submit it along with all supporting documents via email to rsp@dgc.ca.

If you have been participating in the voluntary RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) or NRSP (Non-Registered Savings Plan) contributions program, you can contact Canada Life directly to withdraw this fund, subjected to deduction of taxes and fees. Canada Life RSP division contact number is 1-800-724-3402.

AFC- Emergency Financial Aid

The AFC is a not-for-profit organization that supports entertainment industry professional including our members working in TV and film. The AFC can provide short-term emergency financial assistance for essential household bills and costs that cannot otherwise be paid. One does not need to pay back any funding received from AFC. For more information, please visit the AFC.:  https://afchelps.ca/covid-19-guide/