Federal government closes all Service Canada centres

Mar 27, 2020 | News

Service Canada closes due to workers feeling unsafe, Getty Images)

Kevaughn Wilson

All Service Canada locations are now closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal government announced late Thursday evening it would close all in-person centres starting Friday morning.

Canadian Employment and Immigration Union vice-president Crystal Warner said in a series of tweets the members desperately want to serve Canadians, but do not want to put their safety at risk.

“But if the employer forces them to take actions that put them in serious danger, they are obligated to invoke their right to refuse dangerous work,” she said.

“The employer wouldn’t listen to us, they were putting our members in imminent risk of danger, so we withdrew our labour,” Warner said.

Canadian Employment and Immigration Union vice-president, Crystal Warner answers questions on behalf of her members. (Twitter)

The Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Ahmed Hussen said these centres should be the example of safe practices.

“During a time when we are asking most Canadians to stay home, we need to make sure our service delivery model follows the best public health advice, while also meeting the needs of Canadians,” he said.

However the closing of these centres opens the door for more targeted online and text message scams.

Scammers are now taking advantage of the public’s fear surrounding the pandemic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured Canadians the government nor the Canadian Revenue Agency will send personalized text messages.

“I’m sorry to say there appears to be a text scam going around on the new emergency response benefit,” Trudeau said.

“I want to remind everyone that the government’s website is the best place to find reliable information on everything we’re doing,” he said.

York University student Cheyenne Gordon said she has recently received a text message supposedly from the Canadian government.

“It was an alert that $1,375.50 had been deposited in my account and I just have to sign in to accept,” she said.

Example of text scams that are being used in order to obtain your banking information. (Cheyenne Gordon).

Jeff Thomson, a spokesperson for the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, said the links in these texts will typically bring you to a fake website which will ask for personal banking information.

“It’s designed to harvest your personal financial information at the end of the day,” he said.