The words “pandemic,” “lockdown,” and “COVID” have settled comfortably into our vocabulary, but for the majority of 2020, we weren’t just adapting to a crisis – we were living in the Upside Down.

City streets were empty.

Businesses were closed – all of them.

Millions of people lost their jobs.

In Canada, we were fortunate that the federal government acted quickly. Programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) were rolled out at unprecedented speed. They were imperfect – many of us said so at the time – but CERB put food on the table and paid the rent for millions of people when the economy came to a full stop.

For most self-employed Canadians, CERB wasn’t just a lifeline. It was the only thing keeping their shelves stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

Self-employed individuals were initially excluded from business supports like CEBA, which was originally designed around payroll spending in the previous year. No payroll, no eligibility. That design choice alone revealed how poorly our economic systems understand modern work, especially women’s work.

Eighty per cent of women who earn business and professional income in Canada are self-employed. They may hire subcontractors or collaborate with peers, but they don’t have employees; they employ themselves.

They are employers of one.

And that matters.

By employing themselves, self-employed women reduce pressure on the labour market. If all of those women were suddenly forced to seek traditional employment, Canada’s unemployment rate wouldn’t tick up marginally. Based on my calculations, it would jump from roughly six per cent to closer to 15 per cent.

That’s not a niche group. That’s a structural pillar of our economy.

Six years later, the clawback continues

Fast forward to today.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is actively pursuing individuals who received CERB but are now deemed ineligible. According to a recent CBC report, the CRA has........

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