Future beneficiary attendants have not been paid since the first day of their accelerated training in early June and some have had to fall back on odd jobs and loans to pay their rent or even their food.
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“I had to take shifts in bars every other week. I have to borrow money from my friends, my family because I can’t pay my rent, my bills or even my food! »Confides a student of the new accelerated program« Support for assistive care in health establishments ».
He asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, like all future attendants interviewed for this article.
Since starting his training on June 17, at the École des métiers des Faubourgs-de-Montréal, the student says he has not received any payment from the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center (CIUSSS ) of the Center-Sud of Montreal.
In total, he should have already received $ 6,140. But two months after starting his training, still nothing.
Yet, when it launched its cry from the heart in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government promised future students that a scholarship of $ 9,210 would be paid to them in three payments.
The first, two weeks after the start of classes. The second, halfway through. And the last, at the end of the training.
According to a professor responsible for evaluating this student, Chantal Scott, “at least four [de ses] pupils ”are in this situation.
At the same time, on the territory of the CIUSSS West of Montreal, other students are also having difficulty receiving payment of their scholarship.
“First, they made us the first payment two weeks late and then we learned that the second payment would be made a month and a half later,” said a student who said she had to ask for money from relatives to be able to support themselves and pay their rent.
“From the start, they gave us dates they didn’t respect! »She laments.
A third student also considers that he is in a precarious financial situation which causes him great anxiety.
“We make a budget, but we cannot respect it. We cannot pay our bills or even reimburse our loved ones, ”he says.
The different students met by The newspaper deplore a significant lack of communication.
“We try to get answers, so we call, we send emails, but we never tell us anything,” explains a student.
Another is indignant at always being “swayed from left to right, never to speak to the same person”.
“When we registered, we were asked for documents that we had to return to them within 24 hours. We were really pressured, whereas today they don’t give a damn, ”indignant a fourth future attendant.
In an email, the CIUSSS du Center-Sud de Montréal claims to have “respected [son] financial commitment, except in a few special situations where missing information [empêchaient] to remit the sums. “
According to Jocelyne Boudreault, information officer for the organization, several students would not have “returned the completed and signed commitment form” or would have given “incorrect addresses”.
“In order to remit the amounts due as quickly as possible, we canceled the checks sent to the wrong addresses and deposited the amounts by bank deposit,” says Mme Boudreault.
A deposit was due yesterday for those who had not yet received anything. However, one of the students claimed last night that he still had not received the deposit.
For its part, the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal explains by email “that there is no fixed date established for making the payments”.
To “simplify the process and match the payments for the different start dates of cohorts of students with the institutions”, all students will be paid on the same date, even if for some this is done a month and a half after the first. deposit.
The Department of Health and Social Services did not respond to our requests.
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