Toronto woman fights months for access to government accounts after SIN flagged as 'deceased'

A Toronto woman has spent months fighting for access to her government accounts after she says her Social Insurance Number (SIN) was flagged as ‘deceased’ by Service Canada.

Jessica Moon, a Toronto-area teacher, told CTV News Toronto Thursday she first suspected something was amiss during tax season.

“I tried to log in to my … student loans account and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) account, and I couldn’t,” she said. “I found that quite odd.”

At the time, Moon says she was working as a substitute teacher, and with Service Canada’s phone lines only open from 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m., she couldn’t find the time to call them.

It wasn’t until late June – when school ended and Moon had more free time – that she was able to call Service Canada. She says she ended up waiting four hours in the phone queue before speaking to someone who told her her SIN had been “flagged,” and that she was then told she would need to visit a Service Canada location in person to get more details.

So, she made a trip to the Service Canada office at Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue where, again, she says the line was nearly four hours long again.

When she finally spoke to an attendant, she says they told her her SIN had been flagged as 'deceased.'

“Me and the agent kind of had a chuckle about it, because I was sitting right there in front of them,” Moon said.

“They told me they would mark it as an urgent case and that I would be receiving a call very, very soon considering the severity of the issue.”

Nearly two months later, she has yet to see the issue resolved. During this time, she’s been unable to access her student loan payments, apply to further teaching positions, access her CRA account, or apply for employment insurance (EI).

“I think the main issue right now is as an occasional supply teacher, I don't get any income during the summertime, so I rely on EI for the months of July and August, but I haven't been able to apply this summer,” she said.

“I'm still a newer teacher and, so I'm looking for other positions or other possible job opportunities, but because I don't have my SIN, I haven't been able to apply to any of those positions.”

She says she’s called Service Canada numerous times, and even visited the office again in person. “This time, the line was only three hours,” she said. But, every time, she says she’s been told by someone she should expect a call soon.

“They haven't been contacting me,” she said. “I don't know if it's somehow got lost.”

“It's just been very, very frustrating.”

When CTV News Toronto reached out to Service Canada for comment, they said “an investigator has been assigned to review Ms. Moon’s allegation.”

“The investigator will be contacting Ms. Moon in the next 24 hours to discuss the details of her case. If an error is confirmed following completion of the investigation, Service Canada will subsequently correct the client’s information in the Social Insurance Registry and notify Ms. Moon once finalized,” they said.

Moon confirmed she did hear from an investigator at Service Canada Thursday afternoon after CTV News Toronto reached out to the agency for a statement.

“I'm feeling so relieved to finally see some action being taken by the government,after months of feeling overlooked from their silence and indifference towards my situation,” she said.

“While I have yet to officially get my SIN back, it feels great knowing that there has been at least some form of development in this frustrating process of getting my life back.”