BREAKING NEWS: Confirmed by Prime Minister Trudeau on April 15th: Individuals making $1000 or less ARE NOW ELIGIBLE for the CERB. This information has not yet been updated on the official government site: http://canada.ca/covid19. More details to come. Thank you to everyone who worked together to fight for this amendment!

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For the past month, the CCF/FCMA has been primarily focused on advocacy. We’ve watched the Prime Minister’s daily updates, dissected the news, pored over government releases and reached out to MPs, Senators, advocates, and our colleagues across the cultural sector to gather information, make recommendations, and ensure that the voice of craft is heard during the astounding development of emergency programs.

Individual craft artists who are facing financial difficulty should apply immediately for the federal CERB. 

• You may make up to $1000 and still be eligible for the CERB. (More details to come).
• We strongly recommend that you set up a registered CRA account if you have not done so already. 
• Not sure where to start? We recommend the following tool compiled by Jennifer Robson, Associate Professor of Political Management at Carleton University.

 

Access the most up to date information on all emergency programs for businesses and individuals at canada.ca/covid19, and from your local provincial and territorial government websites, where the most active and accurate information is held.

The CCF/FCMA continues to monitor updates and advocate on behalf of the craft sector in partnership with an extensive network of cultural organizations as well as our member organizations, particularly the Provincial and Territorial Craft Councils. This includes:

• Open letters to the Federal Government: (March 18th, April 3rd, April 10th)
  Feel free to share these letters or adapt their language for your own advocacy needs.
• A contextual document, “Craft Artist Incomes”, which breaks down the many streams of income artists use to build a career. This was packaged with our April 10th letter to help build the case for edits to the CERB.
• Public Statements through our social media encouraging continued solidarity, and the celebration of craft (Facebook, Instagram)
• Loss Documentation forms built by our incredible partners at Craft Alliance.
  Use these to help track the impact on your business.
• Extensive survey activity. We encourage YOU to fill out these surveys:
  • Statistics Canada Impact Survey
  • Ilostmygig.ca surveys (for individuals and organizations)
  • Provincial and Territorial Craft Council surveys: Yukon, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nunavut, (surveys now closed: Saskatchewan, Quebec)
  • Atlantic craft artists are asked to fill in the Craft Alliance loss documentation forms and send them to: [email protected]. 
  • Regional reports will be compiled into a national picture as we collate responses from across the country.

 

Need a step by step guide of where to start? We recommend the Craft Ontario resources page, written with the craft artist at heart. Much of this information is national in focus, but the local resources may give you ideas of where else to look for support in your community. 

Completely lost? We don’t have all the answers but contact us, and we will do our best to point you in the right direction. Email [email protected] today.

Thank you to the many public servants who continue to work under immense pressure to create support systems for the people of Canada. We also recognize the valiant efforts of the many essential workers caring for us all. Those in healthcare, food service, emergency workers and many more, we are so very grateful. Lastly, we express our sincere thanks to the artists for sharing your passion, creativity, and care with the world. This crisis may have separated us physically, but it has united us in spirit, as we all contribute what we can for the greater good.

 

In solidarity, from all of us at the CCF/FCMA