KERM Fund: Extension
Written by Jeremy Zafran on 23 June 2021
The Kahnàwake Emergency Relief Measures Fund Board has announced the extension of the Fund for an additional 90 days beyond the original June 28th end date for the fund. The Board will look over future applications carefully, because with partial re-openings in various sectors, most affected workers will be required to return to work or seek other means of income by the end of July. Exceptions will be made for certain individuals dealing with direct effects of the pandemic such as those unable to be vaccinated for health reasons. Gina Deer is on the Social Affairs portfolio:
“There have been some situations where not everyone can go back to work due to (the) pandemic and we’re going on a case by case basis and being able to address that. So rather than have to go back and forth, we felt that 90 days was a good enough cushion to get all of these things settled.”
Deer says the fund was a successful undertaking to get the community through the heavy days of the pandemic, but this will be the only extension:
“Yes it will be, with the vaccinations going and the full opening, this will be the final extension, to my knowledge. There was a lot of work involved in doing this and there was a big learning curve along the way, we had to make several modifications, but I think overall it was a great success. People were able to stay home and take care of their families and isolate as needed without worrying about caring for the basic financial needs as well as businesses.”
