New KERM Eligibility Measures For Current and Future Applicants
Written by Jeremy Zafran on 1 February 2021
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke has adopted new eligibility measures for current and future applicants regarding the KERM directive. MCK Elected Official Gina Deer explains:
“It’s been brought to our attention through community members that there are people who have been not adhering to the the directives, so we wanted to address the issue. What we will find is in the eligibility requirements there has been actually 2 changes, 2 important changes and it would be under section 3.7 and it reads as such: “Employees who began their employment less than 1 month before the Task Force directives initiated closure are not eligible for the KERM benefit.””
Deer says that different cases of contravention prompted the new measures:
“We had a lot of increase in some cases where people had just gotten hired and it was a concern about the amount of monies that were available and we thought it was best that people who were recently employed that they would be directed towards social assistance rather than the KERM Fund. The other issue was the employees were found to be in contravening of the Task Force Directives, they may lose their eligibility and I think the fact that people ae travelling is of great concern.”
Adhering to the directives keeps the community safe and when Task Force directives are being broken, that affects funding. The KERM board and recipients are required to follow all applicable Task Force’s directives.
