Alberta parents frustrated by glitches in teachers’ strike payment portal

As the Alberta teachers’ strike stretches on, many families are turning to the province’s newly launched Parent Payment Program for financial relief.

But instead of a smooth process, some parents say they’re hitting a wall of technical glitches and other hurdles.

The program, which promises $30 per child per day during the strike, was designed to be “quick, easy, and secure.” Yet for parents like Trinique Shupe, a Calgary mother of two, the experience has been anything but.

“It’s just one thing after another,” Shupe said. “It’s really frustrating.”

Shupe attempted to register early in the day, only to encounter error codes. Hoping it was a temporary issue, she tried again later—only to be told her address didn’t match the information on her son’s school records.

“I tried in the morning, I noticed that it wasn’t working,” she explained. “Then, when I tried at the end of the day, it was giving me an error code saying that my addresses did not match with my ID and what was on my son’s demographic forms.”

Despite reaching out to both her children’s school and the Alberta government, Shupe says she’s still waiting for a resolution.

She’s not alone. Irfan Hossain, an IT engineer and father of two, encountered the same address-mismatch issue. After confirming that his address matched across both his driver’s license and school records, he was advised to email the program’s support team.

Others, like Olivia Allen—a Calgary mother of five—haven’t even made it that far. Allen said she struggled to locate the portal and, once she did, couldn’t get it to function correctly.

“When you click on register, my screen just keeps flipping back and forth,” she said. “I tried it last night a couple of times, and then again this morning. I’m getting the same error, so I can’t even try to register for the payments, which is pretty annoying.”

Despite the setbacks, Shupe remains determined.

“We just want support,” she said. “If they are gonna do this and put barriers in place for the education, then they need to step up and help us.”

In response to the mounting complaints, Alberta’s Minister of Education and Childcare, Demetrios Nicolaides, issued a statement to CityNews, saying the portal is “currently up and running.”

“We will continue to make changes to improve the user experience as needed. If anyone is experiencing issues with their Alberta.ca Account, they are encouraged to contact the Account team.”