The supplement is a monthly non-taxable top-up for Old Age Security pension recipients who have a low income and are living in Canada.

Seniors working part-time as a measure to boost their income allowable under the GIS thresholds applied for relief such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) when they lost their jobs, according to NDP.

But seniors were only offered the option of taking the full $2,000 a month available to applicants, which then temporarily changed their annual income thresholds used to calculate their GIS payments, resulting in the clawbacks.

Pandemic benefits were to prevent evictions and keep food on the table during the crisis, not simply push those threats further into the future, NDP finance critic Daniel Blaikie told the government in August.

“It’s been a long wait for many seniors who have been hungry, missed medication or faced eviction,” said Blaikie on Monday.

“It’s about time the government is showing a sense of urgency to this problem of their own making.”

In December, Ottawa announced it was allocating $742.4 million to alleviate the financial hardship faced by seniors who qualified and received pandemic benefits in 2020.

Khera’s announcement followed her introduction of a bill last week to rectify the situation and prevent clawbacks in the future.

“Low-income seniors should not be penalized for accessing income support they needed during the pandemic crisis,” Khera said, adding further details would be outlined soon.

Seniors affected by the cuts will not have to apply for the compensation; they’ll get the payment the same way they receive GIS payments.

The Liberals are also moving ahead with a plan to boost the OAS pension by 10 per cent for seniors aged 75 and up in July