Eligible Alberta parents receive provincial payments Friday for children out of school during teachers’ strike

Parents of children 12 and under will get $480 per child for the 16 days school was out.

Students across Alberta returned to class Wednesday after a provincewide teachers’ strike that lasted over three weeks. Mike Symington/CBC

Jennifer Keiller, CBC News Calgary Oct 30, 2025

Payments from the provincial government come Friday to thousands of Alberta parents of young children who were out of school for more than three weeks during the province-wide teachers’ strike.

As of Oct. 28, 216,663 Albertans have initiated an application to receive the payment, Alberta Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement.

The payments cover $30 per child per day of the strike for parents and guardians of children aged 12 years and under, adding up to a total of $480 for the 16 days children were out of the classroom.

The full payment will be issued by e-transfer to parents of children in public, Catholic and francophone schools on Oct. 31, so long as they signed up prior to Oct. 27.

Those who applied after that date can expect their payment Nov. 30. The provincial portal will be open for applications until Nov 14.

The payments are considered non-taxable income, according to the government’s website.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the payments in September, before the labour action began.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association has slammed the province for the move.

“Instead of doing the very thing that teachers have been asking for — investing in our classrooms — the government paid parents $30 per day per student when teachers were on strike. This amounts to almost twice as much as teachers are paid to teach those same students in their classrooms,” the association said in a statement.

Group says payments helpful for some parents

Jeff Park is with the Alberta Parents’ Union, which describes itself as an organization of parents advocating for the best education for their children, whether that be through public, charter, private or home education.

Park says his group had petitioned for the province to put some money back in parents’ pockets in the event of a strike.

“We were very pleased to see those parent payment plans and and I think it made a big difference in parents’ ability to weather this,” said Park.

Park is a father of four, one of whom needed a tutor during the strike.

“Knowing that we can essentially have that reimbursed at the end of this process, that gave us a lot of confidence,” said Park.

Calgarian Maureen Adams is the mother of two children, including an 11-year-old daughter.

“Do I need the money? Probably not. Would the money be helpful? Of course it would,” said Adams.

But signing up for the payments proved more of a headache than she realized. The online form did not accept her phone number, and after speaking with the province, she had to go in person to the registry to update her personal information.

“It was a little frustrating because I’m like, really, this is supposed to be a simple thing,” said Adams.

A donation back to the school

Chestermere parent and community advocate Matt Sywenky initially did not plan to sign up for the payments, saying the idea of them “did not sit right” with him.

“To me, it was throwing money toward parents to try and sway public opinion, that was it,” said Sywenky.

But then he had an idea.

Chestermere resident Matt Sywenky decided to donate his parent payments from the province to help with repairs to his local school playground. Matt Sywenky photo

In the summer, he had watched a presentation from a local parent association that described the elementary school playground as being desperately in need of repair.

Sywenky said the playground is “falling apart,” with plywood covering a hole where a climbing structure used to be.

He decided to apply for the payments, with the plan to donate the funds to revitalize the playground.

“I don’t need [the money], but there’s a place that it is needed and it’ll be good, it’ll help our students… it helps the community.”

Jennifer Keiller Reporter / Editor

Jennifer is a reporter with CBC Calgary. Previously, she worked for CTV News in Toronto. You can reach her at jennifer.keiller@cbc.ca

Source CBC News Calgary