Resources for Residents
Mental Health and Addiction
The COVID-19 pandemic can have a significant impact on mental health.
Online resources are available if you need advice on handling stressful situations or ways to talk to children.
- Help in Tough Times (AHS)
- Mental health and coping with COVID-19 (CDC)
- Talking with children about COVID-19 (CDC)
- COVID-19 information for young kids and students (PDF, 122 KB)
If you need to talk, call the 24-hour help lines:
- Mental Health Help Line at 1-877-303-2642
- Addiction Help Line at 1-866-332-2322
Family and Sexual Violence
If you or someone you know is at risk of family or sexual violence, help is available.
Family violence
- Call our 24-hour Family Violence Info Line at 310-1818 to get anonymous help in over 170 languages.
- Chat live online with the Family Violence Info Line for support in English (8 am – 8 pm)
Sexual violence
- Alberta’s One Line for Sexual Violence can provide assistance in finding sexual assault support services (9 am – 9 pm daily):
- Call 1-866-403-8000 | 215+ languages
- Text 1-866-403-8000 | English
- Chat online | English
Other resources
- Family violence during COVID-19 information sheet (PDF, 321 KB)
- Find information on shelter and financial supports
- Learn how to recognize and prevent family violence
Child Neglect and Abuse
Children are at a higher risk for neglect and abuse during times of uncertainty and crisis.
Call the 24-hour child abuse hotline at 1-800-387-KIDS (5437) if you think a child is being abused, neglected or sexually exploited.
Learn the signs of child abuse
Renters and Landlords
Protections are in place for residential and mobile homes site tenants facing financial hardship due to COVID-19:
- Rents on residential properties or mobile home sites will not increase while Alberta’s state of public health emergency remains in effect.
- Late fees cannot be applied to late rent payments until June 30 and cannot be collected retroactively for this time.
- Landlords and tenants need to work together to develop payment plans while COVID-19 is being managed.
- Landlords cannot issue a termination notice or make an application to recover possession due to non-payment of rent, unless they can demonstrate attempts to create a reasonable rent payment plan, or that the tenant failed to comply with an established payment plan.
- Landlords can still file applications and receive orders for possession if the reason for the eviction is unrelated to rent and/or utility payments, or if a tenant refused to negotiate or comply with a payment plan.
Information regarding entry
Landlords and other individuals, including prospective tenants or purchasers of a property, are not permitted to enter a property if:
- the landlord is sick, isolating or showing any symptoms
- the tenant is sick, isolating or showing any symptoms
- the prospective tenant or purchaser is sick, isolating or showing any symptoms
Landlord access is still permitted if there is an emergency.
In the event of a showing, if a landlord, current tenant and prospective tenant are all healthy, the landlord may enter the property, provided:
- strict physical distancing and sanitizing methods are maintained
- a minimal number of people are present at once
- proper notice is given to the tenant
Resources
Consumer Protection
We’re receiving two types of complaints related to consumer exploitation resulting from COVID-19:
- retail outlet stores raising prices for high-demand products (i.e. toilet paper, hand sanitizer)
- private individuals purchasing mass quantities of supplies and reselling them at an inflated premium
The Consumer Protection Act prevents suppliers from grossly raising prices with no explanation beyond what is reasonable for goods that are readily available.
Unlike commercial sales, the act does not explicitly cover private sales. We urge all Albertans to act with consideration and caution and to find ways to help support each other in this time.
File a consumer complaint
If you see prices for products or services in Alberta skyrocket because of COVID-19, you can report it through our Report-a-Ripoff submission form or by calling 1-877-427-4088.
Cyber Security
Cyber security incidents involving malware and fraudulent activities, including identity theft, are being reported across Alberta in the wake of COVID-19.
- Anyone who receives a call asking for credit card information should hang up immediately and call the non-emergency line for local law enforcement.
- Albertans are encouraged to continue to exercise caution when clicking on links or providing personal information to people and organizations that request that information, unsolicited.
More resources can be found at https://www.alberta.ca/coronavirus-info-for-albertans.aspx