Not Dead Yet

Won't she take the hint?:

A woman who lives in Garden of Eden, N.S., got a shock when she learned she had been declared dead not once, but twice, in the past five months by the federal government.

Theresa Fraser, 77, who lives in the rural community about 37 kilometres east of New Glasgow, said she first learned she had been declared dead when she drove into town to do some Christmas shopping at the end of November.

She went to her bank to get some money from her pension cheque, which was automatically deposited by the government. But the teller told her she didn't have enough money in her account.

...The teller helped Fraser call the Canada Revenue Agency in Ottawa to find out why her cheques were late.

That's when Fraser found out the federal government thought she'd died.

...During the conversation, the probable reason for the mix-up was discovered: another Pictou County woman with the same name and middle initial had recently died.

...She was told the problem was corrected, and her cheques started to arrive again in January.

But last week, another letter arrived in the mail from Canada Revenue.

"It came to the estate of the late Theresa Fraser — my address and social security number was on it and everything," Fraser said. "So I died again."

This time Canada Revenue wanted her to return the GST cheque they had sent to her in January for $94.50.

Fraser got back on the phone to prove yet again that she is still alive. But she fears this may not be over yet.

"I might be dead by the time it's over, if they keep bugging me," Fraser said.

In the meantime, she will continue to volunteer in her community and knit for her grandchildren.