Around 1.7 million Canadians, including 102,000 Atlantic Canadians, have been warned they may need to pay back $2,000 in COVID-19 relief funds they received nearly two years ago.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the government gave Canadians who applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit advanced payments of $2,000. These payments were meant to be an advance, in order to help Canadians who lost their jobs as quickly as possible.

The advance was then to be applied against a future claim period, however, if recipients were not entitled or collected benefits for less than 20 weeks, Social Development says some or all of that $2,000 advance payment remains as an outstanding balance owing.

Service Canada says no penalties or interest will be charged on the emergency benefit overpayment, and flexible payment options are available based on the individual's ability to pay.