Mandatory online learning leaves single parents with impossible choice

Every day, Jessy Duncombe has to figure out how to put food on the table, help her two school-aged kids navigate the complexities of online learning, and keep her three-year-old daughter occupied and out of trouble.

And that's all before lunch.

As a single parent with three kids at home all day, there's no way for her to go to work as a chef, she said, so she's been forced to turn down job offers and manage her household on her recovery benefit cheques alone.

"I sometimes feel hopeless, but because I know the kids are looking up to me, I try to keep a smiling face," she said. "I keep a good attitude around them, but when I get by myself, it's like, 'what am I supposed to do?' It's really tough."