any decent person would direct it to the child who earned the cash.
I've put the key problem in boldface. Most parents think they're basically decent, reasonable individuals but when it really comes down to whether or not to try to use money to control people, the vast majority of humans have no problem with it if the child is making a decision they don't agree with, such as studying toward a career deemed inappropriate by the parents.
One of the reasons I had some difficulty early on is because I stupidly allowed my parents to manage the money I worked for and saved starting at age 13. Although it was ostensibly "for education" and I did make most of the decisions as to whether or not to invest in a particular stock, when I needed money for tuition and particularly for private tutoring due to a specific shortfall related to the major I wanted, they refused to allow me to access my money. I believe it was in order to keep me at home and under their thumb: they had a work-in-lieu-of-rent situation in mind. One of the jobs I had to work to put myself through school cost me the effective use of my right arm for a year. They eventually released the money when I turned 25 because the law forced them to do that. By that point I had left the country to avoid further control.
The trouble with suing for the RESP monies is that a minor frequently cannot bring a suit due to lack of resources to pay for legal fees and lack of access to lawyers. Very, very few minors are gutsy enough to do it "pro se" and not all the relevant case law is available online.
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I don't think you're looking for sympathy, I'll refrain. Its a phenomenal case study of what life is like when you lack control of your finances or personal choice. I'm not sure I would consider your parents to be decent, I'll let you be the jury on that question.
Originally I was thinking of advocating for children to have better access to savings, then thought that would be too extreme (it would have been useful for myself, I thought it was too narrow of a sample). When you're born poor the rules aren't capable of protecting you from your parents; the very people who brought you into the life of poverty. Hence the risk of generational poverty, you learn your parents habits. My solution is to open up savings programs and eliminate the requirement to have decent, responsible parents.
When discussing poverty people often think of poor kids/rich kids. Its much more nuanced, a kid isn't poor, their family is, or more accurately their parents. When I was taunted for poverty at an early age the irony struck me then, none of these kids were rich, just their parents. When you turn 18 and can walk away from their dysfunction, you can build your own life, until then you're trapped by the system in place, except for emancipation cases.
As an anecdote for GS; when I left my parents didn't stop me, they still received child benefit cheques. I've always thought it was a stupid system that would send money to parents, to use for the child, when the child lived separate (the rules are still the same today). Since I was a minor without rights the system didn't care, but at least I got student debt though! In fairness my parents were required to report their income (parental involvement) to the loans officer, which is funny since it was already in the government records how much they earned. The same people that determined eligibility for children aid (child cheques were income based) needed confirmation that I needed student aid, if they withheld the already public information I would have been denied. That's the hoops that you need to jump through when you're poor though, its indefensible.
TL/DR In summary we have these points about being born poor in Canada:
1) The government requires parental release of tax information to determine loan eligibility (information already on file and used to determine child benefits)
2) The government requires your parents to be responsible in order for a child to benefit from university savings encouragement (CESG top up), a child's behavior is not a consideration
3) Children aid cheques go to parents, even in situations of children living separate and independent
4) Lest anyone think student loans are great, the monthly living allowance is set for 30 hours/week of minimum wage earnings (varies with province). Students in Canada are expected to live off part time minimum wage while on loans for 4-5 years. All money earned will reduce loan eligibility. Summer jobs are required and have set savings targets regardless of actual savings.
5) Parents can legally cash a minors cheque and keep the money, provided they confirm the money will be spent in the child's interest which includes paying the rent or groceries