Immigration influencer apologises after backlash over video saying that 'children are money trees in Canada'

CALGARY — A Nigerian-Canadian social media influencer has apologised following backlash after she made a video saying that children are "money trees in Canada."In the original video, Ebunoluwa Oluwole Sofolahan, of Toronto, who has multiple accounts across multiple platforms, talks about the money you can potentially receive from the government by having kids in Canada."Money grows on trees here, I'm not lying," Sofolahan says at the start of her video. "If you have children, the government will give you money for having children."In the video she talks about the Canada Child Benefit and how you can get "free money" from both federal and provincial governments. She also mentions how the more money you make, the less money you will receive from the government. .The video, posted on April 21st on her Facebook page, garnered significant blowback from the Nigerian-Canadian community, with commenters calling her out for promoting potential exploitation of government programs."Please let’s be careful and mindful of the current political situation of the country. These are the comments that irritate the older Canadians born here. And rightfully so. This is hard earned money of tax payers. It’s very disrespectful," one person commented."This is the reason they are blocking pathway in to Canada, how can you create content like this, how do you expect Canadians to feel?" wrote another..This blowback prompted Sofolahan to make a follow-up video apologizing for her video and saying that people were taking her comments out of context.."Nigerians in Canada, I'm sorry," she said in her response to the criticism. "Children are not money trees in Canada; don't take it literally."Sofolahan goes on to say that she didn't want to promote the exploitation of the government programs, and her comments about this were "taken out of context."She also gets upset about people "overlaying my video on your video" and saying that those who have reposted her video in a negative light need to "take it down."Sofolahan has accounts on multiple platforms and posts content targeting recent immigrants to Canada with videos about government programs, ways to access immigration support, and other content about living in Canada as an immigrant.

Immigration influencer apologises after backlash over video saying that 'children are money trees in Canada'

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