A Canadian federal department has apologized to a British Columbia woman who was mistakenly flagged as dead in government records.

Nancy Towle's problems began when her Canada Pension Plan widow's benefit check didn't arrive in September, The (Kamloops) Daily News reported.

She told the newspaper she spent two days making phone calls to various federal departments and learned she had been declared dead.

Towles told the Daily News she received a registered letter Thursday with an apology from the executive director of the Human Resources and Skills Development department, where the error originated.

Department spokeswoman Melissa Hart told the newspaper in an e-mail "a human error was made on a client's file."

Meanwhile, Towles said she's wary and double-checking all of her dealings with government agencies.