Unless your stepfather was a stay-at-home dad, it is almost certain that the benefit was originally applied for and was being received in your mother's name. That is just how the system works.
It would have been fairly simple for your stepfather to files her taxes along with his, especially as she would have had no income to be declared.
Hey guys sorry about the delay. Thanks for your response. I spoke to Mom last night. She says if she remembers correctly, it really was on her name. She didn't exercise her due diligence in the sense that she trusted my stepfather because she asked him if everything like that was taken care of and he assured her that it was but he obviously unfortunately had other intentions to the tune of approximately $35,000 over the 6 years he was illegally collecting the money. Again, he's aware of the situation because he hasn't gone back to Canada since. So basically there's no recourse in the legal sense?? The only way she can get him to bear some of it is if he voluntarily pays it, which isn't going to happen because as I said I've personally experienced his greed and if you can do that to your wife or even steal from your child, you obviously lack the moral capacity to handle something like that.