Thank you very much.
I'm Judy Shamian. I'm the president and CEO of VON Canada, an organization that has proudly served Canadians for 112 years, and we are currently in thousands of communities.
I will focus today primarily on the workforce that supports our health and social system. Yesterday,you heard from the Canadian Nurses Association in Winnipeg, and you heard from the Registered Nurses' Association today, but my emphasis is unpaid workers, family caregivers. There are four million to five million caregivers in this country who support primarily an aging population. It does not include the disability group and other groups.
In the interest of time, I'm going to start with the recommendation and then explain the rationale behind the request.
We ask the federal government to expand the current financial tax credits for caregivers. The relief will help compensate for expenses incurred by families who must purchase services, equipment, and supplies that assist loved ones to live independently at home. Specifically, the tax credits could be enhanced in three ways, and those instruments exist today and can easily be expanded and improved.
One, increase the amount of the caregiver and infirm dependant credit, which would help caregivers with more of the costs they incur. And again, there is sufficient research that shows that families incur significant cost out-of-pocket.
Two, allow the caregiver credits to phase out more gradually with the dependant's income, which would assist more caregivers. Currently, if somebody earns $18,000, they no longer qualify for this credit. According to Human Resources and Social Development Canada, although nobody will call it the poverty line, the poverty line is around $28,000 a year. So we are cutting off caregivers, who are giving their health and their resources, at $18,000.
Three, make the caregiver credit refundable, as Quebec has done, which would extend support to lower-income caregivers. Quebec has done a very good job of it over the years, and there is a lot for us, as a nation, to learn from it.
Just to give you some context, as I said, four million to five million Canadians are family caregivers. Often we who are going to the homes see one client, but by the time we finish taking care of that client, there are two clients, because often Mary is looking after Sam, who is 78 or 85, and there is nobody there at night.
Many of you are nodding your heads. I am sure you all hear this in your constituency offices, and we all have that experience. So if five million Canadians are caregivers, then literally we can do the math: one in six persons you encounter provide some form of caregiving support. Many of them quit their jobs, so we're looking at productivity and success in this country. There is a lot we can do for them in simple ways to demonstrate our support and as health givers, caregivers to our own. VON, for example, fundraises for over 20 charitable programs. We have 9,000 volunteers to support family caregivers, whether it's respite or volunteer driving or other initiatives.
So I call upon you to consider those three or more options that you have in your power, to make the lives of caregivers in this country better.
Thank you.