Thank you, Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to appear today.
My name is Melissa Secord. I'm the national executive director for Celiac Canada. We're the only national charity serving Canadians living with celiac disease.
Celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune disease that affects 1% of Canadians. When an individual with celiac disease consumes gluten, which is a group of proteins found in wheat, rye and barley, it triggers an immune response that causes severe damage to the small intestinal tract. This damage impedes the body's ability to absorb nutrients and can lead to a wide range of acute symptoms, including, but not limited to, severe gastrointestinal issues, extreme fatigue, migraines and joint pain. When it is left untreated, osteoporosis, anemia, neurological damage and certain cancers can occur.
Avoiding gluten for these individuals is not a dietary preference or a lifestyle trend, but a necessity to live healthily and symptom-free. At present, there is no pharmaceutical treatment, and the only accepted treatment is strict adherence to a medical nutrition therapy consisting of a gluten-free diet. Gluten-free food is our medicine, and it's extremely necessary to avoid frequent medical and hospital visits, and impacts on quality of life and work and school productivity.
As a national charity, Celiac Canada provides education, support, services, advocacy and research funding to improve diagnosis rates and health outcomes. By and large, the biggest challenge individuals face after diagnosis is the costs incurred through following the medical nutrition therapy. Statistics Canada reported that in April, the cost of food purchased from grocery stores rose 4.4% on a yearly basis in March 2026. On top of this, gluten-free staples, such as bread, cereals, pastas and soups, cost three to four times more than their regular counterparts, despite the growing demand for gluten-free options.
To provide credit where credit is due, Celiac Canada is very supportive of the federal government's Canada groceries and essentials benefit to help improve affordability. However, we feel the government still has work to do to support the rising food and medical treatment costs that are incurred by individuals with celiac disease.
Celiac disease is an eligible condition under the non-refundable medical expense tax credit. While well intentioned, the current process is extremely cumbersome. People diagnosed with celiac disease must keep hundreds of grocery receipts each year, complete complicated calculations comparing the cost and weight of gluten-free foods to regular products, and then determine how much is eaten by others in order to make the claim. The lengthy time this process takes for the average Canadian, paired with the level of math involved, poses a significant challenge to Canadians in poor health who have low literacy rates or little to no access to technology. Let's not forget that because this tax credit is non-refundable, the Canadians who need it the most, unfortunately, are unable to benefit. They receive no medical cost relief for the medical condition after being diagnosed, and they still have to incur the additional living expenses celiac disease incurs.
While the format of the tax credit might work for other health issues that have clear and sometimes one-time medical expenses that can be easily summarized annually, such as medical devices or prescription drugs, our illness does not have one clear annual medical cost that can be easily reported. For this reason, to reduce the red tape and to improve equity, we are recommending that the fall budget commit to replacing the current tax system with a simple, fully refundable annual medical tax credit benefit of approximately $1,000 per adult and $600 per child diagnosed with celiac disease.
Furthermore, as the government advances its new agriculture framework, there's an important opportunity to strengthen support for the gluten-free food sector. Supply chain disruptions and processing limitations have put pressures on farmers and food production, contributing to higher prices. What is needed are strategic educational investments, targeted incentives and capital equipment grants that can help improve food security, expand economic opportunities through exports and strengthen Canada's reputation as a trusted global supplier of safe gluten-free food. Together, these measures would provide meaningful support to Canadians while helping build a stronger and more resilient gluten-free food industry.
Thanks for the opportunity to present before this committee.