We're not asking for a new medical expense. The recognition globally is that celiac disease is an autoimmune condition. The struggle that people have in claiming the benefit is that you're eligible for help, but you have to track hundreds of grocery receipts, you have to specifically identify if they're gluten-free, and you have to search online or in grocery stores for comparable, regular products, to compare the increased costs between gluten-free and a regular product. You have to calculate the per gram weight cost difference of these products and deduct if anyone else in the household might be eating that food, and then you upload hundreds of receipts to your CRA account, which can take only a few at a time, so sometimes it takes people an entire day. If they're audited, we've been told they have to send them twice, which means half a day of work uploading receipts.
Savings can be incurred through just a one-time calculation, $1,000 for adults and $600 for children. Similar to what everyone is talking about, we're hearing in the community that one in two families with a child with celiac disease is food insecure, that people are skipping meals, that they're choosing to maybe feed their child instead of themselves, and obviously seniors are at risk. We're hoping with just a refundable tax credit...because, obviously, if you don't have enough income to secure a rebate, you're not getting anything back in your pocket. If it's refundable, it's cash back in your pocket so you can actually afford your groceries and stay out of the food banks.