Thank you.
My name is Amanda MacKenzie. I work with Jeff at March of Dimes Canada. I want to talk about how this issue is personal for me.
I am both the parent and a sibling of people with disabilities, and I have applied for the disability tax credit twice. I was really lucky. Our family doctor understood my brother and my son, and I know the system and how it works. I know that the changes in the spring economic update will have a very positive impact.
I also know how much work the Canada Revenue Agency has done to make the DTC applications easier. I want to thank and recognize the entire DTC team at the CRA for their hard work and partnership in working towards the reforms that we see.
At the same time, though, there's a lot of ground to make up. We're calling on government to go further in three areas.
First, we need to reimburse practitioners directly for completing DTC applications. Partial reimbursement after the fact does not help someone who cannot afford to pay the fees up front.
Second, we need to align the DTC's definition of disability with the Accessible Canada Act. The ACA definition is the federal government's definition of disability, so wherever there's a definition of disability in federal legislation or policy, simply put, it should apply.
Further to that, changing the ACA definition, as my colleagues have discussed, will facilitate future reform and provincial and territorial alignment.
Last, Canada needs a federal disability status that lives in our social system, not in the tax system. People who really need what the DTC unlocks, like the people who we serve every day, don't access it, because they say that they don't make enough money to require a tax credit.
The tax system is the wrong home for disability status in Canada. We need a single, portable status that a person establishes by telling their story once and that unlocks access to all applicable federal benefits and more. Our friends in the European Union and Japan can show us the way.
Our disability community in Canada has been clear and united on this issue. The national disability network has put forward concrete recommendations that reflect the priorities of people with disabilities across the country. We're committed to working all together to get this right.
Thank you. We look forward to questions.