Mr. Speaker, deaf, deafened and hard of hearing post-secondary students are suffering due to government tax policy. They are being forced from school because of the double taxation they face for retaining sign language interpretation for their studies.
Deaf citizens pay their regular taxes as Canadians. They should not have to pay extra income tax on the money they receive from disability supports and out of country bursaries for funds used to pay for sign language interpreters.
This institutional discrimination can cost between $5,000 and $10,000 per student, per year. That additional cost means many cannot afford to pursue their studies and the number of deaf students in the system is dropping quickly.
This is a clear violation of the government's duty to accommodate deaf citizens in public services as set out by the courts in the Eldridge case.
I call on the government to immediately change the tax system so that moneys provided for a student's disability supports are not taxed as income. I urge the government to do this before the courts force it to do it.