We're failing people with disabilities

Media Release, March of Dimes Canada

October 27, 2026

Key points from this story:

• Disabilities face high poverty rates
• Access to government supports denied
• Disability Tax Credit eligibility issues
• Need for fundamental reform
• Call for new eligibility system
• Collaboration with disability advocates essential

Canadians with disabilities are fifty per cent more likely to experience poverty and twice as likely to experience food insecurity, yet hundreds of thousands of them are today denied access to government supports for which they are entitled and that would improve their lives.

Qualifying for the federal Disability Tax Credit (DTC) opens the door to receiving the Canada Disability Benefit and 16 other federal disability programs, as well as a growing number of provincial and territorial programs. But the DTC was never designed to be the de facto eligibility test for all other disability supports, and far too few eligible people are able to access it.

According to Statistics Canada, just 14.6 per cent of persons with disabilities and only 34.8 per cent of those with very severe disabilities claim the DTC. There are many reasons people do not or cannot claim the credit, including an overly restrictive definition of disability and persistent administrative barriers. This has serious and far-reaching consequences, excluding people with disabilities from the very programs intended to support their right to an adequate standard of living.

We applaud the federal government for making several recent administrative changes that improve access to the DTC. These are expected to unlock an estimated $345 million in support over six years for people facing access barriers. This is a solid foundation on which to build.

But there is much more to be done, and it will require fundamental reform. We call on the federal government to commit to a collaborative process to design a new eligibility system that uses the Accessible Canada Act's definition of disability as the starting point for access to federal disability programs, creates a centralized disability status determination process outside the tax system that is dignified, accessible and rights-based, and automatically extends federal disability certification to people already receiving disability benefits through provincial or territorial social assistance programs.

While a new eligibility system is created, we also call for further action to remove administrative barriers to the existing DTC process for people with disabilities and medical practitioners, including a new plain-language DTC application form, continued expansion of the list of medical practitioners authorized to fully certify disability for the DTC, direct reimbursement of medical practitioners who certify DTC applications, a plan to reduce the unnecessary use of temporary DTC certificates, more flexibility in the interpretation of the phrase "all or substantially all of the time" when evaluating restrictions on daily living, allowing supported decision-making for DTC applications and administration, and increased funding for the Disability Benefit Navigation program, which supports community-based organizations in helping people access the DTC, the Canada Disability Benefit, and provincial and territorial disability benefits.

All reforms must be designed in partnership with people with disabilities, in accordance with Canada's human rights commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Central to the Convention is the principle of "nothing about us without us," which affirms that people with disabilities must be meaningfully involved in decisions that affect them.

Canada should be a country where disability supports are available to all people with disabilities who need them, and no eligible recipient is denied access to a program because of administrative barriers. These reforms would bring that goal within reach.

https://www.marchofdimes.ca/en-ca