National Disability Network Letter to PM Carney
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May 22, 2025
Right Honourable, Mark Carney, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister,
On behalf of the National Disability Network (NDN) and its 40+ member organizations, we extend our congratulations on your recent election and the appointment of your new Cabinet. However, we are deeply disappointed and concerned by the absence of a dedicated Minister responsible for Disability Inclusion. Even more troubling is the lack of any formal role—such as a Secretary of State—for disability issues, unlike the designations created for Children & Youth, and for Seniors. We applaud your decision to reinstate a full Ministry for Women and Gender Equality, but we expected to see the same for disability inclusion.
With 27% of people living in Canada having at least one disability, this omission sends a
discouraging message about the priority placed on disability inclusion. Your party has
consistently featured ministers with ‘disability’ or ‘accessibility’ as a main purpose. It led to
landmarks like the Accessible Canada Act and the Canada Disability Benefit. Perhaps the
omission might look minor on paper but to us, and the greater disability community, it is a
warning light. When a file disappears from the masthead, it drifts to the bottom of the priority
list. We urge your government to demonstrate leadership by advancing bold and progressive
policies, programs, and legislation that remove systemic barriers. We need to see a clear and
strong signal that disability inclusion and accessibility are front and centre and a top priority.
There is still much work to do, and we hope you are committed to making the necessary
improvements.
Canada has taken important steps toward becoming a barrier-free and inclusive country.
However, people with disabilities continue to face disproportionate levels of poverty,
unemployment, inaccessible housing, and systemic barriers to full participation in society. Your government has a unique opportunity—and a responsibility—to lead with vision and action.
In the spirit of collaboration, the National Disability Network (NDN) has provided
recommendations on priorities we would like to see included in your Ministerial Mandate
Letters of your Cabinet. Appendix A highlights key items that we consider important policy
actions your government and Ministers can take to create a Canada without barriers. We
strongly believe that this work should not be the sole responsibility of one minister to ensure
the inclusion of people with disabilities, rather, it is the collective responsibility of all Ministers
to ensure a disability lens is applied to the work they undertake on behalf of all people in
Canada, including those living with a disability, as required under existing federal policy.
There are, however, some immediate issues requiring your government's timely action as
parliament resumes and you prepare for your first Throne Speech. In addition, to your platform commitments, there are urgent legislative and regulatory requirements for this upcoming sitting of parliament that are vitally important for people with disabilities.
As you prepare for your government’s return to Parliament, there are key priorities we
want to see as first acts of parliamentary business. We know there will be Ways and
Means motions, Main Estimates, and Supplementary Estimates as a first course of
business. It is vitally important that the following items are prioritized in the upcoming
legislative sitting:
Key Legislative Priorities:
Exemption of Canada Disability Benefit Payments from Taxable Income:
Legislative Amendment: Prioritize amending the Income Tax Act to exempt CDB payments from taxable income, preventing reductions in other income-tested benefits.
Fair Treatment: Ensure recipients of the CDB are not unfairly penalized through tax deductions, aligning with commitments made in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement (FES).
Automatic Income Tax Filing:
Implementation: Amend the Income Tax Act. Swiftly introduce automatic tax filing for low-income Canadians, as committed to in your party’s previous Fall Economic Statement. This is a critical step towards facilitating access to the new Canada Disability Benefit.
Feasibility and Necessity: Build on the successful pilot projects to establish a nationwide program that supports low-income Canadians and individuals with disabilities living in poverty.
Establish necessary financial authority to fulfil Budget 2024 commitment to cover costs associated with Disability Tax Credit (DTC) medical certificate
Implementation: include in the budget implementation bill and subsequent departmental main estimates, funding of $243 million over six years, beginning in 2024-25, and $41 million per year ongoing, to cover the cost of the medical forms required to apply for the Disability Tax Credit.
Necessity: As the CDB is scheduled to roll-out on July 1, 2025, this measure will immediately eliminate one barrier to accessing the DTC, which in turn will eliminate one barrier to accessing the CDB.
Other urgent priorities:
Prevent CDB Claw-backs
We are deeply concerned by the Alberta government’s recent decision to claw back the CDB from eligible Albertans. Under this policy, individuals are forced to apply for the CDB, incur costs for the necessary medical documentation to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), only to have the benefit taken away from them. This heartless decision demands urgent attention. Not only must measures be implemented to ensure individuals do not bear the financial burden of the medical fees associated with obtaining the DTC, but we also call for safeguards to prevent any provincial or territorial government from clawing back the CDB. The CDB is intended as a supplement to provincial disability supports, not as a source of revenue for other levels of government. This benefit must be fully accessible to those who need it, without interference from provincial policies that undermine its purpose. This must never be allowed to happen. See our recent letter on this issue to Alberta Premier Smith here.
Improving the DTC:
We are encouraged by your party’s commitment to improving the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), as outlined in your platform, and we are eager to see this commitment take shape in your upcoming Throne Speech. As you are aware, the DTC currently serves as the gateway to the new Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), a role it was never intended to have. Given the CDB is expected to roll out on July 1st, 2025, the DTC must be accessible and effective, as it directly impacts on the timely and equitable access of the new national disability benefit. We request that the disability community be fully included in consultations and the development of these changes.
Improving the CDB
We strongly encourage your government to explore a long-term solution that would ensure automatic eligibility for the CDB for all individuals receiving provincial or territorial disability supports. Such a measure would represent a significant advancement toward a more inclusive and accessible benefits system and would enable the CDB legislation to do what it is designed to do, reduce poverty for people with disabilities. In the interim, however, it is crucial to prioritize eliminating the barriers to accessing the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) to prevent further exclusion and delays for those in need.
We are looking for concrete action on increasing the current benefit rate of the CDB to ensure it provides an adequate level of supplementary funding to provincial disability benefits to enable the CDB to do what it was designed to do; to eliminate disability poverty. At the current rate of a maximum of $200/month, it is nowhere near to eliminating disability poverty.
We look forward to learning more about your government’s plans for addressing these critical
issues and are eager to work with you to ensure the swift and effective implementation of these reforms.
We would welcome an opportunity to meet and work with you and your Ministers throughout
your mandate to advance policies that break down and eliminate barriers for people with
disabilities and create an equitable and accessible country for all.
Sincerely,
National Disability Network
CC:
John Hannaford, Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet
Hon. Marco Mendicino, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Canada
Tom Pitfield, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada5
Braeden Caley, Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister of Canada
Hon. Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance & National Revenue
Hon. Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister Responsible for FedNor
Hon. Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, and Minister
responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
Hon. Wayne Long, Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial
Institutions)
Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General and Minister Responsible
for Democratic Institutions
Hon. Dominic Leblanc, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister
responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian
Economy
Hon. Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister
responsible for Official Languages
Appendix A – A Disability Lens for Individual Ministerial Mandate Letters
1. Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister Responsible for FedNor, Hon.
Patty Hajdu
• Prioritize Disability Inclusion. Send a clear message that you are the lead
Minister and ensure that disability inclusion and accessibility issues are front
and centre and top of mind.
• Apply a disability and inclusion framework to all decision-making. By placing
persons with disabilities and their families, in all of their diversity, at the centre
of decision making, the Government will identify and rectify systemic barriers
that will prove to be beneficial for all people living in Canada.
• Prioritize the implementation of the Accessible Canada Act and lead the
charge to ensuring Canada reaches its target of being barrier-free by 2040
• Ensure the Canada Disability Benefit rolls out on time on July 1st with a barrier
free application process.
• Work over your mandate to raise the Canada Disability Benefit to lift all
recipients above the poverty line, factoring in the extra costs of disability.
• Expanding eligibility to include all 1.6 million people with disabilities living in
poverty.
• Work with Minister of National Revenue to legislate the tax-exempt status of
the benefit
• Ensure legislative or regulatory changes are implemented to ensure
individuals applying for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) do not have to pay for
medical fees associated with the medical certificate by medical practitioners.
• Work with provinces and territories to ensure no provincial or territorial claw-
backs and create disincentives to those who do
• Work with the Minister of Finance & National Revenue, and the disability
community to modernize the Disability Tax Credit and implement the
government’s 2025 electoral commitment, specifically:
o Expand automatic approvals for permanent disabilities.
o Eliminate reassessments for lifelong conditions.
o Enable automatic eligibility for individuals already receiving disability
income supports
• People with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by economic
instability as witnessed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensure targeted
economic stimulus relief for people with disabilities affected by rising costs
from tariffs and inflation.
• Re-commit to the implementation of the Disability Inclusion Action Plan
• Develop and implement an employment strategy for persons with disabilities,
both permanent conditions and those that are episodic/dynamic in nature,
focused on supports for workers and employers, creating inclusive and
welcoming workplaces. This strategy will include a significant investment in
the Opportunities Fund and Workforce Development Agreements to
substantially increase the employment rate of persons with disabilities.
• Ensure that the government’s national $10/day daycare initiative is inclusive
and accessible for children and youth with disabilities as well as parents with
disabilities.
• Amend the Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act, and the subsequent
provincial/territorial agreements to include:
o obligations under Article 24 of the UN CRPD in the preamble and
specific sections of the legislation that contain other international
obligations,
o a full definition of inclusion,
o strengthen the guiding principles, particularly 7(1), to ensure inclusion
also means children with disabilities
o requirements for provinces and territories to report on key metrics and
indicators measuring the progress being made on providing
accessible, affordable, and fully inclusive early learning and childcare
o requirements for provinces and territories to dedicate funding under the
agreements for adequate training and support to early learning and
childcare providers to accommodate and meet the needs of children
with disabilities in fully inclusive learning environments
o Ensure that the standards for training for childcare workers includes a
strong focus on preventing ableism and promoting inclusion.
• Enhance the Child Disability Benefit by increasing the benefit amount, raising
the threshold at which the benefit starts to be reduced, and working with
provinces and territories to prevent clawbacks.
• Make the Canada Caregiver Credit refundable and tax-free.
Minister of Finance & National Revenue, Hon. François-Philippe
Champagne
• Work with provincial and territorial governments to remove claw-backs that
negatively affect people with disabilities who receive both federal and
provincial support programs. This should include the Canada Disability
Benefit, by passing an exemption under the Income Tax Act, but also other
programs such as the cessation of clawing-back federal survivor benefits,
which serve only to allow provinces to save money due to the death of a
family member, rather than allowing the surviving spouse to retain funding to
live.
• Ensure that people with disabilities are a priority group for Government
spending in the budgeting process.
• Work with Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister Responsible for FedNor,
to increase funding to the Canada Disability Benefit so it meets the
expectations of the goal of eliminating disability poverty.
• Consult and include people with disabilities in the modernization of the
Disability Tax Credit (DTC) in order to broaden eligibility and ease access to it
so more individuals with disabilities are eligible for programs they are entitled
to, such as the Canada Disability Benefit
• Fully implement automatic tax filing by the 2026 tax year for low-income
Canadians including people with disabilities.
• Reform the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) to permit withdrawals
without penalty for purposes of home buying, similar to Registered Retirement
Savings Plan (RRSP) Home Buyers Program.
• Make the RDSP more effective for Canadians by amending the governing
legislation to deal with the following barriers:
o Loosen withdrawal restrictions and allow for early withdrawal without
penalty to a plan holder’s accumulated government grants and/or bond
contributions. Currently, the RDSP is only effective for people with
disabilities who have a life expectancy of at least 80 years. Many
people with disabilities have shorter life expectancies, but cannot
withdraw their savings proportionally to their life expectancy.
o Allow beneficiaries to choose their own legal representative/plan
holder, regardless of family relationship, if their capacity is in question.
Implement a simplified process to appoint an RDSP legal
representative if individuals lack power of attorney or guardian for
property. Avoid imposing guardianship capacity laws across provinces,
drawing on models from New Brunswick and British Columbia.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General and Minister Responsible for
Democratic Institutions, Hon. Sean Fraser
• The Government will apply a disability and inclusion framework to all decision
making. By placing persons with disabilities and their families, in all of their
diversity, at the centre of decision making, the Government will identify and
rectify systemic barriers that will prove to be beneficial for all people living in
Canada.
• Review the Criminal Code and all legislation to remove any elements that
perpetuate barriers to inclusion, or criminalize the lived experience of
Canadians with disabilities.
• As per the Liberal Party 2025 election platform, Stronger Together, in
collaboration with the disability community as full partners, guarantee equal
access to justice for people with disabilities by developing a Disability Justice
Framework to address long-standing inequities, biases, and systemic
discrimination against persons with disabilities within the justice system and
before the law.
• Repeal of Track 2 of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), which discriminates
against people with disabilities not at end-of-life.
4. • Full implementation of Canada’s obligations under the UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and address all remaining issues
and recommendations from Concluding Observations by the United Nations
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Review
Committee). Full recommendations HERE
• Resource an ambitious and collaborative agenda for realizing disability rights.
• Respect for the autonomy and decision-making rights of people with
disabilities, including withdrawal of Canada’s reservation to Article 12, limiting
the right to decide.
Minister of Health, Hon. Marjorie Michel
• Work in partnership with other ministers to provide a disability lens to the
approval of medical devices and drug treatments, to ensure that no further
barriers are created for people with disabilities
• Radically reconceptualize long-term care with a focus on ensuring people with
a disability can live in their own homes with the support required.
• Work with provinces and territories and all interested parties to respond to
claims that our medical system has an over-reliance on seclusion, restraints,
and involuntary hospitalizations.
• Repeal Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), Track 2 provisions of the
legislation, and in doing so acknowledge that disability is not a fate worse than
death, nor deserving of death. Also ensure that an array of services and
supports are available and accessible to persons living with disabilities.
• Collect better data from those living in “collective dwellings” such as hospitals,
long-term care homes, group homes, penal institutions, and homeless
shelters. Existing gaps make it difficult to understand the nature of support and
its nexus with disability and long-term care, and the general gaps in support
across Canada.
• Approve the use of lowest-emission, fragrance-free, health-supporting
products in healthcare and public institutions, and require accessible labelling
for all consumer products. These measures are essential for preventing
environmentally-linked disabilities and for removing barriers to accessibility for
people with diverse disability needs
• In learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, the government will ensure that
hospital triage protocols and guidelines are inclusive, equitable, transparent,
and grounded in an ethical process that is based on human rights and
informed by lived experience. Health care providers involved in the critical care
triage process will also receive training to reduce the risk of discriminatory
bias.
• Ensure that any plans or programs to aid people in Canada with mental health
and addiction issues, recognizing these conditions as episodic disabilities, take
into consideration the unique needs of all Canadians with disabilities, and that
any such plan or program is developed in consultation with the disability
community.
• Build a comprehensive plan for mental health care across Canada in
consultation with, and incorporating, the directions of marginalized groups and
their civil society representatives. The plan will include trauma informed
supports and therapy so that all people living in Canada can readily receive
mental health care.
• Work with Minister of Jobs and Families, and the disability community, where
intersecting identities and oppressions have resulted in a ‘pandemic’ of dual
diagnosis and a mental health crisis in the disability community
• Ensure that episodic (or dynamic) disabilities are recognized as health
conditions that have significant impact on the lives of Canadians as highlighted
in the Dynamics of Disability report (StatsCan, 2019)
• Work to provide a disability lens to the approval of medical devices and drug
treatments, to ensure that no further barriers are created. Ensure
collaboration across the national housing strategy to reflect the urgent need for
low-barrier, accessible housing and in the fight to stem the terrible impact of
the OPIOID crisis.
Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, and Minister responsible for Pacific
Economic Development Canada, Hon. Gregor Robertson
• Acknowledge that housing is a fundamental human right
• Ensure commitment to increase investments in federal housing stock is
inclusive of people with disabilities. The rush to build necessary housing
cannot be at the expense of accessibility and inclusive housing.
• Require all infrastructure investments in housing to have an accessibility lens
and mandatory accessibility standards, including retrofits of existing stock.
• Raise the number of mandatory affordable housing projects that are fully
accessible and inclusive, in consultation with the disability community.
• Cooperate with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to ensure that
accessibility retrofits and upgrades are included in infrastructure funding, to
remove barriers in the built environment for people with disabilities.
• Align accessibility standards for all new construction projects;
• Incentivize accessibility training and infrastructure upgrades.
• Harmonize the National Building Code and the National Fire Code to reflect
universal design principles.
• Work with the Minister of Finance and National Revenue to permit people with
disabilities to withdraw funds from their Registered Disability Savings Plans
(RDSP) to use as a down payment when buying a home.
• Provide many more Canadians with more portable rental supplements. A
disability component will be added to the Canada Housing Benefit and made
available through federal / provincial / Indigenous agreements.
• Continue down the path to deinstitutionalization as outlined in Article 19 of the
CRPD and commit to independent living in the community, not segregation or
isolation.
6. 7. 8. Minister of Indigenous Services, Hon. Mandy Gull-Masty, and Minister of
Crown-Indigenous Relations, Hon. Rebecca Alty
• The two Ministers work in cooperation to:
o Reinstate and sustain funding for Jordan’s Principle and the Inuit Child
First Initiative that ensures the health and welfare of First Nation and
Inuit children
o Reinstate and provide ongoing funding of the Indigenous Services
Canada (ISC) Assisted Living Program, to ensure programs and
supports are maintained for First Nations individuals and families with
disabilities
o Consult with Indigenous Peoples on the introduction of accessibility
legislation for Indigenous People.
o Consult with Indigenous People with disabilities on gaps in services and
supports and provide further remedies to address these gaps.
o The federal government recognizes Indigenous Disability Month.
Minister of Women and Gender Equality, and Secretary of State (Small
Business and Tourism), Hon. Rechie Valdez
• Ensure that women, girls and non-binary people with disabilities are centered
in the National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence, particularly
racialized, Indigenous, rural and Deaf women.
• Work with cabinet to create a change movement across Government to no
longer accept that 24% of women in Canada living with a disability experience
the highest rates of systemic discrimination, violence, poverty and
unemployment.
• Ensure that an intersectional approach to the department’s work, actively
consults with women with disabilities and their unique identities.
• Work in consultation with the disability community to ensure that the tourism
industry removes barriers to inclusion for individuals with disabilities
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Anita Anand
• Work with members of the disability community to better report and implement
Canada’s obligations to the Convention of the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities.
• Follow through on commitments to increase supports to women and girls with
disabilities through the FIAP (Feminist International Assistance Program).
• Work with the members of the disability community to ensure that Canada’s
foreign policy and presence represents the unique situation of people with
disabilities, globally.
• Consider the creation of a special advisor on International disability rights, as
we have seen other states party to the CRPD do.
• Uphold Canada’s role in global humanitarian assistance and prioritize the
needs of the most vulnerable. When targeting the most vulnerable, it is
essential that persons with disabilities are fully included in all international aid
9. and development initiatives. While they represent 16% of the global
population, they are consistently excluded from programs and services—
despite being among the most affected in crisis situations.
• Publicly support and sign the Global Disability Summit Declaration and commit
to ensuring that a minimum of 15% of Canadian-supported international
development projects adopt a disability-inclusive approach.
• Implement the recommendations from the Parliamentary Standing Committee
on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) study on Sexual and
Reproductive Health care and Rights, Increase funding for programming that
targets disability-inclusive sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Minister of Transport and Interprovincial Trade, Hon. Chrystia Freeland
• Direct the Canadian Transportation Agency to ensure compliance of the
Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations within
federally regulated transportation entities.
10. Minister of Emergency Management and Community Services; Prairies
Economic Development Canada, Hon. Eleanor Olszewski
• In working to address the climate crisis Government will put in place
frameworks to manage future emergency scenarios that are inclusive and
attentive to the needs of people with disabilities.
• Prepare for worst case scenarios created by climate change by working to
ensure that people with disabilities are never left behind.
11. Minister of Industry and CED for Quebec Regions, Hon. Mélanie Joly
• In partnership with other ministers, ensure that access to the internet is
prioritized for those with disabilities.
• Enhance existing Industry programs to provide affordable internet and mobile
access for those living with disabilities.
• Direct the CRTC to mandate affordable and accessible telecommunication –
such as telephone captioning services - and internet services.
• Ensure a disability lens approach to the work of your department.
• Fully implement the spirit of the Marrakesh Treaty to significantly raise the
quantity of accessible literature in Canada and abroad, for those living with a
print disability.
• Work with CHRC to fully develop & implement domestic monitoring of the
CRPD.
• Ensure that transparent and clear information is provided to all people in
Canada in accessible formats including but not limited to plain language, ASL,
LSQ, and ISL, Cart/Captioning, and braille.
12. Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Hon. Lena Metlege Diab
• Introduce changes to the Citizenship Guide, in consultation with people with
disabilities, to explain barriers to accessibility in society.
• Ensure that immigration policies do not hinder the arrival of refugees or
immigrants with disabilities, due to their disability or result in their incarceration
while waiting.
• Work closely with Foreign Affairs to ensure women with disabilities and
families of children with disabilities from war-torn countries are given priority
entry to Canada.
13. Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Julie Dabrusin
• Prepare for worst case scenarios created by climate change by working to
ensure that people with disabilities are never left behind.
14. Secretary of State for Seniors, Hon. Stephanie McLean
• Ensure that seniors living with disabilities do not lose any provincial supports
when they become eligible for GIS and OAS.
15. Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Hon. Dominic LeBlanc,
• Work with the Minister of Jobs and Families, and provincial and territorial
governments to remove any claw-back terms that negatively affect people with
disabilities who receive both federal and provincial support programs.
• Work with the provinces, territories, and municipalities to ensure that
accessibility retrofits and upgrades are included in infrastructure and/or
housing funding with goal of removing barriers in the built environment for
people with disabilities.
16. Minister of Veterans Affairs, Hon. Jill McKnight
• Ensure veterans with disabilities are provided the best services and supports,
while removing ableist proof of disability for ongoing application renewal.
17. Minister of International Trade, Hon. Maninder Sidhu
• Create opportunities for training of small and medium size businesses to
become disability confident in their hiring and employment practices.
• Work closely with the GTAG (Gender Trade Advisory Group) to support the
increased participation of women and people with disabilities in international
development, trade and export opportunities.
• Work in partnership with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to ensure that
Canada’s foreign policy and presence represents the unique situation of
people with disabilities.
18. Minister of Government Transformation; Public Works and Procurement,
Hon. Joël Lightbound
• Enhance the Government of Canada’s procurement system to ensure that
accessibility is a criterion for all procurement activities.
• Mandate accessibility expertise in federal procurement processes
• Align accessibility standards for all new construction projects
• Incentivize accessibility training and infrastructure upgrades
• Ensure that any realignment or transformation of government is reviewed from
a disability and inclusion lens so programs and services for people with
disabilities are not disproportionately affected.