Readout: Disability Advisory Committee Meeting – December 10, 2021

The Disability Advisory Committee (DAC) met virtually on December 10, 2021. It was the final DAC meeting for the 2021 calendar year.

The meeting opened with greetings from the co-chairs who welcomed Ms. Jessica Morrison, Director of Policy for the Minister of National Revenue, Diane Lebouthillier. Ms. Morrison delivered a message from the Minister indicating her deep appreciation for the work completed by the DAC, as well as giving her thanks for their dedication. Ms. Morrison also indicated the Minister’s office continues to be inspired by the commitment shown by the DAC membership to support persons with disabilities across Canada.

Following official greetings, CRA staff provided an update on the new DTC digital application form, which was launched in October 2021. They discussed uptake of the form and the feedback received.

The program also addressed an earlier recommendation made about the need to develop a specialized application form for children under 18. Program staff explained the dynamic nature of the new application form that customizes questions based on specific information that is given, such as the applicant’s date of birth. This allows the medical practitioner’s responses to be better tailored to the needs of children versus adults.

CRA staff also provided a number of other updates including:

• the uptake of the Navigator function;
• options to improve services within Indigenous communities, such as offering third language capabilities;
• the option to solicit medical practitioner feedback through the application form;
• details related to the recent webinars CRA has offered for medical practitioners and persons with disabilities.

The group discussed interest in the webinar for medical practitioners and CRA staff indicated that the recorded webinar would be available to be viewed as a video on Canada.ca in the coming weeks.

DAC members provided updates related to their working groups and discussed the possibility of merging some groups where the subjects overlap. They also considered bringing forward working group findings to create concrete recommendations for the CRA.